The Believers (1)
Message Ten
Being Conformed to Christ’s Death and Attaining to the Out-resurrection
THE EXTRACT OF THE OUTLINES
Scripture reading:
Phil. 3:10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
I. In Phil. 3:10 Paul speaks of being conformed to His death; this expression indicates that Paul desired to take Christ’s death as the mold of his life—Phil. 3:10: (Monday)
A. Knowing the excellency of Christ, counting all things as loss, gaining Christ, knowing Him and the power of His resurrection, and knowing the fellowship of His sufferings all result in one thing—being conformed to the death of Christ—Phil. 3:7-10.
B. Being conformed to the death of Christ is the base of the experience of Christ—Phil. 1:20-21a; 3:9-10.
C. The mold of Christ’s death refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His natural human life so that He might live by the divine life—John 6:57a.
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D. The death of Christ is a mold, and we are being conformed to the shape of this mold; God has put us into the mold of Christ’s death, and day by day God is conforming us to this death—Rom. 6:3-4. (Tuesday)
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E. When we are conformed to the death of Christ, we experience His all-accomplishing death; by being conformed to the death of Christ, we experience Him in His death so that life may be released, dispensed, and multiplied; the more we are conformed to the death of Christ, the more we glorify the Father—John 12:24-25, 28; 2 Cor. 4:12; John 13:31. (Wednesday)
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II. The result of being conformed to the death of Christ is that we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead—Phil. 3:11: (Thursday)
A. The out-resurrection is the outstanding resurrection, the extra-resurrection, which will be a prize to the overcoming saints; all believers who have died in Christ will have part in the resurrection from the dead at the Lord’s coming back—Rev. 20:4, 6; 1 Thes. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:52.
B. To attain to the out-resurrection means that our entire being is gradually and continually being resurrected—1 Thes. 5:23.
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C. The out-resurrection is a resurrection out of the old creation and into the new creation—Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17. (Friday)
D. To Paul, to live was Christ as the out-resurrection—Phil. 1:21a; 3:11.
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E. We need to be conformed to the death of Christ so that by any means we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead; this is the only way for the Lord to go on in His recovery, the only way for the Lord to build up His church, the only way for the Lord to prepare His bride, and the only way for us to bring the Lord back—Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7-9a; 22:14, 20. (Saturday)
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before—Phil. 3:10-13.
Word of Appetizer
In Phil. 3:10 Paul speaks of “being conformed to His death.” What does this expression indicate? What is “being conformed to His death”? What is attaining to the out-resurrection?
This expression indicates Paul’s desire to take the death of Christ as the mold of his life. Being conformed to the death of Christ is the base of the experience of Christ; the mold of Christ’s death refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His natural human life so that He might live by the life of God; God has put us into the mold of Christ’s death, and day by day God is conforming us to this death.
The out-resurrection is the outstanding resurrection, the extra-resurrection, which will be a prize to the overcoming saints; attaining to the out-resurrection means that our entire being has been gradually and continually resurrected.
Spiritual Burden
Knowing Christ as the excellency, counting all things as loss, gaining Christ, being found in Him, knowing Him, knowing the power of His resurrection, and knowing the fellowship of His sufferings all issue in one thing—being conformed to the death of Christ. The issue of being conformed to the death of Christ is that we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead; the out-resurrection should be the goal and purpose of our Christian life.
We need to be conformed to the death of Christ so that we may by any means attain to the out-resurrection from the dead; this is the only way for the Lord to go forward in His recovery, the only way for the Lord to build up His church, the only way for the Lord to prepare His bride, and the only way for us to bring the Lord back.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In Phil. 3:10 Paul speaks of “being conformed to His death.” This expression indicates Paul’s desire to take the death of Christ as the mold of his life.
The issue of being conformed to the death of Christ is that we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.
The Experience of Life
God has put us into the mold of Christ’s death, and day by day God is conforming us to this death; if we put to death our natural life, we will sense another life within us, the divine life; this life will be released, and in this way, we will be conformed to the death of Christ in our experience.
When we are conformed to the death of Christ, we experience His all-accomplishing death; when we experience the death of Christ and are conformed to His death, we become a magnet attracting people to Christ; the more we die with Christ, the more we cause our soul-life to be saved into eternal life.
Practice and Application
Our life should be conformed to the shape of this mold, which is to die to our human life so that we may live the life of God; we are being conformed to the shape of the mold of Christ’s death by the power of Christ’s resurrection.
Attaining to the out-resurrection requires our overcoming in running the race to receive the prize; only by living a crucified life to be conformed to the death of Christ can we reach this goal.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: Paul desired to take Christ’s death as the mold of his life (Phil. 3:10; John 6:57)
(Please illustrate that Paul continually lived a crucified life, just as Christ did in His human life.)
T2: The sufferings of Christ are mainly for producing and building up the Body of Christ (Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24)
(Please illustrate what two categories of sufferings Christ endured.)
Day 2
T1: Being conformed to the death of Christ is the foundation for experiencing Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:28-29)
(Please illustrate with experience that if we allow circumstances to press us into this mold, our daily life will be conformed to the shape of Christ’s death.)
T2: The significance of bearing the cross (Matt. 16:24)
(Please illustrate that the cross is not merely suffering; the cross is mainly putting to death.)
Day 3
T1: Experiencing the all-accomplishing death of Christ (John 12:24-25, 32)
(Please illustrate which five aspects of His all-accomplishing death we experience when we are conformed to His death.)
T2: Forgetting the teachings about behavioral improvement (John 12:24-25)
(Please illustrate that God’s economy is not about ethics or religion, but about being conformed to the death of Christ.)
Day 4
T1: The extra-resurrection should be the goal and purpose of our Christian life (Phil. 3:11; Rev. 20:6)
(What is the “extra-resurrection”?)
T2: Christ Himself is the reality of the extra-resurrection (Phil. 1:21; Gal. 2:20)
(How can we attain to the mark of the extra-resurrection in this age?)
Day 5
T1: To live Christ is to live the extra-resurrection (Phil. 1:21; John 11:25)
(Please illustrate with experience that our words and actions must be in resurrection; the question is not whether a matter is right or wrong, but whether it is in resurrection.) I do not know.
T2: Our resurrection begins with our regeneration; God’s goal is that our entire being would be resurrected (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13)
(Please illustrate with experience how we can experience resurrection in loving our wives and shepherding the saints.)
Day 6
T1: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, pursuing Christ (Phil. 3:12-13)
(Please illustrate what stretching forward to the “things which are before” refers to.)
T2: Pursue, in the original text, can be translated as persecute (Phil. 3:12-13)
(Please illustrate how Paul “persecuted” Christ before and after he was saved.)
