“You are My friends, if you do that which I command you” (John 15:14).
There can be no higher calling for man than to be called a friend of Christ; it is the greatest privilege granted to man. Christ, having been made perfect in obedience is able to offer perfect friendship; man, being imperfect, will never in this life know perfection in anything. But the friendship of Christ must guide us onto the path that He followed.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered; And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:8-9).
The path that He followed was hearing the voice of the Father and doing His will; when that is accomplished in us, we too, will be sons and that is one of the reasons for the incarnation of Jesus; God becoming man; to find brethren for the Divine Son.
“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:10-11).
This is what we are called to, sonship to God and brethren to the Lord Jesus.
“For as many as took hold of Him, He gave to them authority to become children of God, to those having faith in His name” (John 1:12).
God called a nation to reveal His ways to the world; this was the chosen people of Israel. In the same way, the Church is called to demonstrate the life of Christ to the world; that is the purpose of God’s calling. But there is a difference between Israel and the Church; under the Old Covenant, God called a nation to show the way; under the New Covenant, He called individuals. That’s why it worked in the first instance; individuals filled with the Spirit found strength with God and power in Christ. It ran off the rails when Christianity became corporatized; God’s purpose has been corrupted by political and religious ambition, pride of ministry, greed, power lust, carnality, deception and manipulation. Just like Israel the nation. That is why the Church, like Israel, is in apostasy.
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