In the first issue of our church magazine, we shared about the direction of Church ministry. One of the goals is to commit that which we have heard and learned to our next generation. In the olden days, Paul had exhorted young Timothy: “ the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2Tim.2: 2). Not only that such commitment is our responsibility, but indeed it is also our privilege. Concerning the issue of our Church ministry and direction, so far we have not made any presentation to our members. What messages from the Lord had the elders taught us through their labor and nurture? What have we learned about the way of pursuit of God? What sacrifice did we have in practicing Christian faith? Have we left “the elementary teachings about Christ” to proceed on to maturity in faith? Are the functions of the Church simply maintained by social interactions? In the last issue we have explained our view on evangelism, in the current issue we intend to share about the direction in the pursuit of the knowledge of the Lord.
To the Corinthians Paul had clearly announced: “Jews demanded miraculous signs and Greek look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified” (1Cor.2: 22-23). This is a unique message, just as Isaiah prophesied: “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and..... makes His life a guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10). It was God’s plan for Christ to experience suffering of death, in order to manifest the unsearchable riches of His salvation. It was on the cross that this glorious and noble One became shameful and abased; this living and almighty One experienced weakness and death. But then He was raised from death. And by overcoming the power of death He accomplished redemption and brought forth the Church.
At any age or place, the central message proclaimed by the Church is always Jesus Christ and He crucified. He is the Head of the Church, therefore we do not boast about people or organizations lest they might usurp the Lord’s rightful place. The Church is a body called to be separated from the world to be under the direct sovereignty of Christ. Her mission on earth is to preach the gospel of the Heavenly Kingdom and to bear witness to the Lord Jesus’ resurrection. For the political activities and social welfare services in the world, there are specialized organizations and voluntary societies attending to them. Therefore the Church will not actively promote or participate in social services and activities. The message of eternal life brought by the Gospel is of the greatest and most important benefit to mankind. Christ has cleansed the Church by His blood, therefore we follow God’s absolute and unchanging moral standard in our walk, and will not follow the society in its changes with time and circumstances.
The crucifixion of Christ achieved two vital purposes: First, by offering the wages of sin to God, He absolved us from our sinful acts. God forgives and justifies the believers on this foundation. Second, He caused us to be crucified with Him through faith. Once and for all He had dealt with our sinful nature and had saved us from the power of sin. This is the message of the cross we learn to proclaim. For all the spiritual pursuits and victory and all virtues and spiritual integrity only come with the recognition of dying and living together with Him. The Church’s main cause of failure in edification is the lack of proclaiming this dual message of the cross. Without the instruction and exhortation on these aspects of truth, believers will have no foundation for spiritual growth and victory.
Many have experienced the joy and peace through the forgiveness of sins. But, in the process of spiritual growth, they may still attempt to deal with their sinful selves and sinful nature by their own efforts. At first we might struggle hard for righteousness and to resist our sinful nature. But eventually we discover that we can achieve nothing. In the face of the old nature that dominates us, and the sinful power that manipulates us to sin, we experience countless failures and defeats. With such dejections and frustrations, we grieve along with Paul: “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do --- this I keep on doing... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ” (Rom.7: 19,24). On the path of spiritual pursuit and growth, many believers have bitterly experienced such agony of struggle and disappointment of incapability! At such times, the Lord will bring us back to the cross, where once again He will lead us to rethink the meaning of dying with Him. The Lord wants us to recognize clearly one spiritual fact: That our sinful selves and old nature stand in opposition to the life and nature of God. If we only recognize the death of the Lord in resolving our sins, we have no means at all to overcome the power of sin. Until He shows us that His death actually effectuate the crucifixion of our old beings with Him, then we can recognize that we are dead to sin in Christ. Since “by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death” (Heb. 2:14), we have then the confidence to believe that we in Christ have also escaped the control of him who holds the power of death!
When we preach the message of dying together with the Lord, we also preach the message of living together with Him. Just as the Lord’s death was not only for our sins but also for our sinful nature, similarly, His resurrection does not only guarantee the promise of eternal life for us but also provides the ground for our victorious living. The salvation of Christ comprises one great truth: God does not reform our old life and nature, but lets them die --- to be crucified with the Lord, and let the life of God reveal in us! There is a hymn written like this:
Dying on the cross with Jesus, Buried and raised up with Him,
In the Heavenly realms now seated, No longer I to live.
Christ lives within, He takes over all, See as He sees, speak as He speaks,
Ask as He asks, do as He does, He is my Lord.
(Heavenly People 49)
“Dying with the Lord” and “living with Him” are inseparable truth. The two epistles on justification by faith in the New Testament, namely: Romans and Galatians, purposely expounded the meaning and effect of this truth. The act of Christian baptism fitfully illustrates the dual meaning of dying together and living together with Him: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom. 6:4). We were “immersed” into His death, by His death we died with Him, buried with Him, and then we also became alive with Him by His resurrection --- not returning to the old nature, but are alive in His life through death. Though outwardly we still carry the same physical life, inwardly it is a renewed spiritual life and nature. This spiritual fact is the will of God and the method He has chosen to use. “Dying in the Lord” becomes the demarcation line between sin and us, while “living in the Lord” enables us to enjoy the freedom of the new life.
Those elders before us, who had learned of the Lord, and had been whole-heartedly guiding us in growth, have meaningfully quoted two Biblical exhortations for our generation of believers as a direction of spiritual pursuit:
“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son”
(Rom. 8:29)
“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity”
(Heb. 6:1)
In the pursuit of God, the Church, as well as the individuals, should be fully encouraged to recognize and to experience this in-depth message, to conform to His image and to attain spiritual maturity. We expect that believers will desire for self-denial; that they will accept God’s demolition and reconstruction in our life, to the effect that their spiritual life is strengthened while the activities of the flesh wither. We desire the Church to proclaim the Word of life, that She would not degrade Her belief to a philosophical debate to please the worldly trend of academic approach. We wish the Church would keep Her noble, heavenly status, without conforming to the world in its modes and movements.
The theme of dying and living together with Christ through the cross is not new, and it is not exclusively for our church alone. In fact, every church could, and should, proclaim such a message. This is basically the pathway for Christians to go through salvation, to experience self-denial, and to undergo refinement towards sanctification. It is in this way we have received the teachings, and have experienced a bit on self-denial and life molding. So it is our obligation to pass this message on. This is our church’s direction in the pursuit of the knowledge of the Lord.
My heart is athirst and longing, The homeward way of the cross.
Fiery age urges me onward, No hesitation or halt.
Fixing my eyes upon the cross -- The bloodstained path leading home.
Fixing my eyes upon the cross -- The only path leading home.
Follow Christ to Gethsemane, Follow Him to Calvary,
Till we enter eternity, No more sorrow or woe.
(Selected from The Homeward Way of the Cross)