PASTOR RICHARD ASAOLU
[biblegateway passage=”JOHN 1:29″ display=”JOHN 1:29″]; [biblegateway passage=”PSALM 23″ display=”PSALM 23″]; [biblegateway passage=”JOHN 10:1-29″ display=”JOHN 10:1-29″]; [biblegateway passage=”EPHESIANS 4:12 ” display=”EPHESIANS 4:12 “]
Perfection is seen as the destination or the finish. We eat an elephant by chipping at it one bite at a time. There is a tendency that the thought of the largeness of the elephant can be overwhelming but we need to go one step at a time.
God takes on different attributes and he reveals them to us using symbolisms. He is lamb because He is meek and lowly. Jesus was presented as a lamb by John; it didn’t mean that Jesus was an animal. He was rather viewed as the one who takes away the sins of the world. He is a lion because He is territorial, fierce and ferocious. He is El-Shaddai, the all-breasted God because He can use every situation to provide for us.
All through scripture, we have three-stage illustrations of what going into perfection looks like: The Tabernacle (Outer Court, Holy Place, The Most Holy Place); Jesus’ Disciples (The Seventy, the Twelve, the Three); God’s Family (Children, Young Men, Fathers). In our natural life, we have Life in the Womb, Life on Earth and Life in Eternity. The life on earth is higher than that of the womb and both are lower than the life in eternity.
Coming into perfection is in three stages.
1. The Stage of the Deer: This is a stage of being untamed and uncooked. They have have not passed through the processes of reformation and revitalization. They are swift footed and they are difficult to retain. You have to go to the mountains and the hills to find them. They are difficult to handle; they loath community lives but they like the water brooks. Deer believers know where the anointing is when they are in trouble but they are not willing to be committed. Perfection is a corporate affair, it is ‘till we all come’. Community life will always help to cushion the problems that every individual faces. For instance, the Church prayed for Apostle Peter and he was released from prison. If you are a deer, stop being one. We believers are not to be like the deer.
2. The Stage of the Goat: They are better than deers because you don’t have to go too far to get them. They understand community life but they want to do things on their own terms. When they hear the word of God, they try to reason out how to do it in their own way. They are always asking for unnecessary reasons before they do things. When they get into trouble, they blame their leaders. They often stray but they always retrace their steps back home. They learn by experience especially things that are not needful. In the school of experience, the school fees is very expensive. God wants us to leave the stage of goats by dying to ourselves. He wants us to be selfless, loving unlovable people.
3. The Stage of the Sheep: The sheep sit down to learn. If you do not find your cluster and sit down, the revelations you hear will do you no good. Everyone needs a family where the bread will be broken down to practical things like parenting, handling finances, relating with the opposite sex, etc. People have issues and the hangovers are still there. We need the local church for restoration. Sheep herd together, they move together. Growth and reproduction come to them easily.
Things we have to learn about sheep if we must move unto perfection:
1. They have no ability to look for food for themselves so they need a shepherd. You don’t know what you need unless you are a goat. On the way to perfection, we need God to help us and provide for us.
2. Sheep can’t find their way when they are lost. They need help every step of the way. They are in a state of permanent dependence on the shepherd just like we should always depend on God.
3. They don’t have any defense mechanism. Their strength lies in their community life and their shepherd. When you are passing through crises, natural wisdom says ‘move away’; Divine wisdom says ‘stay together with others’. When you move away in the time of trouble, you are a cheap prey for the enemy. (Matthew 9:36; Numbers 27:16,17; I Kings 22:17; Ezekiel 24:6-8; I Chronicles 18:16)
The essence of what we are doing right now is to prepare for eternity. Our status in eternity will be determined by how much of God we acquire on earth. There will be classes in heaven, no matter how strange that sounds.
The character of Christ (selflessness) has to be in us. Many a time, we know the truth but we just decide not to do it. In order to be healed, we need self realization and we need to take steps in the right direction. We all need to find out and locate our community and our shepherd so we can sit down and learn. Moving into perfection is first becoming before doing.