Is the bible actually true or what? Careful reading of the bible affirms that it is saying, ‘Before Christ came into the world, mankind did not have life as a result of Adam and Eve’s fall’. We just existed! We were working, discovering and inventing things, eating, having sex and making babies. In this sense, humans are not far from the ants who, also work smartly, build and engage in reproduction.
So, Christ Jesus came to give mankind life, life in its abundance!
Does this suggest that holy men and women of old before Christ did not have life too? The bible gives this notion and I second its truth. They had glimpses of His life from a distance and longed earnestly to possess it. The longing kept their hearts and minds towards God. So they served Him with reverence and fear.
But, since Jesus’ birth, ministry, death and resurrection some people have been escaping from merely existing into life. And no longer are those who have the glimpse of life just longing after Him—they are possessing life, life in all its abundance. Nicodemus had something of the glimpse of life so he went to see Him (Life) better at night. Christ Jesus nodded him towards the life—‘get born again, and then you will see life clearly. You will not only see it, you will possess it by water and the Spirit’ John 3:1-5.
Since His resurrection, a body of people on the earth described as His body possess life and increasingly have Him in all of His fullness. Note, it is not just having life but possessing life (Christ) in His fullness— having a real vibrant relationship with the living Christ Jesus the Head and High Priest of His body on the earth John 10:27. Not a fairy tale.
“If the Lord is not a real and vital part of our lives, then we are only half living”— Crosswalk. In which case, God is asking, where art thou? Genesis 3:9.
Dear friend, are you part of His body? The Holy Spirit will bear witness to you in your spirit Romans 8:16. His joy and peace will evidence it to you in your inner man. Restfulness in your inner being will testify to it. Crazy thoughts and jumpy actions will be vanishing as you are astonished by His awesome power resurrecting you to an increasingly godly and goodly thoughts and actions that gladdens the heart under every situation. Which is to say, all things are now working out only for good in your life! All things are beginning to be made by the Holy Spirit to serve as a springboard to prepare you as a part of the bride (wise virgins) for the bridegroom (Eternal Life).
The measure of life, abundant life that mortals can contain is made available by Christ Jesus to all who ask for it Psalm 86:5. How merciful and gracious God is!
Merciful because He looks to His Son’s sacrifice and grants forgiveness to all who ask for it though they be sinners—gross sinners who murdered His Son, Jesus.
Gracious because He is all powerful to rescue all who are in hiding beaten or negotiated down (Genesis 3:1-6) by the dominion of darkness if only we will come out to meet Him as He walks towards us and not hide behind trees (ministries and other people, so to speak Proverbs 11:21) Genesis 3:8. By His power, He translates all who receive and accept His Son (the Messiah) from the darkness of hell into the light of heaven—that is, His Kingdom. This is the power of the second Adam, the life giving Spirit.
The life of God in the earth is flowing in His Kingdom on the earth. And the Kingdom soon will overun the kingdom of this world as the will of God is increasingly being done in the earth as it is done in heaven.
Sinners and religious (pious) people must now flee to Christ Jesus for safety. The appointed time God has given for all men to be saved is running out Romans 13:11. The righteous are being taken out of the earth yet men know it not. God is rejoicing as His own return home.
God is strengthening the body of His Son on the earth to tell the world that God loves them. God does not want anyone to perish Titus 2:11, 2 Peter 3:9. Enough people have perished because while on earth clothed with mortal body, they only existed having refused and rejected life. Receiving this life (Christ) is so crucial and as such, God gave opportunity to even those who existed before Christ’s advent the chance to receieve Him, in their hearts.
Mankind (men and women) need eternal life in this present life. Therefore, have life that you may live ABUNDANTLY forever not exist forever. Goodness and religion do not give life! Life gives goodness and devotion. Those who know and possess life know this reality, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” John 10:10.
Life is at your disposal; take Him in richly Colossians 3:16!
The devil never gives up easily in his effort to derail saints and to keep those outside Christ from ever getting to receive Him. He will use any means possible. He is desperate if we care to know—that is, if we still believe that there is a Satan at all.
While in the past, he used the usual kind of hypocrites (those who are hard on others but soft on themselves); he has long included a special kind of hypocrites.
These special kinds of hypocrites are increasing by their numbers in this generation like never before. Special kinds of hypocrites! What is that?
Now, we have those who are in Christ (especially preachers) who will not touch or go near sin under any heading— they love Jesus, fear God and rely on the Holy Spirit to live their lives. They don’t kid with praying fervently, don’t just read the bible but study it deeply, pursue love with their hearts because they fear God and understand that everyone without exception will reap what he or she sows Galatians 6:7, Revelation 14:13. So, they are quite aware that God’s justice cannot be bribed by a cover up with “born again” façade Matt 7:21, John 4:34.
But, in spite of all the wonderful virtues they have as listed above, when it comes to their work (serving the church) and reaching the world with their ministry and spiritual gifts, they become smart with God because they want followership. They want to be reckoned with in the religious world. They want to be identified with a prestigious camp (theological niche). Therefore, they teach tactically the devil’s lies about Christ’s doctrines (watered down) in such a way that they themselves don’t secretly believe and live as they prescribe for others to. They live their lives better in accordance to Christ’s true doctrine for His honor and their safety but tell others to believe and live less by the watered down doctrines of devils. No Christian is above being tempted in this matter.
Example
Is, preachers who teach others that they should worship God based on their love for God, faith, His grace etc but cleverly exclude the fearof God in the list Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 16:6. They unlike the usual hypocrites are hard on themselves and soft on others mainly for the sake of followership. Meanwhile, these are preachers who are prepared to lose everything they own including their own lives and (actually have been tested as such), and in those times of their trials and temptation, the very thing that crystallized their love and faith in God and His grace they found is their fearof God’s wrath.
The Fear of God
While faithful and victorious Christians in every generation knew/knows that love for God is a main pillar for persevering by faith and the grace of God, none denies, none should deny the truth that their literal fearof God’s wrath was/is also, a crystallizer during the times of their severe trials and temptations Matthew 10:28.
This matter is not to be overemphasized. We just need to mediate over the subject and let the Holy Spirit converse and teach us what to believe and how to live.
To have faith and love towards God and grace is wonderful but, minus fear of God, we are prone to worship and persevere during our times of trials and temptations in our own ways and not His. This is why many times, we as Christians give blanket testimonies—we can’t state the nitty gritty of how God delivered us from our trials and temptations because we cut corners.
The words of R C Sproul hits the mark in this regards, “God absolutely requires that He be…worshipped in a way that He commands, not according to the way we prefer”.
Cajoling people into our churches with watered down doctrines and slick testimonies have hardly been helpful.
Our command is to tell of the gospel (testify of the person of Christ) to the lost, those enslaved by Satan and their own desires. If they believe as His Father draws them, they will be saved, cleansed, infused with incremental grace, and exposed increasingly to the depth, height, width and length of the visions of Christ as savior, Lord, prince of peace, provider and eternal Father. These activities of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s heart, overshadows his or her soul and bears out of their body the fruit of the Spirit not our own righteousness. This leading of His Spirit in and about the believer and the Church, is our safety against deceiving spirits in these last days as it has been from the start of the church of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Let those who have the Treasure in their earthen vessel indeed, look closely to themselves, examining their doctrine and walk carefully with all manners of prayers and in regular fellowship with other believers 2 Corinthians 4:7, 1 Timothy 4:16NLT, Hebrews 10:25, Colossians 3:16.
Conclusion
To fear God without loving, reverencing, praising, giving thanks and proclaiming His Son Jesus Christ unashamedly amounts to nothing 2 Kings 17:33, Exodus 1:17, 21.
As we hold faith towards God, love, reverence, serve and fearHim, May His grace, peace and joy abide with us all!
A true test of sound biblical understanding and practice of righteousness depends on whether we are enslaved by righteousness or servants to righteousness.
What does it mean to be enslaved by righteousness and what are the symptoms?
To be enslaved by righteousness is to make one’s perceived good conducts (works of righteousness) God. That is, the good conducts as listed in the bible or acceptable ethos within one’s immediate or remote cultural community. The motivation and goal becomes attaining the higher levels of good conduct which in turn becomes the source of happiness and yardstick for obtaining all good things of the present life and entering the life to come. For example, the laws God gave to Israel to help bring them to seek Him became God to them. They elevated His laws above Him and became enslaved by their good deeds. Matthew 12:10-12, Luke 14:2-6.
Symptoms of this doctrinal ailment
Believing righteousness comes by righteous deeds and not the opposite
Believing Salvation is by the works of righteous deeds and not the reverse
Immense fasting not as worship but as a means of overcoming and attaining higher levels of righteousness
Blaming others or things as reasons for looking away, unbelief or sinning
Judging oneself, others and things on the surface or only after the manner of the flesh as opposed to the Spirit
Exploring every available religion peradventure they may give clues for attaining the standard in the area one is falling short
Falling into sin leads to guilt, withdrawal from the bible and fellowship, loss of joy, depression and anger against whoever is assumed to have set the standard so high, be it God or man
The above symptoms are clear and an undeniable alarm that a person or a people are taken captive or enslaved by righteous deeds. That being the case, the deeds, are now forcing the adherers to serve them. The good deeds become a person who punishes the adherers that deviate with guilt, shame and hiding. The deeds or circumstances become their masters or god. The force or threat element is remarkable.
The presence of one or all of the above symptoms in our lives shows we lack sound understanding of the Christian faith, we’re yet to become Christian or we have been deceived or derailed. If this is the case with anyone or a group of people, it is serious and needs immediate redress.
Servants to Righteousness
The remedy to the lethal problem of being enslaved by righteousness is, to be servant(s) to Righteousness. The first important thing to mention is this; there is no force or subtle threat involved at all. In this case, the individual or group of people chooses to be a servant(s) to Righteousness. The choice to be a servant(s) to Righteousness gives good conducts or righteous deeds as part of Its rewards. This kind of relationship between the Master (Righteousness One) and the servant(s) has room to quickly develop into friendship John 15:15. The mutuality moves on guaranteeing even joint inheritance of the Master’s riches. Through this willingly loving relationship, the Master exhorts, corrects, admonishes and trains the servants in righteousness. He wants the servant(s) to be as Him by helping them. The Master expresses His will to the servant(s) without fear that they will reject Him. Also, the servant(s) express their needs, wants, feelings, weaknesses and fears to the Master without fear of rejection. They know their Master will help them overcome as He overcame. Therefore, they give themselves wholly to the Master’s course as soldiers even willing to die for Him as He died for them.
He helps the servant(s) or friend(s) by living in them and through them. This is a special kind of Master and servant(s) relationship. The Servant(s) lives in the same house as their Master not in servants’ quarters. The servant(s) are not in the field slaving out for the Master rather, He is with them all the way through. He even appoints for them the Teacher who teaches them directly and also, teaches them through each of them that they might reach competence in their assigned duties to worship God in spirit and truth as their Master did.
The greatest sign that this relationship is not forced lays in the possibility of the servant(s) or friend(s) to walk away or look away from the Master if they so choose without the Master putting guilt and depression on them. When they look away, obviously they start sinking into the miry clay. The memory of the loving relationship the friend(s) or servant(s) have had with their Master is what they miss so much if they ever walk away. His good deed in them, through them and most of all the feeling of being lonely without His companionship is what persuades them to look again to their Master the Righteous One.
Falling short of good deeds or into sin becomes a reminder to the servant(s) or friend(s) that they are looking away from the Master who is ever standing by and pleading to them to look to Him. His presence carries no condemnation, guilt or dejection nor does it chase away. However, despite His inviting and comforting presence, He empowering them and the privilege to look at Him again, they still retain the power to persistently look away from Him and give their attention to another who is competing with Him for their worship and service.
Who are those in competition with the Righteous One
It is the devil on one side and the self on the other side. Satan and self righteousness enslave—ever give them room and they seize you beyond your imagination. You suddenly will be in need to be rescued. Little wonder the human race is in need of deliverance from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light or from bondage to freedom.
We as the human race are individually being persuaded not forced by God to look at Christ Jesus His beloved Son. It is an invitation to be His servants, friends, brothers and sons—joint heirs! We have the choice to look or accept Christ and live in freedom now and for all eternity, or remain with Satan and self righteousness and live enslaved now and for all eternity. The Righteous One (Christ) gives humanity and His people the opportunity to choose. This open choice is what the devil and self never gives because they are tyrants.
Right from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, God’s call to man has been the same and it has never changed. It’s not “keep my laws”—it is, look to Me! Don’t look away!
Deuteronomy 30:19 captures God’s call to man, ‘Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh that you choose life, so that you and your descendants might live’!
Micah 6:8 echoes the same call, ‘ No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’.
To walk with Him is all God requires from man. It gives humility, right conduct and love for mercy Jude 1:21.
God did not give Adam and Eve laws to keep, He gave them a law which is—look to Me or walk with Me. The alternative was to look away or walk away. They looked away and sank. Peter looked away from Christ, and sinking, he quickly looked to Him again with shouting. Judas looked away from Christ and didn’t care to look at Him again much less shout out to Him. He beckoned on Rehab, she looked, and therefore, her name continues to surface in the list of the godly. Saul looked at Him and became Paul, an envy of all who pursue the grace of God. Unfortunately, King Agrippa refused to look at Him Acts 26:28-29NKJV. No one who looks to the eternal Father will be put to shame.
Conclusion
Even Jesus as a man, survived by looking unto His Father who has appointed that the human race look unto—Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 4:6, 3:18. From His glory in us His brothers, servants, friends or branches proceeds the fruit of the Spirit (righteous deeds).
It’s not those that want to go to heaven that go but those who accept the Way to heaven.
It’s not those living in sin that have imputed righteousness but those whose sins are forgiven
It is not those whose sins are forgiven that are blessed but those who dare to believe it and live it
It’s not those that preach, teach or write about forgiveness that are blessed but those that forgive
It’s not those that preach love that are blessed but those that love
It’s not servants who are Nicholaitians (lords, directors, bosses, or priests over the sheep) that are blessed but servants who are serving
It’s not those that say, “Lord, Lord” that are blessed but those that obey the Lord.
It’s not those that give that are blessed but those who give their widow’s mite bountifully and cheerfully.
It is not those that go about looking for a wife that are blessed but those that marry the one they find
It’s not those who have firm promises of marriage from faithful people that get married but those promised who abide or remain available to those that promised them
It’s not those that go to church that are the church but those in Christ and abiding in Him
The leaders are not those recognized to be so but those through whom the Leader is administering His life to the church and the world
It’s not those clamoring for purity that are pure but those whose minds are stayed on God
It’s not those that approve themselves that are approved but those whose hearts God has approved
Have faith in God! No one is approved or disapproved by God because we did.
Though our experience with God happens within the context of our life experiences, it is not exactly the same thing. Life experiences shape us in a different way than our experience with God.
Experiences of life help shape the majority of people who pass through this world and accounts for why our world is fast decaying in God’s perspective and that of His people. Some good has come out of the life experiences of man such as having learnt how to do many things differently to improve man’s existence on earth. However, when it comes to the way man lives with his fellow man, hardly can it be said there has been improvement.
The reason for the lack of improvement is highly related to what man takes out of his life experience with others. Even for many Christians, this is still true.
The Bible clearly says that the heart of man is desperately wicked and highly deceitful Jer 17:9. Given that what man does visibly comes from this same heart of wickedness and deceit, I guess it is no surprise that man’s experience with his fellow men is but wicked—and deceitful.
Most times, when statements like, “I have learnt my lesson” are made, both by Christians and non Christians, it is usually in reference to— I have learnt how to deal with man better. Better in the sense of I now know what man is like and I must deal with man according to man’s fallen nature.
The essence of this short article is to encourage Christians to rather deal with man by our experience with God. To non Christians it is an invitation to come accept Christ—without whom it is impossible to participate in God’s divine nature. The Christian’s experience with God starts with regeneration of the heart, the sprinkling of the mind with Christ’ Blood and imputation of righteousness. The importance of this initial experience cannot be overemphasized. It is the foundation upon which God calls anyone to deal with life and its experiences.
Without the foundation of God’s nature made alive in man, men may pretend to be good until pushed beyond the limit of human goodness. But, when God’s nature is made alive in man, heaven’s ministration comes upon the heart—sanctifies the mind and empowers it continually to participate in divine living like the Lord from Heaven (Christ Jesus). It is on this basis that the will of God in heaven is done on earth. It has no limitation, for that which is impossible with men is made possible in man by God.
So then, as Christians our light or good (that is Christ) shines before men only when we let our experiences with God govern us. Then, praise is given to God in heaven by men on the earth Matt 5:16. Let us be reminded, those nicknamed “Christians” in Antioch got the name because; they displayed Christ’s nature and not just their belief in Him Acts 11:26. By the Holy Spirit, their lives were a blessing to those of the household of faith and to all men.
What can you say has truly shaped the person you are—is it your God experience or life experience?
So, who are we reacting to according to what they deserve and not according to Christ’s grace? Think soberly about it. The soberness this creates in our hearts can’t fail to lead to repentance, forgiveness—and ultimately, reconciliation unless, we have become reprobates.
Think also about this; God is the One who forgives first and seeks reconciliation with sinful man. This is how I know that God is spiritual and full of love. How do you and I show we are spiritual and having the love of Christ in our hearts not our mouths? The spiritual man ought to be first in good deeds and serving others. Let him who will be the first be the servant (not leader) of all men Mark 9:35. Do you agree with Jesus?
