More About The Believer (3): Gifted By God

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”

Ephesians 4:7 KJV

This verse above introduces us to an aspect of the life of the believer in Christ that is extremely vital. Yet from my interactions with people, I have come to realize that many people do not walk in the reality of the truth this verse expresses. Not only has God made us alive in Christ, broken down every barrier and granted us unfettered access to Himself, He has also given every believer spiritual gifts and enablement.

While a detailed exposition of the subject is not the aim of this post, it is important to point out that every believer has a gift measured out to him/her by Christ. There are 4 passages in the New Testament that deal with this in detail and I advise you to study these passages carefully. As an aid to remember them I usually think of them as the “2 chapter 4s” and “2 chapter 12s” (Ephesians 4, 1st Peter 4, Romans 12 and 1^st Corinthians 12).

Spiritual gifts could be defined as supernatural abilities given by God to His children for service to be good stewards of His manifold grace. They are divine enablements for ministry given by the Holy Spirit to believers to be used for the building of the body of Christ. Some believers may have more than 1 gift but I am convinced that no one has the gifts and everyone has at least 1 gift. Your spiritual gift is not necessarily the office you occupy or the title you bear. In fact, you may not even be in that office or bear that title to have the gift. The gift is a distinct ability Christ gave you through the Holy Spirit to minister His grace. Spiritual gifts are also not a measure or gauge of your growth or maturity, they are purely God’s gifts given by grace.

When these 4 passages mentioned above are considered together, we have a list that includes the following (in no particular order): prophecy, pastoring, teaching, evangelism, apostleship, helping, exhortation, giving, administration/leadership and compassion. This list provided here is by no means exhaustive.

We must realize that God did not call us to be terminals of His grace. Rather He wants us to be channels of His blessings. Many believers often conclude that they are not needed in the work of the ministry and that only “Official Ministers” have been called to this task. A careful reading of Ephesians 4:11 however shows us that this is a wrong mentality. God gave the gifts so that we would all be prepared, trained and equipped for the work of the ministry.

This week dear believer in Christ remember this: God has endowed you with His gift to serve others. You are not gift-less. Utilize His gift to be a good steward of His manifold grace.  

“Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well.”

1^st Peter 4:10 Contemporary English Version

More About The Believer (2): Granted Access To God

“For through Him we both access to the Father by one Spirit”

Ephesians 2:18 NIV

Trying to get an audience with highly placed individuals like leaders, celebrities or even executives in organizations can be a herculean task. Many of them have their schedules booked to the full with different engagements and events that it is very unlikely that a stranger can just show up unannounced and get a chance to speak with such a person.

I can imagine how difficult it would be to call Aso Rock Villa to try and get even a 5 minute discussion with the President. Perhaps it would even be more difficult to get such audience at the White House in Washington DC. I am sure questions like “who are you?” “Where are you from?”, “what is your discussion about?” “Why do you want to speak with the President?” would be thrown my way. But I am almost sure that any of the children of either President Muhamadu Buhari or President Donald Trump would not get such responses. The difference is that they have a direct access to President-they are his children.

Not only has God through Jesus Christ removed every barrier and taken away everything that excluded us from His family, we have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus. This word “access” describes more than a simple admittance into the presence of God. It signifies the free fellowship we enjoy with God as result of our having entered a state of friendship with Him. It is an introduction to God that makes it possible for us to regularly approach Him in prayer and communion with confidence that He will not turn us away.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand”

Romans 5:1, 2 NIV

It is recorded that at the death of Christ on the cross, the veil in the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom (see Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45). The veil was an elaborately woven fabric. Sixty feet long and thirty wide, the veil was also about a hand breath in thickness and 300 priests were needed to wash it. The veil was to separate the holy from the most holy place and only the High Priest could go beyond the veil (see Exodus 26:31-33). The ripping of the veil at the death of Christ was not a natural occurrence, neither was it a coincidence. It was emblematic of the wonderful reality that God has now granted all mankind access to Himself (see Hebrews 10:19-22)

“In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence”

Ephesians 3:12 NIV

So remember, dear believer: you have been granted access to God through Christ by the Spirit. You can always approach God in full confidence and assurance. You don’t need any other go-between or mediator, dear believer in Christ. You have a direct line to God, it is your inheritance in Christ Jesus.

More About The Believer (1): No More Barriers

This period in the year has been chosen to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. We call it Easter. So many messages are being circulated with greetings and well wishes from afar and near. What would delight my heart the most would be that the words are not mere shallow expressions devoid of deep convictions or persuasions of the supernatural nature of the events at Calvary and the benefits that now accrue to every believer both now and in eternity.

Of a truth, Jesus our Savior was crucified and buried. He resurrected and ascended to Heaven. Just as Paul of Tarsus testified before Governor Felix and King Agrippa, “…this thing was not done in a corner” (Acts 26:26 KJV) or as the Easy to Read Version translates it, “…they happened where everyone could see them.”

His death and resurrection brought magnificent benefits to everyone and anyone who believes in Him. In the last few weeks we have been exploring some of those benefits in “Our Riches in Christ” series and this week we will consider another facet of our new lives in Christ.

No More Barriers

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)-remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV

We are all used to different kinds of barriers and exclusions set up in human societies. Many of these are based on physical characteristics and attributes such as gender, skin color, nationality, ethnicity or state of origin. In quite a number of scenarios, we experience exclusion from certain privileges that some other people have access to simply because of attributes that are not exactly under our control.

Before Christ’s work of redemption, every non-Israelite (Gentiles) by birth was in a state of spiritual exclusion. Christ-less, hopeless, God-less, and excluded from the covenants of promise because under the Old Covenant, God chose the nation of Israel specifically as His people (see Romans 9:4, Deuteronomy 7:6, Exodus 4:22, Amos 3:2).

The term “uncircumcision” (which was used to describe non-Israelites) had even become a derogatory term. Apparently, the physical action of circumcision had become a major determinant of social interaction. In Judges 14, Samson’s parents expressed their displeasure about his desire to marry the daughter of “uncircumcised” Philistines. In 1^st Samuel 31, King Saul didn’t even want his death to be at the hands of a “gentile”. And this social exclusion had become so bad that in the time of early Church, even Apostle Peter had a bit of a challenge in understanding that the barrier was no longer present in Christ Jesus (see Acts 10:28, Galatians 2:11-14).

Ephesians 2 from verse 11 is however very emphatic in affirming to us that for believers in Christ, those barriers have been torn and brought down in Christ. The new relationship we have with God in Christ means we can no longer be excluded. We are no longer hopeless or God-less. We were afar but in Christ Jesus, we have been brought near. God does not deal with us on the basis of a physical act of circumcision anymore. Rather, there is a new circumcision, the real circumcision in fact, not made with human hands but done inwardly by the Spirit of God (see Romans 2:29, Colossians 2:11).

“For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by His Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh”

Philippians 3:3 NIV

This week dear believer please remember: you are no longer hopeless, God-less, Christ-less or excluded from the community of God’s people. Your union with Christ Jesus has changed you. You have been brought into God’s dominion and you are now a beneficiary of the New Covenant that far supersedes the old.

Our Riches In Christ (6): Raised and Seated With Christ

A High School student won first prize at a Science Fair in April 1997. The title of his prize winning project was, “How Gullible Are We?” In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical “dihydrogen monoxide.” He gave a number of reasons for this demand such as:

1. The chemical can cause excessive sweating and vomiting.

2. The chemical is a major component in acid rain.

3. The chemical can cause severe burns in its gaseous state.

4. Accidental inhalation of the chemical can kill you.

5. The chemical decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.

6. The chemical has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.

He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Forty-three said yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was H2O (water).

Many believers are pretty much the 50 respondents in that student’s project. We are yet to come to grips with realities of the new life we have in Christ and so we fall prey to the devil’s tricks. For some of us, it’s almost as though we have been brainwashed and there is a desperate need for the light of the truth of God’s word to pierce through to our hearts. I encourage you to fill your heart with the knowledge of God’s revelation of our resources in Christ.

Raised and Seated With Christ.

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…”

Ephesians 2:4-6 NIV

Not only did God make us alive in Christ as we saw last week, He also raised us up and seated us with Christ. This is not a suggestion or a proposition. It is a spiritual reality! The miracle of our redemption in Christ is so great. Jesus Christ identified with us and became so closely connected to us that when He died, we died with Him and when He rose, we rose with Him. This is the sort of spiritual union that exists between Christ and His people.

“For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection”

Romans 6:5 HCSB

“Since you have been raised to a new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven…”

Colossians 3:1 NLT

Just as Christ’s state post resurrection was a new, powerful and unique state, so too now, believers in Christ have a new, powerful and unique position. This new life in fact demands a new mind set, new values and new expressions as we read in the rest of Colossians 3. And though we are still here on earth physically, in a positional sense spiritually, we are already in a place of honour and glory.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

1^st John 3:1-2 NIV

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, he Lord Jesus Christ…”

Philippians 3:20

This week remember oh Child of the Most High: You are no longer an ordinary earthling; you have been raised with Christ into a new life and a new position. You are seated with Him, already a citizen of heaven. Don’t allow anyone or anything rob you of these realities.

Our Riches In Christ (5): Alive In Christ

One of the post prominent characters in the Old Testament narratives is David. Perhaps Israel’s most loved king, started off as a shepherd boy but was also a song writer and many of his compositions are present till today in the Psalms.

A particular event launched David into prominence in the mainstream of Israel’s history-his victory over Goliath the Philistine giant who had haunted and terrorized the armies of Israel (see 1^st Samuel 17). David used a stone shot from a sling to defeat Goliath. We probably all know that but the lesser known fact is that the skill of using a sling was not only possessed by David. Judges 20:16 particularly describes 700 left-handed men of the tribe of Benjamin who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss!

David utilized his resources. He refused to take on Saul’s armor and weaponry that were foreign to him. I encourage you to be like David, utilize your resources in Christ.

Alive In Christ

“And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins… even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…”

Ephesians 2: 1, 5 KJV

The Scriptures are very emphatic about humanity’s state outside of God’s redeeming grace-death. Not just a state of sickness or coma but death.

“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God…”

Ephesians 4:18 NIV

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men…”

Romans 5:12 NIV

Sometimes we don’t realize just how terrible our spiritual condition was before God’s saving power changed us. Even though we were physically alive, spiritually we were dead to God. As 19^th Century Scottish preacher John Eadie wrote “Men without Christ are death walking”. My experiences since medical school till current clinical practice have shown me that one of the characteristics of corpses is that they are unable to respond to any stimuli. In the same way, our spirit beings were insensitive to God. People may be in varying degrees or stages of decay but bottom-line is that outside of God, all of humanity is dead.

We were locked in death, insensitive to God, engulfed in comprehensive sinfulness, and entangled in the web of an evil system orchestrated by the devil. Such a condition, using medical parlance, does not need a resuscitation or a renovation. It required a resurrection and that is exactly what God has done to us in Christ Jesus.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ…”

Colossians 2:13 NIV

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it”

John 5:21 NIV

Child of God this week I am reminding you: you are no longer alienated from the life of God. You are no longer insensitive to God’s voice or to His divine activity. You have been made alive in Christ. You are now in a lively dynamic relationship with Him. This is your heritage in Christ.