The Christian Living
Now we need to consider what the Christian walk, the Christian living, is. Galatians 5:22 refers to the fruit of the Spirit, which is the outcome of the tree of life within us. This outcome of the tree of life within us is the Christian’s daily walk or living. The Christian walk, the Christian living, the Christian conduct, the Christian behavior, must not be a religious performance but must be something divine and spiritual, something of the Spirit of God.
When I was young, I was taught by the missionaries that Christianity was a religion of love, that we Christians had to love others. Some of the teachers in my school were students of Confucius. They [161] compared the teachings of the Bible with the teachings of the classical book of Confucius. They said that the teachings of Confucius were much better, ethically speaking, than the teachings of the Bible, and they could prove it. It was hard to argue with their logical reasoning. I was very confused. As one who was born Chinese, I thought that there was no way for me to receive Christianity since the teachings of Confucius seemed to be better. When I got saved, I realized that no matter how good the teachings of Confucius were, there was no thought of redemption in them. I like to take Christ because with Christ, there is the redeeming blood. Years later I realized further that with Christ there is not only the redeeming blood but also the divine life.
With the Christian walk, with the Christian living, with the Christian behavior, it is not merely a matter of proper conduct but even more a matter of life. As Christians, we are not just to love people, but we are to live Christ out as love. We are not just to be humble, but we are to live Christ out as humility. Polished brass may shine more than a piece of gold, but their natures are entirely different. We are not just outwardly loving others, showing humility to others, or being patient with others. We are living out Christ. Our behavior, our living, our conduct, our walk, must be the outcoming of Christ, the fruit of the Holy Spirit from within us. When the Holy Spirit lives in us and we live by Him, then some fruit will come forth, the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is our Christian walk, our Christian behavior, and is something absolutely different from the teachings of Confucius.
Regardless of how good the teachings of Confucius are, they can never produce something divine and holy. They can never impart the holy, divine nature of God into us. But in our Christian walk, in our Christian living, there must be the divine nature. The Christian walk is not a kind of living that is corrected, adjusted, taught, and disciplined by the best teachings of the philosophers. The Christian living is something flowing out from within us by our taking Christ as life, by our living in the Holy Spirit. We have to give the seed of life, which has been sown into us, an opportunity to grow up and to flow out of us.
The Christian Ministry
Furthermore, the Christian service, the Christian ministry, must be the overflow of the inner life. We are not merely working, [162] but our work is the overflow of the divine life from within us. The seed of the work, the seed of the ministry, the seed of the service, must be the all-inclusive Christ. If this Christ is the seed of our work, our Christian work will be revolutionized. The proper work is that first Christ has to be sown into us as a seed. Then we have to let Christ grow up and flow out. This outflowing of Christ is the work, the service, the ministry. The work is not a matter of how much we can do or accomplish, but a matter of how much of Christ we can live out, flow out.
Christ is the seed of the kingdom, the seed of the church, the seed of the Christian walk, and the seed of Christian service. Christ is the seed of everything related to God’s purpose. Regardless of what gift we have or of what kind of gift we are to the Body, we have to realize that our work, our ministry, must be a work and ministry with Christ as the seed sown into us to grow up within us and to flow out from within us in order to minister Christ into others. May the Lord help us to realize what it means to have Christ as the seed in the kingdom, in our church life, in our daily walk, and in our work.
CHRIST AS THE SEED OF LIFE BEING
THE SEED OF EVERYTHING RELATED TO GOD’S PURPOSE
We need to look at a number of verses which show that Christ as the seed of life is the seed of everything related to God’s purpose. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that Jehovah is good.” We have to taste the Lord, not only know Him. Then 1 Peter 2:2-3 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good.” A mother gives milk to the newborn babes that they may grow. The best way to help the new believers to grow is to feed them. To merely teach is easy, but to feed is not so easy. The newborn babes need milk to drink that they may grow. The Lord can be tasted, and His taste is pleasant and good. If we have tasted Him, we will long for the nourishing milk in His word.
First Peter 3:7 says, “Husbands, in like manner dwell together with them [the wives] according to knowledge, as with the weaker, female vessel, assigning honor to them as also to fellow heirs of the grace of life.” The grace of life is God as life and the life supply to us in His Trinity—the Father as the source of life, the Son as the course [163] of life, and the Spirit as the flow of life, flowing within us with the Son and the Father (1 John 5:11-12; John 7:38-39; Rev. 22:1). All believers are heirs of this grace. The grace of life is the tree of life, the Triune God. The weaker, female vessels are fellow heirs of the grace of life, the tree of life.
Second Peter 1:3-4 says, “His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue, through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature.” Life is the seed; godliness is the fruit. Life is something within; godliness is something without. To be partakers of the divine nature is to be eaters of the tree of life.
In Acts 5:20 an angel of the Lord told Peter, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” What does this life mean? This was the life that Peter was enjoying. The angel told Peter to minister this life that he was enjoying to the people. This life is the divine life preached, ministered, and lived by Peter that overcame the Jewish leaders’ persecution, threatening, and imprisonment. This word indicates that Peter’s life and work made the divine life so real and present in his situation that even the angel saw it and pointed it out. The words of this life are not logos but rhema, the present, living, practical word. What Peter was charged to speak was not a doctrinal teaching but the present, living, and practical word concerning the life that he was enjoying.
Romans 5:10 says, “If we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.” We have been reconciled by His death, and we will be saved in His life. I have been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, but now I am in the process of being saved in His life. The first section of Romans talks about being reconciled by His death. The second section talks about being saved in His life, the resurrection life.