Colossians 1:27 says, “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The mystery here is the mystery of God, the mystery hidden in God. This mystery has a glory, which is the glory of the mystery. God has a mystery, and this mystery is one that has glory. Moreover, the glory of this mystery has riches. This mystery that has glory is Christ in us as the hope of glory. Here there is a glory and a hope of glory.
Our being spiritual and our work becoming spirit depend on how much we know the mystery of God. The mystery of God is Christ. Therefore, the extent to which we know and experience Christ as the mystery of God is the extent to which we are spiritual. To say this more simply, if the element of Christ is in us, we are spiritual. When Christ increases in us, the element of the Spirit also increases in us. There is more of the Spirit in us, because Christ is the Spirit.
Our Christian life should be the life portrayed in the Gospels, one of denying the self and taking up the cross to follow the Lord. Many people have the superficial thought that to follow the Lord is simply to walk after Him. This is not the meaning of the Lord’s word. Rather, it means that today we need to live a life of denying our self, putting the self aside, and inwardly receiving Christ as life. To receive Christ as life inwardly is the genuine way to follow Jesus. When we were saved, we may have heard that we should forsake everything to follow Jesus. We may have been very touched and willing to follow, but we may not have known how to follow. Then one day we received the light to see that the genuine following of Jesus is to put aside our self, receive the pneumatic Christ inwardly, allow Him to be our life, and let Him increase and grow in us day by day. This is the increase and growth of the Spirit in us. In this way we will one day become not only spiritual but also spirit.
Verse 27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Then verse 28 says, “Whom we announce.” We announce Him no longer as an objective One but the One whom we experience subjectively. We are not announcing One whom we have not gained, enjoyed, and experienced. Rather, we are announcing the One whom we have enjoyed. We have experienced and gained Him. He is one with us, and we are one with Him. In other words, we are announcing ourselves, but it is no longer we but Christ in us.
Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” To be sure, we announce Christ, but now He is no longer only the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended One. Now He is the One who is living in us. We are preaching such a subjective Christ. In Philippians 1:21 Paul said, “To me, to live is Christ.” Can we say that to us to live is Christ? Sometimes we dare not say this. If we say this, others may ask, “Is Christ the way you are? You lost your temper yesterday, and today you were joking. Is Christ like this?” This may give people doubts about the Christ we speak of. Nevertheless, Paul truly declared in the New Testament, “To me, to live is Christ.” In this sense, Paul became Christ. In verse 20 Paul said, “As always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.” Paul magnified Christ not only once but “as always.” This is the One whom Paul preached. He did not announce an objective Christ. Rather, he preached a subjective Christ, the Christ whom he had enjoyed and who had become him.
Some people may say to us, “You have been saved for many years. This is why you can speak such a word. We have been saved for only several months, so we dare not say this.” This is a valid excuse, but at least we all can take this as our goal. We need to tell the Lord, “O Lord, one day I will tell others that to me, to live is Christ. From now on, to me, to live is Christ.” In our daily living we must learn to experience Christ so that day after day He will become a subjective Christ to us. In this way we can boldly, strongly, and fearlessly tell others, “To me, to live is Christ.”
What we are concerned for is not how many people are baptized. Rather, it is whether or not we can say, “To me, to live is Christ.” Methods cannot subdue people. Instead, it is the true Christ who has become our life lived out from within us. Only this is the power, only this has the authority, and only this can subdue people. We should not go out with a mere saying that “to me, to live is Christ” without being those in whom Christ can be found. We must realize that what we have learned may still not be real. Whether or not it is real altogether depends on whether or not it is Christ. This is a very serious matter. We do not want to see that, having been led here by the Lord, what we accomplish after many decades is merely a campaign, encouraging people to knock on doors all over the world. Instead, we want to see more of Christ in all of us until we all can say, “To me, to live is Christ.”
(A message given on June 2, 1987 in Taipei, Taiwan)