CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL FOR THE CHURCH AS THE NEW MAN
Message Three
Christ is All Spiritual Matters and Things
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:18; 3:11b; John 1:29; 6:48; 8:12, 24, 28; 11:25; 14:6; 1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 3:4; 1 Tim. 1:1
I. Christ is God’s goal and God’s means:(CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
A. Ephesians shows us that according to the economy of the fullness of the times, God wants to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth—1:10. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
B. Colossians shows us that God has not only made Christ to be Head over all things, but God has made Him all and in all—1:18; 3:11b. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
C. God’s goal is Christ, and His means is also Christ. In order for Christ to be Head over all things, God must make Christ to be all and in all. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
II. In God’s eyes, there is no matters and no things but only Christ:(CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
A. The revelation in the gospel of John:(CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
1. Christ is the light of the world—8:12. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
2. Christ is the bread of life—6:48. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
3. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life—14:6. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
4. Christ is the resurrection and the life—11:25. (CWWN, vol. 44, “Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (4),” msg. 114)
5. Christ is the “I am”—8:24, 28, 58. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
6. God’s Christ is God’s matters. God does not have matters; God only has Christ! (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
7. Apart from Christ, God does not have any thing. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
B. From the epistles of Paul: (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
1. Christ is our hope—1 Tim. 1:1. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
2. Christ is our life—Col. 3:4. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
3. Christ is our wisdom: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption—1 Cor. 1:30. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
III. The difference between a Christianity of life and a Christianity of behavior: (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
A. The Christianity of life is spiritual and is of God while the Christianity of behavior is not spiritual and is of man’s mind. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
B. Today’s Christianity is a fragmentary Christianity with different people seeking different things. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
C. The genuine Christianity is not Christ giving you something. but Christ giving Himself to you. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
D. There are no non-personified things in the genuine Christianity; the unique person is Christ. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
E. Many Christians fail today because they have only received fragmentary things before the Lord; they have not received the Christ God has given them. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
F. When this question is resolved, all questions are resolved. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
IV. God’s tearing down and building up work: (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
A. God must take away everything that we have, both worldly and spiritual, and replace them with Christ. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
B. God’s tearing down work, as well as His building work, goes on daily in many of His children—2 Cor. 4:10-12. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
C. God will take away many “things” from you; He will only give you One; He will only give you a person. This One will be your humility, your endurance, your meekness, and your love. He is the One who is. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
V. The meaning of knowing Christ: (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
A. To know Christ is to know Him through matters and things, which means knowing that Christ is our matters and Christ is our things—cf. Phil. 3:10a. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
B. This is the focus of everything—Christ is the One who is. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
C. Although many know Christ as their Lord, they do not know that Christ is their matters and things. All those who know Him only as the Redeemer, Justifier, Sanctifier, or any other “-er,” only know His work; they do not know what He is. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
D. Those who know Him as matters and things enter the second stage of their knowing of Him, and their knowing of Him is higher and deeper. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
E. When we are led to know Him as all things, we will be delivered from our own life, and we will be delivered even from the spiritual world and spiritual things. From that day on, we will truly say that the Lord is all and in all. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
F. This is the law of life which is nothing other than Christ becoming our things and Christ becoming our life. (CWWN, vol. 56, “The Open Door & The Present Testimony,” ISSUE NO. 39)
VI. Our need of a second salvation: (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
A. In our first salvation, we saw that our need was Christ and not works—Gal. 2:16. (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
B. Now we need another strong and thorough vision: we do not need things; we need Christ—Phil. 3:7-8. (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
C. We need to be delivered from the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the tree of life; touching Christ is touching life—Gen. 2:9. (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
D. Our Christian life should simply be Christ, and not filled with things—Phil. 1:21a. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 32)
E. All the “things” will eventually run out but Christ will remain forever—cf. 1 Cor. 13:8. (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
VII. The need of the cross: (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
A. The many things we gain through good works do not require the cross. (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
B. When we allow the Lord to live in us to be our everything, and when He becomes our things, we need the cross—1 Cor. 1:23. (CWWN, vol. 36, “Central Messages,” msg. 2)
VIII. “There is no matter, and there is no thing. Christ is all the matters, and Christ is all the things. When the day comes that Christ is in all matters and in all things, God’s eternal purpose will be fulfilled.”—CWWN Vol. 36 ‘Central Messages: Christ is All Spiritual Matts and Things’, Chapter Four.
