We have not exhausted this gospel. Every line and every word of the book of John is part of the rich gospel. Just consider two short clauses. In 1:11 it says “He came” and in 1:16 “we all received.” The matter of His coming is an important part of the gospel. He came by way of incarnation. His coming has been accomplished. What about our receiving? It is a continual matter. We receive by eating, drinking, and breathing. This is the way we receive Christ into us. It is an organic, metabolic matter, different from the way we would receive a book that was handed to us. Such an organic receiving strengthens, transforms, and changes us.
Drinking, eating, and breathing, as the way to receive Christ into us, are all covered in the Gospel of John. Drinking is mentioned in 4:14. “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever.” In 7:37 it says further, “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink.” Eating is covered in chapter six; for example, verse 57 says, “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” Then breathing comes up in 20:22, where “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.”
If we take Christ into us by these means, we shall be receiving of the fullness of this all-inclusive One. We need to be filled with this gospel. If we equip and arm ourselves with it, we shall all be able to teach and preach and even live out this gospel. Then the church life will be strong.
In the matter of taking care of the church life, it is easy to be concerned with the kind of meeting we should have. I would like to remind you that a particular kind of meeting in itself will not strengthen the church life. If we feel the church meetings are weak, it is not that the way of meeting is wrong. The lack is with the drinking, eating, and breathing of the Lord Jesus, as revealed in the Gospel of John. Let us come back to this book and learn to drink adequately, to eat richly, and to breathe prevailingly. Then the church will be strong and shining.
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