In 1 Corinthians 15:34 Paul says, “Become sober righteously and do not sin, for some are ignorant of God.” In this verse, to become sober is to awake to soberness from a drunken stupor. It is to cease, righteously, to be drunken. Anyone who is spiritually asleep is not right with God, with others, with himself, or with the church. The context of this verse is Paul’s word concerning resurrection. To say there is no resurrection offends God and man, and it is a sin. Hence, the apostle advised the misled Corinthians to awake soberly from this sin to be right with God and man. They were drunken unrighteously in a stupor of the no-resurrection heresy. They needed to cease being in that stupor.
To take in the heretical thought that there is no resurrection is to allow one’s self to be drugged, to be put into a drugged condition. This is also to be asleep. Those who are in such a drugged stupor talk in a nonsensical way with respect to resurrection. As a result, they are not right with God, with the church, or with themselves. Rather, they offend God, the church, and even others in their family. Those who are drugged often cause trouble without realizing it. Therefore, Paul charges the Corinthians to wake up, to become sober righteously.
What does it mean to become sober righteously? It means to become sober in such a way that we are right with God, with others, and with ourselves. A believer who is sober righteously will be right with his wife, with his children, with his neighbors, with all the saints, with the church, and also with himself. Those who are not right in all these ways are in a stupor.
If we did not have the new covenant ministry, we would not have the Spirit, and we would not have righteousness. Before you came into the church life and received the ministry in the Lord’s recovery, how much did you experience of the Spirit as the life supply in you? Of course, as a saved person you had the Spirit dwelling in you. But probably you did not have much consciousness that the Spirit was living, active, real, and substantial in you. Many of us can testify that after coming into the church life, we began to realize that there is something within us that is living, real, and substantial. This is the Spirit within us working and making us joyful, peaceful, and restful. This is the Spirit of life ministered into us as the life supply by the ministry in the Lord’s recovery.
Before you experienced the Spirit in this way, it may have been very easy for you to argue with your wife or husband. But if you experience the Spirit as your life supply, something within restrains you when you want to argue. For example, a sister may be tempted to blame her husband, but deep within she realizes that she should go into her room and pray. This experience comes from the Spirit as the life supply that is ministered into us through the new covenant ministry.
Perhaps in a church meeting not a word is spoken concerning the Spirit as the life supply. You may have no consciousness of the Spirit being ministered into you. But although nothing is said concerning this, it is nevertheless a fact that in the meeting the Spirit is ministered to you. There is a ministry in the recovery which inscribes the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit into our being.
Often in the meetings of the church we receive the supply of the Spirit without being conscious of this fact. I can testify that many times I have returned home after a meeting feeling somewhat unhappy. It seemed that I was angry with everyone and everything. Nevertheless, something within me was moving and living. This is the life-giving Spirit I experienced in the meeting. Even when we are angry or unhappy, this Spirit operates within us. If we turn to the Lord and say, “Lord,” our unhappiness or our anger will be swallowed up. This comes from the life-giving Spirit who has been ministered into us without our being conscious of it.
Because I receive the supply of the life-giving Spirit in the church meetings, I very rarely miss a meeting. It does not matter to me who speaks in a particular meeting. My only desire is to be in the meeting and to receive the supply. In particular, I enjoy the prayer meeting of the church in Anaheim. During that meeting I am infused and saturated with the Spirit. Afterward, it seems that everything is golden and that within me the tree of life is growing and the river of life is flowing. Although there is no message and even no word of encouragement, the life-giving Spirit is ministered into my being. Many among us can testify of this experience.
As a result of experiencing the Spirit living and working within us, we become righteous. Spontaneously our inner being is transparent, crystal clear, and we know the heart of God. Immediately, without effort, we know the mind of the Lord and have a clear understanding concerning His will and work. Then what we do is according to the Lord’s mind and will. This is righteousness.
Many Christians have the concept that when we do something wrong, we are not right with God. This concept of righteousness is too superficial. Even when we do not do anything wrong we still may not be right with God, for our being may not be in the mind and will of the Lord. Apparently we are not wrong in any way; however, our entire being may be far short of being right with God. We may not be according to the Lord’s mind, and what we are doing may not be His will. As long as we are not doing God’s will, we are not right. Instead we are wasting our lives and everything the Lord has given us.
Suppose a young person at school does not do anything wrong. But he does not study properly. Furthermore, when he sits in class, he is absent-minded. Even though he may not do anything wrong, he is more wrong than other students. Outwardly he may not be wrong, but inwardly his whole being is wrong. In the same principle, outwardly many saints are not wrong in anything. Actually, their being is not in the will of the Lord. This understanding of being right with God is not merely according to doctrine, but even the more, it is according to experience.
If you are infused and saturated by the life-giving Spirit, your inner being will become transparent. Then you will know what is in the Lord’s mind. You will also understand what the will of the Lord is. Spontaneously, you will be in His will and do His will. As a result, you become right with Him. Moreover, you will realize how you should act toward others and even how you should deal with your material possessions. Then you will become a righteous person, one who is right in small things as well as in great things, one who is right with God, with others, and with himself. This is a person who expresses God, for his righteousness is the image of God, God expressed.