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“search the scriptures” John 5:39
As believers, have we ever considered not only what our relationship with God is but also what our responsibilities before God are? Have we ever contemplated not only what the purpose and meaning of life is generally, but, more importantly, what is the ultimate plan that God has for me specifically?
The purpose of this present article is to bring before us the wonder of what we are in Christ, and then to challenge each of us as to our responsibilities - what we should be in our daily lives and service for Him! Basically, is what we are positionally in Christ reflected in what we are, and how we live, practically every day?.
There are so many blessings that every believer is the recipient of:
Every believer is a divine creation. Humans are uniquely different and superior to all other forms of life on this planet - created in the image and likeness of God and given great authority, Ps. 139. 14. Man was, and still is, physically, intellectually, socially, biologically, emotionally and spiritually distinct from all else! His capabilities are far higher than for mere survival - man’s superior level of learning and intelligence shows his tremendous potential to dominate Earth! Humans are not advanced animals in transit, part of a purposeless, endless, meaningless, evolutionary process but unique beings made for a divine purpose!
God made each of us uniquely - no-one else on this planet has (or ever did have) the same genetic imprint that you and I have! This, of course, is true of everyone that has ever existed - saved and unsaved; they are all the results of divine creation. If this truth was appreciated today, then there would be a much greater regard for the sanctity of human life, especially regarding issues like abortion, euthanasia, war, etc. When we, as believers, see others in that light (as unique beings among all of God’s creation and souls for whom Christ died), then it should surely affect our motivation for the lost! It should also affect our attitude towards each other!
This is a deep and profound truth. ‘Image’ and ‘likeness’ are very close in meaning, and are used together in the statement regarding man’s relationship with God. ‘Image’ means ‘to shade’, so, as a shadow represents the substance, so man represents God on earth. ‘Likeness’ means resemblance, not necessarily a physical but a spiritual resemblance, possessing certain, but not all, of the originator’s characteristics. Man is certainly not omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, or righteous as God is, but he resembles his creator as an eternal being, although a created one (in contrast to the animals that cease to exist at death, Eccles. 3. 21.
Man is also a tripartite being, with not only body and spirit but a soul. Man could never have been derived by a natural phase of development from inferior creatures - his selfawareness, moral consciousness, and self-determination are proof of that!
Man had been made in the likeness of God - an evidence of God’s creative power, but Philippians chapter 2 verse 7 reminds us that the Son of God was made in the likeness of men - an evidence of God’s condescending grace and that He is ‘the image of the invisible God’, Col. 1. 15.
Sin has robbed man of his original function. Although Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, we notice that after the entrance of sin, Seth was born in the image and likeness of Adam, Gen. 5. 3, not God! So those that are unsaved are not fulfilling their original function. The question is, are we living our original function? This is formed by a life of constant renewal of the mind and consecration, Rom. 12. 2. The ultimate purpose of God for believers today is to bring about a moral transformation to Christ, Phil. 3. 20, 21.
Being a Christian brings us into a further relationship with God. Human beings have all been given physical life from God, yet now, as believers, we are blessed with spiritual life - the first at our physical birth and the second when we were ‘born from above’, John 3. 3 lit., and given new spiritual life in Christ. We are no longer working on the old principle of human nature but overriding it with something completely new and powerful; the power that created all things out of nothing is the same power that creates new life within us now!
The aim and centre of our lives has been shifted. It sets us in a new ‘world’, but with the old world still around us. We now have new purposes, new powers, and a new relationship! Our daily lives should reflect what we were created for, that is, to obey, love, worship, and be in communion with God. After salvation, God began to restore the original image of God in the individual, Eph. 4. 24.
At our conversion an eternal, divine person took up permanent residence within us! All believers’ bodies became a temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. 6. 19. The Holy Spirit has many functions in the life of a believer. He
There are many circumstances in which the Holy Spirit should affect our lives as believers. He should be in evidence, and leading us in prayer, Eph. 6. 18; Jude 20; preaching, 1 Cor. 2. 4; worship, John 4. 24; our life and walk, Gal. 5. 25; Rom. 8. 4; being led, Rom. 8. 14; Gal. 5. 18; and experiencing the love of the Spirit, Rom. 15. 30. We need to allow the free course of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.
How do we treat and look after our bodies? If we really appreciate that a divine person is dwelling in us permanently, 1 Cor. 6. 19, then that should affect our attitudes, as believers, to obvious things like smoking, alcohol, drug-abuse; yet it should also make clear to us our position on abortion and euthanasia!
At physical birth, we were all brought into a relationship with the family that were responsible for our birth. So, at our new, spiritual birth when we accepted Christ as our Saviour, we were immediately brought into the family of God, John 1. 12, 13.
Children often imitate their parents in many ways. As children of God, we are urged to imitate our loving Father, Eph. 5. 1. In contrast to many children in the world today, we should be marked by obedience, to effect a life of holiness, 1 Pet. 1. 14-16. A healthy child is marked by continual growth, and spiritual growth will be the evidence of a believer’s development! A child needs to be fed, there is an inbred instinct for food, and they cannot live without it - never a day is missed.
It should be the same in the spiritual sense regarding the word of God, 1 Pet. 2. 2. After natural birth, a newborn child receives food unquestioningly, wholeheartedly, and thankfully. That should be our attitude to the word after our new birth. We cannot have spiritual growth without spiritual food. Evidence of our spiritual growth is that we will sin less, but never be sinless!
Believers have the spiritual capacity to receive divine truth, through the miracle of regeneration and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Things that were ever in God’s eternal thoughts have now been revealed to the church! The mind of Christ was given to us at salvation; what we have in Philippians chapter 2 is the continual working out of the mind of Christ in our daily lives, v. 5. Each believer has a spiritual capacity greater than the greatest intellects (unsaved) of the day. The mind of Christ was never a delayed afterthought - what a privilege that we have! Are we availing ourselves of it and applying ourselves to it?
All believers are priests at conversion, Rev. 1. 6. Today, believers have two main priesthood roles - first, to bring our spiritual sacrifices to God, and, second, to have direct access to the Father. Note that all priesthood activity in scripture was marked by spiritual and moral purity. We may be children of God, and as a consequence of that also a New Testament priests, but if there is unconfessed sin in our lives then there can be no communion with God and any ‘worship’ would be hollow!
As believer priests today we offer ourselves as sacrifices, Rom. 12. 1 -our whole being, all the power and faculties of our mind and bodies for God’s service. We should meditate continually on Christ and bring thoughts of His preciousness to the Father, Heb. 13. 15, especially (but not exclusively) seen in the ‘Breaking of Bread’ meeting. We also have continual access to God, not the limited access of a few in Old Testament times. Do we appreciate this inestimable privilege of having direct, immediate access to the eternal throne room?
We could say that as holy priests we worship the Lord, and as royal priests we go out as representatives into the world to witness, 1 Pet. 2. 9. The order is important; before we can go out as royal priests, we should have offered ourselves as ‘living sacrifices’ as holy priests.
We have always been servants, even if we never realized it! Before we were saved we were all the servants (slaves) of sin and Satan; now we have become the servants of God, Rom. 6. 17, 18; 1 Thess. 1. 9. To be a true servant demands submission, obedience, and faithfulness -features lacking in our 21st-century world! Today’s culture demands personal ‘rights’ with much less emphasis upon ‘responsibilities’. Yet, as believers, we must submit in all aspects of our lives to Christ, who Himself was the perfect bondservant, Phil. 2. 7. He came to serve, not to be served, Mark 10. 43-45. Actually, to be a servant is a divine calling, we are God’s handiwork - called to good works, Eph. 2. 10.
So many that were faithful in their relationship to and service for God in the Old Testament were termed ‘my servant’ or ‘servant of the Lord’. In the New Testament, the apostles also were described as ‘servants of Jesus Christ’, e.g. Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. We are reminded that in a coming day ‘his servants shall serve him’, Rev. 22. 3-5. We, therefore, should aim to do now what we shall be doing then, eternally serving Him!
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