Text: 1 Peter 2:1ff
God is speaking clearly about salvation. Not understanding the program of God, people have remained carnal. This is so because they do not understand what the gospel is all about. It is lack of understanding God’s agenda for man that makes men place greater premium on technological advancement than they do on salvation. We have a lot of men talking nowadays who know nothing about God’s original intention. The essence of Jesus’ birth is to save. His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension is for the sole purpose of salvation.
The work of God upon man is not finished until he has become all that God redeemed Him to be. The High Priest is the patterned Son; meaning He is exactly what every son should look like. The Son of God that Jesus Christ became was because He was begotten. This dimension of birth is higher than the New Birth, according to John 3:3-5. There are dimensions of birth and we are in a season in which God is showing us that what Christ experienced is possible. God’s emphasis for sons is growth. God wants us to grow into sonship.
A priest is made by spiritual growth. Our spiritual growth is our growth into priesthood. This spiritual growth is also our salvation. From our text, we find that men who are able to lay aside malice are those who are ceasing from being flesh. Divisions in the church are caused by carnality. Where we are going is a place where there must be unity.
Babies cannot command the oil on the head of the High Priest (Psalm 133). The inheritance is not for flesh, for it is written, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50). It is thus vital that we morph from being flesh into being spiritual men. This is why the Lord is laying emphasis on our growth. The Lord did not react to the stones of accusations that were thrown at Him on the cross because He was a spiritual man. Men who are spiritual do not react to things that stir carnal men up. The Lord had been prepared for those things that He faced while he hung on the cross.
Coming to God is obeying that which is revealed concerning Christ. What changes your state as a believer is obeying what Christ is. That change is your growth. Acquiring judgments of the Spirit will make you grow and it will reflect in you reacting differently from how you have always done. As you change by obedience, you come closer to God or bridge that gap between you and Him. When you come to God in this manner, you acquire life in your soul. When believers are told to put the Bible aside, they are told to remain in death.
There is no way a man can acquire life if he does not grow. That growth is acquiring different measures of life that is in Christ. Learning the laws of life in Christ Jesus is the key to life. Diligence is very important and crucial if we will excel in this vocation. We must be diligent about words that are spoken (Heb. 2:1-3). Growth will only occur when you hearken to what is being spoken. These things (spoken words) carry judgments, which, if you keep, will birth your change. To give “the more earnest heed to the things we have heard” is to be diligent. Allowing those words to slip is to allow our change and growth to slip.
Everything the Holy Ghost says is not a suggestion; they are materials for salvation. Many times, these things are not as forceful as Satanic thoughts. Sometimes, they come as impressions in your heart but outside them, there is no salvation. Where the Lord spoke from, on the cross, when He prayed for those who crucified Him, was high understanding from a deep well of compassion. Not hearing words that bring salvation is to let salvation slip by. Hearing these words, however, is not enough; those words must be done/obeyed for salvation to be inherited.
Your growth is your priesthood. Without growing up spiritually, you cannot offer what is acceptable to God. It takes a priest to offer properly what is acceptable. This is because he has a dimension of access that both levites and kings could not boast of. The difference between the priests and levites is growth. Growth is access. We draw nearer to God by changing. It is this change that makes us compatible with God’s presence.Fasting is not what brings you closer to God. When you fast, make sure you get instructions to obey for access to be granted for you to God.
Access is not given by encounters; it is by how much of change you have availed yourself by obedience to knowledge and understanding. You can get so much of judgment that you can discern where a man is spiritually when you hear them pray. Things that intimidate you at your current level will stop doing so when you grow up. Jesus got to where He is at the right hand of the Majesty on High by learning and obeying. He aligned with truth, which is a body of judgments in the Spirit. The beginning of judgments in the spirit are the judgments of Christ. When a believer has walked in the judgment of Christ, the judgments of eternal life will be committed to him.
God is calling us to come and acquire the stature that our Head (Christ) has. It is important you grow. Without growth, there will be no inheriting of eternal life. In a season where everyone is changing and turning from flesh into spiritual men, do not choose to keep your flesh. If you choose to remain carnal in a season of change, you will give every other person responding to God trouble. What makes a man up are his ways and thoughts. It is alignment with the ways and thoughts of God that makes us spiritual. Revelation (understanding) is a tool for taking your ways and thoughts from you so you can acquire the ways and thoughts of God.
If you have not changed from a carnal man into a spiritual man, you will never be able to process thoughts of eternal life. The only man with the kind of stature that can approach God is the High Priest. He has so much access that He is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His Person. Do not remain dwarf in the spirit while you are gathering and building muscles in the flesh. Even in the Old Testament (which is our type and shadow), a dwarf cannot be a priest. A dwarf is a believer who has access to revelation knowledge but is not changing by reason of obedience to it.
It is only a carnal believer that will hold on to malice or wrong words spoken to him/her. It takes a spiritual man to overlook transgressions and behave as if such wrongdoing never happened. The wisdom from above is peaceable and pure, it is full of mercy, this is the wisdom we must employ to live. For the purpose of coming near to God, we must accept to learn and practice the way of peace as spelt out by the conversation of Christ. Instructions as letting go of offense and forgiving one another is to enable us to come near to God, so we must be diligent to keep these commandments, that we might be converted from being carnal to becoming spiritual.
The stature of Jesus is grace while that of God is great grace. When the knowledge of Jesus is communicated to us we increase in grace. We grow in stature as we obey the revelation of Christ. God requires that we possess a level of growth to enable us gain entrance into the level of things He communicates to us. This required growth would only be attained as we yield in obedience to the knowledge of Jesus that is being revealed to us at the preaching and teaching of Christ.
Mfonobong Praise - 3 years ago