I.　In order to become the one new man in reality and practicality, we need to grow up into Christ in all things—Eph. 4:15-16, 24:

A.　We all need to grow up into Christ in all things, that is, in every single thing, whether big or small—v. 15.

B.　When we all grow up into Christ in all things, we all will be one in Christ; this is for the practical existence of the universal one new man—v. 24.

II.　Whereas taking Christ as our life is for the increase of the measure of the stature of the Body, taking Christ as our person is for the growth of the one new man—3:17a; 4:24:

A.　If we take Christ as our person, we will surely take Him as our life—1 John 5:11-12.

B.　If we take Christ as our person, we will be able to grow and mature.

III.　To grow in life is to grow with the growth of God; this means that true growth is the increase of God, the addition of God—Col. 2:19:

A.　God is eternal, perfect, and complete; therefore, with God Himself there can be no growth.

B.　The Body needs to grow with the growth, the increase, of God in us:

1.　It is necessary for God to grow in us; that is, we all need God to grow, to increase, in us.

2.　The way to grow spiritually is to have God added to us:

a.　The dispensing of the Triune God into us causes us to grow with the increase of God—2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:16-17a.

b.　God entered into us when we were regenerated, and now He is increasing within us by adding more of Himself to us.

c.　This is to grow with the growth, the increase, of God, by having God added into our being.

3.　What we absorb of Christ into us—the element of the riches of Christ as the soil—becomes the increase of God in us—Col. 2:6-7.

4.　We need to be permeated and saturated with Christ and to have Christ wrought into our being; then, in reality and practicality, Christ will be every member, every part, of the one new man—3:10-11.

IV.　For the practical existence of the one new man, we need to labor and struggle to present all the saints full-grown in Christ—Col. 1:28-29:

A.　Paul's ministry was to dispense Christ into others so that they would be perfect and complete by maturing in Christ unto full growth.

B.　Our goal in preaching the gospel to sinners and in fellowshipping with the saints is to minister Christ into them so that they may mature in Him and be presented full-grown in Him; this is for the growth of the new man—1:28.

C.　Presenting others full-grown in Christ is a very difficult task; this task can be accomplished only by labor in which we struggle according to the operation of God—1:29.

V.　What Paul did in struggling to present others full-grown in Christ is an example of laboring to perfect the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:11-16:

A.　In His recovery the Lord desires to recover the perfecting of all the members of the Body of Christ—vv. 11-16

B.　Paul's thought concerning the perfecting of the saints is that God's intention is to have every believer able to do the things that the gifted persons do—v. 11.

C.　The Lord wants to recover the perfecting of the saints so that each one part of the Body of Christ may do the work of the ministry by operating in its measure for the building up of the organic Body of Christ—vv. 12, 16.

VI.　When the one new man was created in our spirit through regeneration, it was complete as far as organs are concerned; however, because the new man has not yet been completed in function, there is the need for growth and renewing—Col. 2:19; 3:10; Eph. 4:11-16, 23-24:

A.　The growth and renewing of the new man result in the function of the new man:

1.　As long as the new man is short of growth and renewing, it will be lacking in function.

2.　For the renewing of the new man to result in knowledge means that the renewing results in function—Col. 3:10.

B.　The one new man needs to grow, develop, and be renewed; as a result, the one new man will be perfect in function.

VII.　The New Jerusalem will be the final consummation of the universal one new man—Rev. 21:2, 10:

A.　God's goal is to have the universal one new man, which ultimately will consummate in the New Jerusalem.

B.　When we are in the New Jerusalem, we shall enjoy the life of the universal one new man.

C.　Today we may have a foretaste of the consummation of the one new man by setting our mind on the things above and by giving a free way for the new man in our spirit to spread into our whole being—Col. 3:1-2; Eph. 4:23-24.