“But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher,
the Christ, and you are all brethren.” (Matthew 23:8 NKJV)
What does it mean that Christ is our Teacher and we are all
brethren? We are all classmates in learning the Person of Christ Jesus who is
the ultimate reality of life. Apostle Paul aptly wrote in his letter to the
Corinthians the meaning of Christ is our Teacher and we are all brothers. “Not
that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for
by faith you stand.” (2 Corinthians 1:24 NKJV) Under the Chief Shepherd all
Christians including Peter, Paul, John, and many others are fellow workers and
brothers. There is no hierarchy in Christ who is the head of His body. No one
is higher or nobler than others in Christ, so Paul said that he didn’t have
dominion over their faith.
This is so significant to understand because the weakness of
church is caused by the lack of understanding of this truth. Every individual
in Christ follows the Chief Shepherd Christ Jesus, not man. You could be used
to introduce, motivate, strengthen, teach or help someone to come to Christ
Jesus and be saved. That’s all what you can do. Salvation can be done and
sealed by the Father God of Jesus Christ only. In Romans Chapter 9 Apostle Paul
asserts that He will have mercy on whomever He will have mercy, and He will
have compassion on whomever He will have compassion. It’s totally and entirely
up to the hand of God.
“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?
Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then
it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For
the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up,
that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the
earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”
(Romans 9:14-18 NKJV)
We still need to teach and edify our brothers according the
gift which each has received from the Lord Jesus Christ. All gifts are
supernatural and given from the heaven above to use for the glory of God not
for our own benefits. Whatever we do, teaching, serving, administration, or
prophesying, do all unto the Lord and His glory. All Christians stand on their own
faith, not by the faith of any teacher or pastor. Salvation comes from the hand
of the Lord and growth also does.
Jesus Christ gives us a new command that we love one another
just as He has loved us. Paul admonishes the saints as the church of Christ
Jesus, do everything in worthy of the calling, following the example of the
Lord. With humility, meekness, and longsuffering, we ought to bear with one
another in love and make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk
worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and
gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 NKJV)
Christ though He was equal with God emptied Himself and
became just like one of us. Moreover, He obeyed to the Father even death on the
cross. He completely denied Himself and fully and perfectly gave His body to
the Father as the ransom sacrifice for the redemption of the elect before the
creation of the world. God never forces anyone to love Him but shows the ample
and infallible evidence that He loves all. When the Son obeyed the Father even
to the point of death, God the Father exalted Him above all names in heaven and
on earth and under the earth. That’s the example we ought to follow. That’s we
are called to do now and forevermore.
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