In 1 Corinthians 1:30 we see certain aspects of this portion: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, Who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). As wisdom to us from God, Christ becomes our daily righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Daily we may enjoy Christ as our righteousness. If we enjoy Him in this way, we can declare, “Angels and demons, and all human beings, I am right with God and man. I am right with my family and with all the brothers and sisters in the church. This is my testimony because daily Christ is my righteousness.”
We can also testify that Christ is our daily sanctification and holiness. Day by day we enjoy Him as such a portion to us. Therefore, we can expect the angels and demons to confirm the fact that we are sanctified. We can say, “Angels and demons, you must realize that I am holy. I ask you to confirm the fact of my holiness in Christ. The Son of God, who is both the wisdom of God and the power of God, is becoming my daily holiness and sanctification.”
Holiness is the substance, whereas sanctification is the activity of being made holy. Day by day we have not only holiness, the element, but we also have sanctification, the process. The Christ who is our portion for our enjoyment is sanctifying us daily.
A married couple can experience Christ as their righteousness and sanctification in their married life. Suppose a husband is unhappy with his wife and gives her a difficult time. If the sister calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, she will gain Him as righteousness and also as sanctification. She will experience the Lord sanctifying her from within. The Lord’s moving inwardly will keep her from losing her temper with her husband. Otherwise, she may be offended and begin to argue with her husband.
Simply by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, we experience something mysterious and wonderful within us sanctifying us and keeping us from losing our temper. Eventually, this sanctification becomes our holiness. Furthermore, this holiness is a Person, the Son of God, the unique portion into which God has called us. God has called us into the fellowship of Christ. Now, daily and hourly, we need to enjoy Him, first as righteousness, then as sanctification, and then as redemption.
In 1 Corinthians chapter two we see that Christ, the mysterious One, is the deep things of God. In order to discern Him and realize Him, we must be a spiritual person, a person who exercises the spirit and lives in the spirit. If we are soulish, those who live in the soul, we shall not be able to know Him. Only by living in the spirit and exercising our spirit can we know Christ in order to experience Him.
According to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 3, Christ is a living foundation, a foundation that grows. In this chapter Paul says that he planted, that Apollos watered, and that God gives the growth. To give the growth is a matter of growing Christ. The Christ who grows within us is the unique foundation. Hence, it is a living, growing foundation.
As the foundation grows in us, this growth produces gold, silver, and precious stones, the materials needed for the building up of the church. This is to experience Christ, to enjoy Christ, and to partake of Christ so that we may be transformed for the building. In this way we have the precious materials for the building up of the Body. This is to live Christ for the church.
In 1 Corinthians 5:8 we have Christ as our feast. Christ is not merely our Passover; He is our Passover feast. Now we are feasting on Him and enjoying Him as the unleavened bread. As our portion, Christ is our unleavened enjoyment. When we enjoy this portion, we are cleansed from every kind of leaven. Enjoying Christ as the unleavened bread causes us to become unleavened. This purification from every kind of leaven is not a suffering. It is not the result of being placed on a surgical table; it comes from sitting at a table of feasting where we enjoy Christ as unleavened bread.