Please turn to Ephesians 4. We will read from verses 17 through 32.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But ye did not so learn Christ;
if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus:
that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in Whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice:
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.
Please turn also to Colossians 4, verses 5 and 6.
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again we want to thank Thee for being so gracious to us in gathering us together unto Thy name. And Lord, as we are gathered here, our heart’s desire is that Thou mayest speak to us through Thy Word.
We believe that Thy Word is living and operative. We believe that Thy Word is life, that will deliver us out of death and into life—life abundant. So, Lord, we put our trust in Thee, in Thy Word, and in Thy Spirit. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Now, we have been considering together this matter of spiritual exercise in our daily life. We know that spiritual exercise is profitable for everything, having promise of life in the present time and also in the time to come.
So our emphasis these days is on the promise of life in this day—the day that we live day by day—how we, through spiritual exercise, can receive eternal life.
We have been considering spiritual exercise in our personal life, and we have also shared together concerning our spiritual exercise in church life. This morning, we would like to share together concerning our spiritual exercise in social life.
As soon as we are born into this world, we become part of that world. We are not alone. When we are born, we are with our family. We have our parents and our siblings; there is a social life there.
As we grow older, we go to school and have schoolmates, classmates, and friends. As we graduate and enter into society, we have colleagues, neighbours, and friends. In other words, we are social beings. We are always with people, and we live with people. That is social life.
But when we believe in the Lord Jesus, something very drastic happens. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are born into the family of God.
In addition to our personal life, our social life, and our family life, we find another dimension, and that is church life. We become members of the Body of Christ. There is such an intimacy, such a oneness, such a closeness of life—spiritual life, the life of God, the life of Christ in us—that it seems as if it begins to displace, or replace, our social life.
Now let me explain it. How did we live in this world before? Even though we find that everyone is different, there is one thing common to all of us: the life that we receive from our parents is from Adam.
It is a fallen life. It is a sinful life. It is flesh. It is self-centred. That is the nature of the life that we receive from our parents, and it is by that life that we live on earth.
Whether in your personal life, your family life, or your social life, you live by that natural life. According to the Word of God, that kind of social life is not quite what God wants us to live.
In Ephesians 2, we are told that we were dead in offences and sins, in which we once walked according to the age of this world.
How did we walk in the world? We walked according to the age of this world—that is, according to the fashion of this world. But actually, we walked according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience.
Outwardly, we go according to the current of the world; actually, we walk according to the enemy’s command. Satan is controlling the world.
We once had our manner of life in the lusts of our flesh, doing what the flesh and the thoughts willed to do, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. That was how we lived in this world, in our social life.
Again, Ephesians 4 says that we walked in the vanity of our mind—whatever we thought, we lived. We were darkened in understanding. We walked in darkness, estranged from the life of God. We did not have the life of God in us.
There was hardness of heart, having cast off all feeling, working all uncleanness with greedy, unsatisfied lust. That was the way we lived before in the world.
But as soon as we believe in the Lord Jesus, something drastic happens. As Paul says, “Ye have not thus learned Christ.” When you have Christ Jesus in you, there is a drastic change.
Why? Because the life within you is a different life. It is no longer the life of Adam; it is the life of Christ. It is no longer earthly; it is heavenly. It is no longer fleshly; it is spiritual.
Now we have the life of Christ in us. Having that life, how are we going to live in this world? Can we still live in this world as we lived before—living by ourselves, by the way we think and the way we want, self-centred? No.
After we receive the life of Christ in us, our walk in this world should be drastically different.
You remember when the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. The Lord delivered them by the Paschal Lamb. But at the same time, God commanded them that, when they put the blood on the doorposts and gathered within the house to eat the flesh of the lamb, they were to put on their sandals, gird themselves, and take their staff.
Why? Because they were ready to walk, to leave. On that same night, the children of Israel marched out of Egypt.
Not only that, but the Lord took them through the Red Sea in order that there would be no return. They belonged to Pharaoh before and served Pharaoh, but now they were out of Egypt. They were baptized, as it were, unto Moses.
Brothers and sisters, that is exactly what happened to us believers. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, it is not merely having our sins forgiven and eternal death pass away from us. No. We do not stay in Egypt; we have to march out of Egypt right away.
Not after one day, after one month, after one year, or forever staying in Egypt. No. As soon as we are saved from eternal death, we march out of the world.
Colossians 1:13 tells us that God has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. When we are saved, we are saved from sins and death, and we are delivered from the world.
He has translated us out of this world of darkness and put us in the kingdom of the Son of His love. That is where we belong now.
That is the reason why, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we need to be baptized. Someone may say, “Well, I am saved. I have the life of Christ in me now. I have eternal life, so why should I be baptized? The water will not cleanse me from my sins.”
No, but we are commanded to be baptized. Why? Because baptism is our testimony in response to what God has done. He has translated us out of this world into Christ, and now in baptism we respond with faith.
We say, “Yes.” We are baptized, going into the water, showing that our old man was put to death and buried under the water; and coming out of the water, we are resurrected into newness of life.
That is what baptism really is. It begins on another ground. He has translated us out of ourselves, out of the world, into Christ and into His life.
So, brothers and sisters, as soon as we are saved, our position has changed. So far as our relationship with the world is concerned, there is a total change.
In the prayer of our Lord Jesus in John 17—the high-priestly prayer—our Lord Jesus prayed for His own, for those who are His. In that prayer, He mentioned the world in four different aspects.
First, in John 17:6, He said:
I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world.
In other words, God has delivered us out of the world and given us to Christ. What does it mean to be out of the world? Does it mean that we are no longer here on earth? No.
The word here is kosmos. It is a system—a system Satan has organized. Satan has organized all the different aspects and areas of the world into a giant system, and with this system, the world as we know it now, he tries to oppose God and His purpose.
God has delivered us out of this world of darkness. We are not of the world.
Then, in John 17:11, the Lord Jesus said, “I am no more in the world,” because He was leaving, “and these are in the world.” Even though He has delivered us out of the world system, we are still in the world.
What does “world” mean in this sense? It simply means the earth and all the things that God has created. Psalm 24:1 says:
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
In Hebrew poetry, repetition is used to show emphasis. “The earth and the fulness thereof” and “the world and they that dwell therein” are the same thing. So the world has another definition: it is the earth and all those who dwell upon the earth.
So far as this is concerned, our relationship with the world is that we are still in the world. We have not been raptured yet.
Then in John 17:14, the Lord said:
I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are delivered out of the world, and we are yet in the world; yet we are not of the world. Even though we are still living on this earth and are surrounded by it, we do not belong to this world.
First John 2:15-17 tells us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” The things of the world are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.
In this sense, we are not of the world. Even though we are still in it, we do not belong to it, because friendship with the world is enmity toward God.
The fourth aspect is found in John 17:18:
As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
We are delivered out of the world. We are still in the world, but we are not of the world. Yet we are sent into the world, just as God sent Christ into the world.
Now, when we go into the world, we have a purpose. It is not because we want to be friends of the world, but because we want to testify to the world of our Lord Jesus.
So, brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, our social life begins to undergo a drastic change. Formerly, the world was our friend, and it was our desire to befriend the world. But after we are saved, a drastic change comes into our life.
We are still in this world, yes—not until the Lord takes us—but we do not belong to it. We have nothing to do with it in that sense. But that does not mean that we become antisocial. Not at all.
We still have to go into the world and be a witness and testimony of the Lord Jesus, in order to rescue those who are dead in sins and transgressions.
That is our position toward the world. God has given us such a position; what should be our response? God has already translated us out of this world. Can we just continue to live as worldly people live? Can we continue to desire the world?
If we do, James 4:4 says that if we are friends of the world, we become enemies of God. Second Corinthians 6 tells us that there is no fellowship, no sameness, between those in light and those in darkness; between those who have life and those who do not have life; between those of Christ and those who are not of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, to me this is something very basic. If you really follow the Lord, you will find this is the way you go.
Remember our Lord Jesus when He was in this world. See how He lived in this world. He came into this world and lived a life just as we live, but throughout His life He lived by that divine life.
The principle of His life was, “My Father’s will.” He did not live by the natural life. He walked in the way of denying Himself, taking up His cross, and following God. This is the way we have to go.
After we are saved, there needs to be a drastic change in our social life. It seems to me that church life almost takes the place of social life—not exclusively, because we are still sent into the world to be a testimony to them.
But I do not think it is the will of God that we should still try to befriend the world, because that means we become enemies of God.
How can we overcome the world? The things of this world are very tempting. In 1 John 2, the young men overcome the world because the Word of God abides in them.
The way to overcome the world is by the Word of God. The Word of God tells us what the world really is. The world is a deception, and the only way we can see through the enemy’s deception is by the Word of God.
If we have the Word of God dwelling in our hearts, then we have wisdom, discernment, and even power to overcome the world.
Look at our Lord Jesus. When He was thirty years old, after He was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness, and He was tempted by the enemy.
Those three recorded temptations include all the temptations that can come to man. Satan used the things of this world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—to tempt our Lord Jesus.
But with every temptation, our Lord Jesus overcame by the Word of God. He did not try to argue with Satan. He did not try to reason it out. He simply quoted the Word of God that was in His heart.
So, dear brothers and sisters, especially the young people, please listen: the only way to overcome the world is to store the Word of God in your heart and overcome the enemy by the Word of God.
Unfortunately, in our days, many believers seem positionally to have been delivered out of the world, but in experience they are like the children of Israel. God delivered them out of Egypt, but in the wilderness they were tested.
They still longed in their hearts for Egypt. They wanted all those things they could find in Egypt. Because of that, their whole generation died in the wilderness. They were not able to inherit their inheritance.
In the same manner, God’s people today have the danger of the same thing. God has delivered us out of the world, but if our hearts are still turned to the world and the things of the world, we may not be able to inherit our inheritance.
God has promised us a kingdom. God has promised us an unfading, undefiled, incorruptible inheritance reserved in heaven for us who believe. Only those who, like Joshua and Caleb, have a different spirit will be able to enter into the promise.
So, brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, there needs to be a drastic change.
Perhaps some people say, “Are we to be so unsocial?” When you read 1 Corinthians, you find that the Corinthian believers liked social life. In the old days, their social life was conducted in the temples of idols. The best food was there, and the best social occasions were spent in the temple.
They wanted their social life so much that they reasoned it out: “We have only one God, and these idols are no gods. If they are no gods, then we can go to the temple and eat the temple food because it means nothing.”
But those who were weak in conscience were stumbled. The apostle Paul said that if eating meat would stumble his brother, even though it was lawful, he would not do it. That is love.
It is very natural among God’s people to still cling to and long for a social life. God does not want to deprive us of social life, because we are social beings. But He does want to replace it with church life. It is on a higher plane; it is in a spiritual realm.
So far as the world is concerned, our relationship with it is that we are sent into the world with a reason: that we may be a witness and testimony to them.
There is a kind of friendship found in the Bible. We said previously that friendship is replaced by fellowship, because friendship is on the basis of natural life, while fellowship is founded on the spiritual life in us.
But Scripture gives us an exception: a different kind of friendship. God called Abraham His friend. Abraham was the friend of God. God also treated Moses as a friend; He spoke to Moses as a friend.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He called His disciples His friends. In Luke 12:4, He said, “My friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body.” He was speaking to His disciples.
In John 15, He said, “Ye are My friends, if ye do the things which I command you.” He shared His heart with them. Strangely, He even called Judas His friend.
In Matthew 26:50, when Judas came with a crowd to seize the Lord, Judas came up and kissed Him, and the Lord said, “Friend, do that for which thou art come.”
Even John the apostle, in his old age, when he wrote 3 John, said, “The friends salute thee. Salute the friends by name.” So, brothers and sisters, there is a friendship in Scripture.
It is not friendship with the world, but a higher type of friendship. In a sense, it is the condescension of the higher One toward the lower one.
Just as God condescended Himself to take Abraham and Moses as His friends, our Lord Jesus took His disciples with Him, called them friends, and shared His heart with them. He was a friend of sinners and tax collectors. He even called His enemy “friend.”
That shows His love and condescension. That kind of friendship is permitted in the Bible.
Finally, as we live on this earth, we have a personal life to live. This is very important. We cannot forget our personal life and try to hide ourselves among the crowd.
We also have a family life to live, a church life to live, and a social life to live. All these aspects of life are very demanding, almost as if they demand our whole time. Yet we have only twenty-four hours, and we need rest and sleep.
How are we going to manage and live a balanced Christian life with all these demands upon us?
I remember when I was in China. Among us, we emphasized church life so much that we had meetings every night. Because of this, we neglected our family life. That was the problem when we were in China.
But when I came to this country, I saw the reverse. Among Christians, they sacrificed church life because of family life. Family life is very demanding, especially in this country.
Not only is school demanding; the activities after school are also demanding. Parents feel obliged to cater to them, and because of that, children become more important than Christ. Family life becomes more important than church life. It is exactly the opposite.
I grant that it is very difficult to apportion the right time to do the right thing. That is the reason Colossians 4 says, “Walk in wisdom.” We need wisdom to walk before the world and to redeem opportunities—to redeem our time, so that it may not be wasted but used according to the Word of God.
Brothers and sisters, I know there is a need for wisdom. James says that if you need wisdom, pray in faith, believing, and God will give you wisdom.
We need to go to the Lord in prayer. Every one of us must do this; no one can decide for you how to live in all these areas.
Remember one thing only: you live by one life—the life of Christ. Whether it is your personal life, you live by the life of Christ. Whether it is your family life, you live by the life of Christ, not by your own life. Whether it is church life or social life, you live by the life of Christ, not your own life.
That is for sure. If this is sure, then how to divide and apportion the time requires wisdom. We do not have the wisdom; we are lopsided. God alone has wisdom. He is the source of wisdom.
Therefore, we need to pray and ask the Lord to show us how we should use our time to fulfil our responsibilities in all these areas. If we pray and believe, the Lord will show us.
There is no fixed rule for everyone. I cannot tell you that you must have ten hours for this, five hours for that, and two hours for something else. No one can decide for you.
At the same time, as you grow, it changes according to the need of the time and according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is not legalistic; it is living and changing. As you really seek the Lord, He will show us how to do it.
Think of our Lord Jesus. When He was twelve, He went to the temple and became a son of the law. He began to feel that it was His responsibility to mind the things of His heavenly Father.
When His parents left, He remained in the temple. After three days, His parents found Him, and they were very worried. The Lord said, “Why were ye seeking Me? Knew ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?”
But did He stay in the temple and refuse to go home? No. He obeyed His earthly parents and went home with them.
He knew exactly how to use His time. As a minor, even though in His heart He would rather have remained in the temple, He knew that the right thing was to return with His parents and obey them.
We find that He stayed in the home until He was thirty. It seems as if Joseph must have passed away early, because Joseph was much older. As the firstborn, He had responsibility for the family. Probably He supported the family.
He was called the carpenter. Was that a waste of time? No. When He was responsible for His family, He was serving God. It was the same life.
Then, when He was thirty, probably His earthly brothers and sisters had all grown up, and His responsibility to the family was over. Then He stepped out and devoted Himself completely to ministry.
Even so, when He was on the cross, He was still taking care of His earthly mother. He committed His earthly mother to the care of John.
Brothers and sisters, while our Lord Jesus was on earth, He knew how to use His time. He had compassion on the people. He preached to them and served them. He had almost no time to eat, yet He also sought to give His disciples some rest.
He rose early in the morning and went into the wilderness to pray. He knew how to divide His time to do exactly what His heavenly Father wanted Him to do.
Life is not static; it is living. If we have that heart before the Lord, know our position, live by the life of Christ in us, and come to the Lord for wisdom, He will show us what to do.
It is a matter of life, not law. It is grace. As you do this, you have peace in your heart.
Spiritual exercise is a necessity. You will not be able to have that wisdom unless you exercise your spirit and pray. You will not be able to live in any area in the way God wants us to live unless you live by the life of Christ.
Just as Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ.” That is the result of spiritual exercise. May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we commit these scattered words into Your hand. We pray, Lord, that if it pleases You, You will use Your Word to deliver us, that we may live a life according to Your will.
May we grow spiritually and be useful in Your hand. We ask Your blessing upon each and every one. In Your precious name, amen.