Kingdom 101: We Are Government Citizens, Not Religious Members Pt 2
Now, let's continue. Too many individuals who call themselves Christians are simply religious people. Citizens of the Kingdom are legal individuals--legal in the sense that by virtue of a spiritual birth each person in the Kingdom has the rights and blessings of this heavenly Kingdom.
I say this with conviction: we must cleanse ourselves from our religious mindsets and have our thinking readjusted so that we can take on a royal or kingdom mindset. Are you ready for my next statement? Religious people have no rights, but legal people do. The Lord God has always desired sons who are citizens of His Kingdom, possessing the legal right to be part of His family. You must be aware that citizenship is always considered a privilege in all Kingdoms and nations, and is usually reserved for those born in that nation or kingdom. There are certain situations where one can become a citizen through privileges extended by the governing authority, but birthright is the guaranteed form of sonship and results in the right of citizenship. This is why Jesus told the religious leader, Nicodemus that he must be born again: Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ You first must receive the King: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The ambassador John was encouraged and bold in the King's Words because he knew who he was and where his citizenship was. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
The name Christian was originally a derogatory label given by pagans to followers of Christ, even though believers through the centuries have generally accepted the term. By the way, it literally means "little Christ". Back then, they bore it with honor Note that the term "Christian" occurs only three times in God's Constitution: Acts 11:25-26, Acts 26:28-29 and I Peter 4:16-17.
Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
As I have stated earlier, if you allow people to name you, they will define you. The term "Christian" tends to mentally lock a person into a religious mindset and limits the reality of the truth about the Kingdom of God. Christianity was never a term given to us by King Jesus or His disciples. Finally, the term "Christian" was never to be a title nor a label that we should wear, but a lifestyle that we live demonstrating the nature of Christ's likeness and behavior.
John 3:5-7 John 1:12-13 Philippians 3:20-21
~~W.R. Luchie
I say this with conviction: we must cleanse ourselves from our religious mindsets and have our thinking readjusted so that we can take on a royal or kingdom mindset. Are you ready for my next statement? Religious people have no rights, but legal people do. The Lord God has always desired sons who are citizens of His Kingdom, possessing the legal right to be part of His family. You must be aware that citizenship is always considered a privilege in all Kingdoms and nations, and is usually reserved for those born in that nation or kingdom. There are certain situations where one can become a citizen through privileges extended by the governing authority, but birthright is the guaranteed form of sonship and results in the right of citizenship. This is why Jesus told the religious leader, Nicodemus that he must be born again: Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ You first must receive the King: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The ambassador John was encouraged and bold in the King's Words because he knew who he was and where his citizenship was. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
The name Christian was originally a derogatory label given by pagans to followers of Christ, even though believers through the centuries have generally accepted the term. By the way, it literally means "little Christ". Back then, they bore it with honor Note that the term "Christian" occurs only three times in God's Constitution: Acts 11:25-26, Acts 26:28-29 and I Peter 4:16-17.
Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
As I have stated earlier, if you allow people to name you, they will define you. The term "Christian" tends to mentally lock a person into a religious mindset and limits the reality of the truth about the Kingdom of God. Christianity was never a term given to us by King Jesus or His disciples. Finally, the term "Christian" was never to be a title nor a label that we should wear, but a lifestyle that we live demonstrating the nature of Christ's likeness and behavior.
John 3:5-7 John 1:12-13 Philippians 3:20-21
~~W.R. Luchie
