Message Two

Enjoying the Crucified Christ
as the Unique Solution to All Problems in the Church

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:23-24, 30;
2:2, 9-10; 5:7-8; 10:4; 15:45b; 1 Pet. 2:24

1. The crucified Christ was the unique subject, the center, the content, and the substance of the apostle’s ministry—1 Cor. 2:2:
   1. The death of Christ has become God’s power to eliminate all the problems in the universe; thus, Christ crucified is God’s power to abolish all negative things and carry out His plan—1:23-24:
      1. The human way of solving problems is to negotiate, but God’s way is to terminate; the best way to solve problems among people is to terminate everyone involved—Gal. 2:20; cf. 1 Cor. 6:7-8.
      2. The crucifixion of Christ has silenced the entire universe and simplified the extremely complicated situation in the universe—cf. 2 Cor. 11:2-3.
   2. When we enjoy the crucified Christ, all that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do are completely terminated, and His resurrection life is imparted through us into others—John 12:24-26; 2 Cor. 4:10-12.
2. The enjoyment of the crucified Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit solves all the problems in the church and issues in the growth in life for the building up of the church—1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2; 15:45b; 6:17; 3:6:
   1. The crucified Christ is the unleavened bread to be a feast to us—5:6-8:
      1. Leaven signifies evil things and evil doctrines (vv. 6, 8; Matt. 16:6, 11-12); since Christ is unleavened, if we feast on Him daily, we can have an unleavened church life.
      2. We need to enjoy Christ as our unleavened banquet for the entire period of our Christian life—1 Cor. 5:7-8; Exo. 12:15-20; cf. 13:4-9:
         1. The crucified Christ whom we enjoy today as our feast is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, and included in His being is His killing death; as long as we enjoy Him, we will be nourished, and the negative elements within us will be killed—1 Cor. 15:45b; Exo. 30:23-25.
         2. To eat the Lord Jesus, to feast on Him, is to receive Him into us that He may be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life; we can eat Him by eating His words—John 6:57, 63; Jer. 15:16.
   2. The crucified Christ is our spiritual rock who was smitten and cleft by God to flow Himself out as the spiritual water for us to drink—1 Cor. 10:4; John 19:34; Exo. 17:6:
      1. We need to call on the Lord continually and draw water with joy from Him as the fountain of living water—1 Cor. 12:13, 3b; Isa. 12:3-4; John 4:10, 14.
      2. We need to speak to the Lord constantly to receive Him as the living water—Num. 20:8.
   3. The crucified Christ is the power of God for us to live in any kind of environment and to live out every kind of virtue—1 Cor. 1:18, 24; Eph. 1:19-23:
      1. We are able to live a contented life in any kind of environment by Christ as our inward power—Phil. 4:11-13.
      2. We are able to live Christ out as every kind of virtue by Him as our inward power; to live a life of these virtues is much more difficult than doing a Christian work—vv. 13, 8.
      3. We can enjoy the transmission of Christ as the power of God and the transfusion of Christ as the peace of God by practicing fellowship with Him in prayer—vv. 6-7.
   4. The crucified Christ is the wisdom of God as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us—1 Cor. 1:30:
      1. Christ became wisdom to us from God to transmit all that He is into our tripartite being for His eternal expression, making us the masterpiece of God for the wise exhibition of all that Christ is—Eph. 2:10; 3:10:
         1. Christ is our righteousness (for our past), by which we have been justified by God, that we might be reborn in our spirit to receive the divine life—Rom. 5:18; 8:10.
         2. Christ is our sanctification (for our present), by which we are being sanctified in our soul— transformed in our mind, emotion, and will— with His divine life—6:19, 22.
         3. Christ is our redemption (for our future), the redemption of our body, by which we will be transfigured in our body with His divine life to have His glorious likeness—8:23; Phil. 3:21.
         4. It is of God that we participate in such a complete and perfect salvation, which makes our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—organically one with Christ and makes Christ everything to us—cf. Eph. 5:25-27.
      2. Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption refer not only to three stages of God’s salvation but also to three aspects of the nature of God’s salvation that we need to experience daily.
      3. When we lay hold of Christ as the personified wisdom of God, He becomes the reality of the tree of life to us for us to minister Christ as life to others— Prov. 3:18-19; 2 Chron. 1:10; Col. 2:2-3; 1:28; 1 Tim. 5:1-2.
   5. The crucified Christ is our Healer, our healing tree— Exo. 15:22-26; 1 Pet. 2:24; John 11:25; Rev. 2:7:
      1. When we experience the healing tree of the cross of Christ and live a crucified life, our bitter situation becomes sweet.
      2. We need to apply the cross of Christ to our whole being, that the bitterness within us may be healed and changed into sweetness.
   6. The crucified Christ is the depths, the deep things, of God—1 Cor. 2:6-10:
      1. The deep things of God are Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion, foreordained, prepared, and given to us freely by God—Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
      2. To realize and participate in the deep and hidden things God has ordained and prepared for us requires us to love Him—2:9; Mark 12:30; cf. 1 Cor. 16:22:
         1. In this way we have the closest and most intimate fellowship with God, and we are able to enter into His heart and apprehend all its secrets—Psa. 73:25; 25:14.
         2. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion—1 Cor. 2:10-12.