If we enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things, we shall take Him as our food, drink, clothing, transportation, and housing. If we go on to enjoy and experience Him as the mysterious life within us and live together with Him, we shall seek the things above, the things in heaven, where Christ is interceding, ministering, and administrating God’s economy. Christ in heaven is very active, even more busy than when He was on earth. He is interceding for us, shepherding all His churches, and ministering on behalf of millions of saints. As the High Priest in heaven, He is interceding for us. Because we have such a high priest, we may “come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:16). As He intercedes for us, Christ is ministering the heavenly life supply into us. He is the heavenly Minister ministering in the heavens (Heb. 8:1-2). According to Revelation 5:6, as the Lamb on the throne, Christ is executing God’s universal administration. Because Christ is so active for us in the heavens, we should seek the things that are above and set our mind on them. Yes, we need to enjoy Christ as our food, drink, clothing, and everything for our daily existence. But we must go on to seek the things above.
To seek the things above and to set our mind on them is to live Christ, to have one living with Him. When Christ prays in heaven, we should pray on earth. This means that there is a transmission between the Christ praying in heaven and us praying on earth. By means of this transmission we may pray in oneness with Him. We respond on earth to Christ’s praying in heaven. None of us should be unemployed. We all have the responsibility to respond to Christ’s heavenly transmission. We need to live together with Christ by seeking the things which are above and setting our mind on them. Christ is in heaven interceding, ministering, and administrating, and we are on earth responding to Christ’s activity in heaven.
Young people, do not think that you are too young to cooperate with Christ’s heavenly ministry. Even high school students can seek the things which are above. C. H. Spurgeon began to minister in his village when he was just seventeen, and when he was nineteen he was invited to speak to a Baptist congregation in London. Even as a young man, Spurgeon sought to carry out on earth the work Christ was doing in heaven. If Spurgeon could begin serving the Lord as a young person, the young people in the churches today can do the same.
We all can experience Christ as our daily necessities and also enjoy Him by seeking the things which are above. The more we enjoy Christ as the reality of the positive things in our daily life, the more this enjoyment will bring us into the church life, into the Body life. But we must go on to enjoy Christ as our life and live with Him, having the same living with Christ. Christ today is living in the heavens to intercede for the churches, to minister the heavenly life supply to the saints, and to carry out God’s administration. However, most Christians do not respond to Christ’s living in the heavens. They are like radios that are not turned on and tuned in to receive the transmission of the radio waves in the atmosphere. Although Christ is in heaven ministering and transmitting, many Christians are not responding to His ministry or receiving His transmission. We thank the Lord that a number of those in the local churches today have their receivers open and operating. When they sense that Christ is praying in heaven for a certain matter, they join Him to pray on earth for that very matter. For example, sensing that the Lord is praying for the church in Accra, Ghana, they join in to pray for the church there. To pray together with Christ in this way is to have one living with Him.
Seeking the things above and having one living with Christ issues in the church as the new man. According to the sequence in Colossians 3, we first experience Christ as our life and live together with Him. Then, according to 3:5-9, we put to death our members which are on the earth and put off the old man with his practices. Following this, we put on the new man (v. 10). In verse 5 Paul charges us to “put to death”: in verse 8, to “put away” certain negative things; and in verse 9, to “put off the old man with his practices.” According to verse 5, we are to put to death the lusts of the fallen body. According to verse 8, we are to put away the evil things of the fallen soul. Finally, according to verse 9, we are to put off the old man as a whole. To put off the old man is like putting off an old garment. Only by living together with Christ can we accomplish these things. When we live together with Christ, we can put off the lusts of the flesh, put away the evil aspects of the fallen soul, and put off the totality of our old being. Then, positively, we can put on the new man. By living together with Christ, by experiencing Him as our life and seeking the things which are above, we put away all the negative things and put on the new man. We put on the new man only by living with Christ, by enjoying Him as our life and seeking the things above.