We believers in Christ can never participate in Christ’s sufferings for accomplishing redemption, but we must lose our soul-life through death to participate in His sufferings for the producing and building of the church, so that we may enjoy eternal life in resurrection. Amen!
On the positive side, we have been captured and captivated by Christ; He is the most wonderful One, and the excellency of the knowledge of Christ is something that we treasure to the extent that anything else pales when compared to Him.
On the negative side, as we follow the Lord and pursue after Him as His loving seekers, we need to deny the self, lose our soul-life, and take up our cross, following in the Lord’s footsteps.
The Lord Jesus lived a life of denying Himself and taking the will of the Father as His will, the mind of the Father as His mind, and the feelings of the Father as His feelings.
He was fully one with the Father in His living, and He denied Himself – even though He was perfect in His humanity – to live by the life of the Father.
As believers in Christ, we imitate the living of the Lord Jesus not in an outward way by asking ourselves, “What would Jesus do right now?” but in an intrinsic, organic way by becoming His duplication as we let Him live in us.
We pay the price of losing our soul life so that we may gain Christ.
Many people today say that they know God and they serve God, but do we really serve God today as believers in Christ?
Those in Judaism say they serve God by going through certain rituals, adhering to a particular diet, and by behaving in a certain way and uttering certain prayers.
Many in Christianity say they worship God and serve Him, but they do things in their natural man and for themselves, with the result that they get the glory and appreciation.
With the Lord Jesus, however, things are very different; He never sought His own glory but rather, He did the work of the Father, spoke the words of the Father, did the will of the Father, and sought the glory of the Father.
We serve God and follow the Lord Jesus as our pattern, not by doing something outwardly but by inwardly contacting Him and living one spirit with Him.
In His economy, God desires that we would turn to Him in our spirit, touch Him in spirit, and therefore give Him more ground in our being so that He may grow in us, increase in us, and spread in our being.
Thank the Lord that He has provided us with the ministry of the age which opens up the word of God so that we may see what is on the Lord’s heart and be fully one with Him for Him to gain what He is after in us.
We cannot Participate in Christ’s Sufferings for Redemption but we Should Participate in His Sufferings for the Producing and building up of the Church
In Phil. 3:10 Paul said that he wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
Christ’s sufferings are of two categories: those for accomplishing redemption and those for producing and building up the church.
Christ Himself has completed the sufferings for accomplishing redemption, and no one else can have a share in these sufferings.
Only He is the perfect God-man, sinless, who is qualified to pay the highest price and offer Himself for our sins.
He offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit, and we now can partake of His wonderful redemption.
In Matt. 27:46 we see that the Lord Jesus on the cross bore all our sins on the tree; He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself.
The Father judged Him on the cross in our place, and the judgment even reached His inward parts.
The Lord exclaimed, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
These are the sufferings that Christ had for the accomplishing of redemption, and we can never understand or partake of such sufferings.
Only Christ is the One qualified to have such sufferings.
If you read Isa. 53 you will see that He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, despised by all men, yet He bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrows.
We ourselves considered Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but He was wounded because of our transgressions and was crushed because of our iniquities.
The chastening for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we have been healed.
These were the sufferings that Christ experienced for our redemption, and we as believers in Christ can never participate in these sufferings.
We cannot participate in Christ’s sufferings for redemption, but we must take part in the sufferings of Christ for the producing and building up of the Body (Rev. 1:9; 2 Tim. 2:10; 2 Cor. 1:5-6; 4:12; 6:8-11).
Christ as the Lamb of God suffered for redemption (John 1:29), but He as the grain of wheat suffered for reproducing and building (12:24).
We can never share in Christ’s suffering for redemption, but we can and should all participate in His sufferings for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
The sufferings for producing and building the church still need to be filled up by the apostles and the believers (Col. 1:24), and we can all participate in this.
Only Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but we all can be the many grains of wheat who choose not to be glorified outwardly but to die, one with the Lord, for the divine life to be reproduced and imparted into many others for the increase of God in humanity.
The Lord Jesus as the grain of wheat fell into the ground and died, and we all were regenerated in His resurrection to be the many grains of wheat.
We now follow Him to the ground to die so that the divine life may be reproduced and increased in man.
The one grain did not complete all the sufferings that are needed for the building up of the Body.
Now we as the many grains, the reproduction and duplication of Christ, need to participate in His sufferings for the church.
Even as the Lord lost His soul-life and died for the producing and building up of the church, so we today need to learn to lose our soul-life and enjoy the eternal life in resurrection so that the church as the Body of Christ may be built up.
The sufferings that we have today are not all for the building up of the church; some of them are due to the fact that we make mistakes.
We may go over the speed limit and may get a fine, or we may offend someone and they may be upset with us and cause us to suffer; these are sufferings due to our mistakes.
However, there is a kind of sufferings that are for the producing and building up of the church, and we have a share in this.
May we remain open to the Lord in our daily experience so that we may participate in His sufferings, one with Him, by denying the self and losing the soul-life, so that the church as the Body of Christ may be built up.
Lord Jesus, thank You for suffering for us on the cross to bring us a wonderful redemption! Praise You, Lord, for being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Thank you for suffering on the cross for our redemption. Thank You for falling into the earth to die as a grain of wheat so that Your divine life may be imparted into us to make us the many grains, Your duplication and reproduction. Amen, Lord, we want to participate in Your sufferings for the producing and building up of the church by following Your pattern to fall into the earth to die. We want to follow You to deny ourselves, lose our soul-life, and take up our cross so that we may live by the divine life, not by our natural life. Amen, Lord, gain many of the saints to participate and share in the sufferings of Christ for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ! May we all have a share in this with You so that we may fill up on our part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for His Body, which is the church!
Participate in Christ’s Suffering for His Body by Losing our Soul Life to Live by the Divine Life
If we read John 12:24-26 in the context of this chapter we will be quite surprised to see the Lord’s reaction to what what happening.
After He raised Lazarus from the dead, many of the Jews believed into Him as the Christ, and many were looking for Him to see Him, to the extent that some came even from other countries to see Him.
Even the Greeks were there, the Jews from the Greeks, and they wanted to see Jesus.
This was truly a golden time for the Lord, for reports concerning Him went far and abroad.
However, the Lord’s response was not to build a kingdom and a following; He said that He’s like the grain of wheat falling into the ground to die so that many grains may be brought forth.
The Lord was not interested in the acclaim or warm reception of man; He was interested in dying, taking the opportunity to die. This is so that He may bear fruit.
The way He takes is not outward glory and appreciation but death and resurrection.
We need to learn this lesson for us in our church life and in our Christian life, even in our work for the Lord.
We should not be those who seek success in a kind of outward way but be willing to fall into the ground to die.
The Lord Jesus took the lead to die, and now we follow Him.
Where He is, that’s where we go, and the way He took, we also follow.
In our natural man we may aim for success, accomplishment, and glory; the Lord, however, is aiming for the ground.
The Lord Jesus as a grain of wheat that fell into the ground, lost His soul-life through death so that He might release His eternal life in resurrection to the many grains (John 10:11, 15, 17-18).
He laid down His life for us, his sheep. Now we follow Him to do the same.
When the grain of wheat falls into the ground, the shell is broken so that the life kernel within may grow, be released, and come forth.
The one grain – Christ Himself – did not complete all the sufferings that are needed for the building up of the Body; rather, we as the many grains must suffer in the same way as the one grain suffered.
We can participate in Christ’s sufferings for His Body because we have the resurrection life of Christ in us.
We have the empowering, the strengthening to enter into this kind of experience.
We can participate in Christ’s sufferings for His Body by putting off our soul life so that the Lord’s divine life may be released.
Our mind needs to be renewed so that we may realize that the Lord wants to bring us into the same experience of suffering as the Lord had by putting off the soul life, not caring for the acclaim of men, and not seeking glory or approval from man but being willing to deny the self for the Lord’s life to be released.
All this requires the paying of a price.
The Lord took the lead to pay the price of putting off His soul-life and He denied Himself so that the divine life of God may be released.
Today we are the many grains, the continuation and duplication of Christ as the one grain; we need to also lose our soul-life through death so that we may enjoy eternal life in resurrection.
This requires us to pay the price of our soul-life.
We are very self-reliant people, for we’re trained that way; the Lord, however, is looking for a people who will learn to lean on Him and depend on Him.
He wants to gain those who depend on the Lord to the extent that apart from Him they can do nothing.
He came to lay down His life for us, the sheep, and He chose to do this, for it was in His power to do so.
He imparted this same kind of life into us.
May we follow the Lord so that we may serve Him and walk with Him on this way, the way of losing our soul-life and living in resurrection.
May we not care about the success of our work and anything that is outward.
It is true that we need to have good meetings, gain an increase in the church, and have good coordination for the carrying out of the church life, but above all, we need to lose our soul-life so that we may live out the resurrection life of Christ.
We may know that we need to lose our soul life, but how much did we enter into this experience in our daily life and in our church life?
The nature of the Lord’s recovery is inherently and essentially a matter of death and resurrection, not a matter of outward activities.
May the Lord save us from just having an outward performance and behaviour and bring us deeper with Him so that we may participate in Christ’s sufferings for the producing and building up of the church.
The Lord really wants to do a work inwardly in us so that we may be a people that matches Him and are prepared to be His bride.
For this, however, He needs our cooperation; He needs us to follow Him to death by the power of resurrection so that His divine life may be manifested and imparted for the building up of the church.
Lord Jesus, we want to participate in Christ’s sufferings for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ. We are not here for our own benefit, glory, success, or interest; we are here for You and for Your benefit, Your glory, Your success, and Your interest. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to follow You and imitate You in our daily living. We do not want to focus on the success of our work or the acceptance of others but on losing our soul-life so that the divine life may be imparted and manifested. Amen, Lord Jesus, gain your glory and increase by our experience of the cross so that the resurrection life may flow out and be imparted into others. Make us willing, Lord, to lose our soul-life through death so that we may enjoy eternal life in resurrection. We want to follow You, dear Lord, to the ground to die so that You may have a way to dispense Your life in resurrection for the increase and building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray M. in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1547-1548, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Enjoying Christ as Revealed in Philippians (2023 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 5, entitled, Knowing the Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings and Being Conformed to His Death.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Pressure by foes, and pressure from our friends; / Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends; / Pressed into knowing none to help but God, / Pressed into loving both the staff and rod. / Pressed into liberty where nothing clings, / Pressed into faith for hard and hopeless things; / Pressed into life, a life in Christ the Lord, / Pressed into life, the life of Christ outpoured. (Hymns #730 stanzas 2-3)
– ’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 stanza 2)
– Once Thou wast the only grain, Lord, / Falling to the earth to die, / That thru death and resurrection / Thou in life may multiply. / We were brought forth in Thy nature / And the many grains became; / As one loaf we all are blended, / All Thy fulness to proclaim. (Hymns #203 stanza 3)
About aGodMan
The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3507, by Witness Lee
John 12:24, footnote 1 on “falls into the ground”, Recovery Version Bible