God’s Economy is to Work Christ into us; the New Man is Christ Spreading and being Enlarged

Hallelujah, the new man is Christ spreading in us and being enlarged in us!

It is amazing to realize that Christ is all and in all in the new man, and that God’s intention is to make Christ the center of His economy and make Him everything to the believers; the new man is one in Christ and with Christ, and we are one by Christ and through Christ.

In Eph. 2:15 we are told that in Christ the one new man was created on the cross; He made peace between the Jews and the Gentiles, and in Himself He created the two into one new man. This new man is what fulfills God’s original intention to express God and represent Him.

The first man Adam was created according to God’s image outwardly to express Him and represent Him, but he failed God; the one new man was created according to God inwardly, with His life and nature, and will fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

On one hand we are part of the one new man by being in Christ, and on the other, we need to practically and experientially be in Christ so that we may be part of the new man in reality.

Apart from being in Christ, we can’t be part of the new man; in ourselves we don’t have the divine essence, which is the element of the new man. Christ Himself is the essence of the new man; in Himself He created the two – the Jews and the Gentiles – into one new man.

The one new man is a new entity, and this one new man is the church, which is Christ. This is so wonderful yet so mysterious.

On one hand the church is the Body of Christ for His move on earth; on the other, the church is the one new man for His living and expression on earth. In the church as the one new man Christ is all and in all; we have no place, and Christ needs to become us and we need to become Him so that we may be the church as the one new man.

God’s intention in His economy is that Christ would be everything to us and in us; it is crucial for us as believers in Christ and part of the new man to see that God wants nothing but Christ, and that in the eyes of God nothing counts except Christ.

In God’s economy, Christ is the center; God wants to make Christ everything to us the believers. The new man is one in Christ and one with Christ, and we all are one by Christ and through Christ.

When we live Christ and are in Christ, taking Christ as our life and person, we are in reality living out as part of the new man. May the Lord gain the reality of the one new man in all the local churches on earth today!

God’s Economy is to Work Christ into us; the New Man is Christ Spreading and being Enlarged

God’s intention in His economy is to make Christ the center of His economy, and also to make Him everything to us, His believers (Col. 1:18; 2:17). In God’s economy Christ is the unique center; God’s intention is to make Christ everything to us.

Christ is both theirs and ours; we have been called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hallelujah, in His economy God’s intention is to make Christ our everything and give Christ to us as our portion and to work Christ into us!

God’s economy is nothing else but God working Christ into our being; the all-inclusive Christ – who is the reality of every positive thing in the universe – is the One whom God wants to work into our being.

Christ is both God and man; He as the eternal God became incarnated, and He is both the real God and the real man, possessing all the divine attributes and the human virtues.

Christ is the reality of all the human virtues such as love, light, grace, humility, patience, power, mercy, wisdom, righteousness, and holiness. And God’s economy is to work the all-inclusive Christ into us!

Paul’s yearning was that Christ would be formed into the believers, and for this he travailed in birth (Gal. 4:19). The rich all-inclusive Christ is being wrought into our being by making His home in our heart.

For Christ to be everything to us, we need to be nothing to us. This has to actually happen in our life and our being, otherwise our being will hinder others; but if we allow the Lord to gain us, we will open the way for others also to get in. We need to pray to the Lord every day,

Lord, work Yourself into me today, permeate me, and saturate me a little more today, so that at the end of the day there would be a little more God in me than when I woke up in the morning. Make Your home in my heart for the one new man. Be wrought into me more today. May the all-inclusive Christ as the center of God’s economy become my everything in my daily living!

In the one new man there’s no natural person – there’s no room here for any natural person (see Col. 3:10-11).

In the church as the one new man there’s no room for American, Chinese, Japanese, British, German, Polish, Dutch, Swiss, Romanian, Russian, or Korean; in the new man there’s room only for Christ. In the one new man there is only one person – the all-inclusive Christ.

The one new man therefore is just Christ – it is Christ spreading and Christ enlarged. We simply need to be open vessels to the Lord.

Our focus should not be the necessary outward activities that we need to practically take care of; rather, we need to focus on our secret hidden life with the Lord, having a secret history with Him, and pay much attention to the deepest contact with the Lord one-on-one.

Nothing can and should replace our personal, intimate, sweet time with the Lord every day. Meeting with the saints or praying with the saints cannot replace our time with the Lord, for in this time we can open to the Lord and allow Him to be enlarged a little more in us so that He may spread a little more in our being.

As we open to the Lord in His word under His light in a personal way, He has a way to work Himself into us and be enlarged into our being for the one new man. In our time with Him we can tell Him,

Lord, we love You! We don’t know how to be with You – we can’t see You yet you see us, so train us how to be with You, how to come to You, how to enjoy You, and how to open to You. Make Yourself at home in all our heart. For the sake of the Body, the bride, and the one new man, grow in us and make Your home in us a little more today. We just want to be a component of the one new man, a member of the Body. Grow in us for the Body. Be enlarged in our being for the Body. Lord, we pray for the growth of the Body, the increase of Christ in the Body!

We are One in Christ and with Christ as the New Man by being in Christ and by Living Christ

Some say that each believer has to take Christ as their person, thus making Christ one person in me and another person in others; it’s as if He is in me as my person, and He is in another as his person. This is not the right understanding.

In the one new man we all have ONE person – Christ is our person. The one new man is uniquely one – it is nothing like the United Nations or like the ecumenical movements we see today. The new man is not a new organizations or a “spiritual United Nations”.

Rather, the new man is Christ spreading and Christ being enlarged in all the believers. This kind of oneness is not something ecumenical; rather, the new man is uniquely one – one with Christ and one in Christ.

In the one new man there’s no Jew, Greek, circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man, but Christ is all and in all!

We are one not by our being nice to one another or by being gentle or humble; we are one in Christ and through Christ – we are one because Christ is in us and in all the believers. Christ is in me, Christ is in you, and Christ is in all the saints; therefore, we are one.

This oneness is not merely tolerating one another because of Christ; we are one as the one new man by being in Christ and by living Christ. If we are not in Christ and we don’t live Christ, we are through with the new man.

And if we are in Christ but we don’t live Christ, we have a problem related to the new man. How can we be one in Christ and with Christ as the one new man? It is by being in Christ and by living Christ.

If what we live out is not Christ, we cannot be the new man; but if we are in Christ and we live Christ, our living and being will be part of the new man. The Lord knows to what extent we are all the same inwardly.

Outwardly we are created different – we are all created in a certain way, in a certain race, with a certain complexion, having a certain background, etc. But what the Lord wants to gain is one person being formed in all His believers.

We all have our God-created characteristics which are being transformed for His expression, but inwardly we are all the same. Inwardly we are becoming Christ, even though outwardly we may look different.

This is why we need to let Christ be enlarged in our being and increase in us, so that by His expanding in us, we may be in Him, He may be in us, and we may live Christ for the one new man.

Lord Jesus, spread in us and be enlarged in us for the one new man. May we be in Christ and live Christ so that we may be one in Christ for the new man. Amen, Lord, gain one person being formed into all Your believers – the Christ who becomes the person of the believers, the Christ who is spreading in the inner being of all the believers! Lord Jesus, we love You. We want to live in You and live by You, so that we may be in the reality of the one new man.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 5; “The One New Man,” ch. 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Church (2017 fall ITERO), week 8, The Status of the Church – the New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # When all Thy members self forsake, / Thy glorious Body, Lord, is known; / When of Thy Person we partake, / The one new man is shown. / The church life is the one new man / In every local church expressed; / Thy Body is a corporate man, / One Person manifest. (Hymns #1220)
  # So, Lord, I give my heart to Thee today, / That it may be Thy home in every way, / A place for Thee to come and settle down, / And all Thy grand recovery work to crown / In one new man. (Hymns #1179)
  # For this cause Your Person, Lord, / We take and stand in one accord; / All the members self forsake, / And of the Body-Christ partake. / We in Christ as one new man / Now come forth to take this land. / For this cause Your Person, Lord, / We take and stand in one accord. (Hymns #1230)