When I think of Jesus I don’t
think of Christians and when I think of Christians I really don’t think
much about Jesus. The two don’t really strike the same chord in my
heart, they never have. I could argue that this should be different,
that there should be a connection, that there should be a similarity,
but I cant and won’t. There are a lot of people out there already
preaching that message. Let them have it. Personally, I think that we
have it all wrong. The world knows we do, but we are not really
convinced.
Beyond
word searches and Strong’s numbers there lies a truth right out in the
open, a fact so raw and real that it begs my attention, in fact this
revelation stands in such plain sight that I wonder why I missed it
before. Maybe I was to busy
trying to be spiritual.
The truth I am referring to is the revelation of son-ship.
Titles
never really impressed me. Flesh and bone, no matter how you dress it
up, is still nothing more than a corpse waiting to die. What we call
ourselves is never greater than who we really are. I believe it is who
we really are that God cares about.
Act 11:26 … And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Titles
are important to us, maybe it makes me feel important, maybe scratches
the itch of pride that continually hides in the creases of my flesh, or
maybe it finally helps me feel like I am finally accepted. No matter the
reason, even if I get to the point where I am no longer looking for
titles and themes to go with my life, people still seem to give them to
me. Were obsessed with them.
The
disciples
were rocking the world. Someone had to notice. There were ripping the
head off of religion and birthing sons of God left and right. Culture
began to change. Lives were transformed and the church was flexing its
muscles. As man is always so inclined to do, they had to name it. It was
man who first called us Christians. It was God who first called us
sons. There is power in a name, but not a title. Sons are named,
Christianity is a category. You and I were not born to be a category.
Normally
I would not get so caught up in the formalities, but I began to look at
the scriptures and found that I can really miss the point of the coming
of Christ if I view my life from a Christian standpoint instead of
viewing my life as a son of God. The worlds response to son-ship was to
name it, Gods response to son-ship was to empower it. If I look at the
lack of power in the church I find a lot of things categorized and very
few things
empowered.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
I
am saved by the name of Jesus, not the category of Christianity.
Correcting my view on this is not just a religious pet peeve. Its not
another theological argument. I believe it is important for the purpose
of viewing not only myself, but God, correctly. Jesus was and is a Son.
God did not come here in the form of Jesus Christ to redeem us from
Adams fall and our sin to create a new name for us, He came here to
create new sons for Himself. If I read the Word through the eyes of
Christianity I don’t see what God sees. I end up seeing something I
never can quite get, something I always fall short of, something that I
long for, yet always eludes me. Christianity has morphed into a
religion, a set of morals, and rules for me to learn and adhere to. If
I can just learn enough, and be good enough, maybe I will finally feel
accepted, maybe the pain of Christianity will finally cease.
Son-ship
is organic, its natural, it flows as effortlessly as the DNA of a
human. When I start to see myself as a son, I then also see that the law
is already written in my heart. I don’t need to learn more rules, I
need to learn how to hang out with my Father. Sons begin to realize that
they have need of nothing, they are heirs of God, they have the Holy
Spirit as a down payment of the riches of heaven. Son’s don’t need to
pray for patience, they learn that they need to access it. Son’s don’t
need to pray for the things of God to come, they realize that they are
already hidden in their heart. Son’s aren’t afraid of offense, they
embrace the cross, and they are a different breed of “christian”. The
only thing that stops natural son-ship is un-crucified flesh. Where love
in me is
not strong enough to submit to my Father I find something of me that I
love more than Him. This does not stop son-ship but it stops
relationship, and relationship is the heartbeat of son-ship.
Christianity
is always changed by the culture but sons are the same yesterday,
today, and forever. They are the image of God for their generation as
Jesus was for His. Each generation of Christianity has gotten farther
and farther from the original intent. Those who have changed culture for
God are usually more son-like than Christian. Ideals and moral laws
carry you only as far as your next failure. Son-ship carries you to the
arms of an understanding and loving God.
If
I can believe that the DNA of God lives in me, then I can rest, that no
matter how little I know, how frail I am, how messed up I am, I am
still a son. Son’s are lords over the sabbath. In other words in every
situation they rest, they
trust, they rejuvenate.
Everything
I pray for, I can pray for as a Christian or as a son. As a Christian I
will be waiting for something I already possess, as a son I will
apprehend that which I have already been given. Son-ship is the hinge
upon which faith lives, moves, has its being in my life.
The
word Christian in reference to us is only used three times in the New
Testament and never by Jesus. But the word “sons” is far more applied
and even applied by Jesus.
In
Romans chapter eight, the famous verse that sums up what the world is
waiting for, states that the world is not groaning and waiting for the
revealing of more Christians, or a neo version of it, its waiting for
the revealing of sons.
As
a son I know that I need to grow, to mature, to learn, to be humble,
and to love, but I no longer approach God cowering in fear waiting for
Him to tell me everything I’m not. As a son I now know that when I
approach God, He is going to tell me what I am. So, why am I no longer
called a Christian? Because I refuse the titles of men in order to
embrace the title God has given to me. His title over me rights the
wrongs of religion, it clarifies the word of God, it frees the heart of
man to realize that I am a son…and so are you.
-Chad Wilt
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