In this message we shall consider more aspects of the believers’ enjoying the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation.
Second Corinthians 5:14 and 15 say, “The love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that One died on behalf of all; therefore all died; and He died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and has been raised.” Here Paul speaks not of living for the Lord, by the Lord, or with the Lord, but of living to the Lord. To live to Christ is to take Him as the goal of our living. In all that we do-at home, at work, or in the church life-Christ should be our unique goal.
As a help to understand what it means to live to the Lord, we may consider Paul’s word in Galatians 2:19: “I through law have died to law that I might live to God.” To live to the law means that we are under the law, directed by the law, governed by the law, and have the responsibility to fulfill the law. To live to God, or to the Lord means that we are under the Lord’s direction and control and that we want to fulfill His requirements, satisfy His desires, and complete what He intends.
If we consider the context of 2 Corinthians 4 and 5, we shall see that to live to the Lord means to live the kind of life the Lord Jesus lived. In chapter four we see that the apostles experienced the putting to death of Jesus. When we experience the putting to death of Jesus, we can live the kind of life Jesus lived.
To live to the Lord is to live a crucified life. It is to live in such a way that the outward man is always put to death. The Lord Jesus lived this kind of life, and those who live such a life today are living to the Lord.
What the Lord wants is not that we be so active for Him. He wants us to experience the putting to death of Jesus so that our natural man and our active being may be terminated. We may be active or aggressive for the Lord in a natural way, doing things for Him by our natural aggressiveness. This offends the Lord, and it distracts us from enjoying Him. If we would live to the Lord, we must deny our outward man, the flesh. When we live to Christ, we do not live by our outward man, by our flesh. This means that living to Christ requires that we live by our inward man, by our regenerated spirit.
Because it is possible for us to do something for the Lord without doing that thing to the Lord, we need to understand the difference between living for the Lord and living to the Lord. The phrase “to the Lord” implies that we are the Lord’s possession, that we already belong to Him. However, the phrase “for the Lord” implies that we still belong to ourselves, but according to our pleasure or convenience, we may be willing to give something for the Lord, do something for the Lord, or even be for the Lord. The Lord desires that we be to Him since we belong to Him already. Do not say that you are for Him. To say that you are for Him indicates that you still possess something under your ownership. Moreover, to be for the Lord means that we still can be away from the Lord. But if we are to the Lord, we cannot be away from Him. To be to the Lord means that we are one with Him.
Living to the Lord is based on the fact that we are the Lord’s (Rom. 14:8). We live to Him because we belong to Him. We need to realize that we have been bought by the Lord with the precious blood as the purchasing price (1 Cor. 6:19-20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). Now He is our Lord and Master, and we belong to Him. Whatever we have, we have to Him. Whatever we do, we do to Him. Whatever we are, we are to Him. Everything is altogether to Him.
As believers in Christ, we are Christians. The title “Christian” implies belonging. It does not mean only that we are a “Christ-man” but also that we are a person belonging to Christ. When the ancient Romans referred to the believers as Christians, they meant that these people belonged to Christ. Because we are His, everything concerning us must be to Him. The practical meaning of the title Christian is not that we are people for Christ but that we are people belonging to Christ. Because we belong to Him, we live to Him, doing everything to Him. We do not need to say that we are doing something for Him, because we belong to Him. Every believer, as one bought by the Lord with a price, should be a person living to the Lord.
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