I know that most of us are glad that our children grow up to be adults one day! We are not glad in the sense that we are tired of our kids or that we are running out of love for our kids. It is really a destination in life in which we are all proud to have been able to obtain with God’s help. It is a victory, an accomplishment, and even a necessary step of preparation for the children becoming ready to make a life of their own. It is expected in everyway good! The legal age is around 18 years old in most states, but it does vary in a few. The legal age may be around 18 years old or so, but we all know that most children will need additional years of help from the parents before they are really ready to sail on.
I was thinking about the members of the body of Christ, the co-heirs with Jesus, children of God; and all of the additional years of help we have needed from God in order to sail on. Wow, I wonder what Father, Jesus daddy, thinks about at times concerning us as his children. We know what he thinks about Jesus as he looked down from heaven on his only begotten son being baptized. What did he say? Matthew 3:17, “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” I am not going to be too hard on us since we know who Jesus is, and the purpose for which he came to do. Now with that being said, we still have to finish our development in order for us to sail on into our purpose in which we came to do. Then we may get to have the Father say that he is pleased with each of us also.
We are familiar with the development of a natural child since we have experienced it first hand, as in person. The development of the children of God, aka, the members that make up the body of Christ; we are now experiencing it first hand also, as in person. Jesus is the head, and we members are his body. If we look back at how long it has been since Jesus departed earth to go to heaven, we can see that the body of Christ has been working on its development for quite some time. We have over 18 years on average for the human child to develop to reach the legal age to be classified as an adult. Then we have had over 2000 years plus for the spiritual body of Christ to reach the spiritual development to where the body can walk in the fulness of God. Here’s the thing. Father is now, and has already been, on watch for the development of the body to shed forth some of this development along the way over all these years.
When we talk about the development of the body of Christ, unlike with a human child’s body, we have to understand the two-tier development of the body of Christ along with the effect that it has on each member that make up the body. First let thank the human child for it’s developing just fast enough for the family to have time to enjoy; and for the parents for all the love, care and time put in to have the child ready to sail on. Now let’s focus on the development of the members of the body of Christ, as well as, the body of Christ itself. So here are the two-tiers of development for the body of Christ. We have the corporate development tier which has been in process every since Jesus was sent here for the annexation of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. We also have the private, or the personal development tier which has also been in process every since Jesus was born son of man. Some may ask which tier development came first, corporate or personal? Let’s not make it the chicken or the egg thing. It’s Jesus: it’s all in the fulness of God. I will say that Jesus was about his Father’s business even before he stated it to his parents at the age of twelve. Remember how Jesus and his cousin John the Baptist were both still unborn upon the greeting between Mary and Elizabeth? It sounds pretty corporate as the platform to announce the kingdom of heaven is at hand, is now endued with power to be the voice heard in the wilderness. I am just saying all of this happens because of Jesus, right? Luke 1:41, And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with “the Holy Ghost.”
How do we know the Father is now, and has already been, on watch for the development of the body to shed forth some of this development along the way over all these years? John 4:23, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Here we see that the Father seeketh such to worship him as the hour cometh, and now is. Father was seeking from the “beginning” of the body of Christ, and he seeks “now” even more so since much development has taken place since the beginning of the body of Christ. I will do a full blog on both the corporate, and personal tiers; but let’s briefly clarify both for now. The corporate tier is the point of development of the entire body of Christ as a single unit. The Apostle Paul once said we were like babes on milk: 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” Yeah, this is very clear, and points to a corporate stage of development. We are no longer so undeveloped as a corporate body to where we have to be fed with milk. Those were during the early years of our development as a body of members becoming as one. Now, as a body, we not only can eat the strong meat of the word, but we can also walk to a big degree in the fulness of God. We are still developing to where we can move with the Godhead which is what the Father is looking for many of us to seek. When the Father is seeking, it just means there are those in the body seeking him at his level of the Godhead. The only way to get to the Father level of the Godhead is to always start with the Son: the word of God. John 14:6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Now briefly concerning the private, or personal tier. This is where each member is in his or hers personal development. Pastors and leaders spend much time training, teaching, and proving their members in order to move them to the next level of development. The body of Christ is a total summation of the development of each member. When each member grows, the development of the corporate body grows. This also includes each members’ development in the fruit of the spirit, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the operations of the Father, the word of God with Jesus bringing the way, plus the soul of man and more. We will dive into these areas as they are next.
Adopted Son
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