As believers in Christ, we need to cooperate with the putting to death of Jesus in our environment and with the operating indwelling Spirit so that our outer man may be put aside and the inner man would be renewed for the life of Jesus to be manifested in our mortal body.
When we believed into the Lord Jesus, we received another life – the divine life; now our Christian life is a lifelong practice of living by the divine life and not by our natural life.
Paul told us in Gal. 2:20 that we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but it is Christ who lives in us, and the life which we now live in the flesh we live in faith – the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself up for us.
When we were regenerated and baptised, we were put into the death of Christ to be terminated and put to death so that we no longer live to the natural man, the self, the flesh, or the world; now we live a crucified life so that Christ may be expressed through us.
We do this by the power of Christ’s resurrection; we are conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection.
We were reborn crucified for the purpose that, from the time of our regeneration, it would be no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.
Our Christian life is Christ living in us; the genuine Christian living is Christ living in us. How can Christ live in us if we still live? How can Christ be expressed through us if we still express ourselves?
How can Christ be manifested and magnified through us when we still love to express ourselves and we display our goodness, uprightness, and perfection, which we build up in ourselves throughout the years?
We need to realize that we were crucified with Christ, and in our Christian life we are dying to live; we are daily dying to ourselves, to the world, and to the flesh, so that Christ may live in us.
And when we speak of dying to ourselves we don’t mean that we practice asceticism, that is, that we struggle and strive to abstain from this and from that, not touching this or that, not eating this or that, so that we may “keep ourselves for God”.
Rather, being crucified is a matter in the spirit; the Spirit is the bountiful supply for us to live the Christian life by dying to live.
When we exercise our spirit, when we turn to the Lord again and again throughout the day, we die to the self to live to God.
As we die to live, God is adding Himself to us, and more of the divine element is constituted into our being for us to become a new creation where Christ is all and in all.
Not being Constricted under the Pressures but Knowing Christ, the Power of His Resurrection, and Magnifying Christ by Living Him
What a stark contrast we see between Paul and Job in their attitude toward their suffering! Job was perplexed and vexed by his sufferings, and he argued with others and even with God to prove that he didn’t do anything wrong to deserve such a treatment.
Paul, however, had a different attitude toward suffering; in his experience of God’s consuming and stripping, Paul was not constricted under the pressures on every side and didn’t perish beside his being cast down (2 Cor. 1:8-9).
Paul didn’t curse the day of his birth (like Job did), neither did he say that he preferred to die rather than to live (Phil. 1:21-25).
Rather, even though Paul suffered much more and in many more ways than Job, and even though he knew there may be no end in sight for his sufferings, after much consideration Paul said that he still preferred to live for the progress of the saints and for their joy of the faith.
Paul said that he did want to go and be with the Lord, but he preferred to live (though in suffering) for the saints’ progress (their growth in life) and for their joy of the faith (their enjoyment of Christ).
What an attitude he had toward his suffering and his being imprisoned! He said that for him to live is Christ and to die is gain; though to be with Christ is far better for him, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for the saints’ sake and their progress.
Paul didn’t say, Just kill me now, I am done, I am finished, it’s too much suffering, I don’t want this! Rather, he said, I am remaining, while I am suffering, and I am praying for the saints, for the progress of their faith, and for the building up of the Body.
What a pattern he was to us all in this matter! While Paul was suffering distresses for the sake of Christ (2 Cor. 12:10), he was well pleased, he was happy, and he was even rejoicing in the Lord for his experiences (Col. 1:24; Phil. 2:17-18).
This is inexplicable – it is almost not human; he was in so much suffering and limitation, yet he was pleased, he was happy, he was rejoicing, for he knew that there was something taking place in the unseen realm, something that would bring into him an eternal weight of glory in spite of the momentary lightness of affliction.
So Paul wanted to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings in order to be conformed to the death of Christ (Phil. 3:10).
He took the death of Christ as a mold for his life, and it was his great pleasure to be molded in the death of Christ.
If we look at ourselves and our fellow believers, sometimes we don’t understand why some Christians have to suffer so much; it seems that many of those who love the Lord, follow Christ, and have given their life to serve Him, they are dealt with in their experience with incredible suffering.
Why does this take place? When we look at such ones who pass through sufferings and remain open to the Lord, we don’t see unbecoming words coming out of their mouth; we don’t hear complaints or murmurings but rather, we see contentment and a kind of joy within them.
They remain in the mold of Christ’s death, taking the death of Christ as the mold for their life.
This is in a different realm from the natural realm, isn’t it?
Paul’s desire was to magnify Christ by living Him; the putting to death of Jesus operated in him, yet he magnified Christ whether through life or through death, by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19-21).
When God created man, this was the kind of life He wanted man to live (Gen. 1:26).
He wants a group of people who magnify Christ by living Him, whether through life or through death, whether in good situations or sufferings, doing all things by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We want to be such ones!
Lord, we want to know You, the power of Your resurrection, and the fellowship of Your sufferings, being conformed to Your death. Amen, Lord, our aspiration is that we would magnify Christ by living Him, whether through life or through death, by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We open to You, dear Lord, and we give ourselves to You to live one spirit with You in all things today. May we realize that the momentary lightness of affliction and sufferings works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory. Amen, Lord, have Your way to work Yourself into us day by day. We simply say Amen to Your operating within us and around us; we take the death of Christ as a mold for our life, and we say Amen to all Your dealings, for all things work out for good, for our being conformed to the image of Christ!
Cooperating with the Putting to Death of Jesus and with the Operation of the Indwelling Spirit for the Life of Jesus to be Manifested in us
In 2 Cor. 4:10-12 Paul said that he was always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal flesh.
He was always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in him.
When we are under the killing of the Lord’s death, His resurrection life is imparted through us into others.
Paul experienced this not merely for his spirituality, for him to live Christ and express Christ, but for the divine life to be activated and imparted into others also.
We need to realize that the putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man (our outer man) so that the life of Jesus would be manifested in us.
Our outer man is decaying, being consumed, being wasted away, being worn out, under the killing work of death; at the same time, our inner man is being renewed with the fresh supply of the resurrection life.
Our preference would be to have a nice environment and that everything would be smooth, peaceful, and sweet; instead, we realize that we are under an environment of sufferings and pressures that work with the Spirit to kill our natural man.
Such an environment is the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the application of the death of Christ to our being.
These two things – the putting to death of Jesus in our environment, and the operation of the indwelling Spirit, work together in us so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us.
The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man (our outer man), comprising our body and our soul.
However, as our outer man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man is being renewed day by day, for the resurrection life works in us to supply us and conform us to the image of Christ.
The outer man is composed of our body animated by our soul; the inner man is the spirit as the life and person with the soul as its faculties, the organ for expression.
Today our outer man needs to be consumed, but the inner man with Christ in our spirit as its person and life needs to renew our faculties, our soul, to uplift them to the point that it is renewed to become a new man, a new creation.
Paul said that he died daily (1 Cor. 15:31); daily he risked death, faced death, and died to self (2 Cor. 11:23; 4:11; 1:8-9; Rom. 8:36).
He was bearing about in his body the killing of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in him.
How can we experience and apply the putting to death of Jesus?
How can we cooperate with the putting to death of Jesus in our environment and with the inward operating Spirit in our spirit, so that our old man may be put to death and the new man may be renewed for Christ to be manifested in us?
The application of Christ’s death and its effectiveness is in the compounded Spirit who dwells in our spirit to dispense Christ’s death and its effectiveness from our spirit to our soul and even to our mortal body (Exo. 30:22-25; Rom. 8:6, 9-11).
The reality and the application of the death of Christ are in our mingled spirit, for the anointing is in our spirit to dispense Christ’s death with its effectiveness into all our inner being (1 John 2:20, 27).
Through the moving of the Spirit in us, the death of Christ is applied to our being.
When we love the Lord and maintain our fellowship with Him, we have the feeling and sensation that something is moving within us; this moving is the anointing, which is the dispensing of the Triune God, of the death of Christ, and of the resurrection of Christ.
Everything is in this dispensing: divinity, Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death, the effectiveness of His death, Christ’s resurrection, and the power of His resurrection.
We need to remain under the divine dispensing, maintaining ourselves in fellowship with the Lord, so that we may experience the putting to death of Jesus through our environment and the inner operation of the indwelling Spirit, and the life of Jesus will be manifested in our body.
When we sense we are about to lose our temper, when we sense we’re in the flesh or in the self, we need to simply turn to the Lord; we need to stop ourselves and pray, so that the moving of the indwelling Spirit may be activated.
When the Spirit is moving and flowing within us, the outer man is consumed but the inner man is being renewed day by day.
The work of the cross is actually applied in the Spirit and through the spirit; it is the Spirit who makes the death of Christ real to us, for the killing power of the cross is the moving of the indwelling Spirit.
As the Spirit moves in us and anoints us with the elements of God with the death and resurrection of Christ, we cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the environment in our spirit, soul, and body.
The moving of the Spirit in us causes us to be willing to cooperate with the indwelling Spirit and to accept the outward environment.
Lord Jesus, we want to maintain our fellowship with You so that we may enjoy the divine dispensing of the elements of God with the death and resurrection of Christ. Amen, Lord, have a way to move in us as the Spirit; move within us and apply the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection. We simply open to You, Lord, and remain in a spirit of prayer, allowing You to renew our inner man even as our outer man is being consumed. Operate in us both the willing and the working for Your good pleasure; make us willing to accept the putting to death of Jesus in our environment and the inward operation of the Spirit. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to receive and experience the dispensing of the anointing Spirit so that we may be renewed and reconstituted to be a new creation in resurrection!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Christian Life,” pp. 437-440, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 3, Job’s Experience of God’s Consuming and Stripping in the Old Testament Being Far Behind That of Paul in the New Testament.
- Further reading on, The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperating with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man (the Christian Life, by W. Lee).
- Hymns on this topic:
– ’Tis not hard to die with Christ / When His risen life we know; / ’Tis not hard to share His suff’rings / When our hearts with joy o’erflow. / In His resurrection power / He has come to dwell in me, / And my heart is gladly going / All the way to Calvary. (Hymns #481)
– The suff’ring of human life, / Effectiveness of His death, / His rising and reigning too / Are all in the Spirit’s breath. / With all these components true / His Spirit in us doth move, / And by His anointing full / The riches of Christ we prove. (Hymns #242)
– Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray, / Put my soul-life all away; / Make me any price to pay, / Full anointing to receive. (Hymns #279)
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