What We Have Become in Christ


	What We Have Become in Christ In this message we will continue to cover our new position after being born again. The next ten points are what we "have become" in our new position. First, we have become vessels unto honor. 21. We Have Become Vessels unto Honor First, we have become vessels unto honor. The Bible says that human beings are actually vessels: "Or does not the potter [God] have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?" (Rom. 9:21). We are each a vessel made by God to contain His divine life: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us" (2 Cor. 4:7). As human beings we are earthen vessels, but when we were born again we each received a heavenly treasure. We became vessels unto honor, because we received the very life of God Himself. Our vessels are earthen, but our content is heavenly. We do not need to think about "going to heaven" one day, because we already have a heavenly content within us. This content, the life of God, makes us a vessel unto honor. 22. We Have Become the Temple of God Individually we have become vessels unto honor, but corporately we have become the temple of God: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you" (1 Cor. 3:16). "For we are the temple of the living God, even as God said, 'I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people'" (2 Cor. 6:16). In the Old Testament age God's temple was a physical building in Jerusalem. But in the New Testament age, God's people are His temple. We as believers are now the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells and abides in us. All of us together, by being born again, have become the temple of God. 23. We Have Become the Members of Christ We have also become the members of Christ. There are several verses which tell us this: "So we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" (1 Cor. 6:15a). "For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12). "For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, because we are members of His Body" (Eph. 5:29-30). We are now members of the Body of Christ, which means that we are members of Christ Himself. Unfortunately, in our human lives all of us were taught to be very individualistic, and this affects our understanding of salvation. When we first prayed to the Lord to receive Him we assumed that our salvation was for ourselves. We certainly didn't have any thought that our salvation was for Christ. But the Lord would tell us, "You were saved because I needed you to be saved. You were saved to be members of My Body." After being born again, we may still have the concept that we can live in an individualistic way. But the Bible tells us that we have became the members of Christ. We have all been born again to be members of Christ's Body. We shouldn't think, "As long as I take good care of myself spiritually and pray once in a while, I will be okay. I can live the Christian life on my own." That is a fallen concept. The Lord would respond, "No, that is not My way. That is not why I saved you. You were born again to be a member of My Body. You were saved as an individual, but you have received a corporate life, and I have placed you in a corporate position. You cannot live as an individual any longer." By being born again we have become the members of Christ. Our new position does not allow us to be individualistic anymore. 24. We Have Become Fellow Citizens with the Saints We saw previously that we have been transferred into God's kingdom. In God's kingdom there are many fellow citizens, which are all the believers in Christ. "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). If the Lord were to speak to all of us at once, it is possible He would not begin, "My dear brothers and sisters." Instead He would begin, "My dear fellow citizens." Why? Because we are all in the same kingdom, and we all share the same citizenship. All of the saints who believe in the Lord Jesus are fellow citizens. This shows us again that our new position is a corporate one. It is foolish to think that we can be individualistic after we are born again. This is absolutely wrong. In our new position we are fellow citizens with the saints in the kingdom of God. 25. We Have Become Members of the Household of God "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). When we were born again we were born into God's household. Some versions of the Bible translate this word "household" as "family." We have become members of the family of God. Once again, we should realize that we can no longer be by ourselves. We should no longer think, "I'll just take care of my own spiritual condition." God wants us to be with the other members of His family. We saw earlier that we were born not only to be individual vessels, but we were born to be God's temple, which is His testimony, and we were born to be members of the Body of Christ. Now we also see that we were born to be fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. How, then, can we choose to be isolated? How can we decide to remain by ourselves? How can we pursue an individualistic Christian life? We must realize that our Christian life is a corporate matter. Our new position makes us members of the household of God. The household of God is corporate, like a family, and we are positioned to live a corporate Christian life. 26. We Have Become God's Masterpiece Ephesians 2:10 tells us, "For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them." The word "masterpiece" can also be translated "workmanship." We are now God's masterpiece, God's workmanship. However, this does not mean that the work is complete once we are born again. Rather, for us to become God's masterpiece requires God to work on us continually. After we are born again, God often comes in to "cut" us and to "hammer" us. He works on us and adjusts us according to our measure of life, and He never goes beyond what we can handle. His goal is to transform us into the image of Christ Himself. Now that we are born again, we are in the proper position for God to work on us as His masterpiece. 27. We Have Become the Letters of Christ By being born again we have become the letters of Christ. This means that the Lord is writing on us all the time. The apostle Paul said this clearly: "Since you are being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh" (2 Cor. 3:3). In a previous message on receiving a new life, we saw that our stony hearts were replaced with hearts of flesh. After being born again, we experience the Lord writing on our hearts of flesh with the Spirit of the living God. The longer we follow the Lord, the more time He has to write on us. However, it is possible to be born again and yet have very little writing to be read. We are letters of Christ, but we must allow the Lord to write on us. For example, if we desire someone else to get saved, and we pray for them, then the Lord is writing on us. There is something that can be read, both by the Lord and by the brothers and sisters. We should tell the Lord, "Lord, now I am positioned to be written upon by You." One day everything the Lord has written on us will be manifested. Some "letters" will be quite short, possibly only a few sentences long. Such a person's Christian life was largely wasted. Almost nothing was written on his heart. Was the person genuinely saved? Yes, and therefore he became a letter of Christ. But was the Lord able to write anything? Only a little. May the Lord be merciful to us. Every day we should say, "Lord, today I want You to write something on me." Our experience of the Lord is His writing. If we have experienced the Lord today, that means something has been written on us, and the letter has become a little longer. Every time the Spirit moves within us and we cooperate with Him, that means the Lord is writing upon us. We need to allow the Lord to write on us for our entire life. Otherwise, we will surely regret the many lost opportunities. May we all allow the Lord to write on us so that we become a long and substantial letter of Christ. 28. We Have Become God's Cultivated Land In our new position we have become God's cultivated land. "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's cultivated land, God's building" (1 Cor. 3:9). We have become God's farm, the ground that He tills and works on in order for life to grow. God works on us as His cultivated land so that His life can grow in us. 29. We Have Become God's Building "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's cultivated land, God's building" (1 Cor. 3:9). God is doing something with us all the time. On one hand God is tilling us so that His life can grow in us. On the other hand God is building us together to be His corporate testimony. 30. We Have Become God's Inheritance The last point concerning our new position is that we have become God's inheritance. "In whom also we were designated as an inheritance, having been predestinated according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11). We, the believers, were designated as God's inheritance. But only when we experience the previous twenty-nine items of our new position can God's inheritance be fully realized. The apostle Paul prayed for the believers, "The eyes of your heart having been enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Eph. 1:18). All of us are God's inheritance. God is going to inherit us, whether we are faithful to Him or not. The question is, how much of us is God going to inherit? Some believers will have a large amount of riches for God to inherit. Other believers will only have a small amount of riches. If a person was born again, but never followed the Lord his whole life, God will inherit that small part of him which was for the Lord. All of the previous twenty-nine items are for our experience and enjoyment. The more we enjoy the riches of our new position, the more wealth there will be for God to inherit. The spiritual riches that we gain in this age are not for our own sake, but are for God's inheritance. We need to pray, "Lord, we want to experience You in every aspect of our new position. We want to enjoy all the riches we received when we were born again." Our experience of these riches will eventually become "the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Conclusion - Enjoying Our New Position We have to realize that in the moment we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, so many wonderful things happened to us. Formerly we were in a poor and hopeless position, but by being born again we migrated from one "country" to another. We have been transferred into an entirely new position. Now we can enjoy each of these thirty items that our God has provided for us. We don't need to struggle to obtain them. We don't need to make up our mind and do our best to receive them. We don't need to beg the Lord that we might enter into them. All of these wonderful aspects of our new position belong to us already. Every one of these points should be our joyful proclamation: "I am no longer condemned! I am now justified! I am delivered from the authority of darkness! I am now joined to the Lord!" All of these thirty items should be enjoyed by us all the time. The new position we received is truly marvelous. We should take our new position far more seriously than we do our problems, failures, and limitations. If we truly understood our position we would forget all about such things. Suppose someone asks us, "Don't you still have problems, even after being born again?" We should respond, "I don't care about my problems! I am in the heavenlies!" Suppose someone says, "But haven't you been rebellious and disobedient to the Lord?" We should reply, "I don't see that! I only see that I am in resurrection!" If someone tries to remind us, "Haven't you sometimes lost your temper?" we should proclaim, "I don't know anything about that! But I do know that I have become God's masterpiece!" How can we say such things? Because the Bible says them. We believe in the Word of God, and not in our small failures and defeats. We are born again, and God has transferred us into His kingdom! May the Lord grant us to enjoy and experience all the riches of our wonderful new position! To purchase the book Born Again