We need a clear vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ being everything to us; such a vision will terminate the influence of culture on the experience of Christ and on the church life, for we will focus on enjoying Christ, taking Christ as our life, and living Christ, instead of living by our culture.
We have to admit that, to a large extent, Christ as the unique element in the church life has been replaced by culture.
Subconsciously and unconsciously, we all treasure our culture and place a high value on our particular cultural background.
Even those in the third-world countries or small countries in some corner of the world, even they highly value their culture and place a high value on their particular cultural background.
If you go to Central America, every country boasts of producing the best coffee in the world, and if you go to South America, the same thing happens – every country boasts of the best coffee.
Even the poorest, third-world country which objectively may not be that important in world history, even think their country is very important.
This is the way we all are; this is why this matter of our culture is so deceptive.
The Lord needs to shine on us and expose our culture; even more, we need to see what Christ is, so that we may turn to Him, enjoy Him, experience Him, and live Him instead of our culture.
By disposition, we may be quite punctual and on time, and we may even say that this is how the Lord Jesus was; He was orderly, punctual, and took care of the details.
What’s the difference between how Christ lived and how I am by disposition, by living out my culture? Oh, Lord!
May the Lord shine on us both to expose our culture and to show us a marvelous vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ!
When we know this amazing Christ in a particular way, we will realize that even the so-called good parts of our culture, all are useless, even a hindrance to us, for they are not Christ.
The one new man is not punctual; the one new man is Christ. The one new man is not orderly; the one new man is Christ.
We need to see the vision of the one new man, the revelation of Christ, and the exposure of our culture.
In the church life, Christ is being replaced by culture more than by anything else. We may think that it is religion that replaces Christ, and we are not wrong; however, religion is part of culture.
May the Lord have mercy on us and unveil us to see our culture, and may we have a clear vision of the one new man and see the all-inclusive, extensive Christ who is our God-allotted portion to enjoy and experience so that He may replace our culture with Himself!
Having a Clear Vision of the All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ, Enjoying Him as our Portion, and Having Him as the Constituent of our Living
The book of Colossians, a small Epistle with no more than four chapters, reveals the all-inclusive, extensive Christ as everything in God’s economy.
In this book, Paul presents seven major aspects of Christ, and the sequence in which these aspects are presented is very particular and meaningful.
First, in Col. 1:9-14 we see that Christ is the allotted portion of the saints; God has allotted the all-inclusive Christ to be our portion after He has delivered us from the authority of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Second, Col. 1:15-23 tells us that Christ is the preeminent One, the Firstborn of all creation, and the Firstborn from the dead; as such a One, He has preeminence both in the old and in the new creation, and He is the preeminent One in all things.
Third, Col. 1:12-29 shows us that Christ is the mystery of God’s economy, and if we want to know God’s purpose and plan, we need to know Christ and experience Christ.
Fourth, Col. 2:1-4 says that Christ is the mystery of God. People may know that Christ is the Savior, the Redeemer, but who knows Him as the mystery of God. We are rooted in Him and we are growing in Him.
Fifth, in Col. 2:8-23 we see that Christ is the body of all the shadows, that is, He is the reality of every positive thing in the universe; He is the all-inclusive Christ.
Sixth, Col. 3:10-11 tells us that Christ is the unique constituent of the one new man; He is all and in all in the new man, and there cannot be any other person or culture in the new man, for Christ is all in all.
The sequence of these seven aspects of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ for our enjoyment and experience shows that the ultimate issue of enjoying Christ as our portion is that we experience Him as the unique constituent of the one new man.
We start with enjoying Christ as our God-allotted portion, as typified by the portion of the good land allotted to each of the children of Israel.
What kind of portion is He? He is preeminent, the Firstborn of all creation, the Firstborn from among the dead, the mystery of God’s economy, the mystery of God, and the reality of all the positive things.
Such a One, such an all-inclusive and extensive Christ, this One is our life! Oh, may we see a vision of this all-inclusive Christ!
Some Christians may speak of Christ being our life, but they forget to dig deeper and see what kind of Christ is our life.
Yes, Christ is our life, but the Christ who is our life is the One who is our God-allotted portion, the preeminent One, the mystery of God’s economy, the mystery of God, and the reality of all positive things.
As we take Christ as life and live by Him, He becomes the unique constituent of the one new man. Only this Christ can be the constituent of the one new man.
How can we get this? It is simply by enjoying the all-inclusive, extensive Christ as our portion, and by taking Him as our life so that we live Him; then, He becomes the constituent of the one new man.
The truth regarding Christ is so deep and profound, but the experience is so simple.
It’s like the human life: we can’t describe our human life, and even the doctors can’t agree on the definition of the human life, for it is difficult to define it.
But we have no difficulty in experiencing our human life; rather, we simply breathe, eat, drink, sleep, and we have a full experience of the human life.
We should not think that, since the truth concerning the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is so high and profound, the experience is unattainable; rather, we should be encouraged by Paul’s word concerning the three main ways to experience this – letting the peace of Christ arbitrate in us, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and persevering in prayer.
Amen, may we see a clear vision of this wonderful Christ being everything to us!
When we see such a vision of the all-inclusive Christ, it will terminate the influence of culture on the experience of Christ and on the church life; the result is that instead of being “cultured people” we will be people occupied with, possessed by, and saturated with Christ.
Lord Jesus, we come to enjoy You as our God-allotted portion – the all-inclusive, extensive Christ! We open to You to enjoy and experience You as the preeminent One, the Firstborn of all creation, the Firstborn from the dead, the mystery of God’s economy, the mystery of God, and the all-inclusive One. Amen, Lord, we take You as our life! Hallelujah, our life is hidden with Christ in God, and we can take the all-inclusive, extensive Christ as our life and live by Him! May You become our all in all for the one new man. Reconstitute us with Yourself, dear Lord Jesus, until You become our unique constituent for the church as the one new man! May we see a clear vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, and enter into the enjoyment and experience of this Christ for the church as the one new man!
Taking Christ as our Everything and allowing His peace to arbitrate and His word to indwell us for the One New Man
The problem in Colossians was not sinfulness as in Corinth, nor was it the law as in Galatians; it was culture.
Some among them were influenced by philosophy, others by asceticism, and still others by religion; there were different philosophies, religious observances, and practices of asceticism that were present, and these replaced Christ.
The solution that Paul gave them, after presenting a clear revelation of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ in Col. 1-3, is three things: the peace of Christ arbitrating in our hearts, the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, and praying unceasingly.
First, we need to have a clear revelation of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, and then we simply need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts (Col. 3:15).
The peace of Christ needs to be enthroned as the umpire in our heart so that it may settle any disputes in our being. We need an inward referee, an arbitrator, to calm down all the differing opinions in our being.
The arbitrator calms down all the opinions which have their source in our culture; when we let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, all opinions are ruled out.
In such a situation of inward peace, the word of Christ can indwell us richly.
The indwelling word of Christ replaces our opinions with the thoughts of Christ conveyed in the word of God. The word of Christ is the Spirit, and Christ today is the life-giving Spirit.
What we receive in us is not dead letters, doctrines, or teachings; by reading and praying over the word of God, we receive the Spirit into our being, and all other things such as philosophies, practices, and observances are being removed and expelled.
Our Christian life is not a matter of following the rules or observing certain practices and ordinances; rather, it is a matter of Christ as the living Spirit.
As husbands, we are not supposed to try to love our wives; as wives, we are not supposed to try to submit to our husbands.
Rather, we should contact Christ and let HIm be our love and our submission.
We need to contact the Lord, see a vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, let His peace arbitrate in us, and allow His word to dwell in us richly.
The result is that we will pray and allow the Lord to be everything we need; we will spontaneously allow the Lord to live in us.
When we open to the Lord and thank Him that He is everything we need, things such as our philosophy, asceticism, and opinions will all be slain; instead of being cultured people, we will be occupied and saturated with Christ.
On one hand, our hearts need to be comforted and knit together unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding; on the other hand, this is for us to have the full knowledge of Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2).
Amen, the more we see Christ, enjoy Christ, focus on Christ, let Him arbitrate as peace in us, allow Him as the word to dwell in us richly, and pray to contact Him, the more He lives in us, and all aspects of our culture are replaced by Him.
He really wants to be everything to us, and He really is all-inclusive and extensive; we just need to enjoy Him, let Him, allow Him and live Him, and He will do in us what we can’t really do – He will become our very living, our unique constituent, for the one new man!
Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are here with us. You are in us all the time, and You are whatever we need. We open to You, dear Lord, and we let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, settling all disputes and eliminating any opinions that are not Christ. We allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly so that we may be filled with the Spirit in our inward being. Amen, Lord, we take You as our everything. Comfort our hearts and knit them together in love unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding so that we may have the full knowledge of Christ! Lord, amen, become everything to us. Live in us! Become our unique constituent for 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, msg. 32 (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:
– All is in Christ; / God’s dear Son is Lord of all. / Jesus Christ is life’s perfection, / Perfect love and perfect light. / Son of God, the true reflection / Of the Father’s radiance bright. / All the treasures of God’s riches, / All the secrets of His wisdom, / All in Christ are hid away. / Let His name be praised today! (Hymns #515)
– I’ve found the One of peerless worth, / My heart doth sing for joy; / And sing I must, for Christ I have: / Oh, what a Christ have I! (Hymns #510)
– God intends in everything / Christ should have preeminence, / And that such a Christ of all / We should now experience. (Hymns #495)
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