We need to be those drinking the humanity of Jesus and being constituted with the Spirit of Jesus.
As believers in Christ we need to experience and enjoy the Spirit of the humanity of Jesus for our gospel preaching, for the church service, for our daily walk, and for the Lord’s recovery.
Many gospel preachers and evangelists have preached the gospel of the power of God, and many people believed into the Lord when they heard their powerful message.
The gospel we preach today, according to Acts 16:6-7, is the gospel which is our living, as we experience and enjoy the Spirit of the humanity of Jesus. In country after country we need to speak the gospel and bring the good news not of power or of divinity but of the humanity of Jesus.
The Spirit of a Man, the man Jesus, is coming to country after country. In every country people want to be powerful, and they associate God with something mighty, powerful, and almighty.
Many say that when we believe in Jesus we will be powerful, for the God we have is mighty and great. However, as seen in Ezek. 1 with the four living creatures who expressed God and carried out His move on earth, they bore the likeness of a man.
Each living creature had four faces, but they collectively had the appearance of a man. The One on the throne is God, but He has the appearance of a man; the ones on earth have different faces, but their collective expression is the face of a man.
For His move and administration, God has the likeness and appearance of a man.
Today we need to preach the gospel to sinners not merely to bring them to the cross but all the way to the throne, for on the throne there’s a God-man, Jesus, our Pioneer who cut the way!
Christ passed through death, resurrection, and ascension, and He was raised to the right hand of God – still as a man!
God’s salvation is not just to bring us to the cross and have our sins forgiven; we are not only sinners saved by grace, but we are being brought all the way to God’s throne!
Hallelujah, there’s a Man in the glory – He is the first God-man, the Firstborn Son of God, and He brings all the saved sinners to the throne! The firstborn Son of God brings the many sons of God into glory.
This is the gospel we are preaching, for man to be saved and brought all the way to the throne to rule with Jesus; He is the universal Head, heading up the whole universe, and we as His Body express Him and represent Him in the universe.
For the manifestation of God’s glory, God needs humanity; we need to enjoy and experience the Spirit of Jesus – the Spirit of the humanity of Jesus – for our gospel preaching, for our service in the church, for our daily walk and living, and for the Lord’s recovery today.
Being one with Jesus in whatever we do by Enjoying and Drinking His Humanity
The move of the apostle Paul and his co-workers for the spread of the gospel was not according to their decision or preference, neither as it according to any schedule made by a human council but by the Spirit of Jesus.
Their work was by the Holy Spirit (who was involved with the Lord’s incarnation and birth) and by the Spirit of Jesus (who was involved with the Lord’s humanity, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension).
The apostles were moving under the direction and guidance of such an all-inclusive Spirit. The Spirit was their schedule, their programme, and their direction.
We all must be one with Jesus in whatever we are doing by taking Him as our humanity; if we can’t take His humanity in any course of action, we had better not do it. We need the humanity of Jesus, and this humanity is in the Spirit of Jesus.
We need to enjoy and drink the humanity of Jesus in the Spirit of Jesus; we need to be proper human beings not by our humanity but by the Lord’s humanity.
If we are a husband, we need to be a husband by the humanity of Jesus; as a wife, we need to be a wife by the humanity of Jesus; as a student, we must be a student by the humanity of Jesus.
If we drink the humanity of Jesus in the Spirit of Jesus, we will have the flow of life that will satisfy others.
If all the saints in the church life would drink the humanity of Jesus in the Spirit of Jesus, there will be a real flow of life in the church life; all the saints and the visiting ones will sense something satisfying, living, and flowing within us.
When we drink of Jesus by enjoying His humanity, it may seem that we don’t have power or might, but there’s a flow of life within us that will satisfy, convince, attract, and eventually help others to turn to the Lord.
This is the spreading of the gospel in the church life; this kind of gospel preaching doesn’t depend as much on spiritual power but on the life that enjoys Christ’s humanity.
When we enjoy the humanity of Jesus, we are produced as gifts for the building up of the Body, and we have the inner flow of life to satisfy others. The only way for us to have the flow of the inner life is by enjoying the humanity of Jesus by drinking the Spirit of Jesus all the time.
We need to open to the Lord again and again and drink of Him as the Spirit of Jesus, enjoying the humanity of Jesus, so that we may cooperate with Him for the spreading of Christ for His propagation.
Our concept needs to change from doing a great work for the Lord to drinking of the Spirit of Jesus for the humanity of Jesus.
Lord Jesus, we want to be one with You in whatever we do by drinking the humanity of Jesus in the Spirit of Jesus. We open to You, Lord, so that we may drink of the Spirit of Jesus for the humanity of Jesus to be wrought into us. Oh Lord, may we have a change in our concept from doing a great work for God based on the power of God, to drinking the Spirit of Jesus to have the humanity of Jesus wrought into us. Amen, Lord, we want to be one with You in whatever we do by drinking Your humanity!
Being Constituted with the Spirit of Jesus to Minister Jesus as the All-inclusive One
The kind of work we do for the Lord depends on the kind of Spirit by whom we are guided, directed, instructed, and constituted.
The apostle Paul was not constituted of the Spirit of God or of the Spirit of Jehovah; in Acts 16:6-7 we see that He was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus.
We are vessels containing the Triune God; as such ones, we need to be filled with and constituted with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is involved with the Lord’s incarnation and birth, and the Spirit of Jesus is involved with the Lord’s humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, life-imparting resurrection, and ascension.
We need to be persons constituted with this all-inclusive Spirit; then. when we come to preach the gospel, we will preach Jesus Christ.
What kind of Spirit guides us? What kind of Spirit constitutes us as we preach the gospel and propagate Christ? We need to be constituted with the Spirit of Jesus and with the Holy Spirit so that we may do the work of Jesus and be the expression of the Spirit.
When the Spirit becomes our constitution, our work will be the expression of the Spirit, and we will do a work for Jesus as the incarnated One with humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
But if we are like the many preachers today, led by a “Spirit of power”, our work may not be the expression of Christ or the work of the Spirit. We need to be filled with the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, and our work will be governed, directed, controlled, by the Spirit of this Jesus.
This kind of work will not only help sinners get saved but produce them as brothers of Christ, the reproduction of Christ to become the increase of Christ in the kingdom of God.
Paul was constituted with the Spirit of Jesus, the all-inclusive Spirit; therefore, he could truly preach Jesus Christ (Acts 13:26-39; 17:18; 28:31).
If the Spirit becomes our constitution, then our work will be the expression of this Spirit; we will do a work for Jesus as the incarnated One with humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
This is what the whole earth needs; most evangelists know God in His divine power with His might, but hardly anyone knows that there’s the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, a Man, who suffered on earth, endured, and was despised.
Yet He, Jesus the Man, was the One exalted by God, and today in the heavens there’s a Man in the glory!
If we today are constituted with the Spirit of Jesus, we will do the work of ministering Jesus as the all-inclusive One and convey Him as such a One to others (see Acts 9:20, 22; 17:18; 28:23, 31).
May we be those who seek to be constituted with the Spirit of Jesus so that we may minister Him as the all-inclusive One to others for the propagation of Christ on earth, so that the kingdom of God may be enlarged!
Lord Jesus, we want to be constituted with the Spirit of Jesus, the all-inclusive Spirit, so that we can truly preach Jesus Christ as the gospel for the propagation of Christ. May the Spirit become our constitution so that our work would be the expression of this Spirit. Amen, Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to drink the Spirit of Jesus with the humanity of Jesus so that we may be constituted with the Spirit of Jesus. Lord, gain us and gain many saints to do the work of ministering Jesus as the all-inclusive One, conveying Him as such a One to others!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 3, “The Spirit in the Epistles,” ch. 7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 7, The Spirit of Jesus.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Jesus’ humanity / God unto us doth give, / As Spirit in His Word, / The food by which we live. / Jesus’ humanity, / With God enriched divine / Is constituting us / In spirit as we dine. (Song on, Jesus’ humanity God unto us doth give)
# In the Spirit of this Jesus, / Every step God took became / Elements that we experience / And apply through Jesus’ name. / Christ’s humanity and living, / With the cross as our release, / Brings in life in resurrection / For our one accord in peace. (Song on, The Humanity of Jesus)
# It’s by calling, drinking, eating / The man Jesus today, / His humanity enjoying / Bruises Satan each day. / To the Lord we must be turning, / All our soul life deny, / To destroy all Satan’s working / And the new man supply. (Hymns #1172)
About aGodMan
