We need to Put Off the Old Man with the Former Manner of Life and Live the Church Life

For the one new man, we need to put off the old man, that is, put off the former manner of life, for the old man with all that it includes is a damage to the church life, and the old manner of life (our culture) is a hindrance to our enjoyment of Christ and living the church life.

This week we come to a new topic in our morning revival, Being Renewed Day by Day with the Fresh Supply of the Resurrection Life to Replace Our Culture and to Become the One New Man in Reality by Becoming as New as the New Jerusalem.

In view of the Lord’s return to rapture the manchild and take the firstfruits, we need to be the one new man, which is the man-child, and we should not live in the old man or in our old manner of life.

The rapture of the manchild, God’s dispensational instrument, is the total bringing forth of the one new man in reality.

But today we still live so much in the old man, according to our old manner of life, and this is a big hindrance to the Lord advancing in us and our enjoyment of the Lord in the church life.

Especially the good aspects of our culture, these have the authority of darkness behind them, for they hiddenly replace Christ in our experience, and the authority of darkness has a way to come into the church life when we live according to our culture.

The highest products of culture are aspects of the authority of darkness by which Satan controls people, for anything that is a substitute for Christ becomes the authority of darkness to control us.

Humanly speaking, if an unbeliever doesn’t have culture, he will be wild; culture can preserve unbelieving mankind.

However, once we have received Christ, we need Christ to replace our culture, for the more we live out our culture, the more we live under the authority of darkness.

Culture has its source in man leaving God’s presence and thus inventing a culture to take care of his needs and replace God as his everything.

Culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior, patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Oh, Lord!

Whenever we are apart from Christ, when we leave God’s presence, we live in our culture; however, when we contact the Lord, we remain in God’s presence, and His presence is our traveling map to bring the new man to full fruition in every way.

No matter where we’re from, we have our culture, based on how we grew up. When we grew up, it seemed that everything was great; now if we look back, it was a rough place and tough times.

It is striking that, no matter who we are, when we are apart from Christ, we boast of our culture; we are proud of our culture, no matter the background, country, and social status we come from. Oh, Lord!

May we allow Christ to replace our culture and may we put off the old manner of life, putting off the old man with its old way of living, so that we may put on the new man!

We need to Put Off the Old Man with the Former Manner of Life and Live the Church Life

In Eph. 4:22 we are told to put off, as regards our former manner of life, the old man; the old man refers to the life of the soul, our natural life in the soul (Rom. 6:6).

It doesn’t refer to our soul itself but the life of the soul; the old man is our very being, which was created by God but became fallen through sin.

Paul tells us that our old man has been crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves. Amen!

May we realize this and experience this daily. On one hand, Christ was crucified for us as our substitutionary sacrifice on the cross; on the other hand, we ourselves were crucified with Christ – our old man was crucified with Him.

Ezek. 18:20 says that the soul who sins shall die; that’s the verdict from God for all those who break the law.

So Christ came to be our Substitute on the cross, and according to Isa. 53, all our iniquities were laid on Him, for He died to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

His doing that satisfied the demands of the law. Not only that, but we were also crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), and now we live with Christ living in us.

The old “I” was crucified with Christ; this satisfied the demands of the righteous demand of God’s law; now in resurrection, we live one with Christ, even live Christ.

In regards to the old man, we need to realize that the old man with all that it includes is a damage to the church life.

Whenever the old man lives, there cannot be the church; what we are, what we have, and what we do in our old man makes the church life an impossibility.

The church life cannot be lived in the old man, for the old man cannot live but the old manner of life, not the church life. In the church as the new man there cannot be Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, for Christ is all and in all.

There cannot be any such person and any such living in the new man: there is no possibility for any natural person in the old man; there is NO ROOM for any natural person in the old man. Amen!

In the church life, we need to come to the realization that there’s no room for us here; there’s no room for the natural man in the church life – there’s room here only for Christ in me, Christ living in me and through me, and for us to be united, mingled, and incorporated with Christ.

If we continue to live according to the old man, the church life will be seriously damaged, even terminated.

However, if we put off the old man with its former manner of life, we will have a marvelous church life; such a church life will be a miniature of the New Jerusalem, and in such a church life it will be impossible to have division.

When the old man lives and is active, there are problems and even divisions in the church life; when the old man is terminated and put off, and we no longer live in our old manner of life, we have a wonderful church life.

Every local church should be a miniature of the New Jerusalem, filled with the tree of life, the river of life, and the light of life.

Every local church should have as its characteristics the enjoyment of God the Father – the light of life, God the Son – the tree of life, and God the Spirit – the river of life.

Every believer should be a little New Jerusalem; instead of being a Mount Sinai with rules, regulations, ordinances, and laws toward ourselves and others, we should be those filled with life, those flowing out life to others.

May we be those drinking the water of life, eating Christ as the tree of life, and enjoying the light of life shining from God. Eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life. Amen!

Lord Jesus, we put off, as regards to our former manner of life, the old man, and we put on the new man, the church life, where Christ is all and in all! Amen, Lord, thank You for the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be annulled! Hallelujah, we should no longer serve sin as slaves, neither should we live our former manner of life, for in the church life we experience putting off the old man with its former manner of life, and we enjoy Christ as our everything! Amen, Lord, we open to You to drink the Spirit as the river of life, eat Christ as the tree of life, and enjoy the Father’s shining as the light of life! May our church life be a foretaste of the New Jerusalem, and may each one of us be a miniature of the New Jerusalem! Amen, Lord, for the sake of the church life, we put off our old man with its former manner of life, and we put on Christ and the church!

Realizing that the Old Manner of Life is a Damage to the Church Life and Desiring to be Renewed by Putting Off the Old Man

May the Lord shine on us and cause us to realize that the old man with all it includes is a damage to the church life, and may we have a holy aspiration and desire to be renewed by putting off the old man!

This expression “old manner of life” implies a great deal, for in every country of the world and among every people there’s a characteristic manner of life.

Think about it: in the place where you live there’s a particular manner of life, in the country you live there’s a manner of life, and even in the next city over there’s another manner of life.

People live in one way in London (UK) and in a different way in Newcastle; people live in one way in New York City and in a different way in Houston (Texas, USA).

From state to state, from city to city, from village to village, people have a different manner of life.

The former manner of life includes everything related to us – it is the entire living and expression of the old man.

For the church life, we need to put off whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we have.

We need to put off our very way of living and our culture (Eph. 4:31-32; Col. 3:12-14).

The truth is that, the stronger our culture is, the more critical we will be of others, for they don’t do things the way we do them, and we think our way is the best way. Oh, Lord!

In Philippians, we see how Paul rejected his culture so that he may gain Christ, so that he may be found in Christ, pursue Christ, lay hold of Christ, and take Christ as his goal and everything.

He even testified that he is what he is by the grace of God (1 Cor. 15:10); his very existence had nothing to do with his previous culture but it was due to his enjoyment of God in Christ as the spirit for his enjoyment.

Such a living was to build up the Body of Christ as the one new man consummating in the New Jerusalem.

Even in our labor, we should labor more abundantly than others, yet not us but the grace of God which is with us; our life and work should be by the enjoyment of God and not in our old manner of life.

What damages the church life is doctrines, ordinances, and the old man; if we have ordinances, the church life is gone, if we are occupied with doctrine, it is impossible to have the proper church life.

If we continue to live according to the old man, the church life will be seriously damaged, even terminated. Oh, Lord! For us to put on the new man, we first must put off the old man with his former manner of life.

What is our old manner of life? To some it was gambling, to others, it was eating particular kinds of food, and still to others was following certain sports and doing much traveling to see the world.

Our former manner of life has many things and many aspects. If we truly desire to be renewed and live the life of the new man, we need to first put off the former manner of life; this is to put off the old man in a practical way.

For us to bury the former manner of life is virtually the same as burying the old man.

On one hand, the old man has been crucified with Christ; on the other hand, we need to put off the old manner of life so that we may be renewed and live the life of the new man, the church life.

May the Lord save us from holding on to our old manner of life.

May we not think that “the world moves on, we need to live as those who live today, otherwise, we are old-fashioned”; it’s not about being old-fashioned, it is escaping the evil current of today’s satanic system by putting off the former manner of life so that we may live the church life.

It is good to have many prayers and prayerful conversations with the Lord regarding this, telling something along the line of,

Lord Jesus, we want to be renewed for the church life. We want to live the life of the new man. Amen, Lord, we put off the old man with its former manner of life, for we realize that whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we have in the old man is a damage to the church life. Oh Lord, we do not want to hold to our old manner of life; we do not want to be swept along by the current of this age. May our living be the living of the one new man and not the former manner of life, which damages the church. Shine on us, Lord, and expose the living of the old man, so that we may repudiate it and put it off. We desire to be renewed, dear Lord, and live the new life of the new man, the church life, for the building up of the church as the new man consummating in the New Jerusalem!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 25, 71 (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 4, Being Renewed Day by Day with the Fresh Supply of the Resurrection Life to Replace Our Culture and to Become the One New Man in Reality by Becoming as New as the New Jerusalem.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – My old person has been nullified; / With my Lord upon the cross he died; / Now in nothing shall he be applied; / He’s dead to me. / My new Person in my spirit dwells; / Springing in me as a bubbling well; / Flowing out until each part He fills / With abundant life. (Hymns #1180)
  – There’s only room for Christ, / The One who’s all in all. / In Him, the natural man is null / And has no place at all. / In Christ, there is no Jew, / No Greek, no slave, no free, / Barbarians and Scythians— / Crossed out entirely. (Song on, One Person and One Way)
  – Everything we are was ended, / Terminated on the cross, / Only man in God ascended, / Man in Adam suffered loss. / Hallelujah, we’re elated, / Our old man was terminated. / Hallelujah, Hallelujah, / Hallelujah, Amen! (Hymns #1088)