Two Kinds of Believers # 2

The Lord said to me…”I will test my people with a Plumbline, Amos 7:8 (TLB)

The Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.

Two Kinds of Believers # 2

How can this be? The believers make up the Church or the “Body of Christ”. Isn’t a believer a believer?  What could the causes be for a differential in the church?  Therefore, creating two kinds of believers. After all doesn’t the Apostle Paul declare in - Ephesians 5:25-27 (NKJV) 25 ….26 that He might…present her to Himself A GLORIOUS CHURCH…This is Christ’s goal – a glorious church, no spots or wrinkles, but holy, and no blemishes. Paul further instructs us in Ephesians 4:30 (TLB) Don’t cause the Holy Spirit sorrow by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who marks you to be present on that day when salvation from sin will be complete.

Let’s look to the Word for the answers to this problem of two kinds of believers.

                                                                       

Two Kinds of Believers

 The two kinds of believers can be characterized as follows.

Number One: Spiritual Sons.

Number Two: Mature Sons.

Number Three: New Born Sons.

v  1 Peter 2:2 (NKJV) “…as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

v  Sons with knowledge: 1 John 3:2 (KJV) Beloved, now are we the sons of God,

v  Ephesians 4:13 (KJV) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

There Is a difference between being made a son and living as a son. The difference is knowing what is involved in sonship. The difference between being a babe and a son is spiritual knowledge or the Christ-Life. 

Number Four: Healthy Sons.

v  1 Corinthians 3:1 (TLB) “…I have been talking to you as though you were still just babies in the Christian life who are not following the Lord but your own desires; I cannot talk to you as I would to healthy Christians who are filled with the Spirit.

However, this was not true of all at Corinth. When Paul came and preached Christ to them, they believed. By faith they were justified and granted peace with God (Rom. 5:1-2). No doubt Paul taught them all the blessings that came to them as Christians, what Paul called milk. At that time their way of thinking and living was only beginning to be transformed (Rom. 12:2). They were still greatly influenced by worldly thinking and behavior—they were infants in Christ.

Number Five: Wise Son.

v  Ephesians 5:15 (TLB) …”So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise.”

v  Matthew 7:24 (TLB)  "All who listen to my instructions and follow them are wise, like a man who builds his house on solid rock.”

Jesus presented the two options open to His listeners. They were now responsible for what they had heard and must make a choice. They could build on one of two foundations. One foundation was likened to a big rock and the other to sand. The foundation determines the ability of a structure to withstand the elements (rain and winds). The rock foundation represented the Lord Himself and the truths He had been presenting, especially the truth concerning inner transformation. The sand spoke of Pharisaic righteousness which the people knew and on which many were basing their hopes. In storms the first would give stability; the second would result in destruction. Thus hearing and heeding Jesus’ words is wise; one who does not is foolish. Only two courses of action are possible—two kinds of roads and gates (Matt. 7:13-14), two kinds of trees and fruit (vv. 15-20), two kinds of foundations and builders (vv. 24-27).