STATURE: INTO THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST
Picture by: Crosswalk.com
Beloved of God,
It is very important that the understanding of the fullness of Christ is understood as a matter of utmost pertinence: a state, that must be achieved by every christian.
But first, we shall do well to understand that the very purpose of Christ's death do not end at the stage of believing. The purpose of his death is transcendental and so much important than this, but it is also the basis of having the life expected: the life of Christ, which is holy and pure.
Coming into the full stature of this state of the expected end from Christ should be our daily pursuit and purpose.It is such a sad reality that the purpose of the manifestation of the Holy spirit should be in vain in this last days, and you might ask, what is the purpose of the Holy spirit?
The purpose of the Holy spirit on these last days is to teach and to comfort. If there is a relationship of a teacher and student, what do you think the relationship is all about? To learn, and to teach! The holy spirit aims to teach his students the way to live, the way to grow into the full stage expected by God.
Let us not falter from the true revelation of the gospel of Christ: To attain true Godhood, and to attain absolute purity.
Maturing into the absolute and perfect will of God is a long process, but the end justifies the means.
I shall broach with you, a certain number of factors affecting the maturity of believers, saddled with a myriad of cogent issues and probably, maladies.
SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES AND INSTITUTIONS AS PREFERRED/NOTIONED WRONGLY TO THE PROCESS OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
The emergence of different "bodies of christ" has brought into light the subjective reason for individuals to follow and obey a particular instruction from a particular mandate. Apostle Paul invariably encountered this issue as regarding the Corinthians, when he saw that the division of believers into tiny sect inside the body of Christ had occured.
Apollos, Paul, and Peter were apostle that were really filled with the Holy ghost, and are hereby fit to be called religious leaders; and Where there are leaders, there are followers who would do their best to show total segregation from others and the true ordination of their leader.
The process of maturing in Christ lies not in the act of being in a particular sect. "Let brotherly love continue" was what the bible said, as opposed to the general act of this new world's population. This World is not really new in reality, but the clarity and sharp decisions that the general populace make are the determinants and reasons by which this world can be called a new one. There was one Temple in the olden times of our fathers, there were not even a particular sect that called itself different from the others, yet it claims to be in the body of Christ.
I assure you, I am not attacking covertly or overtly any spiritual sect in the body of Christ - as i myself belong to one.
My point is that the process of solitary growth, a deep sense of worship and reference, and the cognizant of the true essence of God's grace and manifestations should be rated over spiritual activities (as a body) and spiritual institutions all over.
Worship should be done in spirit and in truth as well as the ardent obedience to the instructions from God (Explicitly oral, or written).
If the body of Christ, have been chained to a kind of conventionality ( which should not be) the manifestations of the Holy spirit would be handicapped to a certain aspect. I am not notioning here that certain principles as required because of the state of things should not be adhered to or laid down, I am saying that the moving spirit of the Lord should not be handicapped by processes and activities and sect doctrines that are so irrelevant to the growth of the church.
What is the aim of the church in the fist place? The aim of the church is to prepare the bride of the Lord for his coming!
Would conventionalities now be relevant in building up the bride for his groom to an acceptable end? No! Growth should be from within, should be yearned for, should be marked by the extent of spiritual dedication and the manifestation of the holy spirit and not by the appearance and zeal of individuals in meetings, and activities.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS AS OPPOSED TO MATERIAL THINGS.
Just as Apostle Paul, it would be expedient that I make mention the need for the manifestation of the spiritual gifts in contrast to the trivialities of the material things.
What is greed? What is willful ignorance? What is outright rejection? I believe you know the answers to these questions deep inside of you, and I hope that you understand the relationship between these questions and the gettings of spiritual and material things.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.
If Apostle Paul thought that even core believers can be ignorant of the spiritual gifts of God, I think it is not so bad a thing if christians are found to be ignorant of it.
What do you think the essence of the spiritual gifts are?
1: To build the church ( Which is invariably building the bride)
2: To build ourselves, which is relative to spiritual growth.
Majority of the bodies of Christ allover the world have gone astray from the "dull" true path of spirituality, into the "glamorous" path of the material things. I do not say that the need for material thing is sinful, or unbilical or in any way not Christlike, I am saying that placing priorities over the material, in detriment to the spiritual is a huge mistake, which is unbilical, and sinful,. and not Christlike.
The whole chapter of 1Coruthians chapter 12 does justice to this.
The yearning of the gifts of the spirit brings about either as a result of resolve, or as a means of getting the results the fruits of the spirit. It is like wanting to walk in the path that Mango Trees are full of, just to get Mango fruits. Walking in the light of something illuminates the dregs and shadows and the replaceable parts that should be amended or replaced.
Yearn for the spiritual gifts over the material gifts.
Use your material gifts for the elevation of spiritual things.
Will you go to the Lord and ask him to help you strive to attain true spirituality with him? in spirit and in truth? Will you ask him to help you build a candid and solid connection, valid and tested by him? Will you ask him to help you look above the trivialities of this mortal world? Do.
And then again, till I come with another revelation from Christ, powerfully revealed unto all of us, with the explicitness and originality that is unbiased and undiluted, I shall leave you with a few sentences from the words of Brother T. Spark- Austin (probably dead) in the compilations of the letters he wrote in the years 1948 and 1970.
" Great traditions and monuments to that which no longer represents a commensurate spiritual value are of no concern to the Lord. This is a.time in which He is most clearly saying that the inwardness of Christ as over against the outward associations of Christ; the heavenliness of.our relatedness to a heavenly Christ as over against the earthly systems of Christianity; and a spiritual walk with Christ as over against a round and schedule of Christian function and activities, are the things which govern Him.in what He does or allows in our lives"
Thank you!
