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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee
Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians
3:8: “But surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of Whom I have
suffered the loss of all things and count them refuse that I may gain Christ.”
For Paul, there remained nothing except Christ. He spent everything for
Christ, paying the full price. Whatever Paul had, he spent it to gain Christ.
Today, we must follow this spirit to pay any price, even the cost of our
lives, in order to gain Christ.
We can never separate living faith from the divine
nature. Although this is difficult to explain doctrinally, we know
experientially that when we have the living faith, we enjoy the divine nature.
And when we are in the divine nature, we surely have this living faith. Hence,
these two things are combined and are both signified by gold. The church in
Laodicea needs this gold—the divine nature applied, appropriated, by the
living faith which is Christ Himself. If we would gain this, we must pay the
price.
Secondly, the Lord counseled the church in Laodicea
to buy “white garments” that they “may be clothed and that the shame” of their
“nakedness may not be manifested.” In figure, garments signify conduct. “White
garments” here refer to conduct approvable to the Lord, which is the Lord
Himself lived out of the church, and which is required by the degraded
recovered church to cover her nakedness. We pointed out in message fourteen
that these white garments are not Christ as our objective righteousness for
justification. Rather, the white garments are Christ as our subjective
righteousness, Christ lived out of our being. The Christ who is lived out of
us will be our second garment for us to be approved by the Lord. This is not
for salvation but
for being chosen. We all need this second garment. When we have living faith
and participate in the divine nature, this divine nature will eventually come
out of us to be our living. This living is Christ lived out of our being, and
this is the second garment which gives us the standing and the qualification
to be approved by Christ. This garment will cover our nakedness. Yes, we all
have been justified and have been covered by the first garment, the best robe
put on the prodigal son in Luke 15. But after being justified, we must love
the Lord, be on fire, and be absolutely for the Lord. If we are this kind of
Christian, then we shall have the living faith to participate in the rich,
divine nature, which will become the Christ lived out of our being as the
second garment to cover our nakedness.
If, after being justified, you do not love the Lord
and live by, for, and with Him, you are naked. It is difficult to explain this
doctrinally, but experientially we all may realize that a brother who does not
love the Lord or live by the Lord is shameful and is naked. He does not have
the lovely Christ as his covering. He believes in Christ and he belongs to
Christ, but since he neither loves Him nor lives by Him, he is naked in both
the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of other believers. He does not have
Christ as his beautiful covering. We must pay the price for this second
garment, the Christ lived out of our being. This is the subjective Christ, the
very Christ experienced by us in a subjective way. Do not try to understand
this by the exercise of your mentality. Check this word with your experience.
Although this is foreign to your mentality, it is more than familiar to your
spirit and to your experience. According to your experience, you can testify
that, on the one hand, you may have the assurance that you are justified, but,
on the other hand, have the sense that you are naked. Undoubtedly, as a child
of God, you have been justified, redeemed, saved, and regenerated, and you are
a member of Christ. But, on the other hand, you sense that you are naked, not
having Christ lived out of you to be your beautiful covering. Inwardly, you
condemn yourself for this. If you check this word with your experience, you
will see that it is true. Thus, we all must pay the price, saying to the Lord,
“Lord, whatever the cost, I’ll pay the price to have You live out of my being.
Lord, I want to have You as my living. I don’t want to behave myself, correct
myself, or improve myself. Lord, I like to have You lived out of me. Day by
day, I want You to live out of my being to be my outward living. Lord, be not
only my inward life but also my outward living.” If you pray this way to the
Lord, He will become your outward covering, the second garment for you to be
approved and chosen by Him. There is no need to wait for the coming day. Even
today you may have the assurance that you have been approved and chosen.
Therefore, when that day comes, He will surely say, “Well done! Come with Me
to enjoy your portion and to fight with Me against the army of the
Antichrist.”
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