1 Cor 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. (7) So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who causes the growth. (9) For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's cultivated land, God's building. 11 For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
...the foundation of the work is Jesus Christ and that no one else can lay another foundation. He also said that we are God's cultivated land and His building. If the seed sown in the cultivated land is Christ, the harvest must also be Christ. If the foundation of the building is Christ, the building itself must also be according to Christ. At the time of our regeneration, God put the life of Christ into us, and we received a life which we did not have before. The life which we received at the time of regeneration is an additional life. It is something added to us at the time of regeneration. This is the work of God. God's work in man is absolutely based on this added life. This life is Christ (Col. 3:4), and it is the foundation of the work of God. Just as the regenerated life is absolutely of God, the growth and maturity of this life can only be brought about by God (2 Cor. 5:5). Man's hand has no part in this, and even the best of what man has cannot participate in this. The greatest responsibility that man has is to cooperate with God and not afford any hindrance to His work. Sanctification is merely the continuation of this life, and victory is merely the outflow of this life in overcoming sin, the flesh, the world, and Satan. The growth and maturity of this life are simply the reigning and ruling of this life over the whole being. The life we received at the time of regeneration is the beginning of the work of God. Therefore, the continuation of this work cannot be affected by anything other than this life. Only a regenerated person can testify of the Lord's salvation. Those who do not have the experience of regeneration cannot do this work. Victory, sanctification, the filling of the Spirit, and the reigning of the indwelling Christ can only be testified by those who by grace have passed through these experiences in a genuine way. Even while they are testifying, they must still trust in the working of the Holy Spirit. Without the working of the Spirit, there will not be any anointing from the Lord. Dependence is an absolute necessity in spiritual work. Unless the Spirit of the Lord works, no work of man will accomplish anything.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 38, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 266-267. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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