GROW UP INTO HIM - Pt. 2

ABIDING IN CHRIST

What does this mean? The exhortation of Apostle Jude best deals with this. In Jude 1:21, he says Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

When one of the teachers of the law, a Pharisee, asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, He said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

When Jesus gave the new commandment in John 13:34, it was still the same, the caveat was that the love must now be the love of God. Not emotional, not conditional but the love of God which only the Holy Spirit produces.

Now, God will not require of us what we are incapable of. That is why when we got born again, the tools we need to obey Him were given to us. He gave us a measure of faith (Romans 12:3) with which we received His love into our recreated human spirits (Romans 5:5).

Understand something about this love however, it is first towards God and then towards man. Love for God is what makes the believer ALWAYS put God first in all things. That is how come the believer seeks to do what God wants, not what is convenient or what the flesh wants (which is easy). 

If you do not put God first, you will not love the other person except it is convenient but God expects you to do it at all times. Emotional love cannot do this; God’s love does it because it always puts God first, to please Him.

Abiding in Christ is abiding in this love, living and walking in it. Don’t forget, God is love (1 John 4: 8) and Christ is the embodiment of who God is. If you put God first in all things notwithstanding the cost of doing so, it is because you are allowing the love He has put in you to find expression. When you do this, you will never be a law breaker. You will do everything the word says to do because you put God first.

Afterall, how did Jesus say we will express our love for Him? Very clearly in John 14:15 Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandment. We abide in Christ when we obey His word, when we live our lives in line with what it teaches. Our love for God is shown to Him and to all when we live according to His word.

GOD’S WORD ABIDING IN YOU

What does it mean for God’s word to abide in you? A whole book can be written on this but we do not have the luxury of that in this piece. Best and simply put, the instruction of God to Joshua in Joshua 1:8 explains this: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success. This was said before the bible was compiled, if it was after, it would have read 'this entire bible shall not depart....'.

Most times, we reference this text when we are desirous of material gain and financial success alone, but God gave Joshua this instruction regarding kingdom purpose in entirety.  

In living by this verse, we should keep in mind that it is what we have come to know that we can meditate on. And to know, we must study and to study, our attention is required. If we will love God the way He expects us to (that is, abide in Christ), daily study and continuous meditation on God’s word are pre-requisites for us and not options. The same goes for prayer and every other thing that is good and godly as laid out in God’s word.

Now, what does the word of God do when it abides in us? It helps us to build our faith, the measure that God gave us at salvation. Romans 10:17 says so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Abiding in Christ gives us the opportunity to grow our faith and both are interdependent, not mutually exclusive. Growing our faith gives us the opportunity to walk like Jesus walked here on earth, the opportunity to ask the Father always and have Him do what you ask.

Think about it, what is it that we can achieve for God without having to have asked for something? Developing this ability to ask and have Him do is what determines our success in life, it is what determines if we will fulfill God’s purpose for us in His kingdom. We must work at it; taking a cue from what Christ said.

Abide in Him and let His word abide in you. The more this works for you, the more you reflect who Jesus is in whatever and wherever God has placed you.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. These three are required for us to conform to Jesus’ image here on earth. Love (charity) is called the greatest because it is the only one that will exist into eternity.

Faith is not needed in heaven as well as hope, for then we would have seen heaven and we would have seen God. You only believe for what is not in your reality and you only hope for what you have not seen (Romans 8:24).

We can say generally that walking in love gets our needs met and we will be correct because when we walk in the God kind of love, we will put Him first. When we put Him first, we will seek Him and we seek Him by studying His word, praying and doing as He says. When we seek Him because we put Him first we will obey the word and this builds our faith with which we receive everything we ask of God.

But more specifically, faith (the God kind of faith) is what gets our needs met. Without it, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6), without it, we cannot receive anything from God (James 1:7), without it we cannot even walk in the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts. The bottom line is, without growing and walking in the God kind of faith, becoming more like Jesus is not possible.

The God kind of faith is beyond positive confession. The God kind of faith has nothing to do with believing in yourself. The God kind of faith has nothing to do with the force of the universe (whatever that may mean), the constellations or elements, all of which are the works of God’s hands. The God kind of faith is produced in us only by God and this He does through His word.

Other kinds of faith would be limited in what they can do. Faith in yourself is limited to what you can do, faith in the universe is limited to whatever nature permits. Faith in the elements only gets you help from the kingdom of darkness which is not help indeed but idolatrous traps to position you for Satan’s destruction.

The God kind of faith is your access to God’s possibility which is ALL possibilities. Only what God cannot do is what it will not achieve and God can do all things.

We must fulfill our destinies in God, we must grow up into Christ in this very thing. Folks, let’s get to work!

Meditate on these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:15).

Pastor Gboye Omolayo is the Resident Pastor of Church@Allen, Allen TX, USA. He is a prolific writer and preacher who believes the efficacy of the word of God and the potency of the works of the Holy Spirit are still available to the Church today, as were at the Church’s infancy. He is the publisher of this blog.

GROW UP INTO HIM

One thing that marked out the life of the Lord Jesus when He was on earth was that whatever He asked God in prayer, God did. There was no way He would have fulfilled the purpose for which God sent Him into the world if this was removed from Jesus’ life.

How would He have ministered healing to the sick and deliverance to the oppressed? How would He have protected the twelve and adequately prepare them for the task God had for them? How would he have provided for the physical needs of the needy (and He did this for many)? How would He have believed God to help Him stay faithful to die for our salvation?

Though we assume that the reason why God always did what Jesus asked for in prayer was because of Jesus’ deity, scriptures teach otherwise.

Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:2-3), meaning He was as much a human being as you and me are human beings. We learn this more from what Philippians 2:7 says about Jesus that: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

Though Jesus was God (deity), He dropped all the glory of deity when He came to the earth. The purpose for which He came could not be fulfilled if He came with all the glory of His deity. How would Deity in His glory die by the hands of His creature?

In Hebrews 5:13, we learn that though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. If He walked on earth in His deity, He would not have needed to learn obedience; obedience to who?

We also learn from Hebrews 4:15 that we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He was tempted at every point as we human beings are because He was a human being just like us. The only difference is that He never yielded to the temptations, He never sinned.

Additionally, if Jesus lived as deity here on earth, it would not have been possible for Him to be tempted because the bible says in James 1:13B that God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. Only man can be tempted with evil, deity cannot be tempted with evil.

There seem to be only two things Jesus Christ did that belonged to deity while He was on earth, first, He received the worship of men and secondly, He had the power to forgive sins and these two He did because He was permitted by God. In John 5:30 Jesus said, I can of mine own self do nothing. Jesus was as much man as you and me are today.

So sacrosanct is this fact that God said in 1 John 4:2-3 that Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

We must embrace this truth and hold on to it, otherwise Satan would succeed in limiting us in our quest to fulfill the purpose of God for our lives on earth. 

It is the spirit of the antichrist that claims that Jesus did not walk on earth as man because it still hurts Satan till date that man (the second man or the last Adam - 1 Cor 15:45-47) defeated him and gave authority to all those who would believe in Him to continue enforcing that defeat.

THE PURPOSE OF GOD FOR YOU

God has a purpose in His kingdom for every human being born into this world. Note my words, not just those who are born again but everyone born into the world.

However, we cannot fulfill kingdom purpose except we are first born into the kingdom. The kingdom of God as expressed in the New Testament is the same as the Church and the body of Christ.

Jesus said in John 3:3 that Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Further in the 7^th verse Jesus emphasized that Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Watch His choice of words, ye must be, not you may be or you should be. 

And what does being born again do? It brings you into the kingdom of God, the Church, the body of Christ. Why so? Because fulfilling God’s purpose is predicated on you being in His kingdom.

Every human being is eligible to be born again but it is up to them to take the opportunity up.

Romans 8:26 says for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 

Who did God foreknow? Those who will be born into the world and believe on Jesus for salvation to enter into God’s kingdom. What purpose does God have for these people? That they be conformed into the image of Jesus. 

Ephesians 4:15 teaches us that But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. God’s purpose is for the believer to grow up into Christ in all things. This is what is called spiritual growth in bible parlance, becoming more like Jesus in all things.

BECOMING MORE LIKE CHRIST

There are so many remarkable things about Jesus, but one that marks Him out and without which He would not have fulfilled His purpose was that whatever He asked God, God gave Him. In simple, everyday term, Jesus always got answers to His prayers.

Now, how does this cut into us believers? To fulfill God’s purpose for our lives we must become more like Jesus in this area. Jesus Himself taught extensively about this when He was on earth.

In John 15:16 Jesus says to us that Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 

What fruit is Jesus talking about here? The fruit of answered prayers. Reading the verse in context of the whole chapter makes this more obvious. And He was not just talking to the twelve, but to everyone of us.

Earlier in the 7^th verse, Jesus mentioned how we will bear this fruit, just as He did. He said, if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Abide in me and let my words abide in you, He said. When you do that, whatever you ask in prayer shall be granted by the Father.

Martha gave a testimony of this regarding Jesus in John 11:22, that whatever Jesus asked the Father was done for Him. God wants to do the same for you and me also.

How do we abide in Christ? How does His word abide in us? Click on the next post (‘Grow Up Into Him – Pt 2’) for the conclusion.

Meditate on these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:15).  

Pastor Gboye Omolayo is the Resident Pastor of Church@Allen, Allen TX, USA. He is a prolific writer and preacher who believes the efficacy of the word of God and the potency of the works of the Holy Spirit are still available to the Church today, as were at the Church’s infancy. He is the publisher of this blog.