MATURITY IN CHRIST

MATURITY IN CHRIST

                “And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we might present every man complete (perfect) in Christ.” Col. 1:28

                “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered; and having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” Heb. 5:8, 9

                “Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Mt 5:48, Mt. 6:1

                “For it is witnessed of Him, “Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” For on the one hand there is the setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect) and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God.” Hebrews 7:17-19

                “For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath WHICH CAME AFTER THE LAW appoints a Son, made perfect forever.” Heb. 7:28

                “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you; did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Gal 3:1-3

                “For through the Law I died to the Law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Gal 2:19-21

                This week we are studying about maturity, which could also be called holiness, completeness or perfection. But these words conjure up in us thoughts of self-righteous religion as was displayed by the Pharisees of old, who sought to be made perfect through Mitzvot. (The Law)

                But if we read the above texts and meditate upon them and pray over them, we see a picture emerging. There is a High Priesthood that made the Law obsolete as a means of perfection and instead offered us a Son. It is to this Son that we are now being conformed to and not to the Law for the law made nothing perfect. The crucifixion of Jesus brought the Law of Moses to its bitter end and ushered in a New Priesthood and a new means of pleasing God.

                When we enter by faith into Jesus’ death we also die to the Law once and for all. It can no longer be our means of maturity since it made nothing perfect or complete or mature. So Jesus, having become a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek now offers us a better way. Rather than being perfected and made holy by a Law written on stone, we are being made perfect through the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in us.

                As such our perfect lives look different than did those who in Jesus’ day sought perfection through the Law. Our perfection today looks like love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. These things perfectly fulfill the Law without using the Law to attain them.

                When we think of perfection then we must think of Jesus and not the religious leaders that opposed Him at every step. In fact, Jesus used the religious leaders of His day as a backdrop for His own ministry in showing us exactly what His ministry  and kingdom was NOT.

                What we see being built in Jerusalem today is the coming global religion of the beast. It involves the complete rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and Sacrifice and it reinstitutes the Law, (the Ten Commandments for Jews and the Noahide Laws for Gentiles…including the sacrifices… and the breaking of or the infraction of any of these laws will result in the death penalty by beheading. Hmmm.

                Today many Christians are going for this and agreeing with it. After all, our world is submerged in lawlessness today. We are surrounded by chaos and hatred and division and war along with famines and pestilence which seem to be increasingly threatening. So, given the circumstances, why not reinstitute the Law? We need something to straighten us up, right?  Does this not represent the world coming back to God in some way?

                No, it does not! If the Law had worked the first time around then Jesus would not have had to come and to die for us and to institute a new priesthood and a new Law which is the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:2)

                So even as the world rejects Jesus and offers up to God the fruit of Cain, we will see our planet plunged into the deepest darkness that this world has ever seen. This kind of darkness comes as a result of having seen the light and rejecting it.

                Unfortunately the Law that they are bringing to us in this global new order is a tainted and twisted law in which the paganism of Babylon has been mixed into it. The Talmud, the Zohar and Cabbalism have been mixed with the Old Covenant to bring to us a cup of brew that is described for us in Revelation 17.

                “And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality and upon her forehead a name written, a Mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints…” Rev. 17:3-6.

                If you will remember: we saw this woman,(Israel) who gave birth to the man child, fleeing into the wilderness in Revelation 12, but when John sees here again he is flabbergasted. This woman is now a great harlot riding on the governments of the world.

                The reformers saw this woman as the pagan Christian religion presented by the Vatican and it is, but a new component has been added which is not really new at all, but only new to our understanding.

                What we see emerging in Jerusalem today is a composite beast made up of both false pagan Judaism and false pagan Christianity coming together to create a new world order and unfortunately, since Bible prophecy is no longer being studied by many Christians, many Christian leaders and people are flocking to both Jerusalem and to Rome to wonder after this Beast that is now forming and they think that it must be a good thing because it pretends to re-establish law and order. Is this then a global return to God? Some may think so…

                But it involves the complete rejection of the Melchizedek Priesthood and the blood of the New Covenant that Jesus brought to us by His blood and cross. It is a return to the Old Covenant that made nothing perfect and it looks good because it may appear to be a return to God… but do you want to return to a god in whom His Son Jesus Christ no longer plays a part in our salvation? Do you want to belong to a growing global religion that identifies Christianity as idolatry?

                Just as Jesus was surrounded by a religion that opposed Him at every turn, so also we living in the last days will be faced with the exact same crowd… this time made up of both False pagan Christianity and false pagan Judaism and it will be like no other time in history. Jesus warned us about it saying, “See that no one deceives you… and… if possible even the very elect will be deceived and Paul adds to that a great falling away that will make possible the unleashing of this great Beast and its antichrist.

                Some say that it is the rapture that will make way for the rise of the antichrist, but we must also take into consideration that everywhere the redeemed saints are mentioned in the book of Revelation they have come out of great tribulation and they have gained the victory over the beast and his image and have refused to take his mark.. See Rev. 7:9-17, Rev. 15:1-3 and Rev. 20:4.

                In truth we are only promised escape from the wrath of God which is poured out upon the kingdom of the beast and so, whatever the timing may be, we as Christians need to be coming into maturity and we need discernment to tell the difference between the false righteousness of men and the true righteousness which alone is found in Jesus Christ.

                Becoming perfect then is not as a result of as a stringent keeping of the Law, but in learning to live by the Spirit that Jesus has placed in our hearts when we were born again, and the truth of God’s Word unadulterated by the manipulations of men. A right understanding of the Word, will always bring to us a picture of Jesus Christ, for He began with Moses and the prophets, showing them the things pertaining to Himself in all the Scriptures Luke 24:27.

                In order to come into maturity then we must indeed enter more fully into the Melchizedek Priesthood of Jesus for it is the covenant that Jesus brought to us by His blood. If we live by the Spirit we will not carry out the deeds of the flesh and the will of God will be carried out in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

                So you see; the same things that we are facing globally are the same things that we are facing on a personal level as well. We are being more or less forced into maturity and we will either come into self-made maturity by offering up the fruit of Cain or we will overcome the blood of the Lamb… the sacrifice of Able. The issues have never changed for Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It is time to enter fully into the Melchizedek Priesthood of Christ.  Here ye Him.