Evangelism Resources and Photos Galleries
| Next | Previous | Contact Ron | Ron's Blog | Index | Tellout Home |
Spiritual Maturity
In the Christian era, men and women are restored to true equality. This was prophesied by Joel who wrote many centuries before, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy... Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." 1
Human/Divine Body
In the new image of Jesus, there is no difference between men and women. Like Gentile and Jewish Christians "he made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith." 2
Both males and females who become a part of the Body of Christ are transfigured into the image of Jesus. In the biological family, father and son, mother and daughter may bear physical likenesses. In the spiritual Body of Christ, disciples develop a likeness to their Lord as they mature in his image. "And we, who with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 3
Spiritual Maturity
This glorious image grows in us, "for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." 4 Athanasius agrees, "God became man in order that man might become God." Though human sin results in death, being conformed to the image of God's son propels Christians into eternity.
The Christian's Body
When I become a Christian, the Holy Spirit injects me with the divine element to complement the human one my parents created in me. Paul writes that God's glorious mystery is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." 5
MEMBERSHIP IN THE BODY IS A STUFF EXCHANGE
AN INFUSION OF DNA, A NEW CODED IMPRINT IN EACH CELL
God reformulates a person by changing him or her into something more than a biological child. God is not just a super-human, but a divine being. The Jesus element transforms the human into super humanity. Christian maturity and spirituality flower from the divine component within the mortal frame.
Physical/Spiritual Maturity
The life pattern of the average human being can now be charted. The physical begins at conception through birth and matures in the early twenties. From that point, beauty fades, muscles weaken, skin starts to wrinkle and sag, hair falls out and brain cells diminish until the onset of old age, death then dust. For those not receiving Christ, the spiritual line drops to the base and tumbles through death into agonizing eternity.
The Christian's Lifespan
Over a Christian's lifespan, we see a new way emerge. The human vessel is born in innocence and remains at that level to the spiritual decision point when the Holy Spirit, God's go-between, sweeps in to fill that person! A Christian's supernatural nature unfolds beginning with their personal commitment.
Paul writes of the immaculate conception of the Mystical Body of Christ within himself. "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." 6 As the physical body degenerates, so the inner spiritual nature blossoms. "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." 7
Christ Body
Jesus' indwelling automatically transplants a Christian into the Mystical Body. "Transplantation" is a piece of the radical definition of "Christian," as "Christian" is part of the meaning of "Body of Christ." Paul interprets, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 8
Question for Discussion
1. What potential is there for developing your ministry to yourself?
Notes
1Joel 2.28,29 2Acts 15.9 32 Corinthians 3.18. 4Romans 8.29. 5Colossians 1.27. 6Galatians 2.20. 72 Corinthians 4.16. 82 Corinthians 5.17.
| ^ Top Page | Next | Previous |