Complete in Christ

Every Christian should understand that God views us as perfect. This will make a great difference in our life. Of course He is looking at us through what Christ did for us. Our Savior became the substitution life and death for each of us. How can we live a disobedient life knowing that the Lord is viewing us as perfect in Christ? We do have a responsibility in our being complete or perfect. Paul speaks of it here: Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Heb 6:1 (KJV) Our job is to continually move forward by listening to the Holy Spirit. We grow into maturity as the Word is revealed to us and we accept it into our life.

It is wonderful that our willingness is all we need to become complete in our spirituality. We can shine for the Lord by simply being faithful. Jesus came to earth so that we could meet God. The Bible says:  For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. Heb 10:14-15 (NLT) This realization that God made us to be perfect will change the way we think about everything. We will begin to hate the pride that is always coming into our life. Our feelings will be for the people that need Jesus. Worldly situations that used to be funny will no longer make us laugh. It will be important to us that we have friends that are faithful to God.

Our life will become a joy of serving the Lord. The happiest times in our life will become the involvement we have in the works of God. Faith is always full of service for our Savior. The Bible says:  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. James 2:22-23 (KJV) Every Christian will begin to feel how that their faith and works are tied together as one. To think of these two subjects as separate in our life will not promote our completeness in Christ. Our integrity and single-minded faith will promote a life that represents the Lord.

Many wonderful gifts have been provided by Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was the greatest turning point in all of eternity.  In addition to saving us from sin and death, Christ wants to provide us with a perfect life that will please the Father. This passage promises the complete life: …the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Col 1:27-28 (KJV) Many times new Christians have a hard time accepting gifts from God. Maybe we consider ourselves unworthy but this is not good thinking. It is our job to receive all the gifts of our new life.

At this point in the discussion some Christians will agree that the individual can be complete or perfect when they are living in the Spirit of Jesus. However, we seem to have a hard time believing that the local church is also perfect in Christ. In this passage we see the truth: Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.  He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Eph 5:25-27 (NLT) This is why we are required to join a church and live our life without fault. The church was given to us as our perfect family and we must work toward that end.

It is true that many people have done things that do not glorify God. Being complete in Jesus is not about our abilities. It is about the perfection of our Savior and we simply desire to be as much like His as possible. The longer we serve the Lord the more we will love Him. Our holy love for Jesus drives us to serve Him in great joy and peace. Jesus prayed this prayer: Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world. John 17:13-14 (NLT) We learn in this verse that Christians are filled with Christ joy. The joy we feel after we are born-again is joy that was given to us.

Every Christian has been separated unto the Lord. Now we see that every Christ centered church has also been separated unto God. Our purpose as a born-again believer is to spread the Gospel but this includes doing what we can to build up our church. Paul certainly spread the Gospel everywhere he went but building up the local church was very important to his perfection. He says to us:  I urge you to imitate me. That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go. 1 Cor 4:16-17 (NLT) Being complete in Jesus includes being a part of the body of Christ. Remember that we are to be more and more like our perfect Savior.

The Real Family of Jesus

One day when Jesus was staying in the little village of Capernaum He was talking to the usual crowd of people when someone relayed a message to Him. The messenger said, your family is outside and they want to talk to you. Now, because Jesus had come to earth to establish the spiritual Kingdom of God we might think that His reply was cold. Here is what happened that day: Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you.” Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” Matt 12:47-50 (NLT) On this special day Jesus did not claim His physical mother as His real family. Jesus made it plain that His disciples were the people that He chose for a family.

We may think that this is a harsh story but it was necessary for Jesus to confirm the reality of the new Kingdom. We want to be part of this spiritual Kingdom because Jesus chose it as His eternal family. Remember Jesus did tell us that a Christian must be willing to leave their own physical family in order to be a member of His Eternal Kingdom. Our families must become second on our list of priorities. Christians know that everything in this life is meaningless when compared with Eternity. We are here on earth to learn about God and to make our decision to serve God. It is an eternal failure when we chose to live life by using our free-will. Anyone that does not commit their life to the work of God is not a member of God’s Kingdom. As the real members of this spiritual kingdom have been added, one by one, the predetermined capacity will be reached. This means when the final number of saints is in the Kingdom, it will mark the beginning of judgment for Satan. He cannot be happy about his coming judgment.

The spiritual domain of God extends over everything. But God is doing a new work by establishing a kingdom of eternal righteousness over which His Son is reigning. The building of this Kingdom is the backdrop for the entire ministry of Christ. Everything Jesus did was preparing to build the greatest Kingdom that has ever been commissioned by God. Jesus read this Scripture at the beginning of His ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come. ” Luke 4:18-19 (NLT) This is the family of faith that Jesus is looking for in order to lavish His favor upon. Most of us think that our personal salvation was the reason the Savior came but “The Kingdom” is the actual goal of the entire plan of God. Real Christians are in the development stage of this “family Kingdom”. Of course, Jesus is the foundation of the family which will soon become the Kingdom of God.

 Many people have a difficult time understanding the Kingdom because it is invisible to the human eye. Paul told us: For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 (NLT) Because the Holy Spirit is the part of the Kingdom that lives in our heart there is no way for us to see it. However, it is great to know that someday the Kingdom will move to the physical place of our new home. In the mean time Jesus gave us some of the principles of His Kingdom. If we want to be a good member of the family we must pay attention to His teaching. On the same day that Jesus claimed the Kingdom as His real family, He proceeded to teach kingdom truth by some parables. The first one is about the farmer’s seed falling on different kinds of soil. He explains that the people of the world will all believe the news of the Kingdom differently. The conclusion of the story says: The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matt 13:23 (NLT) The real family of Jesus will produce a harvest.

The next parable is about the wheat and the weeds. Jesus said that the enemy had planted weeds among His good seeds. This means that many people who claim to be Christian are harmful to the harvest. Jesus said: Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, Matt 13:30. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels. Matt 13:38-39 (NLT) On Judgment day, people who don’t really have the Spirit in them will join the Devil in the burning Lake of Fire. It is important to be honest with ourselves and the Savior. A real Christian does not have their mind on this earth. Paul said; Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. Col 3:1-3 (NLT) People who are dead do not care about this world.

The real family of God will be finalized in one great event. Here is the description that Jesus gave: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous, throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Do you understand all these things? Matt 13:47-51 (NLT) Every righteous person with the help of the Spirit must judge themselves. The Spirit must help us because we always want to excuse ourselves. For example, one preacher used this text: Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matt 19:21 (NLT) But one preacher explained that Jesus knew this man’s heart so the instruction was only for him but not for us. Surely Jesus can know our heart today and He may ask us to give up our money. It should not be a problem because if we are dead to this world, it’s not difficult to give up our money.

It is not possible to explain how wonderful eternity with God will be. But we can, by faith, do what Peter recommended: We are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. 2 Peter 3:13-14 God’s new world is worth anything that we might give up. Jesus said that: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it! Matt 13:44-46 (NLT) We cannot imagine the value of Jesus. When Jesus said that His real family was the people who follow Him it changed our history forever. Because He has identified with humans we can now have the most fantastic future with God. The Kingdom is something worth seeking with all our life.

This invisible Kingdom is available to people who will humble themselves to its King. God has been building this Kingdom: from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. Matt 11:12 John introduced us to the Savior and when Jesus began to teach He said: if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. Matt 12:28 (NLT) We know that Jesus cast out many demons therefore the Kingdom has come and it has great power. When we become saved this Kingdom is something we are part of. We can see it by faith: I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. John 3:3 Only Christians can see the Kingdom: You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. Matt 13:11-12 Paul explained the real family this way: For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 (NLT) Why doesn’t everybody want into the family of Jesus?