The Recovery Of The Church
Message Eight
The Status of the Church—the New Man
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace, And might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.—Eph.2:15-16
And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.—Col.3:10-11.
Word of Appetizer
What is the new man?
Thousands of Christians have read Ephesians 2:15; 4:24; and Colossians 3:10, and they have seen the term the new man according to the letter, but they do not know what the new man is. Our becoming the new man was not merely a matter of our repenting and being sorry for our past and thereby becoming new. This is the teaching of Confucius; it is not the teaching of the Bible. In the creating of the new man, first our natural man was crucified by Christ on the cross, and then through the crossing out of the old man, Christ imparted God’s element into us. Thus, we became an entity that is different from the old man, because we have God’s element in us.
Spiritual Burden
The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man; What the Lord has been doing and is now doing in His recovery is bringing forth the one new man with Himself as the life and the person for God’s expression.
Today is the day to have a new man constituted of all the local churches, including all the saints as one in Christ, who is all in all; this will be the ultimate church life — a universal new man living out Christ
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The church, the Body of Christ, is the one new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose
The one new man was created through Christ’s death on the cross
The church is the one new man, and in this new man Christ is all and in all; we have no place
We need to see that all the local churches in the different countries are one new man
The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man.
The Experience of Life
The one new man comes into being as we are saturated, filled, and permeated with Christ and replaced by Him through an organic process. The all-inclusive Christ must be wrought into us organically until He replaces our natural being with Himself
Practice and Application
In order for us to experience the reality of Christ being all the members of the new man, we need to take Christ as our life and person and live Him, not ourselves. The requirement that everyone be only one man is exceedingly high; for the practical existence of the one new man, we need to rise up together to take Christ as our person
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace, And might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.—Eph.2:15-16
The church, the Body of Christ, is the one new man
The one new man was created through Christ’s death on the cross
• The church as the one new man is the corporate man in God’s intention; the one new man fulfills the twofold purpose of expressing God and dealing with God’s enemy
•The one new man was created by Christ with two kinds of material— the redeemed created man and the divine element; on the cross Christ put these two materials together to produce a new man.
•In the creating of the new man, first our natural man was crucified by Christ, and then through the crossing out of the old man, Christ imparted the divine element into us, causing us to become a new entity
•Apart from being in Christ, we could not have been created into one new man, because in ourselves we do not have the divine essence, which is the element of the new man
Key Verses (2)
And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.—Col.3:10-11
III. The church is the one new man, and in this new man Christ is all and in all; we have no place
•God’s intention in His economy is that Christ be everything; therefore, it is crucial for us to see that God wants nothing but Christ and that in the eyes of God nothing counts except Christ
•There is no natural person in the one new man, and there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person
• The new man is uniquely one— one in Christ and one with Christ; we are one by Christ and through Christ
•The one new man comes into being as we are saturated, filled, and permeated with Christ and replaced by Him through an organic process
•In the one new man, Christ is all the members and is in all the members
Key Verses (3)
Greet the brothers in Laodicea, as well as Nymphas and the church, which is in his house. And when this letter is read among you, cause that it be read in the church of the Laodiceans also, and that you also read the one from Laodicea.—Col.4:15-16
And the seventh angel trumpeted; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.—Rev.11:15
all the local churches in the different countries are one new man
The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man
IV. We need to see that all the local churches in the different countries are one new man
• All the churchesare not merely individual local churches but are the one new man
•Among the churches in the Lord’s recovery, there should be no “nations”
V. The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man
•What the Lord has been doing and is now doing in His recovery is bringing forth the one new man with Himself as the life and the person for God’s expression
•For the practical existence of the one new man, we need to rise up together to take Christ as our person
•The one new man will conclude this age, usher in the kingdom of God, and bring Christ, the King, back to this earth
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1God created mankind collectively in one person, Adam. (Gen. 1:26, Eph. 2:15)
(Please illustrate that God’s creation of man in Genesis 1 is a picture of the new man in God’s new creation.)
T2The one new man was created through Christ’s death on the cross (Eph. 2:15-16;)
(Please illustrate that the one new man was created by Christ with two kinds of material)
D2
T1Christ created us in Himself into the one new man. (Eph.2:15)
(Why Apart from being in Christ, we could not have been created into one new man?)
T2In the one new man Christ is all (Col. 3:10:11.)
(Please illustrate that in the one new man there are none of the national and cultural distinctions between the peoples.)
D3
T1God’s economy is to work a wonderful person into our being. (Col 1:18, 2:17)
(Please illustrate that this person is the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is the reality of every positive thing in the universe.)
T2The one new man is just Christ (Col. 3:11.)
(Please illustrate that the new man is not a new organization or a new “United Nations.” Also is not ecumenical. )
D4
T1we are saturated, filled, and permeated with Christ and replaced by Him (2 Cor. 3:18)
(Please illustrate that in the church as the new man, Christ is everything. What does this implies)
T2take Christ as our life and person (Gal. 2:20)
(How can we experience the reality of Christ being all the members of the new man in the church life?)
D5
T1Christ is all and in all (Col. 3: 11)
(Since Paul says that Christ is all, why is there the need for him to say that Christ is in all?)
T2All the churches are the one new man. (Eph. 4:15-16)
(Please illustrate that all the churches are not merely individual local churches but are the one new man)
D6
T1The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man (Eph. 2:15 Rev. 11:15.)
(Please illustrate that the one new man will conclude this age, usher in the kingdom of God, and bring Christ, back)
T2put off the old man and put on the new man.( Gen. 11:5-9; Acts 2:5-12)
(Please illustrate that in the old man, man was divided and scattered, but in the new man, man is gathered and made one.)
