A Rare Feature ♡♡♡

 

"I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead" - Philippians 3:10-11

Hey everyone, Wale here. I'm sure you're wondering, "eh up, isn't this Seun Rominiyi's blog? Therefore why is this imposter here writing on her behalf?" hahaha. Well, I'm delighted to have been invited by my wife to share a Monday post here for the first time in 2022. Just like you, I've been an avid reader of my wife's weekly posts and just like you I've been so encouraged and inspired by her heart for God and desire to encourage the saints with her gift of writing. Now, I won't claim to be able to write with the same stylistic flair that my wife does, but I hope that what I intend to share, you'll find equally as encouraging and inspiring as the things my wife has been diligent in sharing on her blog weekly throughout 2021.

So, "what does this guy wanna talk about?" --- I hear you ask. Well, it's something that's been on my heart and mind for some time and I've been thinking deeply about how I want to share this with the children of God, and really Seun's blog seemed like an appropriate platform to do so, so I hope it meets you where you are, galvanises your faith and encourages you to push deeper into God on a personal level to really know him for yourselves.

The Apostle Paul (one of my favorite people in the bible), says in his epistle to the Philippian church:

Php 3:10-11

(10) I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

(11) and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

This is a desire I think we should all have. A deep and fervent, passionate desire to know Christ, intimately and personally, so that we can be like him. This is what I believe is the essence of what it means to be a Christian. It's just a shame that in a lot of places today, in many churches and among many Christian groups and denominations, people are often being encouraged to be like their pastor, their leader or their spiritual father in the faith, rather than wanting to be like Jesus.

For many, Paul's confession above would read, "I want to know [my pastor]---yes, to know the esteem of his preaching ministry and participation in his many labours, becoming like him in his personhood...". As amazing and as admirable as your pastor might be, he's a man just like you and I, he's a Christian just like you and I and ultimately, he's fallible just like you and I. So no matter how laudable is his ministry, no man on earth can ever achieve being more than but a pale imitation of our Lord Christ Jesus. That's why it was Jesus who had to come and die for our sins, whose perfect blood was offered up as the all-time atoning sacrifice for our sins, so that in him we might have life everlasting. We should want to know and be like Christ, first and foremost above all else.

The main passage of scripture I've been dying to share with us can be found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23, from versus 1 to 12:

Mat 23:1-12

(1) Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

(2) "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

And so they're analogous to the preachers and teachers of the Gospel we have in the church today.

(3) So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

(4) They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

(5) "Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

(6) they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;

(7) they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called 'Rabbi' by others.

It's pretty sad, but also pretty amazing that history seems to have repeated itself and we see this same issue that was the sin of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law during Jesus's time, rearing its ugly head again in this contemporary age, where so many pastors and leaders seem to be more concerned with how they should be honoured than how the broken and the lost in society need Jesus in their lives. Thank God, especially, for the men and women of God alive today that haven't fallen afoul of this, and if your leader in your church is one of them, I encourage you to say a word of thanks to God for their lives, because the unfortunate truth is that they are becoming rarer and rarer as time goes on.

Jesus continues---and this is the really important part that I wanted you to see:

(8) "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

(9) And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

(10) Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.

Jesus is talking to his disciples at this point. And he's telling them they should not call themselves "Rabbi" or "teacher" in English. Even more surprising and profound is his follow-up statement that "you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers".

                                           I wanna let that sink in for a moment...

The important take away here is not that we take this to mean that we should be uber-prideful, that no-one can teach us anything but God and that we should never allow ourselves to be led or instructed by anyone. Lol, no that's clearly not the heart of Christ that we should have. What's important is that we don't, as is common today in many churches, so put our pastors, preachers and leaders on a pedestal, that we failed to understand that in God's sight, we are all brothers and sisters together! There is no hierarchy! They are not over us or above us. We all stand together on level ground with Christ being our Lord, our Teacher, our master, saviour and redeemer.

What does this mean practically? Well, it actually places a heavy burden on us as believers. Because it means that we need to take responsibility to be our brother and sister's keepers, they same way they do for us---and of course I'm referring to our leaders in our churches. We need to start seeing them as fallible creatures, the same as us, who need us to correct them, to encourage them, to love them and to rebuke them as needed. This is the Lord's inherent system of checks and balances that has been missing from many churches and so has led to in large part the self-glorification of Christian leaders that have largely gone astray from the calling of God on their lives. 

If we can see things in the right way, as Jesus is teaching us here, and we can be brave enough to address the faults and flaws in our leaders too, we can do our part to right the ship of Christ's church, preserving it so that the next generation of young Christians will not be led astray. It must be said, however, that in order for you and I to be able to be that holy system of checks and balances to keep our pastors and leaders on-track, we need to know the truth ourselves. We obviously don't need to know everything, but the little biblical truth you know can make all the difference. So let us endeavor to continue to "study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth", and God by His Holy Spirit will help us, In Jesus's name. Amen.

 Finally, Jesus continues:

(11) The greatest among you will be your servant.

(12) For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

In 2022, brethren, let us make a choice to humble ourselves, to be brave and to stand up for the truth of God's word. Let us love and encourage our leaders and each other, never being afraid to rebuke and correct each other in love, so that we can preserve the pure and unpolluted Gospel of Christ, together with its transformative power, for the generations that will come after us. Sometimes this can result in us feeling isolated and alone, feeling like "a voice crying out in the wilderness". But take heart, we have one Teacher, we have one Father and He is in heaven and we have one instructor, the Messiah, who will perfect all things in our lives, so long as we're ready to step out in faith, be courageous and not shrink back from standing up for God's truth.

                     Be blessed, beloved. And enjoy a wonderful start to this New Year.


Love,

Wale Rominiyi