We also have to arrive at a full-grown man. A full-grown man is a mature man. Do you believe that all the members of the church have grown up into a full-grown, mature man? We have been in the church for many years, but in our constitution we may still be babes. If a brother becomes angry at his wife, is this the sign of a full-grown man? This is a sign of being babyish. Even though I am quite old, I do not have much assurance that I am a full-grown man. We have to see what our real state is. Do we live an overcoming life every day? Do we live a victorious life throughout our day? We have to live a revived life every day. Every morning we have to receive a new revival. This is just like the sunrise in God’s creation. Each of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year has a morning, a new start, a new sunrise. We Christians who are seeking after the Lord should live a life in which we have a new revival, a new sunrise, every day. Every day Christ has to be our rising sun.
From the very moment that we rise in the morning, we have to call “O Lord Jesus.” We have to call on the name of the Lord continually and daily. We have to live Christ like the apostle Paul who said, “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Paul was a person living nothing but Christ. Are we daily living Christ? Occasionally we live Christ, but often we forget about Christ. This is a sign that we are still babyish. Paul told the Corinthians that he did not give them the solid food for nourishment because they were still babes, infants, in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1-2). This is why we need the apostles’ perfecting, the prophets’ perfecting, the evangelists’ perfecting, and the shepherds’ and teachers’ perfecting.
Our daily life and our church life are full of signs that show we are not a full-grown, mature man. We need to consider our real situation in the light of the Lord’s word. In Matthew 28 the Lord said that all authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth, and then He charged us to go and disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Triune God (vv. 18-19). The Lord’s word in Matthew 28 is to us. Are we going to disciple the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God? Some think that because they are not a pastor, preacher, or elder, they have no position or right to baptize people. This thought comes from degraded Christianity. In Acts 8 an Ethiopian eunuch received the truth of the gospel from Philip. As they were going along the road, they came to some water and Philip baptized him (vv. 35-38). According to the Bible, anyone who believes in the Lord should be baptized immediately. Furthermore, the baptisms of the early believers were without regulations and rituals, but they did what was convenient according to where they were.
In John 15 the Lord Jesus told us that He is the vine and we are the branches (v. 5). The branches have to bear fruit. The Lord said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (v. 16). In my earlier years as a Christian, I was seeking a book that could tell me how to abide in Christ. Eventually I discovered a book by Andrew Murray on this subject. I have always appreciated Andrew Murray’s books, but all he said concerning how to abide in Christ was that we needed to consecrate ourselves to the Lord. The biography of Hudson Taylor shows us that he had a real experience of abiding in Christ. Seeking Christians today may like to talk about abiding in Christ. We may also talk about enjoying Christ, but I strongly feel that we have not paid full attention to the issue of the enjoyment of Christ by abiding in Him. The issue of our abiding in the vine is fruit-bearing. How can a branch abide in the tree and enjoy the tree’s riches without bearing any fruit? We may say that we are enjoying all the riches of the vine tree, but where is the fruit? If we are not bearing fruit, this is a strong sign that we are very babyish.
Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians is very high and rich. In chapter one of this Epistle he talked about magnifying Christ and living Christ (vv. 20-21). But in chapter two, he charged the Philippians to do all things without murmurings and reasonings (v. 14). We have to consider our situation in light of Paul’s charge. Between the husbands and the wives, there are murmurings and reasonings. Even in the so-called church life, is there not murmuring, gossiping, and storytelling? As seeking Christians who talk about enjoying Christ and living Christ, do we still gossip and tell stories? Are we the information desk of the church life? If these signs are among us and we say that we are spiritual and grown up, we are self-deceived.
Another sign of our being babyish is that we would talk about another brother behind his back. If we see that a brother is wrong in something, we have to love him, pray for him, and not expose him. We should not tell anyone about his situation. As we pray for him, love him, and cover him, we can seek an opportunity from the Lord to contact him. Galatians 6:1 says that if a brother is overtaken in some offense, we who are spiritual should recover him in a meek spirit. We should not go to this fallen brother to rebuke or condemn him. We should not contact him like a lawyer or a policeman to imprison him. We have to love him, cover him, pray for him, and recover him in a meek spirit.
If you are wrong or if you wrong me, I should not tell anyone. I should immediately have a loving heart to cover you. I should not even let my wife know. I should pray for you and follow the Lord’s leading to come to you. This is according to Matthew 18. The Lord Jesus said, “If your brother sins, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother” (v. 15). We need to exercise a meek spirit to fellowship with a fallen brother and do the best to recover him. Our practice in our church life, however, may be just the opposite of this. We may gossip behind others’ backs. This is a sign that we are still babyish. May the Lord have mercy upon us.
I have to be honest and faithful to the Lord by speaking the truth to present the real situation among us. We all have to admit that we need to live a victorious life. We must mean business to live Christ without gossiping, murmuring, or reasoning. We need to live Christ until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. What a goal this is!