Now, many 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 and 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.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, I am writing this letter to you from the very depth of my being. If you have been a reader of my weekly exertions, you probably know that there are a few basic assumptions about who you are; the most fundamental of which is that you know that there is a Kingdom of God on earth and that you either see yourself as belonging in that Kingdom already or would like to belong.
Now what is the Kingdom of God on earth? You most probably know that a kingdom is a territory ruled by a potentate by whatever name called. And wherever that territory may be, the will of that ruler prevails. The same applies to the Kingdom of God on earth. The simplest way to understand this is to refer to the prayer the Lord Jesus taught His disciples, famously called the Lord’s Prayer. Two lines of that prayer are relevant to the matter at hand and they read: Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth; as it is in heaven (see Matthew 6:10). In other words, God already has a kingdom in heaven where his will is done and if the Lord Jesus is asking that we pray that his will be done, it is easy to see that he implies that God desires a Kingdom on earth where his will prevails. Now there are those who say that that kingdom is yet to be established; that it is to happen at a latter day. But of course there are those, like me, who believe that that kingdom is already in existence in the heart of millions of men and women who are living or are committed to living according to God’s will as expressed in his word, the Bible. The environment in which these kingdom persons operate and wield influence therefore represents and exemplifies the Kingdom of God on earth. The Church is the visible manifestation of that kingdom; it is the organism that works to keep the kingdom running and growing.
A major difference between this kingdom and other kingdoms is that whereas kingdoms of men normally consist of the king and his subjects. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of sons. That is to say that if you belong to the kingdom of God you are a son of God, not his subject or servant or slave. The Bible is clear about that. John 1:12 says: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”. Romans 8:14 corroborates: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
In order to understand the import of this, it might be necessary to tarry a while on this subject of God’s preference for a kingdom of sons. The Bible shows us that angels, who were the main population of heaven, were originally styled as sons of God. In the book of Job are passages that refer to angels, including the one who used to be known as Lucifer but had become satan, as “sons of God”. For example, Job 1:6 reads: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” Job 2:1 uses the phrase “among them” to further clarify who this sons of God were. It reads, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord”.
When God decided to create his earthly kingdom, he began with a son, not a servant or slave. Proof of this is that God gave Adam dominion over all that he created, as in an inheritance. He did not ask him to keep and tend the garden as a condition for exercising dominion. Nor did he make his access to the things he had created commensurate to the quality or quantity of his garden-tending activities. Beyond that is the Bible’s express reference to Adam as the son of God in “Luke 3:38 –“Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God”. These should explain why Jesus’ work of redemption led inexorably to the restoration of man to sonship, not servanthood as indicated in the earlier quotes from the books of John and Romans. That should explain the designation of Jesus as “the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). and the rest of us as: “…children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…”(Romans 8:17).
I have gone through all of these because what I am about to say in this letter will be meaningless unless we understand God’s concept of Kingdom, the kingdom he has called us into. That is why I am pausing at this juncture to pray, along with Apostle Paul that “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power" (Ephesians 1:17-19). For the avoidance of any doubts, this prayer is as much for you, my dear reader, as it is for me.
Now, many 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 and 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.
Yes there is something of an Apollonian streak in even some of the very best of among us. Yes Apollo, remember him? The Bible describes him as eloquent and mighty in the scriptures. But he knew only the baptism of John. He had fervency and diligence, but as Apostle Paul would have put it, his zeal was “not according to knowledge.” The 18th book of Acts told his story like this: “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly…(Acts 18:24-26).
The story continues in Acts 19 where it was recorded that Paul met those to whom Apollos had ministered yesterday’s truth of baptism unto repentance and asked them if they had received today’s higher truth of baptism in the Holy Spirit. They hadn’t, because their teacher hadn’t either! Verses 4-6 of that concludes the story thus: “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.”
Today’s situation in Christendom is uncannily similar. Many of us seem content to continue skirting the fringes of sonship. Yet I know, without a shadow of doubt that, God is calling all of us who know that we know who we truly are in Christ Jesus, to a higher appreciation of our privileges and obligations as his children. In fact, from deep within me, I hear believe that, if there’s anything God wants us to hear and internalise today, it is this: “My sons, it’s time to purge yourselves of the servant mentality; there’s work in the family business.” (CONTINUES NEXT WEEK)
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