Put aside our Human Life to live by God’s Life to Remain in the Mold of Christ’s Death

For us to be conformed to the death of Christ is to be put in the mold of Christ’s death; this refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His human life so that He might live by the life of God.

As believers in Christ, we need to live as Christ did; we need to imitate His pattern.

We do this not by outwardly trying to copy what He did, speak the same words He spoke, and do the things that He did, but by inwardly enjoying and experiencing Christ so that He may live in us.

The living that pleases God and glorifies Him is the reproduction of the living of Christ in us.

What kind of life did the Lord Jesus live? What kind of living did He have? We should live in the same way.

We can say that the Lord was sinless, He never committed sin, and He never made any mistake; however, there was a secret to His life and living on earth.

From the very beginning of His ministry on earth, He went to John the Baptist to be baptized.

The Lord Jesus was perfect, and there was no sin in Him; however, because He was a man in the flesh, He went to be baptized to put His flesh, the outer man, to death.

He started His ministry by declaring that, as a Man in the flesh, He is good for nothing except death and burial.

And He lived in this way. He remained in the reality of the baptism, always denying Himself to live by the life of the Father, do the work of the Father, speak the words of the Father, and seek the glory of the Father.

Yes, the Lord Jesus did do a lot of great works, even healing others and delivering them from demons, but the principle of His living was clearly seen in John 6:57; He lived because of the Father.

He took the Father as His source, He took the Father’s life as His life, and He took the Father’s mind and thoughts as His.

Here was a man who was perfect in every way but did not live according to His perfect human nature but rather, denied Himself, put Himself aside, and lived because of the Father and one with the Father.

The Lord Jesus lived a crucified life all His life; He did not do what He wanted but what the Father wanted, He did not speak His own words but the words of the Father, and He did not do His own work but what He saw the Father doing.

And at the end of His human life and ministry on earth, He went to the cross and died.

Christ was crucified, died, and then was raised to live in resurrection. Now we follow in His footsteps.

We live the same kind of life that He lived. We learn to live by the life of God and do the work that God gives us to do.

And we are being conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection.

The Mold of Christ’s Death: Continually Putting Aside Our Human Life to Live by the Life of God

The mold of Christ’s death spoken of in Phil. 3:10 refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His human life that He might live by the life of God (John 6:57).

When we read the Gospels, we see this wonderful yet mysterious person, Jesus Christ, who is the pattern for our Christian life and the mold into which we are put to be conformed to His image.

As we read the details of how He lived, what He spoke, how He prayed, how He behaved, and how He reacted to things, we learn the mold.

The mold of Christ’s death refers to our continual experience of putting aside our human life to live by the life of God.

In John 6:57 the Lord Jesus said that, as the living Father has sent Him and He lives because of the Father, so we need to live because of Him by eating Him.

The Lord Jesus did not just live His own life according to His own thoughts and feelings; He lived because of the Father.

In John 5:30 the Lord said, I can do nothing from Myself.

Here was the most extraordinary human being in history who was both God and man, who was perfect in every way, yet who did nothing from Himself.

Today there are many professors and sociologists who do surveys to find out who is the most influential person or the most important person in history; inevitably, Jesus Christ emerges as the most influential man that ever lived.

And this One, Jesus Christ, didn’t do anything of Himself.

In ourselves, we as believers in Christ still can do so many things in ourselves and by ourselves.

We need to have a clear view of the mold of Christ’s death and realize that we need to continually put aside our human life to live by the life of God.

How much we need to be in the mold of Christ’s death so that we may realize that in ourselves, by ourselves, and of ourselves, we can do nothing!

The more is much more interested in our coming to that realization and experience than He is in having us do many things for Him or working out and accomplishing many things.

The greatest work we can do for God and God can do in us is our remaining in the mold of Christ’s death as we continually put aside our human life to live by the life of God.

We need to get to the point at which we can truly say, I can do nothing from myself; I cannot speak my own words but the words that I hear from the Lord.

In John 14 the Lord Jesus said that the words that He spoke were not His words but the Father’s, for the Father sent Him.

He did not take any credit for Himself for what He did and said; He depended on the Father, expressed the Father, and did what the Father told Him to do.

Though He was worthy and perfect, He did not live by this perfect life; rather, He lived a crucified life.

Paul aspired to live the same kind of life; he did not want to outwardly imitate Christ by trying to do what He did and say what He said, but he wanted to be conformed to Christ’s death.

The way for us to live in the same way that Christ did is by being conformed to the death of Christ, to be put in the mold of Christ’s death (Gal. 2:20; 3:1; 5:24).

May we allow the Lord to conform us to His death and may we remain in the mold of Christ’s death, learning to continually put aside our human life so that we might live by the life of God.

Lord Jesus, we want to remain in the mold of Christ’s death by continually putting to death our human life so that we might live by the life of God. Amen, Lord, we just want to live one spirit with You. We want to imitate You and live the same way that You did. Duplicate Your living in us. Conform us to Your image. We open to You, Lord, and we want to remain in the mold of Your death today. We do not want to escape, avoid, or stay away from being conformed to the death of Christ. Bring us to the realization that we can do nothing from ourselves. Grant us the experiences we need for us to realize that we cannot do anything apart from You and that we cannot speak anything except what You are speaking. Grant us to cooperate with You, Lord, so that we may live the same way that Christ lived while on the earth!

We are Being Conformed to the Death of Christ so that His Life can Flow Out

The death of Christ is not only one of the most amazing events that took place many years ago on Calvary; it is also a reality that can be experienced by us as believers in Christ today.

The Lord Jesus did not just die on the cross at the end of His life – He lived a crucified life all throughout His life.

He always put His human life to death so that the divine life within Him could flow out (John 10:10-11, 17).

He came so that we may have life and may have it abundantly.

The life He brought us – which life He Himself is – was confined in the shell of His humanity, and through death this shell was broken so that in resurrection this life may be propagated and infused into us.

The Lord Jesus was living on earth a life that constantly put His human nature to death so that His divine life may be manifested.

As He was living, He was also dying; He was dying to the old creation in order to live a life in the new creation.

This is the meaning of “His death” in Phil. 3:10.

We need to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, so that we may be conformed to His death.

Being conformed to the death of Christ is related to knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

We are being conformed; this is a continual process of being conformed to the death of Christ so that we may know the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

It is by being conformed to the death of Christ that we experience the power of His resurrection and enter into the fellowship of His sufferings.

If we’re not conformed to Christ’s death, we don’t have the base for the experience of Christ, and the divine life within us cannot flow out.

In order for us to experience Christ and the power of His resurrection, we need to be conformed to His death.

To be conformed to the death of Christ we must have the fellowship of His sufferings.

When we participate in the sufferings of Christ, we are ushered into a position to experience the power of His resurrection, and as we experience this, we know Christ.

May we be those who partake of Christ’s sufferings for His Body so that we can be conformed to His death and know the power of His resurrection.

May we be those who live a crucified life, continually putting our natural life to death and living by the divine life so that we may be conformed to the death of Christ and so that His life may flow out through us.

We may not want to talk about the death of Christ and we may be not so open when it comes to experiencing Christ’s death, but we need to realize that the Lord in us wants to live such a life.

It is not us but the Lord who empowers us and takes us through.

It is by the power of His resurrection that we can partake of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, being conformed to His death.

We want to be like the Lord, not just in an outward way, not in the way of imitating Him in our words and behaviour, but by becoming His duplication, by being molded in His death to be conformed to the death of Christ.

If we want to be the Lord’s counterpart, His increase, His duplication, we need to put aside our human life, and our own abilities, and live by the divine life.

May the Lord shine on us in this matter and expose how much we still rely on ourselves and express ourselves.

May we open to Him and let Him expose how self-reliant we are, how much we still believe in ourselves and our capacity to do things for Him.

And may we pray to cooperate with Him so that we may remain in the mold of Christ’s death to be conformed to His death and have His life flow out through us.

Lord Jesus, shine on us in the matter of our daily living. Expose us, Lord, to see how much we still rely on ourselves and express ourselves. Save us, dear Lord Jesus, from trusting in ourselves and living by ourselves. May we remain in the mold of Christ’s death day by day. May we know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Amen, Lord, may our daily living be by denying the self and putting aside our natural life so that we may live by the divine life. Have a way in our being, Lord, that You may flow out Your life through us. We want to always put our human life to death so that the divine life within us may be manifested and flow out. Bring us into the experiences we need in order for You to gain those who are conformed to the death of Christ for the life of Christ to flow out and be manifested!

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, msg. 143, 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:
  – If I’d have Christ formed within me, / I must breathe my final breath, / Live within the Cross’s shadow, / Put my soul-life e’er to death. / If no death, no life, / If no death, no life; / Life from death alone arises; / If no death, no life. (Hymns #631 stanza 2 and chorus)
  – Not by gain our life is measured, / But by what we’ve lost ’tis scored; / ’Tis not how much wine is drunken, / But how much has been outpoured. / For the strength of love e’er standeth / In the sacrifice we bear; / He who has the greatest suff’ring / Ever has the most to share. (Hymns #635 stanza 15)
  – ’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)