There should be No Differences among the Believers and the Churches in the One New Man

Praise the Lord, in the new man there are no cultural distinctions between members, there should be no differences among the believers or among the churches, for Christ is all and in all as the unique constituent of the one new man! Amen!

One of the most hidden problems and hindrances to our enjoyment of Christ and going on in the church life is our culture; our culture includes our beliefs, our world view, our philosophy, our customs, our habits, our forms, our norms, our ways of living and worship, and our traditions.

Basically, our entire living in the old man – the all-inclusive old man with its living, manifestation, and expression – is culture.

And we build up our culture from the very moment that we are born. We pick up customs, we form habits, we perfect a certain way of living, we have certain forms and particular norms, we have a way of living and worship, and we have our own traditions.

If we look at all these, we may say that they are not wrong or evil; however, when these become our living instead of us living Christ, then this is wrong.

As believers in Christ, what should fill us and be expressed through us is not our culture but Christ.

This doesn’t mean that we have to drop our culture and simply follow Christ in a mysterious, ascetical way somewhere in the desert…rather, it means that we need to live Christ, experience and enjoy Christ, and be constituted with Christ so that Christ is lived out through us for the church as the one new man.

In His mercy, the Lord exposes our culture; especially as we meet with the saints, as we gather together, as we serve with the saints, and as we blend, our culture is exposed.

At the same time, however, we have an all-inclusive, extensive Christ, and He is so rich to us.

When we come together and enjoy the Lord, focusing not on our outward differences but on the indwelling Christ who is preeminent, all-inclusive, and extensive, we will be filled with Christ, saturated with Christ, and constituted with Christ.

The result is that what we live out will be Christ and not our culture.

Our living is something spontaneous and effortless; if something is deliberate, that is not our living but a performance or an outward practice that has nothing to do with our living.

Our living day by day should be Christ living in us, and the only way Christ can live in us is if He becomes the unique constituent of our being.

We live out what we are inside; if we are constituted with Christ, if Christ fills our being and is our unique constituent, then we can live Christ.

But if we do not enjoy or experience the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, if we don’t turn our heart to Him and we don’t have Him wrought into our being, the spontaneously we live out our culture, and this becomes a hindrance to our growth in life and going on with the Lord in the church life.

In Spite of Outward Differences, there is on the Earth in Practicality the One New Man created in Christ Jesus

In Colossians Paul first identifies a hidden problem plaguing the church in Colossae, mentioning that things such as philosophy, Gnosticism, asceticism, and religion were part of this problem called culture.

Then, he presents to us a revelation of the all-inclusive, preeminent, extensive Christ, and he tells us that this One is our life to be the unique constituent of the church as the one new man.

If he would stop here, we would have no idea what the one new man looks like in reality.

But praise the Lord, in the very last chapter of Colossians, toward the end of the chapter, Paul gives us a glimpse of the one new man in practicality on earth in that Mediterranean area.

He greeted the saints, the church, the homes, the serving ones, and the different saints; he specifically greeted certain people and certain houses and churches, and he encouraged the saints in Colossae to read the epistle to the Laodiceans and vice versa.

His greetings with many personal notes and specific details related to people, houses, and churches show that there was on earth the practicality of the one new man created in Christ Jesus.

Yes, Christ created the one new man in Himself on the cross, and it was brought forth in His resurrection.

However, in spite of the outward differences existing between the saints in the church life, there is on earth in practicality the one new man created in Christ! Amen!

The existence and living of the new man in a practical way is a matter of tremendous significance.

The Roman Empire tried to impose a certain culture in all the provinces that they occupied; they attempted to unify the people culturally by using the Greek language, but they were not successful.

It is not possible to merely join people together and impose a certain culture on them, for there still are differences among the nations, races, and social classes.

But praise the Lord, in spite of all the differences among nationalities, races, and classes, there was at Paul’s time on earth in a practical way the one new man created in Christ Jesus!

Yes, there were many local churches, and they did have fellowship among themselves, but at the same time, there was the one new man in a real and practical way!

Today it is the same; according to Colossians 3:11, in the new man, there is NO possibility for various cultural distinctions to continue to exist.

Paul is emphatic; he didn’t say that there should not be these distinctions – he says that there CANNOT be anything other than Christ.

In the one new man, there are no cultural distinctions, for every part of the new man is constituted with Christ.

So in the church life today we need to realize that, in the church, as the one new man there’s no room for distinctions based on our region, country, culture, or nation; there is no place for race, nationality, culture, or social status.

In the church as the one new man, there is only Christ; everything besides Christ is put aside and not emphasized, for Christ is all in all in the new man.

We need to realize that, in the church as the new man, there is no room for regional distinctions, cultural distinctions, or national distinctions; in the church as the new man there’s no place for any race, nationality, culture, or social status.

Because Christ is the unique constituent of the new man, there should be no differences among the believers who are part of this new man, and there should be no differences among the churches (1 Cor. 4:17; Rev. 1:12, 20; 22:16). Amen!

This doesn’t mean that we practice outward conformity to certain rules or regulations; rather, we all enjoy Christ, are constituted with Christ, and live Christ, and everything else fades away, for Christ is all and in all in the church as the one new man!

Hallelujah, Christ is all and in all in the church as the one new man! Praise the Lord, in the church as the one new man there CANNOT be Jews, Greeks, slaves, free men, barbarian, Scythian, circumcision, uncircumcision, but Christ is all and in all! Amen, Lord, may we realize that in the one new man there cannot be American, British, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Malaysian, or Polish – for Christ is all and in all! We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to enjoy You, experience You, and allow You to become our unique constituent for the one new man until all our differences disappear and You gain the one new man! Amen, Lord Jesus, gain the church as the one new man where there are no differences among the believers or among the churches!

There should be No Differences among the Believers and the Churches in the One New Man

We praise and thank the Lord that He has brought us in the church life in His recovery, where He can speak to us, He reconstitutes us with Himself, He builds us up together, and He is also blending us together.

In the church life, we have many kinds of saints from all kinds of backgrounds, and we all are learning to drop our differences by enjoying Christ and living Christ.

One thing that we realize in the church life is that it is shameful for a church in any locality to isolate itself from other churches, for we cannot exist on our own.

All believers are part of the new man, and all the churches are part of the new man.

Some may have the attitude of standing apart from the other local churches so that other churches would not interfere with their affairs or trouble them; this is a wrong attitude.

Instead of isolating ourselves from others, we should have a consciousness of the one new man, not breaking the new man into pieces but seeking to have Christ as our all in all.

Those who don’t care for other churches in other places and who don’t blend with other localities lack the sense, the consciousness of the one new man.

May we be those who do not isolate ourselves from our fellow believers, and may the church in our locality not isolate itself from churches in other localities!

And the way we do this is by praying over the word of God, especially over the book of Colossians.

In Colossians we see that Paul’s heart wasn’t just for the saints in Colossae; he cared for the one new man, and even though he knew many saints, he greeted many of them and blended them together in the new man.

Especially in Col. 4:7-17, we see how Christ is the constituent of the saints and of the church, and there’s a vivid picture of the living of the new man portrayed before us.

We need to be conscious of the one new man, having no isolation and no differences between the saints and between the churches.

All the churches are the one new man today; may we not be sectarian either as believers or as local churches, but may we allow the Lord to saturate us and become our unique constituent for the one new man.

Three very practical ways for us to have our differences and tendency to isolate removed is by letting the peace of Christ arbitrate in us, allowing the word of Christ to dwell in us richly, and persevering in prayer.

We need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in us, deciding any dispute in our being and settling any discord; what the peace of Christ says and decides, we agree, and this peace needs to be enthroned in our being.

Christ has abolished on the cross all the cultural ordinances and differences, and He terminated them (Eph. 2:15); He made peace and He Himself became our peace.

He did this to create in Himself one new man and thereby make peace; this peace needs to arbitrate in us.

When our being is filled with the peace of Christ, we can allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.

We need to let the word of Christ inhabit us; this word will renew us, saturate us, and infuse us with God’s thoughts, His mind, His element, and His very being.

And the way we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in us and the word of Christ to dwell in us richly is by persevering in prayer.

We need to pray back to the Lord all these matters, persevering in praying the word of God back to Him, both opening to Him concerning our situation and condition, and taking Him at His word and asking Him to do in us according to His word. It is good to tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, thank You for dying on the cross to abolish all the cultural ordinances and differences. Thank You for creating in Yourself one new man, so making peace. Amen, Lord, may Your peace be enthroned in our being and arbitrate in our heart. We allow Your word to dwell in us richly until we are saturated and permeated with Your very being. Dear Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You: arbitrate in us as peace and inhabit us as the word, and have Your way to remove any difference and tendency of isolation. May we have the sense, the consciousness, of the one new man, and may we enter into the practical experience of the living of the one new man!

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, pp. 260-278 (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:
  – Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! / The Christ who’s all within me lives. / With Him I have been crucified; / This glorious fact to me He gives. / Now it’s no longer I that live, / But Christ the Lord within me lives. (Hymns #499)
  – First, Thou to the cross didst go, / Our old man to terminate; / Then, in resurrection, come, / Thy new man to germinate. / Now Thou in our spirit art, / As the inner man within; / As our heart becomes Thine home, / Thou dost live and rule therein. / Consummate Thy central work / That we’d match Thee perfectly; / Thus, the church would builded be— / One new man eternally. (Song on, Lord, Bring Forth the One New Man)
  – 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)