You may be wondering how you can experience this organism. This living organism is like a building with an entrance. In this Gospel we have both the gate through which we can enter the organism and the way to experience this organism. The gate is in 3:3 and 5. The Lord Jesus said to a sinner named Nicodemus, “Unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” The organism is the kingdom, and the kingdom is the organism. The Lord was telling Nicodemus that he had to be born of the Spirit. We enter this kingdom, this organism, by being born in our spirit of the divine Spirit. Thus, the new birth is the entrance into the organism of the Triune God.
The way begins in chapter four. In verse 24 the Lord said, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality.” To worship God is to contact God, to enjoy God, and to partake of all He is. Worshipping God is a matter of taking God into us. It is not merely objective, but also subjective. This is proved by the fact that on the one hand, in this chapter the Lord speaks about worship and, on the other hand, about drinking the living water (v. 14). If we put verses 14 and 24 together, we shall see that to drink of the living water is to worship God. Moreover, worshipping God by our spirit and in our spirit is the real drinking of the living water, which is God Himself. God Himself is the Spirit, and this Spirit is the living water. We drink this living water by worshipping God. Hence, drinking of God and worshipping Him are synonymous. We all must drink the very God who is the living water, the Spirit.
Another aspect of the way is unveiled in chapter six. In verse 48 the Lord said, “I am the bread of life,” and in verse 57 He said, “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” The way is not only to drink God as the living water, but also to eat Christ, the embodiment of God, as the living bread. The Lord’s word about eating Him was offensive to the religious people, and they could not bear it (v. 60). In verse 63 the Lord said to His disciples, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” The Lord seemed to be saying, “I am the bread of life. But I can only be dispensed into you as your life supply through the living Word. This living Word is the Spirit.” Thus, we must not contact the living Word as the black and white letters; we must contact the living Word as the living Spirit by exercising our spirit. Thus, the way to experience the organism is to contact the very God, who is the Spirit, and to eat and drink of Him.
If we truly contact the Lord and eat and drink of Him, we shall have the overflow spoken of in 7:37 and 38. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” What an overflow! Whoever believes in Him will have an overflow of rivers of living water. The water the believers take in of Christ will become overflowing rivers. This is the overflow we are talking about in this message.
The overflow of life is in chapter seven, not in chapter fifteen. But the overflow in chapter seven is for the fruit-bearing in chapter fifteen. By contacting God and eating and drinking of Him, we have such an overflow. This overflow is nothing less than the Triune God, who is the constituent of the organism and who is living Himself out of us. Therefore, the overflow of life is the Triune God living Himself out of us.
Now we can understand what it means to bear fruit by the overflow of life. We need to see this vision. If we do, we shall say, “I am part of the organism of the Triune God. Daily I contact my God, drink of Him, eat of Him, and live by Him. Now, spontaneously, this very God is flowing out of me.” This overflow of life is our fruit-bearing. Our fruit-bearing is God being lived out of us. As we are with our relatives, neighbors, colleagues, and friends, we must have this kind of living and be this kind of person. Recently a sister shared about meeting a woman in an airport and spontaneously testifying to her of her rich supply in Christ. That woman surely must have been impressed by our sister’s testimony. Coming out of the mouth of our sister was not simply preaching; it was the Triune God being lived out of her. If we have such a testimony with our relatives and friends, they will be impressed with the overflow of life, and this flow will certainly get into some of them. They will be infused with the flow and become a fruit born by this organism. This is fruit-bearing by the overflow of the inner life.
If you have such an overflow, could you help but love the Lord? Could you still live in sin and continue to love the world? This would be impossible. There is no need to strive to overcome sin and the world. There is not even any need to try to love the Lord. In fact, there is no need for us to do anything. Because we realize that we are part of this organism, that the Triune God has been wrought into our being, and that we have been constituted with His riches and have become parts of Him, something naturally and spontaneously will flow out of us.
We are the branches of the divine vine; we are part of the organism of the Triune God. In life, in nature, and in position we are the same as He. Hallelujah! Daily we are contacting our God. He is not simply the object of our worship but the Spirit within us as the living water. As we drink of Him and eat of Him, we have the overflow of life. This overflow is our fruit-bearing in our daily living. Whether or not the ones we contact will receive this flow is a matter of God’s choice. But we can be assured that the chosen ones will receive it and become fruit born by the divine organism. This is the way to increase the organism and to spread the kingdom of God. This is what it means to bear fruit by the overflow of the inner life.