![[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation. Col. 1:15](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Christ-is-the-image-of-the-invisible-God-the-Firstborn-of-all-creation.jpg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1 "[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation. Col. 1:15")
When we see a vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ, we will spontaneously drop our culture and anything that replaces Christ in our being and in our living; then, we will live Christ and not our culture.
As we grow up in this world, as we develop our skills, get trained, get a job, have a family, and live in society and in church life, we develop a certain culture composed of certain habits, a certain way of living, a certain way of eating, a particular kind of food we eat, and many other things.
This culture helps us to become proper human beings and good contributors to society; the more culture we have, the more we are inwardly regulated and we don’t need outward regulation from the police or the law courts, for example.
However, when we become believers in Christ, we receive another life, the life of God; now our living is in a different realm, and the Bible tells us to put off the old man with his old way of living, and put on the new man with its new way of living, living the life of the one new man (Col. 3:10-11).
Our life as Christians should no longer be according to our culture which we have inherited and built up throughout our life; we should live according to Christ.
But the way we do this is not by “dropping our culture”; it is by enjoying Christ, opening to Him, giving Him more and more ground in our being, and allowing Him to increase in us, grow in us, spread in us, and live in us.
Our culture hinders us – it is a secret and subtle hindrance to our enjoying Christ, living Christ, and experiencing Christ; we all need to learn how to take Christ as our life and person so that He may replace our culture with Himself.
This doesn’t mean that we change the way we do things outwardly; God is not after an outward change – He is after an inward, metabolic change, so He is working Himself into us and He is building Himself into our being.
Especially as we live at the end of this age when the coming of the Lord is imminent, we need to realize the urgent need to live Christ for the church as the one new man; when the one new man comes forth and is manifested practically on earth, the bride is prepared and the Lord can return.
We need to give more and more of our inward capacity to Christ, opening to Him and allowing Him to live in us, make His home in us, be formed in us, and reconstitute us with Himself.
It is when we enjoy and experience this all-inclusive, extensive Christ that we can have Him lived out of us spontaneously, instead of us spontaneously and by default living our own culture.
Oh, may we see a vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ, and may we allow this One to live in us and be expressed through us!
Learning to Take Christ as our Life and Person so that He may Live in us for the One New Man
When we are in the meetings, we enjoy the Lord with the saints, and we exercise our spirit to touch Him, enter into the spirit of the meeting, and just be in the Lord’s presence.
Especially as we meet with the saints in the Lord’s recovery, it is not difficult for us to be conformed to the atmosphere in the meeting, for the Lord is so rich and so real to us as we come together.
Isn’t the Lord so sweet, so real, and so enjoyable when we come together and exercise our spirit to call on His name, pray His word, sing, share, and fellowship with one another? Amen, indeed He is.
However, what about after the meeting, when we go home and live our family life and our personal life: do we still enjoy Christ and live Christ, or do we just go back to living according to our culture?
The one new man cannot come into being if we only live Christ and enjoy Him in the meetings, but at home, we still live in the self and according to our culture.
It is so easy to be in your natural element, your favorite environment, and just live the way you usually live, that is, live according to your culture, instead of living according to Christ.
There’s a great need for us all to learn to take Christ as our life and person so that He can live in us and we would not live according to our culture.
When we take Christ as our life and person in big and small things, as we do this and that, and as we live our daily human life, He has a way to replace our culture and live in us.
The point is not that we first need to drop our culture and then do our best to live Christ; rather, we need to open to the Lord, again and again, contact Him, and enjoy Him, so that He may live in us. Our living is a spontaneous matter.
We spontaneously live by the self, in our natural man, according to our culture; our living can change only when we have a different inward constitution when we have a different life that lives and a different person who is expressed.
When we take Christ as our life and person day by day, hour by hour, and even moment by moment, He has a way to replace our culture with Himself, and we will live by Christ and not by our culture.
Our focus shouldn’t be on changing our way of living but on taking Christ as our life and person; when He is our life and life supply, and when He is the person in us who decides and lives, we will spontaneously live Christ.
There’s a great difference between living according to culture and living according to Christ. We all are from different backgrounds, and we live in a different way from others, and our expression, behavior, and living are different from others of a different background.
Some saints, according to their background, are very open and frank; they are quick by disposition, and it is difficult for them to keep a secret. Such ones may lack in patience and discernment.
Other saints of different backgrounds are more reserved and hidden; they are not that out-going, and it is not easy for others to know what is going on within them and how they feel about things. This is their culture.
Still, others may be virtually expressionless – there’s no way to tell if they are happy, sad, or upset. This is how they are by their culture, their background.
And even though they are saved and live in the church life, they still live according to their culture, instead of living according to Christ.
How can we have fellowship with one another in truthfulness and in spirit when we live according to our culture, according to the way we are and our background? Oh, Lord!
We all need to give the Lord more ground in us, taking Him as our life and person again and again, until He spontaneously lives in us and we no longer live according to our culture.
Lord Jesus, we take You as our life and person for our daily living so that we may no longer live according to our culture but live according to Christ. Amen, Lord, be our life and person today. You are our life and life supply; You are our life within, and we give You more ground in us to spread from our spirit into all our inward parts. Lord, we take You as our person; be the One deciding things in us and the One living in us. We do not want to live according to what we are in our culture: we want to live according to Christ. Amen, Lord, we take You as our life and person in all things so that You may be the One living in us. Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through us, for You are our very life and person!
When the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ is Everything in our Daily Living, we Spontaneously Live Christ and not our Culture
The apostle Paul was very wise; he realized that the church in Colossae was plagued by culture, and he did not write to them to help them improve their behavior or change their lifestyle.
Rather, he portrayed an all-inclusive, extensive Christ before them, for the vision of such a Christ will cause them to allow Him to live in them and replace their culture with Himself.
It is important for us to see a vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ; we should not endeavor to drop our culture without such a vision of Christ (Acts 26:19; Eph. 1:17-23).
We need a strong vision of this Christ; we may have received a vision of Christ in the past, but we need to repeatedly see the vision, even have an intensified vision, for only such a vision can rescue us.
In his epistle to the Colossians, to the church plagued with culture, Paul revealed the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to the highest point.
He wasn’t trying to correct or adjust them in an outward way; rather, he revealed to them this Christ who is all-inclusive and extensive, so that they may enjoy Him and let Him live in them.
The Christ who indwells us is not a small or limited Christ; He is the One who is the image of the invisible God, the embodiment of the fullness of God, and the focal point of God’s economy (Col. 2:15, 18; 2:2, 9-10).
He is the One in whom all the fullness was pleased to dwell. He is the Firstborn from among the dead, the Firstborn of all creation, the One who has the first place, the preeminence, in all things.
Christ is the One in whom all things cohere. He is the focal point of God’s economy.
He is both the hub and the rim, both the center and the circumference, both the centrality and universality of God and of His economy.
If our experience of Christ cannot be extended to such a point, we will still be plagued by culture. Hallelujah, such a Christ dwells in us and is waiting for the opportunity to spread Himself throughout our being.
May we allow this all-inclusive, extensive Christ to be everything in our daily living so that we may live Him, not giving any ground in our living to our culture (Phil. 1:21; Col. 3:11).
Our attention should not be paid to culture or getting rid of the culture; our focus should be the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, allowing Him to be our everything and our all in all!
If He is not our life and person, how can He be our all? Is Christ our life and person as we go to work, as we travel home, or as we work from home these days?
As soon as we see the vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, we should begin to set aside our cultural background and not allow it to replace Christ or restrict Him (Acts 9:4-5; 26:19; Phil. 3:7-10).
Culture makes us narrow and legal, but when we see the vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ, we will begin to set aside our cultural background and not allow it to replace Christ.
Don’t try to overthrow or to revolt against culture; simply give Him more ground in your being, and remain in the vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ.
Lord Jesus, grant us to have and remain in the vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ. May we be filled and saturated with this Christ until He becomes everything to us in our daily living. Save us from merely trying to improve ourselves or adjust our behavior; keep us coming to You, Lord, and taking You as our life and person as the one new man. Amen, Lord, may we see a vision of this unlimited, exhaustless, all-inclusive, extensive Christ until He becomes everything to us! We give You more ground in our being, Lord, and we give You the opportunity to spread Yourself throughout our being. Amen, Lord Jesus, may nothing in us restrict You or replace You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, pp. 308-310 (Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture for the One New Man (2020 Thanksgiving Conference), week 2, Living the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ instead of Our Culture.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Let’s seek God’s will for His purpose: / Christ our center, Christ our focus; / Christ our life and everything! / God’s eternal will and pleasure: / Christ wrought in us in full measure, / All His fullness expressing! / He’s all-inclusive / And all-extensive! / Let’s know, experience Him! / Let’s trust God’s counsel, / Abide in God’s will, / Make Christ our goal, quest, and theme! (Song on on, Know and Experience the All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ)
– How all-inclusive, Lord, Thou art; / Of God we are in Thee- / The portion God prepared for us, / Our all in all to be. / Thou art to us God’s wisdom true, / We all are saved through Thee; / Thou art God’s only way to save, / Thou art our only plea. (Hymns #197)
– 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. (Hymns #403)
