The young brother from Taiwan is saved, and I am too, and we have received Christ as our person; therefore, we should be one. However, we are not one, because we live by two different persons. He has his person, and I have my person. If there were one hundred believers, there would be one hundred persons; if there were a thousand believers, there would be a thousand persons. In the same way, it is also difficult for a married couple to be together and have only one person. It is not easy to find a married couple who can get along perfectly. We each have our own person; you have yours, and I have mine. However, we thank the Lord that in the church there is one way that enables us to get along. It is not a method or merely a life; it is a person.
Ephesians 3:17 says that “Christ may make His home in your hearts,” not “heart.” This verse does not speak of only one heart but of many hearts. Verse 18 says that you “may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are.” To apprehend with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth indicates that this is not an individual matter; it is a corporate matter. We have a person in us who [191] makes us one. It does not matter whether we are old or young or from the mainland or Taiwan; neither does it matter if we are odd or eccentric. We are all one when we take Christ as our person.
Suppose a young brother from Taiwan and I resolve to love one another because the Bible teaches us to be one by loving one another and bearing one another. As a result, we will begin to pray and ask the Lord to help us love each other. However, since we lack the ability to love one another in ourselves, after a period of time we will accumulate bitter feelings toward one another. Eventually, we will realize that this way does not work.
We should not take any portion of the Word out of context. Ephesians speaks not only concerning lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, and bearing one another. More importantly, in chapter 3 Paul says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts…that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God” (vv. 17, 19). In chapter 5 he says, “Be filled in spirit” (v. 18). Based on these verses, we see that resolving to be one because of the teaching in the Bible will not work. We are unable to achieve this by our resolution. We must let Christ make His home in our hearts by taking Him as our person. If we receive the Lord’s grace, we will see that in order for Christ to make His home in our hearts, we should take Christ as our person. The church is not only the one Body but also the one new man (2:15). In this new man neither you nor I are the person; Christ is the person in the new man. Hence, I should consecrate in order to let the Lord be my person, and the young brother should also consecrate in order to let the Lord be his person. Our consecration is not for us to become preachers or evangelists or fervent co-workers. Our consecration is to take Christ as our person. We are empty vessels who consecrate to the Lord so that He may dwell in us and make His home in us to be not only our life but also our person. Hence, we must receive Christ as our person. This is not a performance; it is not our way of dealing with a difficult situation; it is not a matter of seeing a vision or of receiving a revelation. This has to be our daily experience.
Many younger saints testified concerning taking Christ as their person. They said that before going to bed, they ask the Lord whether or not He is going to bed. Although this kind of testimony is not wrong, it is not deep enough. We need to testify concerning not trying to love the saints because we take Christ as our person. When we [192] take Christ as our person, we are dead and buried. When the Lord is our person, we can spontaneously love an unlovable brother because the Lord, who is our person, loves him. Not only do we love those whom the Lord loves, but we love with the Lord’s love. When this becomes our practice, we will live by the Lord Jesus, just as He lived by the Father.
In John 5:30 the Lord said, “I can do nothing from Myself.” This does not mean that the Lord was not able to do anything but that He did not live by Himself. He said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (14:10). The Lord was the One speaking, but it was the Father who was working. The Lord took the Father not only as His life but also as His person. The Father was in Him, and the Father spoke through Him. Hence, the Lord’s speaking was the Father’s working. This is the life that we should live. We should tell the Lord to love the brothers through us. We are not our own person; the Lord is our person. We do not live by ourselves; we live by Him. Then when we love a brother, it will be the Lord doing His work. We need to hear testimonies of this kind. This does not mean that the Lord will not help us. However, to experience the Lord as our person should not be limited to His helping us.
May the Lord have mercy on us and open our eyes to see that His eternal purpose is for us to be joined with Him to become people of two natures. We are human beings possessing humanity, and the Lord is God possessing both divinity and a perfect humanity. He desires to come into us to be not only our life but also our person, thus making us His expression. By being joined to Him, we become people possessing not only our human nature but also His divine nature and His uplifted human nature. There is a fruit that looks like both a peach and an apple. It is the product of grafting peaches with apples. This fruit has two natures. Every Christian also has two natures. Even though this young brother is Taiwanese and I am from mainland China, we have been grafted into Christ, and Christ is in us. He is not only our life but even more our person. Since Christ is our person, our old man is finished.
Since Christ is our person, we do not need to resolve to do good. We simply take the Lord as our person by letting Him dwell in us and make home in us. This is the kind of life that we should live daily. Then even if I am an old mainlander and you are a young [193] Taiwanese, we will be one because there is only one person in us. Furthermore, not only is there one person within us, but we will live out and express Christ in our living. Being in oneness, in harmony, and loving one another are expressions of Christ. Such a living that expresses Christ is the reality of the church.
The church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One, Christ, who fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23). This Body is the new man, who takes Christ as the person. Christ lives in every member of this Body, and every member rejects, puts aside, his own person. In the new man every member takes Christ as his person. As a result, even though there are thousands of believers, there is only one person. This person is Christ. These believers who take Christ as their life are the one new man. They are the church in reality. The living of this new man is the church life.