LIVING CHRIST TO MAGNIFY HIM THROUGH THE BOUNTIFUL SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
The proper life of a Christ-pursuing God-man is also a life of living Christ to magnify Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We must not only know the power of Christ’s resurrection and be conformed to His death daily, but we must also know the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. By this bountiful supply we can live Christ to magnify Him (Phil. 1:19-21a). Paul wrote this word during his imprisonment in Rome. Under that difficult circumstance he wrote that by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, he was enabled to live and magnify Christ. When he was to be martyred, knowing that he was going to be with the Lord, he wrote in the second Epistle to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (4:7-8a). Hence, he rejoiced. Under that condition and situation he overcame the threatening of death and martyrdom and lived out Christ to magnify Him. Paul was able to live out that kind of life because he did it by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
We do not yet have adequate experience of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Hence, we need to pursue. Since we are God-men, we should live out God. God’s desire is that we become Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ so that we can die to ourselves and Christ can live out of us and be magnified through us.
LIVING AND WALKING IN THE EMPOWERING CHRIST
The proper life of a God-man who pursues Christ is to live and walk in the empowering Christ (Phil. 4:13).
LIVING AND WALKING IN AND ACCORDING TO THE MINGLED SPIRIT
Furthermore, we should live and walk in and according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4). Paul said that we are approved and justified before God because we live, walk, and have our being according to the mingled spirit. A person who walks according to the mingled spirit is one who lives and walks in the empowering Christ.
IN EVERYTHING TAKING CHRIST AS THE SECRET
A Christ-pursuing God-man should live by taking Christ as the secret in everything (Phil. 4:12). This is a very deep pursuit and experience. What is a secret? A secret is the key or skillfulness to do something. This is just like a key being the secret to a lock. Without the key we cannot open the lock; to open the lock we must have the key. In accomplishing anything we must have the secret; otherwise, we will waste our effort. Paul did everything by taking Christ as his key to open his “locks.”
THE ISSUE OF LIVING ACCORDING TO THE ABOVE SEVEN ITEMS
If we engage in the above pursuits, the issue will be that we live out the processed and consummated Triune God. We live out not only the Father and the Son but also the Spirit. Furthermore, we live out the pneumatic Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God; He is also the Spirit Himself. Christ Himself is the Spirit and the Triune God.
We also live out the consummated Spirit of the processed Triune God. Christ passed through resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit; this Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God. Hence, the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, is the consummation of the Triune God, and Christ is the very Spirit. If we live a life according to the preceding seven items, we live out not only the Triune God and Christ but also the consummated Spirit.
When we thus live out the consummated Spirit, this is equivalent to living in the resurrection of the consummated Spirit. This resurrection denotes a person, not a power or a thing. This is why the Lord Jesus said that He is the resurrection (John 11:25). Furthermore, the reality of resurrection is the Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God. Therefore, we have this conclusion: The Triune God, Christ, the Spirit, and resurrection are one. When we live according to the preceding seven items, we live in resurrection. This resurrection denotes a person—God. Hence, to be in resurrection means to be in the Triune God, in Christ, and in the consummated Spirit.
(A General Outline of God's Economy and the Proper Living of a God-Man, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
