Hallelujah, the one new man is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of the One who created Him!
When we set our mind on the things above, we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind – this is the renewing of the new man.
God desires to gain the one new man, which is the full-grown man in Eph. 4:13; we all need to arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Amen, until we all arrive!
We will not arrive at the same time, for each one of us is at different stages of life, each one of us has our own race to run before the Lord, and each one of us offers the Lord the cooperation that He can.
As we all grow in life, as we contact the Lord and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ for Him to be our life, grow in us, and live in us, we are in the process of arriving at a full-grown man.
And our growth in life is actually our being renewed unto full knowledge; the more we grow in life, the more we are renewed. Hallelujah!
Our being renewed daily, our growth in the divine life, it is all for the one new man, for the Lord to gain a corporate man to express Him and represent Him, thus fulfilling His intention in creating man! Amen!
When we speak of the one new man, one very particular thing that Col. 3:10-11 says is that in the new man Christ is all and in all.
The unique constituent of the one new man is Christ; the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the unique constituent of the one new man, and He is replacing our culture with Himself.
Our culture is the totality of the living of our natural man; it is the old man living, expressing himself, and doing the things that he has always been doing.
The things the old man does and his expression with his living may not be sinful, but it is not Christ; this is the old man that we need to put off so that we may put on the new man.
We need to put off the old man with all its ways and its living, and we need to put on the new man with the new kind of living, the church life, the living of Christ.
How can we put off the old man and put on the new man? The first thing we need to do is have a vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, the One who is our life to be our living in a practical way.
When we see this One, when we’re infused with Him and saturated with Him, He reconstitutes us with Himself, and our living becomes His living.
When Christ lives in us, we are in the one new man practically; when we live Christ, we put on the new man, and God gains His expression on the earth.
But when we still live in our culture, doing things according to our customs, upbringing, background, and religion, with our natural philosophy, our national characteristics, and our traditions, we still live in the old man, and this mars the temple of God, rather than building up the church.
The New Man is Being Renewed unto Full Knowledge by our Seeking the Things Above
On one hand, the new man is new; on the other hand, it is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him (Col. 3:10).
It is not merely “in the full knowledge” but “unto full knowledge” that the new man is being renewed.
This can be likened to the children growing up and being renewed by growing unto knowledge; they don’t grow by means of knowledge but rather, as they grow and develop, their knowledge grows.
We need to be renewed unto full knowledge by growing in the divine life every day.
The more we grow in life, the more we are renewed unto full knowledge, and the more we are conformed to the image of Christ.
How do we grow in life? How can we be renewed unto full knowledge to be the one new man? It is by seeking the things which are above.
Again and again, we need to set our mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth. When we set our mind on the things which are on the earth, we are being made old, and we live in the old man.
However, when we set our mind on the things which are above, we experience the renewing of the new man.
By default, our mind is set on the things which are on the earth; everything and everyone around us is part of the things which are on the earth, and when we do not exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, we live in the old man.
When we seek the things which are on the earth, we don’t experience the renewing on the new man.
If we all seek the things which are on the earth and do not set our mind on the things which are above, how can the new man grow? Oh, Lord!
May we seek the things above, not the things which are on the earth, so that the new man may be renewed unto full knowledge.
After becoming a believer in Christ, we need to seek the things which are above, setting our mind on the spirit and fellowshipping with the Lord to allow Him to infuse us with what He is, what He has done, and what He is doing.
When He infuses us with Himself, we live a heavenly life on earth; when we are under the divine dispensing of what Christ is by our setting our mind on the things which are above, the new man is being renewed unto full knowledge.
But if we are like most of the Christians today who set their mind on the things on earth, there is no renewing of the new man, and there’s no possibility of having the life of the new man in a practical way.
May we all learn to set our mind on the things above so that spontaneously the new man would grow and be renewed in us.
When the new man grows and is renewed within us, we experience the life of the new man. Our desire will be not only for the church in our locality to be built up, but for all the churches to be built up, to be blended together, and for the new man to come into being in a practical way on earth.
May we be willing to set our minds on the things above and thus open the way for the new man to increase within us; when we do this, we will experience the life of the new man in a practical way.
When we do not set our mind on the things above, the new man cannot be renewed unto full knowledge, we do not grow in life, and the spirit cannot spread into our soul. Oh, Lord!
The more we see Christ, the more we enjoy Christ, the more we experience Christ, and the more we let Christ live in us, the more we set our mind on the things above, and the more the new man is being renewed unto full knowledge!
The result is that the practical life of the new man comes out and is practiced among us.
When we all have the revelation of Christ with the adequate experience of Christ, the new man will appear among us in a practical way, and we shall realize the life of the new man (Col. 3:10-17; Philem. 1:10-16).
Lord Jesus, we come to You to seek the things which are above, not the things which are on the earth, for our life is hidden with Christ in God! Amen, Lord, may we experience the growth and development of the new man within us. May the new man grow in us until we live out the practical life of the one new man. Lord, we set our mind on the things above so that the new man within us may be renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of the One who created Him. Renew us, Lord. Keep us in the renewing process so that the new man may be renewed and lived out. May we have the revelation of Christ with the adequate experience of Christ so that the new man would appear among us in a practical way!
The New Jerusalem will be the Final Consummation of the One New Man: today we have a Foretaste of this Enjoyment!
Hallelujah, the one new man is not something only for this age but for eternity, for it consummates in the New Jerusalem!
If we today live in the reality of the one new man, for eternity we will continue living as the one new man.
If Christ is living in all the saints, then only He will be in the new man, and all the saints – whatever their nationality may be – will live Christ (Col. 3:11; Phil. 1:21). Amen!
Then, in a real and practical way, Christ will be all the members of the new man.
May we be those who are in the process of being renewed unto full knowledge today by growing in life and setting our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is. If we do this, we will have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem is not something different from the new man; the New Jerusalem is the one new man in an eternal sense.
All believers will be part of the New Jerusalem, but only those who allow Christ to replace their culture and make them part of the one new man can have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem today.
The final consummation of the one new man is the New Jerusalem (Eph. 2:15-16; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 21:2, 9-10).
When we have become the New Jerusalem, we will enjoy the life of the universal one new man.
Today we may enjoy a foretaste of this enjoyment. How? It is by allowing the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to replace our culture, to constitute us with Himself, and to make us all part of the one new man in reality and practicality. Amen!
When we set our mind on the things above and have the new man within us being renewed unto full knowledge, we have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem, the eternal life of the one new man.
It all starts with a vision: we need to see the vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, and we need to allow Him to reconstitute us with Himself.
When we see the vision of the all-inclusive Christ, when we realize how all-encompassing and extensive He is, and that this One is our life, we will have an aspiration, for such a vision motivates us.
Without having a vision of such a Christ, we are complacent, and we are not aspiring for something.
But when the Lord has mercy on us to show us a vision of this wonderful, preeminent, all-inclusive, extensive Christ, we will aspire to take Him as our life and live Him.
And this aspiration will produce genuine prayer. Paul concluded the book of Colossians with prayer; genuine prayer comes from the aspiration produced by the vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.
There are such things as non-genuine prayers – formal prayers, perfunctory prayers; however, genuine prayers will produce a change in our living.
Seeing a vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ will produce an aspiration in us, and this aspiration produces genuine prayer, which will produce a change in our daily living.
May the Lord grant us to see the vision that Paul saw, and may He uplift our vision and consciousness of the one new man, so that we may remain in the process of being renewed unto full knowledge, until we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!
May we have a foretaste of the full taste we will have in the New Jerusalem – may we allow the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to replace our culture!
May we allow Him to reconstitute us with Himself and make us all part of the one new man in reality and practicality!
Lord Jesus, grant us to have a vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, so that we may have an aspiration to live Christ and be in the reality of the one new man. Amen, Lord Jesus, we allow You as the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to replace our culture and constitute us with Yourself. May You have a way to replace anything that is a substitute for Christ in our being. We give You the freedom, dear Lord, to constitute us with Your element and to make us part of the one new man in reality and practicality. Amen, Lord, have a way in us! Uplift our vision and our consciousness of the one new man! Gain the one new man in reality and practicality on earth today in all the local churches!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, ch. 62 (Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture for the One New Man (2020 Thanksgiving Conference), week 3, The Constituent of the One New Man — the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Thus we must put off the old man / That we may put on the new; / Thus, renewed in mind and spirit, / We will bear God’s image true. (Hymns #823)
– Until we all arrive / At the oneness of the faith / And of the full knowledge / Of the Son of God, / At the oneness of the faith, / At a full-grown man, / At the measure of the stature / Of the fullness of Christ, / Until we all arrive. (Scripture song)
– Only Christ, our Person, must remain; / From our aims, our goals we must refrain, / Till the church be only Christ Himself / Built up as the one new man, / Thus fulfilling God’s great plan of— / Mingling fully with the human race / To obtain a proper dwelling place, / ’Stablishing His kingdom’s rule and grace; / Over all the earth. (Hymns #1180)
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