In order to eat Christ as the choice portion of the harvest, we need three things: the harvest, the unique place chosen by God, and the release of our spirit. We need to release our spirit so that Christ may be released. None of these three points is found in today’s Christianity. To have a harvest means to grow Christ. When some Christians hear this, they will say, “We never heard of such a thing as growing Christ. What does this mean? Isn’t Christ perfect and complete? How can we grow Him?” Throughout the centuries, Christians have not held the concept of growing Christ. The phrase, “grow Christ,” cannot be found in Christian writings.
I am quite concerned that you understand accurately what it means to eat Christ. In a foregoing message I shared with you how to grow Christ as wheat in the midst of limited situations. However, this does not mean that we should eat the limitations; instead, we must eat the Christ that grows in limitations. The concept of eating the limitation comes from traditional teachings. These teachings began with the book, The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis. Through the reading of this book many Christians have received the impression that they must suffer and bear the cross, that is, that they must eat their limitations. Many think that Christians should have long faces and wrinkled brows. Apparently the teaching that we must bear the cross and sacrifice for others is scriptural; actually it is mixed up with a natural concept. The main teaching in Hinduism is that of suffering. We have to be careful about mixing the truth of self-denial through the cross of Christ with the natural concept of the religious, ethical, or heathen teachings concerning suffering and sacrifice. Those religious and ethical teachings easily fit our natural concept. The revelation in the Bible is vastly different. According to the Bible, we need to live by Christ and with Christ. Hence, we need to allow Christ to grow in us. Instead of eating the cross, we need to eat Christ. The message on growing Christ as wheat and barley was not a word about eating the cross. It was a word about living by Christ and with Christ, a word about growing Christ in our limited situations.
Just recently I was talking with a young brother about marriage. When I asked him about his experience in married life, he said, “Before I was married, I thought I was quite patient. But married life has really exposed me, and now I see that I am not very patient at all.” This brother was saying that married life exposed his shortage of patience. Then I replied, “Brother, it is wrong to say that married life exposes your lack of patience. You should say that married life exposes your lack of Christ. One of the largest families in China is the Chang family. The Chang family was famous for patience. In their living rooms they were accustomed to hanging a picture showing the character for patience printed in a hundred different ways. In this way the Chang family boasted of its patience. Every member of the Chang family learned the lesson of patience. One day, a member of the Chang family was married. Before he was married, he thought he had a great deal of patience. But his married life exposed him, showing that he was actually short of patience. Brother, in saying that married life exposes your lack of patience, you are not being a Christian; you are being a member of the Chinese Chang family.”
Many missionaries to China were not able to differentiate Christian patience from Chinese patience. Although I was born in China, I was born into Christianity, I was raised in Christianity, and I studied in Christian schools. I learned both the Chinese ethical teachings and the biblical ethical teachings. Some missionaries even told us that the ethics in the Bible were exactly the same as the ethics of Confucius. At that time, although I was unsaved and unregenerated, I was absolutely for Christianity because it was my family religion. Whenever anyone opposed Christianity, I was prepared to fight for it and defend it. At that time, I was very troubled when I read the classical Chinese writings and compared them with the Bible. It seemed that the ethics in the classical Chinese writings were excellent. I told myself that the Bible and the Chinese philosophers teach the same thing as far as ethics are concerned. When I was nineteen years of age, I was genuinely saved and thoroughly converted. I was saved to know the Lord Jesus and to live by Christ. After I was saved, I realized that there was a great difference between the teachings of the Bible and the teachings of the Chinese philosophers. The difference is that the Chinese philosophy emphasizes ethics, whereas the Bible emphasizes Christ. For His economy, God’s concern is not ethics, but Christ. Therefore, we should not say that we are short of patience; rather, we should say that we are short of Christ.
In the early years we used certain expressions that were not accurate. For example, when a brother said that he could not endure living with his troublesome wife, we would say, “Brother, you need to learn some lessons. You are short of patience and endurance. You need to learn the lesson of being broken. The reason you cannot bear living with your difficult wife is that you have not been broken. Brother, the Lord intends to break you.” Today I regret the use of certain expressions, such as “learning the lessons” and “being broken.” We are not short of patience, endurance, and brokenness; we are short of Christ. Suppose a certain person has very little of Christ. Even if he were broken into pieces, he would still be short of Christ. Thomas à Kempis taught us to bear the cross. But even if we bore the cross for thousands of miles, we still would not have Christ. We are not short of bearing the cross; we are short of Christ. It is very important to see this.
Consider the example of a young married brother who truly loves the Lord and seeks Him. His wife also loves the Lord. In fact, it was because they were both seeking the Lord that they fell in love and were married. However, although they both have Christ, they have not yet gained very much of Christ. Unintentionally, this brother’s wife gives him a great deal of trouble. The brother becomes so desperate that he goes to his pastor for help. The pastor opens his Bible to Ephesians 5:25, which says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” This brother’s pastor then proceeds to tell him that he must learn the lessons of patience, endurance, and sympathizing with his wife. The brother accepts the counsel of his pastor, returns home, and tries his best to sympathize with his wife. But although he tries to be patient and to endure, he is not successful. One day this brother and his wife come into the local church. When he brings the problem of his difficult wife to one of the elders, he is told, “Brother, after listening to you talk about your problems in your married life, I realize that you have never been broken. Brother, you need to be broken.” The brother accepts this advice, returns home, and tries to be broken. Eventually, this also is of no avail. Finally, he goes to yet another elder and presents the problem to him. This brother, knowing the way revealed in the Scripture, says, “Brother, you are not short of patience, endurance, or brokenness. You are short of Christ. What you need is more Christ. Are you willing to learn to breathe Christ in? You will never be able to bear your dear wife. Do not try to bear the cross—gain more of Christ. Are you willing to open up your spirit and call on the Lord? When you gain more of Christ, your problem will be solved.” The brother gladly takes this advice and gains more of Christ. Although his wife remains the same and is difficult to live with, this brother has more of Christ. Every time his wife troubles him, he grows more Christ. And the more he grows of Christ, the greater a harvest he has of Christ. Thus, he is able to eat of Christ, not just as the manna, but as the produce of the good land. There is no need for this brother to eat his limitation or his cross. Instead, he needs to eat the Christ he has experienced.
Years ago, we did not see this matter very clearly. Therefore, when the brothers came to me with problems in their married life, I told them to learn the lessons of patience, endurance, and brokenness. In my experience, however, I found that these teachings did not work very well. When I realized this, I was troubled. I was like a doctor who administered a prescription that did not heal the ailment. Eventually, I discovered another dose. This dose is not patience or endurance or brokenness—it is Christ. The reason a brother is unable to bear the cross of his wife is not because he lacks patience, endurance, and brokenness; it is because he is short of Christ. From that time onward, I began to practice this myself. I tested this prescription in my own laboratory by calling on the name of the Lord. I opened my spirit and my whole being to let the Lord Jesus come into me more and more. When Christ is added to me, defeat becomes victory. This does not mean that the environment changes, nor even that I change myself. It is that more of Christ is added into my being. This is what it means to grow Christ, to allow Him to increase within.