SHINING AS LUMINARIES,
HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE
If we experience such a daily salvation, we will shine as luminaries, as lights, in the world, holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:15-16). Our living holds forth, presents to people, the word of life. On the one hand, we are preaching and teaching the word of life; on the other hand, we are presenting the living word of life by our living Christ. When we live Christ, we shine. We shine as the lights of Christ, and that shining presents to others the word of life.
EMPOWERED TO DO ALL THINGS BY LIVING CHRIST
If we live Christ, we shall be empowered to do all things (Phil. 4:13). To be empowered to do all things means to be strengthened to show forth all of the human virtues created by God for His expression. Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created man in His own image in order that man might express Him. The image of God refers to the divine attributes. With God there are the divine attributes, and with man there are the human virtues. God created man with human virtues. That is the reason man is ethical, moral, and good.
In Philippians 4:8 Paul refers to six virtues: "For the rest, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is well-spoken of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of these things." As a man, as a human being, you need to be true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, and well-spoken of. I repeat, every human being must be true, not false, and must be honorable and righteous. He must be right with God and with everyone, and he must be pure, lovely, and well-spoken of. He must have some virtue, and he must have something worthy of praise. As a human being you should be such a person. In Philippians Paul is instructing us how to live Christ. If we live Christ, we will be a person who is true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, well-spoken of, full of virtues, and full of things which are worthy of praise.
A human being should express God in all the human virtues which reflect all the divine attributes. However, man became fallen. The entire human race became the opposite of what God intended. Mankind became untrue, dishonorable, unrighteous, impure, unlovely, ill-spoken of, without virtue, and without anything worthy of praise. However, on the day we were saved, God in Christ came into us. This God now lives in us. If we live Christ, who is the embodiment of God, surely we will live a Person who is true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, well-spoken of, full of virtues, and worthy of praise. Although we should be such a person, in ourselves we cannot be. But in Philippians 4:13 Paul says, "I can do all things in Him who empowers me." In this verse to do all things does not refer to healing the sick, performing miracles, or speaking in tongues. Paul did not say that he could do all things in this way. Paul said that he could do all things to be true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, well-spoken of, full of virtues, and worthy of praise. Paul could do all these things in Christ who empowered him.
When reading Philippians 4:13, the wives should say, "I can do all things, including submitting myself to my husband." On the side of the husbands, the hardest thing on this earth for the husbands to do is to love their wives. It is easy to love while dating, and it is easy for the bridegroom to love the bride on the wedding day, but later on it may become difficult for the husbands to love their wives. But Paul says that we can do all things in the One who empowers us. Therefore, the husbands are able to love their wives. The sisters can be the proper wives submitting to their husbands, and the brothers can be the proper husbands loving their wives. We can do all things in Him, that is, in Christ, who empowers us. This is to live Christ.
WALKING ACCORDING TO SPIRIT
Finally, to live Christ is simply to walk according to spirit (Rom. 8:4), a mingled spirit. This spirit is the life-giving Spirit, who is Christ Himself, mingled with our regenerated spirit. There is such a mingled spirit within us. We simply need to walk so that our daily life may be according to this spirit. Confucius said that the highest learning is to cultivate the bright virtue, that is, the human conscience. But we have something much higher than the bright virtue, something much higher than the conscience. We have a mingled spirit. This mingled spirit is our regenerated human spirit indwelt by and mingled with the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. Now, we need to walk according to this spirit. This is to experience Christ by enjoying Him, and this is the secret of experiencing Christ.
(The Secret of Experiencing Christ, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
