The more we are and live in the mingled spirit – in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit – the more we will be set free from ordinances in order to bring forth the new man. Hallelujah!
How can we be the one new man? It is not merely by seeing what the Lord has done on the cross and by realising that in ourselves we have so many ordinances, but by living in the mingled spirit and being in the spirit! Amen!
Almost anything we do apart from being in the mingled spirit can become an ordinance. An ordinance is a way of living and worship – which can be quite good and scriptural – that is replacing Christ and is not done in the mingled spirit.
When we live in the spirit, everything is clear, everything is sweet, and we all are at peace and in the Body. But when we do not live in the mingled spirit, even though we may do some activities in the church life, we may simply keep some ordinances.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the Jews paid more attention to the keeping of the Sabbath and to practices related to eating than to caring for the essence of the law, which is to love God and to love man.
But the Lord came and, on one hand, He fulfilled the moral law of God while, on the other hand, He smashed and destroyed the ordinances.
Furthermore, after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, it is so easy to set up some ordinance that is according to the Bible and in line with what the Lord has shown us, but the Lord wants to destroy and abolish all the ordinances.
In His flesh on the cross Christ destroyed all the ordinances, but in our experience we may create new ordinances and thus separate ourselves from the other saints in the Body.
Simple things such as preferring to be with those that eat with fork and knife and speak English rather than those who eat with chopsticks and do not speak English, this can separate us.
We need to learn to drop our concepts, drop our habits, drop our ordinances, and just be one with the Lord and with the saints in the Body.
This can be done only when we live in the mingled spirit. The reality of the Body of Christ is in the Spirit with our spirit. The reality of putting aside all the ordinances is in the Spirit with our spirit.
When we live in the spirit, we have no problem whether the sisters wear a head covering or not, we do not have any opinion related to the way of baptising people, and we do not insist on calling on the Lord or pray-reading the Word as an outward practice in the meetings of the church.
Oh, may we be those who live in the mingled spirit habitually so that we may be in the reality of the one new man as we live the church life!
The more we Live in the Spirit, the more we’re Set Free from Ordinances to bring Forth the New Man
The more we are in the mingled spirit, the more we live in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit, the more we shall be set free from ordinances in order to bring forth the one new man (see Eph. 2:18, 22; 4:23-24; 6:18).
Our only hope is to live in the mingled spirit, to be in spirit, and to do everything in spirit.
How do we put on the new man? First we need to put off the old man, that is, be willing to put off the old man with its ordinances, and then we put on the new man by being renewed in the spirit of our mind.
The new man has been created, and we are here for the bringing forth of the one new man; the way to do this is by the mingled spirit.
The cross abolished all the ordinances in order to give place to the Spirit, in whom we have access unto the Father (Eph. 2:18). Through Him, through Christ, we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.
We need more experiences of overcoming our differences and ordinances by living in the mingled spirit.
When we visit a new place and we see that they are different than us, they may practice things differently than us, we simply need to turn to our spirit, exercise our spirit, and we will be one in spirit, loving one another in the Lord.
The reality of the one new man is already in our spirit; we need that reality to spread into our mind, emotion, and will.
The Spirit has to seep out of our spirit and into our mind. Yes, the Spirit is flowing and growing, but in actuality in our experience many times we put strong walls and hindrances to the flow, so the Spirit can at most seep drop by drop into our mind.
Because of the strong ordinances in our mind, there’s a big blockade, and the Spirit can’t flow – it can only seep into our mind. Oh, may we allow the Spirit to spread in our mind.
May we no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the vanity of our mind. May we no longer walk according to our ordinances, our way of thinking and evaluating others, and our opinions.
May the Spirit be able to grow in us so that we may be renewed in the spirit of our mind!
If we have ordinances, we don’t have the Spirit, but if we have the Spirit, we shall have no ordinances; we are set free from ordinances by living in the spirit. Actually, the church life is not composed of practices and ordinances but rather, of the living Spirit.
The Spirit is for the church; the Spirit produces the Body and is the element of the Body, and when we are in the mingled spirit, we are in the reality of the Body.
The Spirit is for our regeneration, sanctification, transformation, life, power, and many spiritual items, but above all the Spirit is for the Body, for the Body is the mark and the goal of God’s economy.
We have been baptised in one Spirit into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13), and there’s one Body and one Spirit (Eph. 4:4).
The church is the reprint of the Spirit, and the more we have and enjoy and live by the Spirit, the more we are in the church; but when we’re not in the spirit, we are not in the church in reality.
For us to live the proper church life, we must drop all our ordinances and focus on one thing: living in the mingled spirit, living in the mingling of God and man. Only when we live in the mingling of the divine Spirit and the human spirit can we live the church life and be the one new man in reality.
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to put off the old man with its ordinances and put on the new man by being renewed in the spirit of our mind! Amen, Lord, may the Spirit in our spirit seep into our soul, spread into all the inward parts of our being, and renew us and transform us for the one new man! We open to You, Lord, that You may grow in us, renew us in the spirit of our mind, and saturate us more! We choose to live in the spirit and be in the mingled spirit so that we may be set free from ordinances and the church would be built up as the Body of Christ to be the one new man!
Living the Church Life with No Ordinances by Living in the Mingling of the Divine Spirit with our Spirit
How do we live the church life today? Do we just come together and go through a set of activities or practices, or do we live in the mingled spirit as we meet?
The church is not an organisation or a religion; the church is not merely the assembly of the believers in Christ or a social gathering of the Christians in a certain area.
The church is the Body of Christ; the church is produced by the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit. When the divine Spirit comes into our spirit, we become part of the church.
So when we meet together we should not focus on or care for outward things but focus on and care for the mingled spirit. We shouldn’t be as concerned for the arrangement of the chairs as for the exercise of our spirit.
Our focus in the meeting is not primarily whether the sisters wear a head covering or not; our focus is being in spirit.
Arranging the chairs in a particular way, playing the piano or the guitar in the meetings, or sisters wearing a head covering, all these may be fine when they are done in the spirit.
However, when we insist on these things, when we insist on certain practices or ways of doing things, is to make them ordinances. Anything that we do in the meetings becomes an ordinance if we are not in the Spirit.
On His side, Christ abolished all the ordinances, and He broke down the middle wall of partition (Eph. 2:14); on our side, however, it is so easy to create certain ordinances based on good and scriptural practices, thus separating ourselves from others. Oh Lord Jesus!
We need to learn to live the church life with no ordinances but by living in the mingled spirit, the mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit.
Amen, we’re set free from ordinances whenever we live in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit!
What God cares is not outward things but the divine Spirit with our human spirit, and this mingled spirit spreading into all the inward parts of our being to renew us and transform us.
In God’s eyes “neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters” (Gal. 6:15). What matters to God is a new creation, the Christ begotten in us and growing in us to become the one new man.
What matters in our contact with others is not that we would bring them into certain good practices or going to meetings, but that Christ would be ministered to them and wrought into them.
We simply need to live in spirit and touch the Lord in the spirit, and we will minister life to others. The only thing that matters is the new man as the new creation, the masterpiece of life with the divine nature.
To be a new creation is to have Christ wrought into our being (Eph. 3:16-17); in our meeting others and fellowship with them we need to be able to help them have more Christ wrought into them.
When Christ is realized through the Spirit in our spirit, we become the new creation, the new man (Gal. 6:18; Eph. 4:23-24).
Lord Jesus, we want to live the church life with no ordinances by living in the mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit. May we realize that a new creation is what matters, and may we learn to live in the mingled spirit to drop any ordinance and just seek to minister Christ to others. Amen, Lord Jesus, may Christ be realized through the Spirit in our spirit so that we may be the new creation, the new man! We give ourselves to You, Lord, to live in spirit and walk in spirit for the church as the one new man to come into existence practically!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 581-582 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 3, The Creation and Bringing Forth of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– In our daily life and all we are and do and think and say, / How we need a deeper mingling just to gain the Lord each day; / Lord, we give ourselves completely just to take the mingled way. / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199)
– 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)
– 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)
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