Under Law Toward Christ

Under Law Toward Christ

You say that you have received the baptism of the Spirit. But have you since then been led into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ? Because that is the next step. Many people have received the baptism of the Spirit, but very few have entered into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ and onto the way of the cross. Why do we receive the baptism of the Spirit? To be intoxicated with good feelings? To shine with power and gifts? Not at all! We receive the baptism of the Spirit in order to follow the Lamb in the power of the Spirit—He who came to serve and lay His life down. Jesus received power to lay His life down (John 10:18); He offered Himself through the power of the eternal Spirit. Heb. 9:14. You have received power, not to release it like an untamed waterfall, but it is to be under law in Christ, bound to His will, and His will is that you shall surrender your self-life into death so that you can serve in purity. The person who has been baptized in the Spirit but does not, by faith, enter into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ by dying to all his self-life stops in his development and ends up as an enemy of the cross of Christ. Such people often fall prey to the doctrine of Satan that all of their self-life is gone. Then they avoid both death and sufferings, for then they believe they are like God in eternity.

Jesus was made perfect through sufferings. We must go the same way if we want to be made perfect. We have to lose our life in order to find life. The reason most people shy away from the way of the cross is that they recoil from the sufferings. Neither do they like the idea that the power of the Spirit is to be united to Christ in a life of serving. They desire the released liberty of the waterfall that ostentatiously crashes down without the least usefulness and benefit in its unrestrained play. As the waterfall is being harnessed, it loses its former violent appearance—its freedom, its ostentatious display. It is led into turbines, so that its power can be transformed into harnessed power, which in turn is transformed into light and warmth, etc., that can serve for the benefit of mankind. The waterfall has to be sacrificed; it has to be made useful. It loses its freedom. This is the condition of someone who has been baptized in the Spirit and takes steps on the way of the cross. He loses his freedom by voluntarily harnessing himself in order to be a sacrifice and serve Christ. Many people who have received the baptism of the Spirit call this being “in bondage to the law.” They desire to be only like that stunning waterfall at meetings and wherever they are. They like it best when the game is at its wildest. Being regulated and harnessed for the ministry is hard for the waterfall. “It is too burdensome, too much of a cross; it feels like being in bondage to the law.” They are free from the power of sin; now they want to enjoy their liberty; they do not want to be harnessed. Nevertheless, Paul says, “Present your members as slaves of righteousness for sanctification.” Rom. 6:19. They do not know that whoever does not serve with what he has received loses what he has. Their inner man dries up; the waterfall becomes less and less and dries up completely in the end. And so they desire a new downpour so that the waterfall might roar again. They have received the early rain; now they are waiting for the latter rain. However, the person who has not been faithful in little things will not be entrusted with greater things. There are many dried-up hearts in these days. They have formerly been blessed but they have lost everything because they have not harnessed themselves to serve. Now they are longing for the time when they had their wonderful experiences. They are left sitting with memories and old experiences. When they come together, they often create an artificial enthusiasm that resembles the ostentatious display of the waterfall, but the fullness of life is lacking.

The person who walks on the way of the cross must humble himself and take on the form of a servant. His life is used and squeezed out to be a blessing; he is bound as a slave in the liberty of Christ; his water does not fail, not even in times of drought; he receives both the early rain and the latter rain, for he is in need of it because the Lord fills all His need according to His riches. His life does not crash down the precipice of the waterfall; he goes quietly, harnessed for life’s great ministry. The angry waterfall cries out, “You are lacking life and power and liberty! Your life is too heavy, dull, and monotonous!” However, he who is prudent is not moved. He has bound his spiritual powers to God’s will; he bows down deeper and deeper, and the deeper he goes, the greater becomes his strength, and the burdens he is granted to bear become correspondingly greater.