For us as believers in Christ to arrive at a full-grown man we need to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus. The one new man as the full-grown man that accomplishes God’s purpose is a corporate man that lives on earth the same kind of living that the Lord Jesus lived when He was on the earth.
What God desires is the duplication and continuation of Jesus, a group of people who have the same living as the Lord Jesus did when He was on the earth.
Our standard of living today shouldn’t be anything less than the reality in Jesus, the reality lived out by the Lord Jesus when He was on earth (Eph. 4:20-21). The same way that the Lord Jesus lived on earth is the way that the new man should live today!
He was one with God and He lived a life in which He did everything in God, with God, and for God. His living was not the living of the old man in the old creation, and He did not behave just like everyone else. The human living of the Lord Jesus was according to the reality – according to God Himself as reality, full of righteousness and holiness.
Our human life is not real unless we are learning from Christ and we are taught in Him to live a life of reality (see 2 John 1; John 4:23-24). We need to put off the old manner of life – which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit (Eph. 4:22) – and put on the new man, the new manner of life, the church life!
If we learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus, we can then have a genuine, proper, and practical church life.
The Living of the New Man Should be the Same as the Living of Jesus
Each one of us lives in the way that we were raised up, according to the culture and area and society we are in. But by Jesus living again in all of us, the living of the new man is exactly as the living of Jesus.
In the old man there’s the lie and the deceit in every country, in every place, and in every city. But the Lord wants to have a corporate man living the life of reality, and the existence of such a person shames the enemy to the uttermost!
The enemy is a liar, when he speaks he speaks lie from his own things, and this one has permeated all men with living a lie of deceit (John 8:44).
But the Lord Jesus lived a life one with God, doing everything with God and for God. He lived according to reality – He lived God Himself. When we live out the divine reality, we will live the same kind of life that the Lord Jesus lived while He was on the earth.
Just like the Lord Jesus, we also need to do things in God, with God, and for God, taking God as our source and life and doing everything in oneness with God. The new man was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality (the truth), which truth is no doubt the very truth in Jesus.
Our standard and way of living should not be according to the law or to what others do or say, but according to the truth in Jesus, the reality which was lived out by Jesus when He was on the earth.
The new man today should live on earth the same way that the Lord Jesus lived when He was on the earth. This way is not according to right or wrong, good or bad, or even scriptural or non-scriptural, but the reality, the truth, in Jesus.
Lord Jesus, save us from living out our old manner of life. Lord, live in us. May our living be corporately Your living again on the earth in Your many believers. We don’t want to live a life of falsehood, in lusts, or in deceit. We come to You, Lord, that You may work Yourself into us and live in us a life of reality. Only You are real, and only You living in us can live a life of reality!
Learning Christ as the Reality is in Jesus for the New Man
The Father is looking for some particular people on earth – those who worship Him in spirit and truthfulness (John 4:24). To worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness is to learn Christ as the reality is Jesus (Eph. 4:20-24).
When we go shopping, we should go one with the Lord – if the Lord is going. When we do this and that, we need to do it in the Lord and if He is doing that thing. We have put off the lusts and the falsehood of the devil and we have put on the righteousness and holiness of God.
Now, in our daily life, how do we learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus? He dwells in us, He is anointing us and teaching us as the inward anointing, and He shines on us to show us which are our natural virtues and which are His.
We learn Christ by being genuine with the Lord and by allowing Him to make us genuine toward everyone else. It’s not by behaving in a certain way and learning to do things in a certain way, but it is by letting Christ live in us a life of reality.
In ourselves, we may be patient, humble, active, zealous, or kind, but it is still us and not Christ. What God measures us is by His glory – is God expressed in our living, our speaking, and our doing? If it still us who live, we are expressed and not God; but if we let Christ live in us, He is expressed and can live the same kind of life He lived when He was on earth – this time in us as a corporate man.
If we learn Christ by putting of the old man and by putting on the new man, letting Christ live in us, we will be in the church life. The new man is actually the church, and the living of the new man is the church life.
The practical and genuine church life is the result of many believers learning Christ as the truth is in Jesus. This kind of living is not merely of a group of called out ones, the fellow citizens of the kingdom of God, the members of the household of God, or even of the members of the Body of Christ.
The living of the new man is the reproduction of the life of Jesus in many believers on the earth. This is a life of truth, reality, a life that expresses God and causes God to be realized as the reality by man.
The church life today is the corporate living of the new man, a walk that is absolute new in life and in manner. As we as believers of Christ in the church life are growing, we are learning Christ as the reality is in Jesus, and we learning to live in this reality by doing all things in God, for God, unto God, and with God.
Lord Jesus, keep us learning Christ as the reality is in Jesus. May our living be genuine and in truth, not in falsehood and in ourselves. Gain the corporate living You want to see in us, a living of Jesus Christ again, so real and true. Lord, we want to put off our old manner of life, and put off the old man with the old way of living. Lord, we put on the new manner of life, the new man, the new society and community life – the living of Christ. We want to live Christ for the one new man. Live in us, Lord Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians (msgs. 47, 93), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Entering into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose, week 8 / msg 8, Arriving at a Full-grown Man (2) Growing Up into Christ in All Things, Learning Christ as the Reality Is in Jesus, and Being Renewed in the Spirit of the Mind.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / In all things Thy will be done; / I but a transparent vessel / To make visible the Son.
# As members of the Body / Christ we would manifest, / Each learning how to function / His fulness to express; / We would not be spectators / But each as members move, / None bringing death or damage / But each our profit prove.
# The Lord has put me in the church life, / Christ and the church, His image to express; / He’s chosen me according to His purpose, / And won’t be satisfied with something less.
# Now we’re learning to turn to our spirit, / Now we’re learning to take Christ as life; / Now we’re learning to feed upon Jesus / And be freed from all struggling and strife.
