As I was saying, some of the questions raised by men at the recent Men’s Breakfast Plus event organised by the Ikeja chapter of Christian Men’s Network Nigeria
While it is true that many of us readily agree that we are children of God by virtue of being born again Christians, and therefore citizens of the kingdom of God
As I quoted from an earlier serial, “Open Letter to Kingdom Persons” in closing last week, “…many men reading this already know, and accept as true, the biblical assertion that we are sons of God. Many might even be walking in this truth in some areas of their life. But many of us are slaves masquerading as servants; some others are servants parading as sons, while some of the very best are merely living on the fringes of sonship. And it shows glaringly in everything. It shows in the way we pray and what we pray for. It shows in the way we praise and worship God whom we say we have accepted as our father. It shows in our attitude to work; in how some of us have become slaves to work in the pursuit of what we call ‘putting food on the table’ or providing for the family. It shows in how desperate we sometimes get in the pursuit of this all-important provision for the family, such that compromise has become the norm, even among Christians whether we are business persons, academics, politicians, civil servants or holders of high government posts”.
Put as starkly as I can manage it, our identity does not match our behaviour!
“I was saying that the line between son-ship and servant-hood seems to have become blurred in the consciousness of many of us, kingdom persons. We say we believe what the Bible says; that we are sons of God, by adoption through the finished work of Jesus Christ, and in line with God’s original plan. But we live like servants or slaves…
In Part two of the serial, I stated as follows: “Yet the difference is clear. The Pocket Oxford Dictionary describes a slave as a ‘person who is owned by and has to serve another”. It defines a servant as ‘person employed to do domestic duties.’ But it says of a son, ‘male descendant or inheritor of a quality’. A slave is owned by his master and is not even accorded the dignity of a free-will. A servant has to earn his keep. A son is an inheritor…”
I continued: “The point being made here is this: while servants have to earn their keep, sons do not have any such obligations. No father provides for his son on the condition that he serves him. Fathers provide for their children out of love and as a duty. Masters pay their servants according the quality and quantity of their service. The Bible is very clear about this. Paul did not say my God shall supply all your needs according to how hard you’ve worked; it is according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:19). Does this imply that sons have no responsibilities; that they do no kind of work; or that they just sit idling away? Not at all. Sons serve in the Family Business; they work to grow the family enterprise; they serve in love not out of compulsion or in order to ‘put food on the table’. I shall come back to this presently…”
In concluding the second part of that serial, I wrote: “An oft-quoted passage of scripture, the full import of which seems lost on many children of God is in the Book of Matthew, chapter six. It is a graphic depiction of the rat race which the servant mentality has pushed us into. And it goes on to give the father’s heart on the matter. The New Living Translation renders it this way: ‘… I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? ‘So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God
Continuing, I wrote: “This passage had been widely seen and taught as an exhortation against anxiety - and it is. But it is much more than that. It is the Lord Jesus’ blueprint for true kingdom living. It is the prescribed lifestyle for kingdom persons who have successfully exorcised the servant mentality and have come into the fullness of son-ship.”
I shall bring this to a conclusion next week, by quoting a bit more from the 2009 serial in the hope that it will ginger us to take another look at our lifestyle to see how it lines up with the plan of God for us.
Happy 51st anniversary Nigeria
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