Lesson Book, Level 4: Life—Knowing and Experiencing Life, by Witness Lee

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VIII. THE EXTENT OF DEALING WITH THE WORLD

[The extent to which we deal with the world is “life and peace’’ (Rom. 8:6). Whenever we deal with the world which we are conscious of, we should deal with it until we have peace and life within. Since these dealings are based upon the feelings of life which are derived from fellowship, they are experiences of life. Dealing with the world causes us to experience life and sense the freshness, brightness, satisfaction, strength, joy and peace of life. In other words, we should deal with the world to the extent that we have life and peace.]

IX. THE PRACTICE OF DEALING WITH THE WORLD

A. Not Loving the World

[In 1 John 2:15 John charges us not to love the world or the things in the world. He tells us that if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. Not loving such a world is the ground for overcoming the evil one. Loving it just a little gives the evil one the ground to defeat us and occupy us. Whenever we open ourselves to the world, to Satan’s anti-God system, we lose the battle against him.]

B. The Regenerated Spirit Overcoming the World

[According to 1 John 5:4, everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world.] In this verse “everything’’ refers to the human spirit. [Therefore, it is the regenerated human spirit that overcomes the world. Regarding overcoming the world, we should not trust in our own ability or effort. Our spirit is well able to overcome Satan and the world, the evil system. But in ourselves we cannot overcome the world. When we exercise our spirit, stay in our spirit, and walk by our spirit, we shall see that our spirit has the life ability to overcome all negative things. This is why we need to exercise our spirit to have fellowship with the Lord and pray concerning the enjoyment of the Lord. We also need to exercise our spirit to call on the Lord’s name and to pray-read the Word. This exercise stirs up the ability in our spirit to overcome the world.

It is the divine life in our spirit that has the ability to overcome the evil, satanic world. We are surrounded by temptations. What can overcome them? The divine life in our spirit can overcome temptation. We all need to see that our spirit is mingled with the divine life and is the organ that can overcome the world.]

We are created by God, redeemed by Christ and regenerated by the Spirit, therefore, we are for God alone. We belong to God. We need to be occupied by Him alone. Anything of the world that occupies us must be dealt with. We experience life as we are dealing with the world. We grow in life after we have dealt with the world. All the dealings are of the Spirit and by the Spirit for our growth of life unto maturity in life.

Questions

  1. Explain the difference between sin and the world.
  2. How are the three categories of man’s needs related to the formation of the world?
  3. What are the five steps of the formation of the world?
  4. Give a definition of the world according to 1 John 2:15.
  5. What are the contents of the world? Discuss each briefly.
  6. How are we delivered from the world?
  7. What does the world in our daily living consist of?
  8. What measuring rule do we use regarding the world? How could this differ from one believer to another?
  9. What two factors influence our inner feelings toward the world?
  10. How do we deal with the world practically?

Quoted Portions from (Lee/LSM) Publications

  1. The Experience of Life, pp. 65-92.
  2. Recovery Version, 1 John 2:15, note 2.
  3. Life-study of First John, pp. 172, 174-175, 320.

(Lesson Book, Level 4: Life—Knowing and Experiencing Life, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee)

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