Take Christ as our Person in Making Decisions to have the Living of the New Man

We need to take Christ as our person in making decisions so that our living may be the living of the new man; when Christ becomes our person in our daily living, we live the genuine church life.

The Lord Jesus is not only our Savior and Redeemer; He is also our life and even our person.

He came into us as life and, even more, He came into us as our person.

He who has the Son has the life, but he who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have the life.

Do we have the life of God? Yes, we believers in Christ have the life of God, but this life is in His Son; we have the Son of God, the very person of Christ, in our spirit, and because He is in us, we have life.

We need to have a change in our concept. Many times we ask the Lord to give us more patience or endurance, but what He wants to give us and the only thing He gives us is Christ, who is our patience and endurance.

We need to take Christ as our person and, when we do this, we will live because of Christ, even live Christ, for Christ as the person lives in us.

The apostle Paul was a pattern to us in the matter of taking Christ as his person (1 Tim. 1:16; Gal. 1:16a; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17a; Phil. 1:8; 2:5; 2 Cor. 2:10).

He was shown mercy that even in him, the foremost of sinners, Jesus Christ might display all His long-suffering for a pattern to those who are to believe on Him unto eternal life.

It pleased the Father to reveal Christ, the Son, in him; Paul was not just captivated by a heavenly vision but he received the Son of God, the person of Christ, into him at the time of his conversion.

So he testified that, in his daily living, he was crucified with Christ, and it was no longer Paul who lived but it was Christ who lived in him.

And the life that Paul lived in the flesh, he lived in the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself up for him.

What a testimony: no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me!

This is the extent to which Paul took Christ as his person – it was no longer Paul who lived but Christ, the person, lived in Paul, and Paul still lived, yet not him but Christ who lived in him.

And in relation to the saints, Paul travailed in birth with the saints until Christ is formed in them, and he prayed fervently that Christ would make His home in their hearts through faith.

He longed after all the saints in the inward parts of Christ Jesus. And his desire was that the saints would allow the mind of Christ be in their mind, so that His person becomes their person.

When he forgave anything, he forgave in the person of Christ, in the very index of the eyes of Christ. What a pattern!

We should not say that Paul did it but we can’t; we need to realize that even as he was shown grace by the Lord to live such a life, so we can live – yet not us, but Christ who lives in us.

The Total Person of the Old Man must be Put Away and we must Live by Christ, our New Person, for the Practical Existence of the One New Man

How can we take Christ as our person today? First, we need to see that our old man has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6).

We do not need to “crucify our old man” but rather, see the fact that we have been crucified with Christ and the old man is on the cross.

Seeing that the old man has been crucified with Christ, we need to put away the total person of the old man and live by our new person, Christ (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:22, 24; 3:17).

The old man has been crucified, but Christ as the new man lives in our spirit.

Eph. 2:15 tells us that Christ abolished in His flesh the law of commandments in ordinances so that He might create in Himself the two – the Jews and the Gentiles – into one new man.

He abolished all the ordinances, all the habits, the ways of worship, and the ways of living, everything has been abolished.

On the cross, everything that divides us and makes us different from others has been terminated.

For example, the British have their own ordinances, for they eat at a certain time and in a certain way, and there’s a particular food that they eat.

The Americans also have their own ordinances, and the Chinese have their own way of eating, their own food, etc.

We like to eat a particular kind of food, and we hate when other people eat different food, which many times to us seems to be the wrong kind of food, even defiling food and unhealthy food. Oh Lord.

These ordinances divide God’s people.

May we realize that our old man in its totality has been crucified, and all the living of the old man with all the ordinances and customs has been put on the cross; it is terminated.

Everything that divides us has been crucified and terminated, and in Christ, we are a new man.

Therefore, we need to apply this to our daily living by putting away the total person of the old man and living by Christ, who is our new person; this is for the practical existence of the one new man.

Even such ordinances or practices as pray-reading the word, as good and helpful as it may be, should not be something that divides us or sets us aside from others who do not pray-read but want to fellowship with us.

Can we get together with saints who do not practice pray-reading and fellowship with them, without paying attention to the fact that they don’t pray-read the word of God?

Or do we let this ordinance divide us and set us aside?

If we take Christ as our person, we will nullify and put aside all the ordinances, for we put away the total person of the old man and we live by Christ, our new person.

May we realize that our former person has been crucified, and may we no longer live in that person, by that person, and with that person.

Our standard for being a Christian shouldn’t be right or wrong, good or bad, but a person – Christ Himself.

This means that in our daily living and in the activities we do in the church life we need to pay attention not to doing the right thing but making sure it is Christ who does things in us.

The crucial matter is not what we are doing but who is doing it.

This includes our speaking in the meetings, our preaching the gospel, and our visiting the saints; also, this includes our taking out the rubbish at home, and our cleaning the house – who does it, is it I or is it Christ?

We need to declare one with Paul that it is Christ who lives in us.

We are nothing and rejoice to be nothing, but Christ is our person, and He lives in us and does everything in us.

We forsake sinful and worldly things, and even more, we forsake our self and put away the total person of the old man, and we live by Christ, our new person, so that the new man would come into existence practically.

Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ, and we should no longer live by that person! Hallelujah, our old man has been crucified with Christ, and we now live to the Lord and in the Lord! We exercise our spirit, Lord, and we stand on the fact that we have been crucified with Christ to live by our new person, Christ! We take You as our person. We want to put away the total person of the old man with all its living, habits, and ordinances, and we put on Christ, the new man, to have the practical existence of the new man. Be the One who lives in us, Lord. Be the One who speaks in us and does everything in us. We don’t want to just do the right thing or be good; we want to take Christ as our person and live Christ by allowing Christ to live in us. Amen, Lord, live in us today!

Taking Christ as our Person in Making Decisions to have the Living of the New Man

On the cross, Christ created the one new man, so the new man is now in existence; however, for us to have the living of the new man, we need to live our life daily by taking Christ as our person, especially in making decisions.

When we as believers in Christ live our daily life by taking Christ as our person in making decisions, our living will be the living of the one new man (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 17:4; Rom. 15:32; James 4:13-15).

The Body of Christ is a matter of life, and the new man is a matter of person; the Body is for moving and acting, and the new man is making decisions and living.

The new man was created in Christ according to God in righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24).

The conditions of our living are righteousness and holiness; our living is entirely a matter of the new man.

80-90% of our daily living is in making decisions; we need to decide what to do, what to speak, where to go, whether to do this or that, and how to behave.

We need to take Christ as our person in making decisions so that we may have the living of the new man.

When we wake up in the morning, we need to decide to get out of bed and do this and that; we need to take Christ in the matter of making our decisions day by day.

Is our decision ours, or is it Christ’s decision? Who decides what to do and say, is it us or Christ?

Our will in making decisions needs to be dealt with by the Lord and touched by Him so that we take Christ as our person in making decisions.

In the new man, we take Christ as our person to make plans and to decide how we should live (Rom. 15:32).

As members of the Body of Christ, we need to take Christ as our life; as components and members of the new man, we need to take Christ as our person.

Whether in the Body or the new man, whether in working or moving or in living and deciding, we need to depend on Christ and also on the other members, for nothing is individual – we live a corporate life, the Body life, the life of the new man.

Our living today is the living of the new man, which is a corporate living; therefore, our decisions are corporate decisions, not our personal decisions.

We may be at the office making a decision about what to have for lunch or about speaking to our workmate about the Lord, and we think no one knows or see this, but we are actually members of the new man, and our decisions are the decisions of the new man.

We need to take Christ as our person in making decisions, realizing that we are part of the new man and our living is the living of the new man.

When we’re about to make a decision concerning our human life, we should not take ourselves as the person; we may know what is the best decision and which way to take, but we still need to take Christ as our person.

We need to take Christ as our person in making decisions so that our living, even our daily living with all its routine, chores, activities, and interactions, would be the living of the one new man.

If we depend on the Lord in this way by taking Christ as our person in making decisions, our living as the new man will be in righteousness and holiness.

Righteousness means that we live according to God’s ways, and holiness means that we express God’s nature.

In all things of our daily living, whether great or small, we express the Lord in His nature and in His ways.

And such a living is not individual or religious; rather, it is the living in the new man by Christ as the Person, as He makes decisions in us and lives in us.

And this is a corporate matter, for the same Christ who is my person is also the Christ who is your person, and our living is a corporate living.

We no longer live as individualistic persons; we take Christ as our person, for we’re a corporate one new man. In the Body of Christ, He is our life; in the new man, He is our person.

In the Body of Christ, we’re members one of another, sharing the same life; in the new man, we have one person and one mouth to speak the same thing. Hallelujah!

In Philem. 14 we see Paul’s pattern in practicing the living of the new man; he wrote to Philemon, the master of Onesimus, the runaway slave who ended up with him in prison and was saved through his speaking.

Paul wanted Onesimus to be with him and help him, and he wanted his master to receive him and forgive him, but he didn’t force this on Philemon; rather, he sought to have his feeling concerning this.

Paul didn’t make decisions on his own, but sought the feeling of another member of the Body so that he would live the life of the new man.

We need to check with the Lord and see how He feels about this and that, and we also need to check with the Body of Christ to see how the members feel concerning our decisions and things.

Hallelujah, we’re members of the church as the Body of Christ and the one new man!

Lord Jesus, we take You as our person in making decisions so that our daily living would be the living of the one new man! Amen, Lord Jesus, we bring to You our plans, our decisions, and our choices. We don’t want to merely tell You of what we want to do: we open to You and seek Your feeling. How do You feel about us doing this or that? What do You think about us speaking this or that? How do You feel about us choosing this way or that way, moving here or there, or doing or not doing something? We just open to You, Lord, and we want to take You as our person as we make decisions and choices. Keep us checking with You and with the members of the Body so that we may live as the one new man. Be the One in us deciding things. We take You as our person. May our living be in righteousness and holiness as we live according to Your ways and Your nature. Amen, Lord, gain the living of the one new man among us today as we all learn to take Christ as our person in making decisions!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 315-316, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 3, entitled, Taking Christ as Our Person for the Church as the One New Man.
• Similar reading on this topic:
  – Growing by taking Christ as our person, a portion from, One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – Crucified with Christ – a personal experience with a corporate goal and result, article by James Fite in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – How Does God Want Christians to Live? Read more at Bibles for America blog.
  – The Body being for moving and the new man being for living, a portion from, One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – Message 4: Taking Christ as Our Person, via, Church in Montreal.
  – Testimony of Travis Tatum, via, Living to Him.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – My old man has been crucified with Him, / With all its foul corruption deep within; / And buried too its nature serpentine, / Completely finished—this great fact is mine, / I hold it fast… / So, Lord, I give my heart to Thee today, / That it may be Thy home in every way, / A place for Thee to come and settle down, / And all Thy grand recovery work to crown / In one new man. (Hymns #1179 stanzas 1 and 5)
  – By this Person being formed in me, / I’ll a member of His Body be, / No more acting individually, / But with the saints. / More and more our Person He must be; / That our natural personality / Be eliminated thoroughly / Till Christ is all. (Hymns #1180 stanza 2)
  – For this cause Your Person, Lord, / We take and stand in one accord; / All the members self forsake, / And of the Body-Christ partake. / We in Christ as one new man / Now come forth to take this land. / For this cause Your Person, Lord, / We take and stand in one accord. (Hymns #1230 stanza 3)