Positional v.
Practical
Positional=Spiritual
Practical=carnal
As Christians, we are
spiritual ambassadors to a carnal world!
Years ago I discussed this
concept with a Pastor who told me about hearing that one of his congregants was
ill. He called in the middle of the day
to see how she was doing. She said all
was well. The Pastor knew that the woman had a job. When he asked why she was
home, she told him that she called in sick due to a cold. The Pastor asked, “Why would you tell your employer
you have a cold, and not tell your Pastor?”
The woman was attempting to
deal with the practical through “partial” denial.
This may seem odd, but as
Christians we live in both the positional and the practical worlds.
Positionally we are ambassadors. Practically we may be doctors, lawyers or
Indian chiefs.
2 Cor 5:20
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through
us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. (NKJV)
We are human beings who live
in a certain country on this earth. And
yet at the same time, we are citizens of heaven.
Phil 3:20
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (NKJV)
Our earthly citizenship is
practical. Our heavenly citizenship is
positional.
Positionally, we were
crucified with Christ. Practically, we live in a sin-filled world.
Gal 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (NKJV)
That is Positional v.
Practical in a nutshell.
We must deal with practical
life on a spiritual basis, and that requires us to balance our lives.
We must acknowledge the
practical, and at the same time live according to the spiritual.
That sounds convoluted but it
is reality. Christians live in two
different worlds.
In Christ, we learn to deal
effectively with both the practical and the positional in their respective
places.
Many times, we impose the
positional onto the practical in hopes that the situation will be changed.
However, if we do not admit
that the practical exists, we cannot deal with it.
Some of our practical
negative situations come about due to our misunderstandings of our position in
Christ.
Many Christians go to
“healing services.”
They go in hopes that the
positional will change the practical.
The practical tells us we are
sick.
The positional tells us that
by His stripes we were healed.
One is not right and the
other wrong.
We must learn to deal with
both.
The positional may indeed
cause a change in the practical. Or we
too may hear what Paul heard, “My grace is sufficient” (2 Cor. 12:9).
That was not a “no answer” as
some would have us believe.
God told Paul, “Your
situation is already under My control.”
For Paul the answer to a
practical problem was a positional truth.
I know of Churches that begin
services by calling out to the Holy Spirit to ‘come.”
They ignore the positional
declaration from God that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5)
and where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is there in the
midst of them (Matt 18:20).
Many Christians live in fear
of losing salvation.
They do not believe Jesus’
declaration, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one
who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. (John 6:37/NKJV)
Did you know that there is a
civil war going on?
I am not talking about
This conflict does not
reflect classic satanic oppression and certainly does not include satanic
possession of any Christian.
The personal conflict is a
result of the soulish/mental versus the spiritual within us.
Paul refers to the personal
conflict as putting off the old man.
Rom 6:6
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (NKJV)
Eph 4:22
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
(NKJV)
We are living in two
worlds. One is the positional world. The other is the practical world.
Romans 7:14-15
14 For we know that the law
is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do
not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate,
that I do.
(NKJV)
That war started the moment
we acknowledged Christ Jesus as Lord.
Satan knows which buttons to
push to gain a soulish or fleshly dominance.
As Christians mature
spiritually that soulish or fleshly dominance diminishes in its ability to move
us into conflict with God’s Holy Spirit.
Rom 8:14 For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (NKJV)
That fact is not in question!
But, look around.
Many who are Children of God
do not walk on water, or do all things to honor God.
Spiritually they know what to
do, but practically they do not do it at all times.
That reflects the conflict
within us.
If someone comes to you and
says, “I have not sinned in 50 years.”
They are speaking from a
positional view.
That should never be confused
with a practical view.
Salvation is a gift to us
through Christ sacrificial death on the cross.
If we sin as a result of the
practical, our salvation is not taken away, because salvation has resulted in
our positional life as sons and daughters of God in Christ.
Rom 11:29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (NKJV)
So, this positional v
practical conflict has no effect on our salvation.
When we were saved, God put
us in a positional world and gave us a mandate to minister to the practical
world.
Christ said, “Go into all the
world.”
That is our practical
mandate.
Paul followed that practical
mandate.
Peter followed that practical
mandate.
John, Matthew, even poor old
doubting Thomas followed that practical mandate to be strong in our positional
relationship with Christ, and walk yet through this practical world.
How does this work?
As a Christian, positionally
you are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6).
But as a matter of
practicality, you may now be seated at a desk reading the screen on your
computer.
As a Christian, positionally
you are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).
But, as a matter of
practicality, you are working to put off the old man (Eph 4:22).
That struggle is not to gain
or maintain salvation. It is to walk
daily in the manner for which we have been re-born.
All people go through what is
called a concrete stage of understanding.
You cannot teach analytical
things to a person who is in the concrete stage.
“I’m just an old sinner saved
by grace” is a statement of concrete Christianity.
“I am a new creation and can
do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is a statement of analytical
Christianity.
One year repeated twenty
times is not twenty years growth. It is
one year repeated twenty times.
Christ wants us to grow in a
vibrant relationship with Him.
He does not want us to be
happy with an empty, repetitive form of religion.
Some may say that if we are
truly saved, we will not sin.
Oh, really?
I John 1:9-10
9 If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (NKJV)
The majority of theologians
identify those verses with both non-Christians, and born again Christians in
our maturing process.
While salvation is an
instantaneous happening, maturing is a life-long process.
Our flesh attempts to draw us
back into a flesh dominated life while our spirit draws us to life in Christ.
Neither Christ, nor Paul, nor
any of the Apostles denied the reality of sin, but they declared that Christ
died as the sacrifice for our sins.
Let’s look at a stark
contrast.
Peter and the other Apostles
saw Christ walking on the water in His position as the Son of God (Matt
14).
Peter got out of the boat and
positionally walked on the water. Then
he took his focus off Christ and sank into practicality. Christ reached out and
pulled him back into the positional and Christ took Peter back to the boat where
he was once again put into the practical world.
Later, Jesus asked the
twelve, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" (Matt.
16:13).
Peter spoke up by stating the
positional truth, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
(Matt 16:16).
Afterward, Jesus referred to
the practical truth that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many abuses from
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the
third day (Matt 16:21).
Peter took Jesus aside to
rebuke Him and said, "This will not happen to You!"
Peter attempted to deny the
practical which was necessary in order to achieve the Positional.
Jesus had to go through the
practical to achieve the positional.
Each, both positional and
practical must come to fruition in the proper order and in the proper time
according to the plan of God.
Even the greatest of saints
have struggled with the positional and the practical.
So, what is the outcome of
positional v. practical?
As we mature, the practical decreases
and the positional increases.
When we stand at the judgment
seat of Christ and hear the words, “Well done” the conflict will be
resolved.
The totality of the
positional shall become the totality of the practical then the practical shall
become the positional.