TAKING CARE OF THE UNIVERSAL NEW MAN IN OUR DAILY WALK
I must take the opportunity at this time to speak a word on taking care of the universal new man in our daily walk. If we have all seen the vision of the new man and have seen that all the churches are not merely individual local churches but the one new man, we will be willing to say, “Lord, I want to receive grace and mercy with all the saints as the one new man, taking You as the person in all of us.” If you take Christ in this way as the person of this corporate new man, you will not decide anything in your life by yourself. Because you see that you are a part of the churches as the new man, you will not be able to decide anything merely by yourself. Since you are a part of the new man, your decisions and your living should not be yours; they should be the decisions and the living of the corporate new man. Dear brothers and sisters, this is the ultimate requirement. This is why I say that Christianity has failed the Lord. If the Lord goes to Christianity to look for this new man, He will never find him.
However, we ourselves must also be careful. We say that we are in the Lord’s recovery, but if the Lord were to come among us, would He find this new man? This is not merely a matter of individual localities and individual churches; it involves all the churches on earth corporately. Are all the local churches on the earth in the Lord’s recovery today truly the one new man? Because the church is a lampstand, you may say that each locality is a lampstand. However, concerning the church being the new man, can you say that each locality is a new man? No, you cannot! All the churches on the earth are the one new man.
In the past we lacked this light, and we did not release this kind of message. Therefore, I do not believe that among us there is one brother or sister who has taken into consideration all the churches on the earth in his or her decision-making and living. Let me ask the brothers from Hong Kong: When you are deciding about a certain matter and living a certain kind of life, as you fellowship, pray, and consider together, do you think about the churches on the whole earth? Have you ever thought of the churches in Australia or in New Zealand? Have you thought of the churches in Germany, England, and other places in Europe? Have you thought of the church in Ghana, Africa? Moreover, have you thought of the churches in Brazil, South America, and the churches in Canada and the United States, North America? Have you ever thought about them in this way? I would dare to guarantee that you have never thought anything like this. At most you have thought about the brothers and sisters in Hong Kong, and you have considered how the brothers and sisters in Hong Kong would feel about your decisions. Although this too is a requirement, it is not a very high one. However, when you put yourselves into the new man and realize that the new man is not only the church in Hong Kong but includes all the churches on the whole earth, you will see that the requirement is extremely high as you consider your decisions and your living.
Thus, I truly hope that from now on every local church, when it is considering, praying, and fellowshipping about a certain decision, will take care of all the churches on the earth and will realize the fact that we are all one new man. Then your decision and living will certainly be of a high standard, requiring you to pay the highest price. Brothers and sisters, may we have eyes to see that this is a requirement we have never had before.
PUTTING ON THE LIFE OF THE UNIVERSAL NEW MAN
I feel that it is the Lord’s good pleasure that we have this gathering. Although there are not many from Ghana, Africa nor are there many from Australia and New Zealand, there are at least a few representatives from these places. Thus, every continent is represented here, giving us the position to say that the new man is here. The saved ones in all six continents have representatives here.
Everything is according to the Lord’s good pleasure. Two thousand years ago at the time of the apostle Paul, it was quite difficult to speak of the new man being universal. At that time communication and transportation were not well developed. It would have taken several months to go by sailboat from Jerusalem to Rome. Also it would have taken a long time for news from Jerusalem to reach Rome and another length of time for the news from Rome to get back to Jerusalem. Even in the 1800s, when the American missionaries came to China to preach the gospel, they had to spend six months at sea on a ship before they arrived. Today, however, it takes only a short time for Taipei to know what has happened in New York. Anything that happens anywhere in the world is immediately known everywhere else. I feel that this is something well-pleasing to the Lord. We should know how the brothers and sisters in Ghana live, and they also should know how we brothers and sisters here live a spiritual life in righteousness and holiness. We are one new man; we have put on the new man. This new man is not individual, nor is it local; rather, it is universal. When we put on the new man, we put on the universal new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. We must ask all the brothers and sisters in all the places: As you are living the church life in your locality and putting on the new man in the Lord’s recovery, do you have holiness and righteousness? We all must have the righteousness and holiness of the reality. That righteousness and that holiness are the life of the new man.
(One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
