Message Three—Being Joined to the Lord as One Spirit
1 Cor. 15:45b …the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
Experiencing Christ by Becoming One Spirit with Him
We can experience Christ and take Christ as everything because we have become one spirit with Him. This is a deep mystery, yet it is a sure fact which each of us who has believed into Christ and is joined to Him in His divine life must believe, confess, and practice.
God Being Spirit and Christ Becoming the Life-Giving Spirit
“God is Spirit” (John 4:24). This speaks of the nature of God. As far as the divine essence is concerned, God, the complete Triune God, is Spirit. The Triune God is three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Son is the expression of the Father, and the Spirit is the realization of the Son (Matt. 28:19). The last Adam is the incarnated Christ, who through death and resurrection was transfigured to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), the Spirit of life (2 Cor. 3:6, 17) as God’s ultimate expression.
The Center of Human Being the Spirit
1 Thes. 5:23 clearly and definitely reveals to us that our complete person is of three parts—spirit, soul, and body. The body is our outermost part, by which we act and walk, and by which we contact the material things. The soul is the part between our body and our spirit as our personality and self, by which we contact the psychological things. The spirit is our innermost part by which we know and worship God, and by which we contact the spiritual things. Thus, the spirit is the center of our being and is crucial to God, more crucial than even the heavens and the earth (Zech. 12:1).
Being Joined to the Lord as One Spirit
Since we are joined to the Lord, we are one spirit with the Lord. This means that the spirit, which is the mingling of our spirit and the Lord’s Spirit, is both the Spirit of the Lord and our spirit; it is the Lord’s Spirit mingled with our spirit and our spirit mingled with the Lord’s Spirit. All our spiritual experiences after we are saved, such as our fellowship with the Lord, our prayer to Him, our living with Him, and our obedience to Him, are in this spirit, the Lord’s Spirit and our spirit mingled into one. (Life Lessons, vol. 3, lsn. 30)
Exercising the Spirit in Our Daily Living
We who believe in Christ have a regenerated human spirit, a human spirit indwelt by the divine Spirit, and that we are one spirit with the Lord. Many were surprised to learn that they have a spirit. Of course, they knew that they had a soul and a heart, but they did not know the human spirit. All Christians know of the Holy Spirit, but not all realize that they have a human spirit. It is important that all those who have recently come into the church life realize that they have a human spirit regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, in our daily living we must exercise the spirit.
When we face problems in our daily living, we may react with our soul, our body, or our spirit. Suppose a brother comes home from work exhausted by the day’s labor. He finds his wife full of complaints and unhappy with him. The brother can respond in one of three ways. The first way, universally common, is for him to react in the soul, especially from the mind or the emotion. A second possibility is for him to react in a physical way out of anger. The third alternative is for this brother to respond by exercising his regenerated spirit. It is vital for all believers to realize that our spirit has been regenerated and is indwelt by the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. The brother facing difficulty with his wife should exercise his spirit and allow the life-giving Spirit to guide him. Then he will know what to say to his wife and how to behave. Anyone observing a brother living in such a way will realize that he is different from ordinary husbands. Instead of exercising his body to react physically or exercising his soul, he exercises his spirit. We all need to exercise our spirit in our daily living, especially in our married life and family life.
Experiencing the Lord as the All-inclusive One
by Being One Spirit with Him
Because we have a regenerated spirit, we can experience Christ as our portion and also experience the fellowship of this Christ. If our spirit were not regenerated by the Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit, Christ could not be our portion, and we could not be in the fellowship of Christ. Just as electrical appliances must have the flow of electricity if they are to function, so we must be in the spirit if we are to experience Christ as our portion and enjoy His fellowship. Only when the electrical current flows into the appliances can we actually have light, heat, or cool air. Likewise, only by being one spirit with the Lord can we experience Him as the all-inclusive One. For this reason, Paul tells us that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. All those who believe in the Lord Jesus and who love Him have been joined to Him. In spirit we are truly one with Him. We have a regenerated spirit, and Christ is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. As a result, we are one spirit with Him. How marvelous! Oh, we all must realize that we are one spirit with the Lord. If we see this, we shall say, “Praise the Lord that I am one spirit with Him! God created me with a human spirit, and my spirit has been regenerated by Him. Today the all-inclusive Christ is the life-giving Spirit dwelling in my spirit. He is one with my spirit, and I am one with Him.”
As many of us can testify, when we exercise our spirit and call on the name of the Lord, we enjoy His sweetness. At times we may weep because the Lord touches us in a very tender way. At other times praises may burst forth, and we may thank the Lord for giving us the best and most suitable wife or husband. If we call on the name of the Lord by exercising our spirit, we shall immediately realize that God has given us the best mate. May more and more among us have this kind of experience.
Christ is both theirs and ours, and we have been called into the fellowship of this Christ. This fellowship takes place only in the spirit. Praise the Lord that he who is joined to Him is one spirit! Therefore, we have a source, a fountain, and an inexhaustible reservoir. This source is Christ, the processed Triune God, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 12)
