Who are we in Christ?

Who are we in Christ? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll tell you who I am in Christ.

Luke 17:7-10,

7 “But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’?

8 “But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink’?

9 “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?

10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”

That is me, whatever I have done, it is only what I ought to have done. I deserve no praise and no prize. I am worthy of nothing. If you have ever bowed before the Son of God, you would know you are worthy of nothing also.

Dear ones,after Jesus had completed His mission and after He had risen from the dead, God gave Him ALL authority in heaven and on earth. Some say Jesus in turn shares that authority with them. If that is true even God cannot stand in their way. I, myself, do not have the authority of Christ, so I have to do what Jesus did before He was given all authority in heaven and on earth, which was to follow the Holy Spirit and work as God worked.

Peter was like me in that he worked through faith and not authority. He said the lame man at the gate was healed through faith in Jesus’ name, “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all, Acts 3:16. Peter didn’t have all authority in heaven and on earth. He simply believed in the name of Jesus. Peter walked by faith, not by authority.

Before Jesus was given all authority, He also did nothing on His own initiative or of His own will. As He said, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me,” John 5:30.

So it is with me now. As long as I am in a body of flesh I am to do as Jesus did, work as God works. This is accomplished by following Jesus through the leading of the Holy Spirit and doing the works God prepared beforehand, that I should walk in them. I am not my own; I was bought with a price.

After the beginning of the church, the only authority I know of that has been given is that of certain ministries and concerns the governing of the churches. These authorities have nothing to do with working miracles or healing the sick, etc., which are dealt with through the gifts of the Spirit.

Another little fact is that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, not the authority of a righteous man. Elders don’t have the authority to pray for the sick, they have the duty to pray effectually and fervently for the sick. They, as I, are not their own, they too were bought with a price.

When the children of God have completed their mission on earth they will be raised up with the One who has all authority. He will then present the kingdom to God and relinquish His authority, that God may be all in all.

For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all, 1 Corinthians 15:25-28.

Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant

Share this:

Related

Published by Jon David Banks