The spontaneous result and issue of our seeing the highest peak of the divine revelation – the fact that God became man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead for Him to have a corporate expression – is that we live the life of a God-man, a duplication of the life the Lord Jesus lived.
One of the aspects of living the life of a God-man is that we must be faithful to give God as food to the members of His household so that we may win Christ as our reward in the coming kingdom (see Matt. 24:45-51). This means that we need to personally spend time with the Lord to be filled with Christ as the living word of God, and we need to minister the word of God and Christ as the life-supply to the believers in the church.
Our function in the church should be to minister Christ to others, that is, to impart Christ as the life-giving Spirit as food to others, and this One is realized and embodied in the word of life (Matt. 24:45; John 6:57, 63, 68; Acts 5:20). But if we are like the evil slave saying in our heart that our Master delays and beat our fellow slaves and eat and drink with the drunkards (the people of the world), we will be cut off from the enjoyment of Christ in the coming kingdom.
Not Mistreating our Fellow Believers but being Kind to them and Considering them More Excellent than us
When the Lord spoke of the evil slave “beating his fellow slaves” He didn’t mean that believers would physically beat other believers but that it may be that we would mistreat our fellow believers (Matt. 24:49; Act 9:4). We must not judge and condemn our fellow believers but be tenderhearted, forgiving them, even as God in Christ forgave us (Luke 6:37; Eph. 4:31-32).
The church is not a law court for us to judge one another or a police station for us to condemn one another. We shouldn’t judge other believers but rather be kind and forgive one another. In the church life, we deal with one another all the time, and offenses are bound to come in; when we are offended, we should not hold on to our grudges but forgive one another and forget.
God in Christ has already forgiven us for many more things that we have to forgive our fellow believers. If we take Christ’s life as our life and live by His forgiving life, we will forgive others. We must not revile or criticize our brothers and sisters but rather consider them even more excellent than ourselves (1 Cor. 6:10; Phil. 2:3, 29).
Many times we may think we’re better than the other saints, and sometimes we may even have a critical attitude or spirit toward others, always having something to say about others….oh Lord Jesus, we need to be careful as we live the life of a God-man in the house of God, the church, and we need to consider the saints more excellent than ourselves. In all lowliness and meekness we need to consider one another more excellent than ourselves.
And even if we are ones who take the lead, we should not lord it over our fellow believers but serve them as slaves to feed them with the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit. The elders are not kings or lords in the church life; they are those who take the lead to practice what the Bible shows us, and they shouldn’t lord it over the saints but become a pattern to the flock in their living and work (1 Pet. 5:3).
Christ is the only Lord, and all the saints (including the leading ones) are slaves to serve the saints. In the world the great exercise authority over the small ones, but among us whoever wants to be great should be everyone’s servant (Matt. 20:25-28). The way the leadership is manifested by the Lord among us in the church life is not in people’s capacity to speak well or in their desire to be leaders but in the ministering of Christ to others.
In Num. 17:8 we see that, out of all the 12 dead dry staffs of the leaders of Israel only Aaron’s staff budded, blossomed, and brought forth almonds; God manifested the authority in His people by the ministry of life in resurrection. Our portion as believers is to enjoy the Lord and serve one another by ministering Christ to one another, and if someone offends us, we need to go to the Lord, deal with the offense, and take the Lord’s forgiving life as our life to forgive and forget the saints, and then minister life to others.
Lord Jesus, save us from mistreating our fellow believers by judging them or condemning them. Lord, may the church life not be a law court or a police station but a home to the saints where we are kind to one another, tender-hearted, and forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave us. Lord, we choose not to judge or criticize others but rather consider the saints more excellent than ourselves. We take You as our lowliness and we humble ourselves not to lord it over others but to serve them as slaves to feed them with Christ!
Fleeing Youthful Lusts and the Company of Worldly People and Pursuing Christ with the Saints
Our normal condition and situation should be that we are slaves faithful to the Lord to enjoy Him and prudent toward the believers to minister Christ as the life-giving Spirit to them, but many times we may not be like this. There’s a danger that we may be the “evil slave” that mistreats his fellow slaves while he eats and drinks with the drunken (Matt. 24:49).
To eat and drink with the drunken doesn’t merely refer to physical eating and drinking with the worldly people but to keeping company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things (see Eph. 5:18). We need to not be drunk with wine but be filled in spirit by enjoying the Lord and speaking Him to others. As to being related to the worldly people, because of our divine nature and holy standing, we should not be yoked together with the unbelievers, and this should be applied to all intimate relationships between believers and unbelievers, not only to marriage and business (see 2 Cor. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:33; cf. Prov. 13:20).
We need to live the life of a God-man, and for this we must flee youthful lusts and any intimate relationships with unbelievers and pursue the all-inclusive Christ with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22). We need to flee the corruption which is in the world by lust and run away from any yoking together with unbelievers and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (which all are Christ Himself), and we will live the God-man life in the house of God.
Instead of keeping company with the worldly people (who are drunk with the worldly things) we should exercise our gift to do the Lord’s service. Each one of us has a gift, and we are responsible before the Lord not to “bury our talent” (as the unfaithful slave did in Matt. 25) but use our gift faithfully for the Lord’s use so that we may be rewarded by Him in His coming kingdom. We need to exercise our God-given gift to minister Christ to our fellow believers in the house of God and thus take care of all the members of God’s house, giving them food at the appointed time.
We need to realize that we are not worldly people – we are God-men, and we should declare this, I am not a worldly person – I am a God-man! I want to live the life of a God-man by allowing Christ to live in me! If we realize that we are God-men, our reaction to things and people will change, we will care more for God’s need than for our need, and our whole Christian life will be revolutionized.
May the Lord gain us as the many God-men who have seen a vision of His economy and are entering into the practice of having a God-man living for the producing and bringing in of a model of a God-man living. May we be those who enter into a new realm where we are the God-men who live by the divine life, by the power of resurrection, and who deny themselves and not care for what they feel but live the God-man life! Such a model will bring in the final revival and this revival will bring the Lord back!
Lord Jesus, we want to flee youthful lusts and the company of worldly people and pursue Christ with those who call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart! Lord, we pursue You as righteousness, peace, love, and faith, and we want to gain You, be filled with You, and minister You to others for their growth in life. Lord, we want to live the life of a God-man! Cause us to realize that we are God-men and thus live not by our natural life but by the divine life in our spirit!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, the brothers’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, pp. 101-104, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Need for a New Revival, week 3 / msg 3, Living the Life of a God-man (1) Being Discipled to Live the Life of a God-man to Be Today’s Overcomers for a New Revival.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, / Holy and beloved, / Inward parts of compassion, / Kindness, lowliness, / Meekness, long-suffering; / Bearing one another and forgiving one another, / If anyone should have a complaint against anyone; / Even as the Lord forgave you, / So also should you forgive. (Song on Col. 3:12-13)
# If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, / He will be a vessel unto honor sanctified, / Useful to the master, / Prepared unto every good work, unto every good work. / A vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master. / But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, / Faith, love, peace with those who / Call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (Song on 2 Tim. 2:21-22)
# Did you know that I’m a God-man? / A three-part man mingled with the Triune God, / And I have a spirit / Where the enemy has no way, no hope, no ground… / I am a God-man! (Song on being a God-man)
Matthew 24 speaks of the evil slave who “says in his heart, My master delays, and begins to beat his fellow slaves” (vv. 48-49a). When we mistreat a fellow believer by criticizing, opposing, or despising him, in the eyes of the Lord, that is to beat him. We have to say a strong word here. We can easily fall into this danger without any kind of realization. We can fall into criticizing the brothers and sisters. Sometimes we may oppose or despise some of the saints. Perhaps we would even fight against them. This is to beat the Lord’s slaves, who are our fellow slaves. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,” p. 101)
Amen. Lord i repent for being critical and judging, lord i really don’t want to be like the cruel people, cross me out lord, i repent with tears to you lord and to the saints who i had been critical of, especially for being religious towards my wife and kids, look to your mercy and grace that nothing would grow out of it