I want to share something with us by the help of the Holy Sprit and it has been titled: reigning as a Disciple of Christ Jesus. Our text is taken from Revelation 5:10, but for the sake of having a rounded understanding of the text, we will read from verse 8-14. The Bible says:

 

“Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, ¹⁰ And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” ¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” ¹³ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne,  And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” ¹⁴ Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.”

 

May the Lord bless the reading of His word in our hearts in Jesus’ name. All over the world believers are celebrating the resurrection of Christ Jesus. The reason why this celebration is so important to us as disciples is that it forms the core or the nucleus or the basis of our followership and what we believe in as disciples. Paul was telling us the importance of Christ’s resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, 12-19 and I want us to go there and see what it says.

 

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He was seen by Cephas…” Cephas is Simon Peter, Jesus’s right hand man. Out of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, there was this three of them that He does not joke with, Peter, James and John. Peter, His number one guy, John, the beloved and James, a passionate man. But most especially, Peter. At some point, Jesus said to Peter “Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. And when you are restored, strengthen your brethren.” That statement was made to Peter. Also, In John 21, when Jesus was about leaving them, it was Peter that He turned to and asked him thrice: Peter, do you love me more than these? He said yes!!! Then Jesus said to Him: Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.” So, that shows us how important Peter was to Jesus’ ministry on earth. then by the twelve.”

 

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁴ And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. ¹⁵ Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. ¹⁶ For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁷ And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! ¹⁸ Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

 

One of the things that is so germane about the resurrection of Christ is the fact that the resurrection of Christ Jesus ushered us into a dispensation of reigning with Him as His disciples. To reign with Christ is not something that is automatic. It does not fall on anyone like a ripe pawpaw. For instance, we are rejoicing today that Christ is risen, and God gave Him a name that is above every other name, and that He is at the right hand of the majesty of the Father. All these didn’t happen automatically. Christ had to pay the price for it.

 

If we are ever going to reign with Christ, there is a route to reigning with Him. Timothy showed us two of these routes in 2 Timothy 2:11-13. It says: “This is a faithful saying: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

 

We may be asking ourselves: when did we die with Him? We died with Him at the point of His death and we started living in Him at the point when He rose up again on the third day. The encounters that Jesus Christ had with principalities and powers and the victory that He won, He did alongside with us, because we were in Him when He was doing those things. Colossians 2:11-17 says:

 

“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

 

The second route that Timothy showed us in verse 12. It says: “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” Part of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is in the place of endurance because Jesus never promised anyone that the journey would be rosy. The apostle Paul admonished Timothy that he should endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). As a disciple, you will have to endure so many things. You will endure tribulation, you will endure persecution, you will endure being beaten and abused. All these apostle Paul went through. In 2 Corinthians 11:22-33, see what the apostle Paul wrote concerning the things he endured in the course of being a disciple of Christ.

 

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So, am I. ²³ Are they ministers of Christ? —I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. ²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— ²⁸ besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. ³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. ³² In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; ³³ but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

 

Did we see all that? These things are as real as they could be. I want to make a statement emphatically and I want you to quote me anywhere in the world: There is no discipleship anywhere in the world that promises you a free ride or tells you that everything will be rosy. As a matter of fact, if you have seen any of such discipleship platforms, I think you might need to watch again before you leap. There are things to endure when you claim you are following because it is in this endurance that our reign with Him lies.

 

The third route is the route of righteousness. One of the things that the righteousness we have received through Christ Jesus does for us is that it gives the platform to reign with Him. Romans 5:17 says: For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ). Two things are required for our reigning in life based on that verse. They are: abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. So, what the apostle Paul was saying is that, in this present life, one can reign because the requirement for our reigning has been given to us. So, as a disciple, it means that we can reign over difficulties, we can reign over sicknesses and diseases, we can reign over persecution, we can reign over tribulations, we can reign over poverty, and so on and so forth.

 

This was the original posture that Adam had from the beginning, and through disobedience, he lost everything to Satan. So, what we lost in the first Adam, the last Adam came and restore us back to that position.

 

The fourth route is the route of service. We cannot reign with Christ if we are not ready to serve. Some people would say “I just want to follow Christ, I don’t want to serve, I don’t want to be involved in anything.” This is idea is not the way of the kingdom at all. Reigning with Christ is embedded in service. Revelation 5:10 says: ¹⁰ And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Embedded in kingship and priesthood is service. God didn’t make us kings and priests so that we can galivant around and do nothing. For example, kings are meant to bring to bear the rule of the kingdom wherever they are positioned while priests are meant to teach the knowledge and the counsel of God. So, wherever you find yourself as a disciple of Christ, there is something you are meant to be doing as a king that you are and as a priest.

 

Malachi 2:7 says: “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” Did we see that? So, as a priest that you are, people should seek the law of God from your mouth, it is part of your service to God. Also, Ezra 7:10 says: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

 

Offering of Sacrifices

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1

 

Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. ¹⁶ But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Hebrews 13:15-16

 

How Do We Serve to Reign with Christ?

 

- We Serve with Reverence and godly Fear

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:28-29

 

- We Serve with Purity of Heart

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.

Psalm 24:3-4

Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

 

- We Serve with Great Commitment

“Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; ³⁷ and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. ³⁸ And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”

Luke 2:36-38

 

- We Serve His Purpose and Not Our Purpose

Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
⁶ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’”

Hebrews 10:5-7

 

I pray that the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name!

Thanks for the gift of your time, We are Obayomi Abiola Benjamin and Lara Gboyega Adedeji!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!