As those who have been redeemed, saved, and regenerated, we have God’s life and nature. How marvelous that fallen human beings can declare that we have the life and nature of God! We have the nature of God because we have been born of Him. God is not only our Creator; He is also our Father. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1, lit.). In His love for us the Father has imparted His life and nature to us. Now we are children of God possessing the divine life and nature.
Have you ever realized what kind of status you have as a Christian? You are a son of the almighty God. God is actually your Father. If your father were the President of the United States, you would be very proud. How much more proud we should be of having the almighty God as our Father! We have the right to declare, “Hallelujah, we are sons of the almighty God!”
As sons of God, we should live Christ, not ethics, morality, or behavior. Ethics may be very good and a high standard of morality is no doubt excellent, but there is no comparison between these things and Christ. The standard of the Christian life is Christ Himself; it is not ethics, morality, or high character. In the book of Philippians Paul wants to impress us with the matter of living Christ. Paul could say, “To me to live is Christ” (1:21). It was his expectation that whether by life or by death, Christ would be magnified in him. What a standard! The standard of the Christian life far exceeds that of ethics, morality, or any kind of philosophy. To repeat, the standard of the Christian life is Christ, and we must live Him and magnify Him.
Christ was Paul’s goal, and his desire was to be found in Christ (Phil. 3:9). It should also be our desire to be found by others in Christ. Wherever we may be, we should be found in Christ. What a shame to be found in our natural life or in our culture! But how good it is if others could testify of finding us in Christ! Our goal is Christ, and our standard also is Christ. Wherever we are, the people we meet should be impressed with Christ. Then, because we live Christ, we shall be found by others in Him.
If we live a certain thing, we shall no doubt be found in that thing. For example, if we live our culture, others will find us in culture. Likewise, if we live Christ all the time, we shall always be found in Christ. If we want to be found in Christ, we must first live Christ. Instead of living in a natural way as a young person, middle-aged person, or elderly person, we should live Christ. Oh, it is a great matter to live Christ and to be found in Him!
Living Christ is abstract and mysterious. To live Christ is to live in a mysterious way. On the one hand, this kind of living is real and substantial; on the other hand, it is indefinable. When others find us in Christ, it will be difficult for them to describe us. We shall seem to be quite mysterious. Although as human beings we are not very different from others, there is something mysterious and even special about us. Christ is mysterious, and those who live Him also are mysterious. Because Christ is abstract and mysterious, it is not easy to explain how to live Him.
According to the central thought of the Bible, the Triune God is to be our life, and we need to be in Him. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus charged the disciples to baptize believers into the name of the Triune God, that is, into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To baptize the believers into the Triune God is to place them into an organic union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Before we were saved, the Triune God was altogether objective to us. But through redemption, salvation, justification, and regeneration, He has become subjective. Now we are in Him, and He is in us. The Triune God is in us to be not only our Redeemer and Savior, but also our life and life supply. God’s desire is not that we do certain things for Him, but that we be one spirit with Him and live Him. To live the Triune God is to live Christ. It is to magnify Christ, to glorify Him, and to express Him. It is to magnify Christ in the eyes of the people with whom we are in contact. The focal point of the Bible is related to living Christ.
Although living Christ is mysterious, it is not so mysterious that we cannot understand it at all. As we shall see, living Christ has much to do with the riches of Christ realized in the bountiful supply of the Spirit, and the bountiful supply of the Spirit embodied in the rich Word of God. Not only is the Bible God’s Word; it is also His speaking, even His breathing. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul says that all Scripture is God-breathed. By God’s speaking, by His breathing, many wonderful things are revealed.
If we did not have language, there would be no way for God to speak to us. As the speaking God, He speaks to us through our human language. Language was given to man as a preparation for God’s speaking.
We praise the Lord that, as Christians, we have both the Holy Bible in our hands and the Holy Spirit in our spirit and heart. Now we need to consider what the Holy Spirit is and also what the Holy Bible is.