The All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture For the One New Man
Message Three
The Constituent of the One New Man—the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Col. 3:10-11 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.
Word of Appetizer
In the church as the new man, Christ is everything; this implies that all the believers must be constituted with Christ;how should we be constituted with Christ?
The new man is Christ in all the saints permeating us and replacing us until all natural distinctions have been eliminated, and everyone is constituted with Christ.
We must be permeated with Christ, saturated with Christ, and have Christ organically wrought into our being;eventually, we will be replaced by Christ, and then, in reality, Christ will be all and in all; He will be every part of the new man.
Spiritual Burden
When we have the vision of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, experience Him as our life and the constituent of our entire being, and live Christ rather than our own culture, one new man will appear among us in a practical way, and we will realize the life of the new man.
CONCLUDING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
The Revelation of the Truth
If we get into the depths of the book of Colossians, we will see that in this book Paul is dealing with the hidden matter of human culture.
The book of Colossians reveals that the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is everything in God’s economy.
The preeminent, all-inclusive, extensive Christ is our life and the unique constituent of the one new man.
As the constituent of the new man, Christ is all and in all; Christ is all the members, and He is in all the members.
The New Jerusalem will be the final consummation of the one new man.
The Experience of Life
Unconsciously, we are under the influence of the culture into which we were born; the elements of this culture are part of our being;when we came into the church life, we brought our culture with us, and this culture undermines our enjoyment of Christ and the church life.
When we take Christ as our life and constitution, we have the sense deep within that we are one with Christ and that Christ is us, and simultaneously, we have an even deeper sense that Christ is in us.
Practice and Application
In the church as the new man, there is no room for regional, cultural, or national distinctions;in the church as the new man, Christ is everything;we must be permeated with Christ, saturated with Christ, and have Christ organically wrought into our being.
Christ is the living of all the saints, only He will be in the new man, and all the saints, whatever their nationality, need to live Christ.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—
TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The source of the trouble among the believers in Colossae was culture (Col. 3:11; 2:8).
(Please explain that just as culture exerted a strong influence on the believers in Colossae, culture today exerts a strong influence on us.)
T2: Culture is the unconscious living of every human being (Col. 3:11; 2:8, 18).
(Please explain according to the verses mentioned above that the book of Colossians deals not with sin or with the law, but with man’s culture.)
Day 2
T1: In the new man there is room for nothing other than Christ (Col. 3:11).
(Please explain that in the church as the new man, there is no room for either the cultured or the uncultured.)
T2: This arbitrator calms down all the opinions which have their source in our culture (Col. 3:15-16).
(Why is it significant that in the book of Colossians, a book that deals with culture, Paul spoke of the inward arbitration of the peace of Christ?)
Day 3
T1: The ultimate issue of enjoying Christ as our portion is that we experience Him as the content and constituent of the new man (Col. 1:12; 3:11).
(According to Colossians 1:12 to 3:11, how should we learn to live Christ as the constituent of the new man?）
T2: There should be no differences among the believers who are part of this new man (Col. 4:16; Rev. 1:11-12).
(Please explain according to Colossians 4:7-17 that Paul there was a sense, a consciousness, of the new man.)
Day 4
T1: Seeing the practical expression of the new man (Col. 4:16; Rev. 1:11-12).
(Please explain that the existence and living of the new man in a practical way is a matter of tremendous significance at the time of Paul.)
T2: In Paul’s heart was not simply a particular local church or a certain saint, but the one new man (Col. 4:16).
(What kind of attitude can prove that people lack the sense of the one new man?)
Day 5
T1: In the church as the new man, Christ is everything (Col. 3:10-11).
(Please explain that the new man does not come into existence by taking Christians from various countries and bringing them together.)
T2: Christ 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?)
Day 6
T1: If we set our mind on the things above, the new man will spread from our spirit into our soul (Col. 3:1; Eph. 4:23).
(How can we, the New Testament believers, realize the life of the universal new man in a practical way?)
T2: God’s goal is to have this one new man, which ultimately will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).
(Please explain that the practical life of the new man comes out of the revelation of Christ and the experience of Christ.)
