The second issue of life is the Body of Christ. When we first believed, we received the life of God into our spirit. On the one hand, we became the sons of God (John 1:12). On the other hand, we became the members of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). As the sons of God individually, we need to grow up in life and bear the two categories of fruit in our daily living. As the members of the Body of Christ, we need to be constituted with Christ as our life and be built up in oneness so that corporately, we may become the fullness of God. Therefore, the Body of Christ, the church, is not an organization of people, but an organism, a body of life. Without these two issues, there is no proof of our experience and growth of life. These two issues become the manifestation of the amount of life that is in us.
Young people must be clear about this. Many say that they enjoy the Lord, or that they have grown in the Lord, yet what outward proof do we have to substantiate their claim? Our proof is with the two issues of life. How is their daily living? Is it just like the people of the world, or is it like Christ? Is their character still loose, or has it gone through transformation? Are their friends and relatives getting saved or are they still barren? Is there a building up with the saints through fellowship and prayer, or is there murmuring, reasoning, complaining, and even divisive talk? It is not what one says, but whether one’s living bears the two issues of life. We can tell the tree by its fruit (Matt. 7:17-18). Evil trees bear evil fruit. Good trees bear good fruit. A person living in himself cannot bear fruit of life. Only a person of life bears fruit of life.
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