This blog is the beginning of a new series of blogs that I will entitle “The Way: Kingdom Living and Spiritual Identity.”
What I intend to cover in this series is simply this: most Christians do not have a clue about what it means to live a Christ-centered life, to truly live as citizens of heaven in the Kingdom of God, as ambassadors of the Most High God. All that they are taught is to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, go to church on Sundays, and give a tenth of their income to said church for spiritual goodies.
It is a travesty that most churches do not teach the full measure of the Gospel. Instead, they look at the Bible through the lens of their denominational doctrines and dogma, thus allowing for a distorted reality of what the Bible actually says and, worse, even ignoring parts of the Bible that do not fit or aren’t explained by this set of doctrinal standards.
What I intend to do in this series is to take off the doctrinal lenses and look at what the Bible truly says about living a life that emulates Christ.
I am not saying that I am more learned than all of the theologians in the world. I have just as much work to do in this area as the next person. What I have done, however, is learned to read and understand the plain text of Scripture. I have pulled much information from a variety of sources, not just from my own reading, but also from the conclusions and teachings of others that I found enlightening.
Again, I am not saying that I am better than anyone else by penning this series. I simply want this information to be spread so that more of the Body of Christ will be willing to walk in the fullness prepared for them.
How this series is going to look is a gradual building upon a foundation that I will ground out, steadily building upon itself until the full picture is drawn. I will start out by going over some of the fundamentals of the Christ-like life – such as forgiveness and repentance – and gradually build until I reach the deeper and less widely-accepted and understood topics – such as advanced deliverance and undiscovered inheritances.
Finally, before I get started, I must stress that I am not saying that these blogs are a list of rules and works that a person has to do in order to be saved. The only requirement to being a child of God is to believe in your heart – not just to know in your mind – that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that His sacrifice atones for your sins.
What I am trying to say with this series is that once a person is saved, these are some of the primary mindsets, heart conditions, and areas of growth that he must focus on to fully manifest as a true son of God.
Scripture behind the Series
The main idea for this series comes from Hebrews 5:12-6:2, which reads (paraphrasing from the King James Version):
“For when for the time comes that you should to be teachers, you have need for someone to reteach yourselves the things that are the first principles of the oracles of God; and you become like those who can only consume milk, and not strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is yet an immature babe. But strong meat belongs to those who are of fully mature, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not relaying the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”
In this passage, we see that there are different levels to the Word – the principles or oracles – of God. There is the milk of the Word, which can be easily digested and understood by those who are still immature in Christ. There is also the meat of the Word. This is reserved for the more mature sons of God, for those who exercise their spiritual senses and gifts. This is part of the process of maturing into the fullness of Christ.
In verse 12, we see the author is rebuking the recipients of this letter, saying that when the time came that they should have been teachers, they themselves had to be re-taught the first principles of the oracles of God. These principles were not written in their hearts. Thus, they constantly had to be reminded of the simple things of God, and were never able to move past them into the deeper waters and revelations in Christ.
What classifies as the milk, or foundational principles, of the Word? We have to look at the verses immediately following in chapter 6. Verses one and two describe what the milk is. They are these: repentance of dead works, faith towards God, doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands (for the sick), resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment. This is the base level of our Christian faith.
This is a part of what I will be covering in this series. What I would like to focus on is getting past these surface-level theologies and get to the “meat and potatoes” of what it means to be a manifesting son of God. I will be covering what it means to be a member of the kingdom of God.
When we first come into this world, our mother’s milk is our only source of sustenance. Our mother’s milk contains all of the nutrients, antibodies, etc. that we need for our first year of life. Even in their adult lives, most adults still consume milk, though no longer as their primary nutrient base but as a supplement for their main meals.
The same it is for our spiritual lives. In the beginning, the main growth – or nutrients, if you will – for a Christian comes from understanding the basics of living a Christ-centered life. They are not ready to hear about the more complex issues such as deliverance from hybrid spirits or the existence of their own personal realm called an “arche,” because they have no frame of reference to base them upon. There is nothing wrong with studying these basic foundations of the Christian faith as a mature believer as long as we do not stay there and we mature beyond them.
Although the principles of salvation are vital to the Christian faith, unfortunately most Christians today are like those in this chapter of the Book of Hebrews. They have either become comfortable by existing solely off of the milk of God, or they have not been taught that there is more to the Word beyond what their pastor or minister tells them. The age of the Christian or the length of time they were a Christian is not necessarily a good indicator of their maturity in Christ.
We were not meant to camp on the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God and died for our sins. There is SO MUCH MORE beyond this that we are to called to walk out.
These are the different levels to the Word of God that are relevant to the different stages of maturity for believers. We see in 1 John 2 that the Apostle John refers to little children, young men, and fathers. Each one is its own maturity level, and as one progresses in his maturity, he is given a greater measure of authority relative to his position.
The Greek language also makes a distinction between the two different types of sons in the New Testament.1 The first word is “teknon.” A good definition for this word is “a son by mere fact of birth, and can be found in verses like Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” and John 1:12, “As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God.”
When a child is born to a couple, there is really no major difference between it and the other babies of the world (aside from the obvious race differences). The couple knows that the baby is their son or daughter only because it was born to them. It is not immediately obvious that the child is theirs just by looking at it. You could place a European newborn baby in America next to a European newborn baby in Europe and almost not be able to tell the difference.
This is the same at the beginning of a Christian’s walk with God. When a person is born of the Spirit, there is not much of a difference from the outside world. They may feel different about their lives, and their conscience may speak louder, but to the outside world, they are largely the same person. Over time, however, the person grows. No longer do they desire the things of the world as they did before. No longer do they find happiness in the shallow pleasures of society. Gradually, they start to change their lifestyle as they discover more and more of what it means to truly be a child of God.
This brings us to the second word, “huios” (we-oss). The way this is used in the New Testament is “one who can be identified as a son because he displays the character of the parent. This can be found in verses such as Romans 8:14, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
As a child grows older, he/she observes the behaviors of his parents and tries to emulate them. The young child will often say, “When I grow up, I want to be just like you!” This even happens later in life, when the child acts as a teenager the same way that the parents acted when they were in their teens. How many times have we heard growing up, “You’re just like your father,” or “Your mother did the same thing when she was your age”? As a child grows up and displays his parent’s character, hopefully, he imitates the maturity of his parents. The older he becomes, he matures even more, and thus he is able to be given more responsibility.
This is the goal of a true Christian: to emulate Christ. As a Christian grows and matures, he begins to emulate the character of God, and the more mature he becomes, the more responsibility God can give him to serve the body of Christ. A mature son of God displays the qualities of the Father. As Paul says, you can tell if a person is a mature son is whether they are led by the Spirit of God or if they follow the pleasures of the world.
All of this said, teknon can be seen as the immature sons (babes in Christ), and huios can be seen as the mature sons.
We do not become children of God by our works or by anything that we do. It is by grace that we are saved as a gift of God. However, this is only the beginning of one’s maturity in Christ. Matthew 5:44-45 gives us a clear example of this. In verse 44 He calls us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us. Why does He do this? Verse 45 says that we do this so that we may be huios children of God. In other words, while our works do not save us, we do good works in order to demonstrate the character of God for those around us to witness (James 2:17-26).
My main goal in life is to help shift the Body of Christ as a whole into the full manifestation of what she is meant to be. As Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8, the whole creation groans waiting in eager anticipation for the manifestation of the mature sons of God.
The signs and wonders that we are to display are supposed to separate us from the rest of the world, including all of the other religions. They are supposed to show that we have something different to offer than the other religions – something more than a simple promise that we shall be forever taken care of after we die. The signs and wonders are to be the starting point from which a Christian builds their faith upon.
As children of God, we are meant to bring about His will upon the earth. We are not meant to sit passively waiting for God to move in the earth. The way God moves is through His people. His will is done through us. God cannot move in this world unless His people are willing to follow His will. It is our works which prove our faith that must convince the rest of the world to follow Christ.
The purpose of this series is to introduce the meat of the word for those who are ready. If you have been surviving on just the milk of the Word, then the meat may be difficult to swallow. This meat is for those who are ready to step into a deeper understanding of the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. Don’t worry. I will begin by discussing some of the more basic tenets and gradually move towards the deeper waters as we move forward.
As the author of the Book of Hebrews wrote, let’s move past the basic principles of the doctrine of Christ, and let us move into the perfect work of Christ.
Endnotes
Super Success 