YOU DON’T HAVE TO REMAIN LIKE THIS

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 1Co 3:1,3[ESV]    

It is a scripturally proven fact that the believer has been set free from sin because He died and resurrected with Christ (Rom 6:1-4). Yet believers who still exhibit jealousy, strife, greed, lust, fits of anger, lies, etc. are not a rare sight at all. Let me tell you why – because many are still babies in Christ; refusing to grow.

Who is a Christian? Literally, the term was a nickname given to the early believers, a group of people who were observed to be living so much like Christ (Acts 4:13, 11:26). Yet in our churches today, there are many Christians who are definitely not like Christ and don’t even desire to be. When you ask them whether they are living exactly like Jesus, their answer is that nobody can be like Jesus because Jesus was God.

Well scripturally, a Christian is one who has been born by God. For ...as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12,13). So the Christian is one who has been born by God, just like Jesus. And Jesus said that that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit (Jn.3:6), therefore that which is born of God is also god (Psalm 82:6)!

Moreover, the Bible declares that the believer is begotten by the seed (biologically, the sperm) of God which is His Word (James 1:18, 1Peter 1:23), and that Word is Jesus (John.1:1,14). If the divine sperm of God that gave life to the Christian is Jesus, then how should the Christian look like? No doubt, like Jesus! So the question is how many Christians of today are like Jesus in speech, character, purpose, passion and pursuit? Jesus Himself said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also (John 14:12). 

Beloved, the purpose of this missive is to let you know that when God saved you through Jesus Christ, he begat you in the image of Christ and He is expecting you to grow up and become exactly like Christ. If you believed that Jesus died for your sins and God resurrected Him from the death, and you confessed Him as Lord with your mouth, let me tell you what happened to you then. You were born again with a new Spirit (Romans 10:9,10; Ezekiel.36:26,27). That spirit is the same spirit with which the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. The difference between you and Jesus is only that you may not be growing as Jesus did.

And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people. Luke 2:52[MSG] 

Who is a baby in Christ? He is that Christian who is still walking in the flesh (1Corinthians 3:3); he is that Christian who  is not being led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14); that Christian who is living in fear (Romans 8:15), he is that Christian who is easily deceived by eloquent and fine speeches not based on God’s Word (Ephesians 4:14); he is that Christian who still depends on someone else for instruction from the Word (Hebrews 5:13); and he is that Christian who still cannot discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).

If you are truly born again like Romans 10:9,10 says and you still fall anywhere in these categories, I have good news for you. I want you to know that even though your lifestyle may be nowhere near that of Christ, your true nature is like Jesus (though you may not know). A baby may not know how to walk, talk, eat or even sit like a normal human being, but does that make him any less a human being? No! He just needs to grow. And God is expecting you too to grow to become exactly like Jesus.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brethren [Christians – you and I]. Romans 8:29 

That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine...But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things ... [even] Christ: Ephesians 4:14,15 

For a start, let me tell you that the most important quality in the life of Jesus was his love (John.10:11,17,18). It was love for God and his neighbour that moved Jesus to be as kind and compassionate, and as perfect as the Father Himself (John.5:19,20). Praise God that the same love has been poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). This means that you can also live and love God and others just like Jesus did (John.13:34, 1John.3:16).

Thank God for the Holy Spirit whom God has given to be in us and with us forever. His purpose is to reveal Jesus and the Father to us (John.15:26, 16:13-15) so that we can live the exact kind of life that Jesus would live if he were in our shoes (Actually, He is!).

Beloved, this is our calling as Christians, to be exactly like Christ. You don’t have to remain as you are!

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 1Peter 2:2 

What is the difference between the Word of God which is Jesus and the Word which is the Bible?

The Word of God is actually a person who is living and active, He is everywhere and His power permeates into every space and corner of the universe, and nothing escapes His all-seeing eyes (Hebrews 4:12,13). The Word of God is God because everything that makes up God is in Him (Colosians 2:9), He is the fullness of the glory of God, the express or exact imprint of God’s nature, and yet He is the only visible image of the invisible God (Hebrews 1:3, Colosians 1:15).

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son... Hebrews 1:1,2  

Long ago, God sought to reveal His Word (the person) to mankind as a human being. But because it would be difficult for man to identify Him, having never seen Him before, he drew a long term plan through which He would reveal His Word bit by bit to His people through the Law, and the Prophets. Eventually when the time was up and people saw the Person of the Word, God expected them to identify Him because He would be the exact fulfilment of all the Law and the prophets (Matthew.5:17, Luke 24:44, Hebrews 10:7).

When the set time was up, the Word became flesh and dwelt among men (Galatians 4:4, John.1:14). He came to the people whom He was expecting would identify Him, because to them had been given the Law, and the prophets, but His people did not recognise Him. They further unknowingly carried out upon Him all that remained of what was written about Him in the law and the prophets (Luke 24:44).

Few however recognised Him and followed Him throughout His few years of active ministry. To these (Apostles) He gave His Spirit and commissioned to bear witness about Him to all the nations of the World, even to the ends of the earth (John.15:26,27, Matthew.28:18-20). Having done this, He ascended into Heaven and is currently seated at the right hand of the Father (Psalm119:89, Ephesians 2:20)

The Bible (comprising of the Law, the prophets and the witness of Christ’s commissioned Apostles) is the full testimony about the Person of the Word of God; penned from about 2000 years before the Word became flesh till about 100 years after the word ascended to Heaven by Holy men who spoke or wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, or from their personal encounters with the Word (2Timothy 3:16, 1Peter 1:21, John.1:1-3).  

We were begotten as Christians by the Person of the Word through the testimony about the Word (the written Word) which we heard and believed (Romans 10:14-17, James 1:18). Therefore, our identity is the Person of the Word, but we need to discover our identity through our knowledge of Him attainable only from the written testimony about the Word. This Word contains the great and precious promises through which we can escape the corruption in the world and become active participators in the Wonderful Divine nature of God the Father and Jesus the Living Word (2Peter 1:4).

 

Constantly beholding the Living Word through the written Word will cause us to be transformed from glory to glory till we get into the very image of the Living Word.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2Corinthians 3:18  

This is why Apostle Peter declares that as we believe in Christ and are born as baby Christs, we should have one unquenchable desire – the spiritual milk which is found in the written Word. When we constantly feed on this Word, we will grow up to become exactly like the Living Word.

I hope the message is clear. All that a baby needs to grow into a matured human being is the precious breast milk of the mother. So it is with us. All that we need to grow to become exactly like the Living Word is to constantly and tirelessly devour the Spiritual milk of the written Word. Whenever we look into the pages of the written Word, we are learning about the Living Word, and since we have been born like Him, we are learning about our true nature and identity. We don’t have to forget this identity, we have to live and walk in it by faith.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. James 1:22-24  

Beloved, the Word is your true identity, know it and start living it. You don’t have to remain like this anymore!

You may now read: YOU DONT HAVE TO REMAIN LIKE THIS --Part 2