John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Being born-again is an act of faith in Jesus Christ and is trusting that He has bore our sin and iniquities. We accept Jesus as our Sacrifice and Savior and put our faith in the fact the the Son of God lives and died in our place. Romans 10:9-10 (Amplified) says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) the Truth that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in and relies on) Christ and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out) freely his faith and confirms his salvation."
Paul writes about those who've placed their faith in Jesus and have become born again in 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) saying, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) says, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk, that by it you ay be nurtured and grow into completed salvation."
According to the above scriptures then, "What is a Christian?" I know that the moment we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become Christians, but "What does that mean?" There are probably dozens of pat answers that we could provide to answer this question and they would all be true, but I'm asking if we truly know what a Christian really is.
There is a daycare and preschool in our church building, which includes children from 3 months to 3 year olds. When the children reach 3 years old, then they graduate to the preschool class. Do they go to preschool in order to become human beings, or are they human beings when they're born? Of course, they're human beings at conception, but they have no idea what a human being is. If you asked most of the preschoolers, "Are you a human being?" then they probably couldn't provide an answer to that question. We have no concept about what being a human really is, at that age. They grow into the truth of what that means, from the parent's and teacher's training.
We lead others to a becoming born-again and in the family of God, but we never bring them into the realization of what a Christian really is. We skip the Growing up part and just think they know who and what they are now. Many of them remain baby Christians for their entire life on this earth, without having any concept of what it means to be a new creation being. They will tell you that they are saved and will go to Heaven when they leave this earth, but they still can't tell you who they are in Christ Jesus, here on this earth.
They daycare and preschool children are taught to share their toys and might receive a time-out for not complying to the rules, but they still don't know that they're human beings. They remember the lessons learned in daycare and preschool, even when they're grown. They grow into the realization that they're more than daycare and preschool kids, because they're taught how to be adults and good human beings. It would be considered abusive and uncaring, if they weren't taught these things.
Those who have just become born-again are Christians, but they have no idea what that really means. They might identify with certain denominations, but they still don't know who they are. We live out our new creation life, according to the standards of this world, without realizing who and what we've been created to be, in Christ Jesus. Our new identity is measured by our old identity, because we have never been able to grasp the Truth of who we've now become in Him. We try to make the flesh comply to what we think a Christian is, but that doesn't work. We must understand that being born-again is a Spiritual birth.
Most baby Christians have only been fed the milk of God's Word and have never heard the meat of God's Word. Many of the baby Christians remain in daycare and preschool, during their entire Christian walk. Many have never been taught who they really are in Christ Jesus and children of God. We don't become Christians when we get to Heaven. When you get saved, Heaven comes to earth by the Holy Spirit. Now, we must know who we really are and that only comes by reading, hearing and believing God's description of His new creation children. Natural man can't teach you, beyond natural man's knowledge.
We can only understand the Spiritual Truth of our new creation identity, by God's Word which is Spirit and by the Holy Spirit Who is our Teacher. Natural man has tried to conform the new creation man into his image, because he doesn't know who he is in the spirit. Conforming the spirit to the image of the flesh, reduces the new creation being to vanity, confusion and frustration.
We must find out who we are as new creation beings, by the training of the One Who has given us Life. Jesus tells us in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths), that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." In order to understand the new creation, Spirit born child of God we've become, we must learn from the Holy Spirit. When the flesh teaches the Spirit, it always results in our doing works and trying to become what God has already birthed us to be. You are already a Christian. Now, you must discover what a Christian really is.
When God gave you Life, He also gave you righteousness, justification and access to His Throne of Grace. He gave us an open door of unbroken fellowship with Himself, a new citizenship and promotion into a Royal Family, as Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Jesus. Jesus isn't ashamed to call us, "Brothers and Sisters," and He rejoices in our family rights. He has diffused His Holy Spirit with our newborn spirits and have actually become one with and in us. We are of the Same Spirit and the Same Royal Family as Jesus.
This is our new identity and our new creation privileges in Jesus. We've even been given the Power of Attorney to His Name, on this earth.
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