In this message we shall go on to see Christ’s work in His human living.
Through His incarnation Christ became a man living on earth. The time required for Christ to become a man was much longer than that required for Him to create the universe, and the time of His work in His human living was far greater than the time of His work in becoming a man, thirty years compared to nine months. For thirty years the Lord Jesus was working in His human living. We may wonder why He, the Creator, the eternal God, spent such a long period of time simply living on earth. According to the record of the New Testament, we do not see much of what the Lord did during those years. It may seem to us that He only lived and that He did not do any work at all. However, the human living of the Lord Jesus was His work.
With Christ in His human living, there was no difference between life and work. His life was His work, and His work was His life. We may say that the Lord Jesus lived His work; He lived His ministry. With Him there was just one thing-His life, which was His work, His ministry. Whatever He did, whatever He spoke, and wherever He went were all a part of His life and work. He was continually living and working. For this reason, we cannot say how much the Lord Jesus worked. He worked everywhere and all the time because His work was His life, His life was His move, and His move was His work. With the Lord Jesus every aspect of His life was the same. With Him there was no distinction between life and work.
Just as Christ’s life was His work, so our living as Christians should be our working. This means that we need a living that matches our ministry for the Lord, a living that is the ground and support of our service for Him. Because we need such a living, it takes many years before one who desires to serve the Lord can be truly useful to Him in His ministry.
In His human living Christ was found in fashion as a man, even in the form of a slave. Paul says that He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross” (Phil. 2:7-8). The likeness of men denotes the outward appearance of His humanity. He appeared outwardly to men as a man, but inwardly He had the reality of deity. Furthermore, when Christ became in the likeness of men, entering into the condition of humanity, He was found in fashion as a man by men. The word “fashion” signifies the outward guise, the semblance. What Christ looked like in His humanity was found by men to be in fashion as a man.
Philippians 2:7 says that Christ even took the form of a slave. In His incarnation the Lord Jesus did not alter His divine nature but only His outward expression of the form of God (Phil. 2:6) to that of a slave. This was not a change of essence but of state.
Although Christ was God in the form of God, He was seen by others as being in fashion as a man. Before His incarnation He was, of course, not in fashion as a man. He was only in the form of God. But after He became a man it was necessary for Him to live and work in such a way as to build up the fashion of man in order to be found by others in fashion as a man. It took the Lord Jesus thirty years to build up such a fashion of man in His human living. Therefore, this should be considered part of His work in His human living.
While the Lord Jesus was living in His humanity on earth, He was working to build up the fashion of man. The Lord did not simply behave like a man for a short period of time. He became a man and then lived a human life for thirty years, living in the poor and lowly home of a carpenter. As He lived there, He built up the fashion of man and was found in fashion as a man. The Lord, therefore, carried out the great work of building up a human fashion. This is what He was doing during the first thirty years of His human life.
When Paul wrote about Christ’s human living in Philippians 2, he was very careful. He no doubt considered how to compose this part of the Epistle to the Philippians. Paul surely selected the right words, telling us that Christ was found in fashion as a man and that He took the form of a slave. Christ did not work to build up the fashion of a highly exalted man or of a man with a high rank. On the contrary, He worked to build up the fashion of a man who was a slave. It was not an easy thing that the Lord Jesus built up a fashion of a man in such a low state. This was a very fine work, and it took Him thirty years to accomplish it in full. After He finished this work, He came forth to begin His ministry. His ministry was based upon His work of building up in Himself the fashion of a man.
It is crucial for us to see that Christ’s work in His human living to build up the fashion of a man and to take on the form of a slave was the foundation and background of His ministry. Those who aspire to serve the Lord need to have a work not by doing but by living. This is a work carried out by one’s daily living. Those who wish to serve the Lord need to live to build up a work that will be the solid ground and strong background for their coming service to the Lord.
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