The privileged ones

“Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father';…” Matt 3:8-9 RSV

In our previous post here, we shared that in Christianity, a professing Christian must be a practicing Christian. If we say we are born again, what fruit are we bearing to prove it? This is a serious matter because we will be judged by the fruits we bear.

Today, we are dealing with the second part of John the Baptist’s charge, “…do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘we have Abraham as our father’”. Matt.3:9

I want to say emphatically that as far as the New Covenant is concerned, God has no favorites. There are no privileged ones among God’s people. He is not a God that shows partiality or twists His standards because of anybody. It is a deception for anyone to think that he is a privileged one and therefore has license to live anyhow he wants. Never allow anybody to make you think that you are so special to God that He will not bring you to account on the last day when we stand before the Judgment of Seat of Christ. Salvation itself is a privilege and it is a privilege to be saved but there is nothing in Scripture that makes you more privileged than the other child of God that He has equally saved. Among God’s children, He has no favorites.

This will help us to humble ourselves, serve God and one another. It will help us to thread carefully, giving heed to Paul’s exhortation, “ Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor 10:12 RSV.

I have heard some church leaders talk as if they are special and privileged ones in the church. I have seen some pastors talk and relate to others in the church as if they are the privileged ones. In denominations where pastors have some special designations and titles like priests, reverends, bishops, you see them carry on as if these titles, positions, and class make them the privileged ones before God. Some of them do everything to strengthen the unbiblical separation between the clergy and laity. Their body language is as if they drink coffee with God everyday and there is a difference between their class and other of God’s children. For some of them, it is even very difficult to call you a brother and relate to you as members of the same family.

My problem is that I cannot see this kind of separation emphasized in the New Covenant. Once there is this presumption that “'We have Abraham as our father';…” – something that grants us special favour before God more than others , many things go wrong. It went wrong for the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the time of John the Baptist. It is still causing many things to go wrong for those who think they are the privileged ones today.

I have learnt over the years that gifting and leadership positions among God’s people grant us special privilege only among men but increases our weight of responsibility before God. Our position will not make God to judge us with a different scale. Our position will not give us express ticket to heaven. Given, it opens more doors of opportunities to serve God, but definitely does not make us more a child of God than others in the household of God.

God has no grand children!