Scripture Reading: Col. 3:10-11; 4:7-17

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 9　DAY 1　»

　　Col. 4:15-16 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.

　　If we consider Colossians 4:7-17 in the light of the whole Epistle, we shall realize that this passage is a practical application of what Paul covers in this book….In 3:11 we are told that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” In 4:7-17 we have a practical illustration of the revelation of the new man given in 3:10 and 11. In 4:7-17 different kinds of people are pointed out: Jews, Greeks, circumcision, uncircumcision, slaves, and masters. In verse 11 Paul refers to those who are of the circumcision. Onesimus, who had become a “faithful and beloved brother” (v. 9), was a slave belonging to Philemon, who was the father of Archippus (Philem. 10-13, 1-2). Archippus, therefore, was a master. Hence, Paul's purpose in these verses is to present an illustration of the living of the new man. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 258)

　　This Epistle to the Colossians was sent from Rome to Colossae…. In the geographical region between Rome and Colossae were many different kinds of people. However, in this region near the Mediterranean, the new man had come into being and was living in a practical way. Although travel was not convenient, there was considerable traffic among the churches. There is a lesson for us here. Although we enjoy all the modern conveniences and means of transportation, there may not be as much traffic among the churches today as there was at the time of Paul. Furthermore, I have to admit that I have never composed a letter containing as many personal greetings as there are in the book of Colossians. Think of how many names are mentioned in 4:7-17: Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Barnabas, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas, Nymphas, and Archippus. Paul also refers to the brothers in Laodicea, the church in the house of Nymphas, and the church of the Laodiceans…. All these names indicate that with Paul there was a sense, a consciousness, of the new man.

　　This new man who was living on earth in a practical way was constituted of those who according to culture and social status were Greeks, Jews, circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slaves, and free men. However, as we have pointed out, the actual constituent of the new man is Christ and Christ alone. Because Christ is the unique constituent of the new man, there should be no differences among the believers who are part of this new man.

　　Furthermore, there should be no differences among the churches….This is proved by Paul's word regarding the reading of letters [4:16]… What Paul wrote to the Colossians was also for the Laodiceans, and what he wrote to the Laodiceans was for the Colossians. What fellowship, oneness, harmony, and intimate contact this implies!

　　It is shameful for the church in any locality to isolate itself from other churches. How wrong it is for us to have the attitude of standing apart from other local churches, fearing that others may interfere with our affairs or otherwise trouble us….Any church which holds such an attitude has a consciousness only of itself, not of the totality of the new man. Those who insist on this attitude cause the new man to be fragmented, to be broken into pieces. Nevertheless, many churches and many individual believers as well have the attitude that they will leave others alone if others in turn will leave them alone….Those who have this attitude lack the sense, the consciousness, of the one new man. Praise the Lord for the portrait of the living of the new man in these verses! (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 258-261)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 31; CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “Elders' Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2),” ch. 10

«　WEEK 9　DAY 2　»

　　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.

　　Due to modern inventions, transportation and communication have been greatly improved….We have all these things to bring people together. These modern inventions have condensed the whole globe [for God's purpose to perfect the one new man].

　　[The vision of the new man] will not only keep us in oneness but also will deliver us and rescue us from all things other than Christ. We need such a vision. Throughout the years some have said in a narrow way that each local church must have its own jurisdiction and its own autonomy, but we need to see that all the local churches in the different countries are one new man.

　　Everything on this earth is for the perfection of the new man. Today with the world politics, scientific inventions, modern transportation and communication, and our understanding of languages, the world has been condensed into a small sphere. There is nearly no hindrance for the new man to be perfected. Today everything is ripe, ready, and prepared for the new man to come forth. We all have to see where we are. We are at the end time, and this is the most golden time. This is the right time for the Lord's recovery. Our view must be broadened. There is only one new man, and nothing and no one has any place in this new man, but Christ is all and in all. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 481-483)

　　Brothers who live together are not always happy with each other. In 1935 I was placed with some other co-workers who stayed together with me. After only two or three hours I became unhappy with one of them. Although I would have reacted in a wrong way the Spirit within constrained me. Even when I was unable to be pleasant, the Spirit within me was able. We do have such a wonderful Spirit in our spirit. We are all one only because Christ as the life-giving Spirit is in our spirit. We love Him and we live by Him. When we live by Him, we are happy with all the brothers. After this incident I praised the Lord and gave Him all the thanks for these wonderful co-workers. They all became lovely and pleasant to me because I was in the spirit.

　　It is in the spirit that we are one, and it is in the spirit that we are in the new man….When the new man is brought into full existence, we will not speak of the differences between the churches or of the jurisdiction and autonomy of the local churches. At that time we will all be living Christ. Only Christ will be among us, and only Christ will be manifested.

　　If you go to Brazil, you will see Christ. If you go to Britain, you will see Christ. If you go to Italy, France, Japan, China, Korea, or the Philippines, you will see nothing but Christ. There will be no need to say that we all are one—Christ will be each one of us. Christ is with you, Christ is with me, Christ is with every believer, and Christ is with every local church. There will be no need to merely speak about oneness. We will simply live out Christ. This will be the ultimate church life, a universal new man living out Christ. This will conclude this age, usher in the kingdom, and bring Christ back. Eventually, this new man will become the loving bride to Christ. Some will take the ecumenical way, tolerating each other amidst many differences, but at the same time the Lord will be working out everything to gain the new man. All the saints in many countries throughout the world will speak the same thing (1 Cor. 1:10), the unique Christ. We will only speak Christ because we will be living Him out. He is our life, and He is our person. He is the life-giving Spirit within our spirit, and all the time, in everything, we are turning to our spirit and growing into this unique Christ. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 491-492)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” chs. 2-3

«　WEEK 9　DAY 3　»

　　1 Thes. 2:14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus…

　　Rom. 16:4 Who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

　　2 Cor. 11:28 …The crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.

　　What is here in the Lord's recovery is nothing but Christ, and this Christ is all and in all. You cannot be an individual believer, and you cannot keep your local church separate from all the others. Today is the day to have a new man constituted with all the local churches, including all the saints as one in Christ, who is all and in all. This vision will rescue us from all things other than Christ. If you have seen this vision, you will count all things as refuse compared with Christ (Phil. 3:8). You could not care for anything other than Christ. As we all live Him out, we will see the perfection of the new man on the earth.

　　The Lord's recovery today is not an ordinary Christian work. Rather, it is something particular and uncommon. This is the space age. Human culture has come from the river to the sea, from the sea to the ocean, and from the ocean into space. After this, where shall human culture go? This space age is the end time. At this end time the Lord is going to bring forth the new man. The Lord today is going to raise up His believers throughout all the world, in so many countries, to seek after Him. When we seek after Him, we will see that what He wants is such a new man. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 492-493, 497)

　　If we have all seen the vision of the new man and have seen that all the churches are not merely individual local churches but the one new man, we will be willing to say, “Lord, I want to receive grace and mercy with all the saints as the one new man, taking You as the person in all of us.” If you take Christ in this way as the person of this corporate new man, you will not decide anything in your life by yourself….Since you are a part of the new man, your decisions and your living should not be yours; they should be the decisions and the living of the corporate new man. This is not merely a matter of individual localities and individual churches; it involves all the churches on earth corporately…. All the churches on the earth are the one new man.

　　[Brothers], when you are deciding about a certain matter and living a certain kind of life, as you fellowship, pray, and consider together, do you think about the churches on the whole earth? Have you ever thought of the churches in Australia or in New Zealand? Have you thought of the churches in Germany, England, and other places in Europe? Have you thought of the church in Ghana, Africa? Moreover, have you thought of the churches in Brazil, South America, and the churches in Canada and the United States, North America? Have you ever thought about them in this way? I would dare to guarantee that you have never thought anything like this. At most you have thought about the brothers and sisters in [your locality], and you have considered how the brothers and sisters in [your locality] would feel about your decisions. Although this too is a requirement, it is not a very high one. However, when you put yourselves into the new man and realize that the new man is not only the church in [your locality] but includes all the churches on the whole earth, you will see that the requirement is extremely high as you consider your decisions and your living. I truly hope that from now on every local church, when it is considering, praying, and fellowshipping about a certain decision, will take care of all the churches on the earth and will realize the fact that we are all one new man. Then your decision and living will certainly be of a high standard, requiring you to pay the highest price. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 321-323)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 6; CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” chs. 3-4

«　WEEK 9　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 15:5-6 Now the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind toward one another…that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

　　1 Cor. 1:10 Now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.

　　How could tens of thousands of believers speak the same thing with one mind and one mouth?… What we speak is not concerning baptisms, head covering, or foot-washing. We speak one thing—the all-inclusive Christ and His church. If we only take Christ as our life and Christ as our person, spontaneously we will all speak the same thing. Then practically we will be the new man. When you go to another country, a saint there will meet you, speaking the same thing. Wherever you go on this earth, regardless of what kind of people or what kind of language is there, you will hear the same thing. We all can speak the same thing, and we all can be attuned in the same opinion. We would have only one concept, Christ and the church. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 498-499)

　　The church is one new man….How many mouths does the one new man have? One. Then who is the mouth?…There is only one new man with only one person. In the whole body there is only one mouth, but who controls this mouth? It is the person.

　　The church is not merely the Body but also the one new man. The Body needs Christ as its life, whereas the new man needs Christ as his person. When you want to speak, when I want to speak, when any one of us wants to speak, we must resolve the basic question: who is the person that is speaking here? If you are the person, you have your own mouth. If I am the person, I have my own mouth. Thus…there are two mouths. When each one is a person individually and each one speaks his own matters, we have many mouths…. [However, in the new man], when you speak, it is not you who are the person; when I speak, neither is it I. When anyone speaks, it is Christ who is the person. What is the result? The result is that there is only one mouth.

　　This is why in 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul says that all “speak the same thing.”… It seemed to me that this was impossible, but one day I understood. The church is the one new man with only one person, and this person controls our speaking, so whatever He speaks is surely “the same thing” that we all speak as the new man.

　　Many preachers and pastors in today's Christianity are all their own persons, all have their own mouths, and all speak their own things. Therefore, they have many mouths, each speaking a different thing. However, the church is not like this. The church is the one new man with Christ as his person. Whenever the brothers and sisters are about to speak something, they do not take themselves as the person; instead, they allow Christ to be the person. You let Christ be your person when you speak, and I let Christ be my person when I speak. Eventually, everyone speaks the same thing.

　　Consider the Bible. The Old and New Testaments contain sixty-six books written by more than forty different authors in many different places over a period of fifteen or sixteen hundred years. The first book, Genesis, was written about 1500 B.C., while the last book, Revelation, was written after A.D. 90. Do they all have one mouth? Do they all speak the same thing? The entire Bible has one mouth and speaks the same thing, even though it was written over a long period of time by many different people in many different places…. Although we are many and we come from many places, all of us have one mouth, and we all speak the same thing. This is because we all are the one new man having only one person. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 310-311)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” chs. 7-8

«　WEEK 9　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 2:15 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.

　　3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith…

　　1 Cor. 2:16 …We have the mind of Christ.

　　Many times I wanted to speak, but I checked within, asking myself, “Is it I who want to speak, or is it the Lord?” In other words, in the matter of speaking, is the Lord the person, or am I the person? If it is I, there will be a problem; if it is the Lord, there will be no problem. If I allow the Lord to be the person, He is the One who speaks; then two months later, if you allow the Lord to be the person, you will speak the same thing that I have spoken. We have one mouth speaking the same thing.

　　In Christianity today you see a pitiful condition because every preacher wants to speak his own thing, and he thinks it is a shame to speak what others have spoken. Thus, you speak your thing, and he speaks his. There is, however, another condition in which people blindly follow others: I speak whatever you speak, and you speak whatever I speak. In this way we make a show to everyone that we all have only one mouth and that we speak the same thing. You must see that in neither case is the condition right. We do not want the condition in Christianity, nor do we want a condition of blindly following others. We want a condition in which the one new man speaks. There is only one new man, and this one new man has only one person, so the one new man speaks with one mouth and says the same thing. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 311-312)

　　In the new man there is no freedom to speak your own things. This is more limiting and restricting than being members one of another. Everyone knows that what limits you the most is the matter of speaking. If I cannot say this or that—whatever I like—then I am very much restricted, but if I can say whatever I want, then I am very free. However, in the church, in the Body of Christ, and especially in the new man, neither your natural man nor my natural man has freedom of speech. This is because we ourselves are not the persons. In the one new man there is only one person. Only this person has the freedom to speak, and our natural man has absolutely no freedom of speech. The Lord has the absolute freedom to speak, and I absolutely have no freedom to speak. We cannot allow the natural man to speak; we definitely must not allow it. Only the one person should speak.

　　You have to consider one mouth in Romans 15:6 and speak the same thing in 1 Corinthians 1:10 together with one new man in Ephesians 2:15. Otherwise, you will never understand the first two verses. You may wonder how the entire church can have only one mouth and how millions of members can speak the same thing. Humanly speaking, this is absolutely impossible…. In the past you had too many mouths because you had too many persons. When there are many persons, there are many ideas; when there are many ideas, there are many opinions, but we thank the Lord that now there is one mouth and one person here. There are no policemen here; each of us is absolutely free, but on the other hand, you have absolutely no freedom because within you there is another person. You may be about to speak, but something “pinches” you from within, telling you not to say anything. All you can say is, “Thank the Lord!” When you want to speak again, the Lord pinches you again, so you simply say Amen! If the Lord did not pinch this one and that one, I tell you, the brothers and sisters would most certainly quarrel when they come together.

　　It is not I speaking, nor is it you speaking, nor is it he speaking, nor is it the brothers speaking, nor is it the sisters speaking; instead, everyone says, “Lord, You speak!” (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 312-313)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 5

«　WEEK 9　DAY 6　»

　　1 Cor. 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

　　16:10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear; for he is working the work of the Lord, even as I am.

　　All the co-workers in all the regions should do the same one work universally for the unique Body. We should do only one work. There should not be several works in the Lord's recovery. In the past there were several works in the recovery. This is still lingering among us. There is the risk and the danger that these different works will issue in divisions….The work should be just one. Even Paul and Peter did not carry out two works. Even though they worked in different regions, they had only one work to build up the Body of Christ.

　　I hope that we will consider our present situation before the Lord. Are we doing the same one work for the recovery? If not, we should let the Lord have the freedom to adjust us. Thank the Lord that due to the riches of the truth, the Lord's recovery is being welcomed everywhere on the earth. In the Lord's move in His recovery, there should be only one work, not different works. Our situation is different from this. We have different works without any consciousness. This is dangerous.

　　In Paul's time, because of the lack of modern transportation and communication, it would have been logical to have the work divided. However, there was only one work. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “Further Consideration of the Eldership, the Region of Work, and the Care for the Body of Christ,” pp. 239-240)

　　Today in the Lord's recovery we need to become the universal new man, and…to rise up together to take Christ as our person.

　　The church is not merely the assembling of a group of Christians; the church is the fullness of Christ and the one new man on earth. There is a great old man on this earth, and this old man is the adamic race, the descendants of Adam. Today on this earth, however, God wants to have another man, the new man.

　　Today due to all the technological advances in transportation and communication, which are making progress monthly and even daily, all the peoples of the adamic race on the entire earth have almost become one….When America comes out with something new, Hong Kong and Japan get it immediately. This is the universal old man. The adamic race today has become the universal old man. All the components of this old man are the same in their corruption, evil, filthiness, fornication, and disorderliness.

　　The Lord's desire is to have the one new man on the earth, so we all need to rise up to take Christ as our corporate person. If we want to make a decision or live a certain kind of life, we cannot decide merely in ourselves; instead, we must take Christ as our person in the new man and with the new man. This requirement is great and high. In this way the new man grows and matures, and we will arrive at a full-grown man.

　　If you take Christ as your person, then you will surely take Him as your life. Taking Christ as your person is for the new man, whereas taking Christ as your life is for the Body. If you take Christ as your person, then you will be able to grow and mature. The result will be that the Body of Christ will grow and have the adequate measure of stature as the fullness of Christ. Thus, you can see that as long as we grow and mature, there will be the necessary measure of the stature of the fullness. In other words, if you take Christ as your person, then you will certainly have Christ as your life. Christ as our person is for the growth of the new man; Christ as our life is for the increase of the measure of the stature of the Body. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 324-326)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “Further Consideration of the Eldership, the Region of Work, and the Care for the Body of Christ,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders' Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” chs. 4, 12