Our Natural Ability Must be Brought Into Resurrection to Become Useful to the Lord

Paul’s aspiration in Phil. 3:10-11 was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, … if perhaps he would attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. He wanted to gain Christ and to be fully brought into resurrection.

As believers in Christ we need to have a deep realization that our entire natural being needs to pass through death and into resurrection so that God may use us and may be properly expressed through us. The Christian life is a life of “dying to live”, a life in which we allow the cross of Christ to operate in us so that anything natural would be put to death and we would be brought into resurrection in more aspects of our being.

Death is not the end; the cross is not the end – resurrection follows! Our natural capability and capacity, after going through death by the application of the cross of Christ, will be brought into resurrection – and they will be even enlarged and strengthened! The more we are dealt with by the cross of Christ, the more we become capable, wise, and able – in resurrection, in Christ, in the will of God!

May the Lord shine on us and show us that our natural ability must be brought into resurrection so that it may become useful to the Lord!

The Natural Ability vs. the Resurrected Ability

What is the difference between natural ability and resurrected ability? How can we differentiate between the ability which is natural and the ability which has been broken by the cross? Brother Witness Lee in his book, The Experience of Life (ch. 11), points out seven very helpful points of difference between the natural ability and the resurrected ability.

1. The natural ability is selfish, and its schemes and devices are for the sake of self – it’s all for the self, for the person who does this or that, and the self is expressed! The resurrected ability has been broken and is not for the self, has no element of the self, and has nothing of the self in it – it is all of God, for God, and unto God; God is the One being expressed.
2. The natural ability is mixed with the elements of flesh and temper – when one does something for the Lord, you can see his temper and his flesh also manifested! The resurrected ability is devoid of the flesh – it bears the stamp of death, and the flesh is not there because this ability is fully in resurrection!
3. The natural ability involves craftiness and manoeuvring – it is not pure, but inherently tries to manoeuvre others and build up something for itself, being crafty. The resurrected ability does not scheme – it has no hidden intention or motive, but is pure and simple, doing the will of God.
4. The natural ability contains pride and makes oneself feel capable, resulting in boasting and self-glorification – when you do something in your natural ability you will feel more “empowered” and more able, and you boast about it, desiring glory for yourself. The resurrected ability is not proud and does not boast in itself – it doesn’t seek its own glory, and neither is it proud!
5. The natural ability is not under the control of the Holy Spirit and is extremely daring and doing anything – God is not the one in control but the natural man is very bold, outgoing, daring, and doing things that are not under the leading of the Spirit. The resurrected ability is controlled by the Spirit and doesn’t dare to act according to one’s wishes – it bears the stamp of death, and it cannot initiate things which God doesn’t initiate.
6. The natural ability has no regard for the will of God, acting entirely according to self-will – the self desires to do something, and the natural capacity doesn’t even consult God or seek His will. The resurrected ability is for the will of God – it is limited by the will of God and desires only God’s will to be done.

I don’t know about you, but when I read these and prayed over them, I was so exposed. I am so natural! All these characteristics expose my natural man. It is easy to be introspective and analyze yourself, seeking to see what’s wrong in you, trying to fix it…but we just need to come to the Lord in His light and ask Him,

Lord, where am I regarding these contrasts? Lord, is my service in the church and my way of serving in the church natural or in resurrection? Lord, You know, and You see my real situation. Lord, for the sake of the church, bring me fully into resurrection! For the sake of the building up of Your Body, bring our entire being into resurrection!

Being Gradually and Continually Resurrected

In our Christian life we are in the continual process of being gradually resurrected. We were once dead in sins and offenses, and Christ came into our heart to regenerate us (Eph. 2:1-2). But this is not the end – our entire natural being needs to gradually pass through death and resurrection so that we would be transformed and conformed to Christ’s image.

Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, scatter all my night, Lord, and everything make bright, Lord, for this I pray to Thee!

We are all in this process today, just as Paul was in his lifetime, of “no longer I but Christ” (Gal. 2:20). The cross operates in us and brings us into the enjoyment of the God of resurrection – this is the ministry of the new covenant (2 Cor. 1:4-6; 4:7-12).

Though we are saved, we still trust in ourselves so much – especially in the things of God. We trust in our natural capacity, our wisdom, our ability to understand and explain God’s word, in our spiritual attainments, in our “good heart for the Lord”, etc.

But God is faithful to bring us through the experience of death and resurrection so that we may trust only Him, we may allow Him to live in us, and we may let Christ be expressed and work through us.

He came first and resurrected our deadened spirit (Eph. 2:5-6), He is now resurrecting every part of our soul (Rom. 8:6), and He will resurrect even our physical body (Rom. 8:11) until our whole tripartite being is filled with God’s life and released of anything old and natural!

Today we are in the process of having our soul with its capacities and abilities being resurrected by going through death and resurrection. The goal and destination of our Christian life is resurrection – even the out-resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:11).

We are still natural now, basing our trust and living and service on our natural constitution – we are what we are until we will become something different, and we are where we are until we will be somewhere else. But resurrection will be a reality to us – we will reach the stage of no longer trusting in ourselves but in God who raises the dead!

We are now in this process, pressing on, loving the Lord, failing and repenting, allowing the Lord to shine on us, learning to live a crucified life in resurrection, until our whole being is brought in resurrection for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Lord Jesus, for the sake of Your Body, bring our being wholly into resurrection. Lord, we don’t want to stop You in our natural being, and we don’t want to hinder You in our natural constitution. Give us the experiences that we need so that we may be in resurrection. We pray for one another, Lord, and especially for those taking the lead among us in all the local churches – bring us fully in resurrection!

References and Further Reading

• This sharing is inspired from brother Ron Kangas’ sharing and portions in, The Experience of Life (ch. 11), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 2 entitled, Dealing with the Natural Constitution in Order to Be in Resurrection.
• Further reading:
  # Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit” (pp. 135-142).
  # Phil. 3:11 and footnote 2 on “out-resurrection from the dead” (in the Recovery Version of the Bible).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # We need to work out our own salvation / By obeying the inner operating God. / We need to be conformed to the mold of Christ’s death / By the power of His resurrection that we may attain / To the out resurrection from the dead.
  # Oh, may I know this resurrection life, / In every kind of death its pow’r outpoured, / In my experience ever realize / This life is nought but Christ my living Lord.
  # Pressed out of measure, pressed beyond all length; / Pressed so intensely, seeming beyond strength; / Pressed in the body, pressed within the soul, / Pressed in the mind till darksome surges roll. / God is my hope and God is my joy; / He is the resurrection life I enjoy.