Walk By This Rule

Today morning, our pursuing on the Life-study of Leviticus, Message 25, was very enlightening and very apt. As these days, we are dwelling on the enjoyment of the Lord. However, this can turn out to be just a theological doctrine in knowledge alone without much reality. Enjoyment of the Lord has a condition from our side. Without this special condition, there can be no enjoyment of the Lord. 

Three portions in the New Testament indicate that even in the enjoyment of Christ we need to be regulated. In 1 Corinthians 9:26 and 27 Paul says, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so I box, not as beating the air; but I buffet my body and lead it as a slave, lest having preached to others, I myself should become disapproved.” Literally, the Greek word translated “buffet” means to beat the face under the eye black and blue. This is not to ill-treat the body as in asceticism, nor to consider the body evil as in Gnosticism. This is to subdue the body and make it a conquered captive to serve us as a slave for fulfilling our holy purpose. In these verses we see not only requirements but demands. Here we have the strongest demand of the strongest law.

Galatians 6:15 and 16 say, “Neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” In verse 15 Paul tells us that “neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” This is grace. Today we do not need circumcision or uncircumcision—we only need grace. But in verse 16 Paul goes on to tell us that the way to receive mercy and peace is to “walk by this rule,” the rule of the new creation. God has saved us to the state and condition of a new creation with Christ as its life. Now we need to walk by the rule of this new creation.

The rule of the new creation will regulate us in the time we go to bed at night and rise in the morning. On the Lord’s Day in particular, the rule of the new creation will urge us to rise up a little earlier, pray for the meeting, and come to the meeting early to meet with the Lord and worship Him.

The reward for walking according to the rule of the new creation is mercy and peace. I can testify that when I walk according to this rule, I have mercy and peace. If we walk according to the rule of the new creation in the way we prepare for and come to the meeting on the Lord’s Day, we will receive mercy and peace.

Walking by the rule of the new creation is a matter of law. In the new creation, there is a new life, and within this new life, there is a new law. This new law is actually the Lord Himself within us, regulating us all the time.

We are God’s new creation, and we have the life of this new creation. With this life there is a regulating law. In our daily living, we need to be regulated by this law.

In Philippians 3:13 and 14 Paul tells us that he is forgetting what is behind, stretching forward to what is before, and pursuing “toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Then in verses 15 and 16 he says, “Let us therefore, as many as are full-grown, have this mind; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you. Only this, whereunto we have attained, by the same rule let us walk.” The Greek word translated “walk” here means to walk orderly; it is derived from a word which means to range in regular line, to march in military rank, to keep step, to conform to virtue and piety. Thus, Paul is here charging us to walk in line, in order, and in a regulated way.

These three portions of the New Testament all indicate the same thing—that in the enjoyment of grace we need to be ruled.

Without this "walk by this rule" there can be no enjoyment of the Lord. Even in my own experience, if I do not exercise to "walk by this rule" I cannot enjoy the Lord at all. However, even to "walk by this rule" the grace of God is needed, without which, this is yet again another doctrine. The conclusion of the matter is, we need to look to the Lord for His grace to be able to "walk by this rule" and enjoy the Lord.

Lord, grace me "walk by this rule" and enjoy You daily, all the days of my life!