Scripture Reading: John 3:30; Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:16-17; 4:13, 15, 23; Phil. 3:7-12
Ⅰ
Spiritual progress is the increase of the element of Christ within the believers—John 3:30; Gal. 4:19; Eph. 4:13; Phil. 3:7-12:
A
The first condition for spiritual progress in a believer is hunger—Luke 1:53:
１
All spiritual progress depends on our hunger; in order to have sustained progress before the Lord, we need a sustained hunger—Matt. 5:6.
２
God's principle is to fill the hungry with good things and to send the rich away empty—Luke 1:53.
３
Regeneration is free, but spiritual progress comes with a price; in order for a believer to make progress, he must pay a price—Rev. 3:18.
B
We need to see that our spiritual life is Christ, that our spiritual living is Christ, and that our spiritual progress is also Christ—Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21a.
C
Real spirituality is Christ Himself; spiritual progress is the increase of Christ.
D
A Christian's spiritual progress should not be only an outward improvement but should be an inward increase of the element of Christ—Eph. 3:17:
１
Some believers improve their outward behavior but do not have more of Christ in them; this is not spiritual progress but religious progress.
２
Very few Christians are able to discern whether the change in a believer is merely an ethical change or a change due to the increase of Christ.
E
Spiritual progress is being free from everything that usurps the place of God—Matt. 6:33; 5:8:
１
On the positive side, spiritual progress is the increase of the element of Christ within us; on the negative side, spiritual progress is the removal of all things other than Christ within us—Phil. 3:7-8.
２
Spiritual progress is not only addition but also subtraction; when something that has usurped God's place is removed from us, there is spiritual progress—Matt. 5:8; 6:33.
F
When Christ grows and is formed in us so that there is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ within us, this is spiritual progress—Eph. 4:13; Gal. 4:19.
Ⅱ
The growth in life is the increase of Christ in the believers—John 3:30:
A
The real growth in life is the addition of Christ as life into our being—14:6.
B
Christ in Himself does not need to grow, for He is perfect and complete:
１
In Himself Christ is fully mature, but in us Christ may still be very small; we need to gain more of Christ—Eph. 4:15.
２
When Christ increases in us, we grow in Him—Col. 2:19.
C
The growth in life is Christ increasing within us and we decreasing all the time—John 3:30.
D
Because life is Christ, the growth of life is the increase of Christ within us—11:25; 14:6; 1 John 5:11-12; Eph. 3:17:
１
Christ came into our spirit as life, and now we need to open ourselves and let Christ spread within us and fill, saturate, and permeate us.
２
The growth of life is the increase and expansion of Christ—Gal. 4:19.
E
We need a revelation to see that genuine growth in life is not a mere change in behavior or the improvement of ourselves but the increase of Christ within us—Eph. 1:17; 3:17:
１
The work of religion is to improve the self, whereas the Lord's desire is that we open ourselves to Him so that He may increase in us—v. 17.
２
What the believers lack today is the increase of Christ as life within them.
F
The growth in life is Christ wrought into us and formed in us—Gal. 4:19:
１
To have Christ formed in us is to have Christ fully grown in us—Eph. 4:13.
２
As Christ is being formed in us, He makes His home in our hearts; He desires to saturate every part of our heart, our inward being, until He takes full possession of it—3:16-17.
３
If we desire to grow in life by having Christ increase within us, we need to experience Christ in a full way—Phil. 3:7-12.
G
In order for Christ to increase within us and for us to decrease, we need a renewed mind and a submissive will; the more we are renewed in our mind and subdued in our will, the more Christ will grow in us—Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 2:12; 2 Cor. 10:6:
１
We need to be renewed in the spirit of the mind—Eph. 4:23:
ａ
A regenerated spirit is a renewed spirit; this renewed spirit must be strengthened to invade, subdue, and occupy every part of our soul—John 3:6; Eph. 3:16.
ｂ
Christ as the life-giving Spirit is now in our spirit, and these two spirits mingle together to form the spirit of the mind—2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17.
ｃ
When the life-giving Spirit, who is mingled with our regenerated spirit, spreads into our mind, this mingled spirit becomes the spirit of our mind; it is by this mingled spirit that our mind is renewed—Eph. 4:23.
ｄ
To be renewed in the spirit of our mind is inward and intrinsic; this renewing revolutionizes our logic, philosophy, thought, concept, and psychology—Rom. 12:2.
２
Our will must be subdued and be in harmony with God—Phil. 2:12-13:
ａ
Since our whole being moves according to our will, our will is the most powerful part of our being and represents our whole being—John 7:17.
ｂ
The neck stands for the human will under God; the Lord considers the submission of our will a most beautiful thing—S. S. 4:4.
ｃ
In order for us to have a union of our will with God, He must subdue the activities of our will and the life of our will—v. 1:
⑴
Submission is in the aspect of activities; harmony is in the aspect of life, nature, and tendency—vv. 1, 4.
⑵
A submissive will stops its own activities; a harmonious will is one with God and is of the same heart as God—John 4:34; Matt. 26:39.
ｄ
A will that is in complete harmony with God is a will in which one's whole heart is placed in the will of God; only when our will is in harmony with God can we know God's heart—John 7:17; Eph. 1:9.