16 Apr Coming Into Full Stature in Christ (Mature Sons of God)
What would this earth look like if every believer in Christ was strong in the Lord and in the power of His might? If every believer could handle their personal, family and national problems with prayers and the level of wisdom they were walking in? What if they could stand against the wiles of the devil and put him to flight by resisting him steadfastly in the faith? What if their consciousness of who they are in Christ was so strong that they did not yield to any deception of the enemy? What if they were speaking God’s Word and seeing God’s power changing circumstances around them? What if every believer was highly developed in character, that God could commit so much into their hands? What if we could fully represent God on earth like Jesus did when he was on earth? What if every believer had found their place in the assignment God has for them and were maximising their potentials as they fulfilled their purpose?
Let’s see a few scriptures as we see how to move into this full stature of Christ. Mathew 16:16-19 says: “Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Mathew 16:24-26 says: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The revelation of who Christ is, is the rock upon which the church is built. We need that revelation today so He can build the undefeatable church on the earth.
The whole scheme of God’s program takes its roots in the Old Testament where we read about individuals who lived lives that honoured the God of their covenant. We see in their lives their commitment, consecration and diligence to fulfil God’s plans for their lives. Their initiatives and responses to God’s instructions to them and their perception of His expectations of them serve as real eye-openers for us to take a peek into the lives they lived, the challenges they faced and how they allowed God’s government (His Kingdom) to be established in their lives. I am referring to the Daniels and Josephs and King David as well as the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We can learn from their mistakes too. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to pay the eternal price for our salvation, changed our entry point into a relationship with God as well as our mode of service (worship) to God. We who did not have the foundation of the old covenant like the Jews, need to develop our foundations in what God has done for us in Christ, what the Spirit of God wants to do in us, what identity we have and what authority we represent now. All these things are supposed to represent the FOUNDATION of our relationship with God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, His Son.
Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. God’s plan is to extend His influence on the earth. He later introduced the church in Mathew 16 when He said “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail”. He made it clear that the church, being a base for kingdom activities, was meant to be a place of equipping for those who believe in Him. He is the pattern Son, so the plan was to reproduce mature sons who will do the will of the Father. The Father is always pleased to see His Son manifested on earth. “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. Jesus heard these words at the baptism that John conducted for Him. No miracle had taken place, only a Son who had come of age to begin His assignment on earth. A developed character pleases the Father. We need to appreciate our entry into this relationship as well as our development, growth and eventually our assignment in Christ. “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Hebrews 2:10).
We came in by faith, we have access into this grace through faith and we shall be sustained by our faith as we yield to His Spirit to fill us with His life. In the process of time we develop our character and discover our purpose as we participate with Him to fulfil His plans and His purpose. Many are introduced to this grace-relationship through the benefits alone and they never make the transition from a need-based relationship to a growth based one. They easily get side-tracked by their needs and deny their growth process. Others simply have an intellectual approach without a heart full of faith and end up with a lifeless Christianity. Some stay in the Blessing-mode and never move into the Building-mode. Jesus said “I will build my church”. So many come to church to be blessed and not to be built up in character and stature. Being built up will bring us into the manifestation of the blessings but being focused on the blessings may not bring us into the building-mode.
Many problems today are as a result of faulty foundation or no foundation at all. God is a foundation laying God. He laid the foundations of the earth before building the earth after which He brought mankind to live on it. He also laid the foundation of a new future in the heart of Abraham before the new Nation of Israel could be born. The covenant and its demands placed a new foundation in the heart of His man. Everyone has some foundation laid in their hearts and minds before they come to God through Christ. The foundation determines the philosophy that governs your thoughts. It is a product of your nurture, nature and experiences of the past. In every aspect of our lives some foundation is being laid. Our identity, self-worth and expectations of ourselves are all influenced by our foundations. Our foundations are made up of facts we have accepted to be true, attitudes we have imbibed and belief systems we have been brought up in. Paul says there is no other foundation to be laid except Christ Jesus. He means that we need to make sure the foundation upon which we build our lives is none other than Christ and His finished work at Calvary. Christianity built on the traditional beliefs generates a Christianity that has been coloured by the traditions of the people. Traditional practices find their ways into the Christian faith when proper foundations are not built in the minds and hearts of people. Before long some versions of Christianity will become similar to idol worship. The reason is because a clear foundation was not laid in the hearts of the people so there was a mix up between the faith that Jesus brings and the traditions of the religion. Jesus asked a question in Luke 6:46, He said “why call me Lord, Lord and do not what I say?” The answer is “Lord, the things that inform what we do have been established in our lives before we met you, so we are set in our ways and your words do not make sense to us”. In this discussion, He was teaching on hearing and doing His Word to ensure the house we build is built on a foundation, see Luke 6:46 to 49. Without proper foundations, houses tend to fall due to floods, storms and other forces that have come to test the strength of structures built. The implications are that everything built will be tested and what is not built on the right foundation will not stand the test of time. Let us labour as fellow labourers to build the house on the solid foundation. The house represents every/any aspect of our lives: families, finances or future. We also see that laying the foundation implies doing the sayings of Jesus. What we do is a reflection of what we believe, think and accepted to have authority in our lives. If God’s Word is given the right authority in our lives, we will have the courage to act like it is true.
Jesus Christ came as our DIVINE EXCHANGE. He took our place, paid the price and brought us into a new status in Himself as we become children of the Father-God. He became sin, so we may be made the righteousness of God in Him; He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich, etc. We need to lay the foundation of who we have become in Him and hence our new authority in His name. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
Jesus came as our DIVINE PATTERN FOR SONSHIP; He said we should deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. (Mathew 16:24). We are encouraged to present our bodies a living sacrifice in Romans 12:1. Jesus also said a Body you have prepared for me: I will do your will O God. (Hebrews 10:5-7). He had a cross, we have ours; His body was offered, we offer ours and we follow His pattern and example.
Jesus came as the expression of God’s UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for mankind. When these form the basis of our operations in God we shall be building on Him as our foundation. (John 3:16).
In Mark 4, the parable of the sower shows how the good soil can bring forth 30, 60 or 100 fold. In John 15:1-7, we see being fruitful, more fruitful and bearing much fruit. There is a progression in our fruitfulness. Maturity only happens when we begin to take responsibility for our maturing process. Our goal at the foundation phase is receiving and having, but our goal in the maturity phase is becoming. In Romans 8:29 we are shown that we are to be conformed to the image of the Son. Becoming like Him in character is our focus here. His Word will take root in us and affect our desires and attitudes and establish the inner attitudes of humility, integrity, love, etc. In the book of 2 Peter 1:3-10, we read what needs to be added to our faith so we can mature and not ever become unfruitful in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do the adding and we pass the tests as we take responsibility for our maturity. The lessons learnt become part of our lives and not just what we know in our heads. In order to mature properly, some disciplines need to be established in our lives: the discipline of prayer and meditation in God’s Word, the discipline of church involvement to serve and grow within a local church, the discipline of giving and receiving, the discipline of helping others grow in the faith and the discipline of winning souls for the kingdom.
“{That it (Christ’s body – the church) might develop} until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the {full and accurate} knowledge of the Son of God, that {we might arrive} at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in Him.” (Ephesians 4:13, AMP).
To embrace our responsibility in maturing into sons of God, we need to make certain commitments that will enable us to come into proper discipleship under God. One of such is a commitment to obedience; (“if anyone desires to do His will, He will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking of myself” John 7:17). The desire to do precedes the knowing. If we do not commit to obedience, even when it is not convenient, we short change ourselves in the developmental process into maturity. The other qualities that we need to cultivate and make commitments to are: walking in humility, having a fear of God, endurance and patience. Humility is a heart condition that does not exalt self above others and takes its rightful position under God so God can teach the person His ways. (See Psalm 25:9). The fear of God is the reverential attitude towards God and His demands on us. Endurance implies active perseverance while patience implies passive waiting.
In this phase our lives and wills are in alignment with God’s will and ways and we are ready to see His power released through us to cause His will to be done and His name glorified. We manifest as mature sons of God who have been tried and tested to bring about the pure will of God without adulteration of any sort. In Romans 8:16-19, we see that the whole creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. The path to this is the suffering we encounter in the flesh as we deny ourselves and endure hardship as soldiers. This reality is found in the scripture that says “unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it abides alone but when it dies it brings forth fruit” (John 12:24-26). When the Father honours us by the release of His power, our pride will no longer get in the way as we have dealt with this in our maturity phase. The dying phase comes before the resurrection phase. Then we have the glorifying phase. We will be full of His glory on this earth. We need to exercise our faith for this phase too. This phase calls for the release of God’s power through us. Here we shall handle temptations like Jesus did. We shall have the opportunity to use God’s power through us to meet our human need (appetite) or take a short cut to God’s will without the cross; or test to see how much of God’s power is available to us. All these can be gleaned from the temptations Jesus faced as He handled the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Right after this He went in the power of the Spirit (See Luke 4:14). He is our pattern, our example of coming into full sonship. When we pass the tests we are ready to carry His power to a dying world. We are secured in His love, confident of His power (as He will never leave us nor forsake us) and assured of His presence. We are not building a name for ourselves, He has been given a name above every other name and He has told us to go in His name. We know Satan has been stripped of his power to hurt us and we are not ignorant of his devices. We put on the whole armour of God and stand effectively against the enemy. Our victory is certain in Christ. Christ is the head of a corporate Body – the church. As we all individually put our faith in His Word for these things, we see them happening in our time, no matter the opposition.
Pour out your Spirit Lord and do a quick work on the earth. Amen!
No Comments