Christian social classes.

I am interested in gathering everybodys' opinions on this topic. Mostly in scriptural revelation.

I am daily in a battle, as many people are, with my pride and self worth. As the Lord firmly chastens me into his desired character, I have found myself in a mental and spiritual battle over something. We are told we are nothing at the same time we are told we are very valuable. We are sinners, and sons of God. We are priests, and kings, and yet we are the offscouring of the earth. We are the temple of God, and we are weak and shameful vessels. The list goes on.

I am having problems humbling myself, when I am told and believe that I am a royal priesthood. I am also having problems walking in authority and faith when I am told and believe that I am less than nothing.

Where is the balance in the comparison with our earthly and heavenly social classes.

Thanks for any input.

In our old nature we are in bodies of death and there is nothing good in it that is in our flesh:

Rom 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

Rom 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

However, in our new nature we have victory. And, we are the excellent ones. But, we find our worth because He has given it to us and it is because we are of worth to Him that we are of value. So, in our new nature we glory in them but only so far as to say "what do we have that we have not received?". Even in this state we are but sons and not a Father. A creature and not a Creator.:

Rom 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Rom 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Psalm 16:3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.

2Co 5:16-17 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

So, in our old nature we never boast. Yet that doesn't discourage us because we are born again and overcome. And though we are born again to this glory we know where it comes from and it is to the praise of the glory of His grace.

I hope this article will help with your situation. It's by Zac Poonen. If you find the article helpful, you might enjoy his website.
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Three Categories Of Believers - Zac Poonen
There are three categories of 'believers' in the world:

(1) Those who have confidence in themselves. Such believers can be identified by the fact that they pray very little or not at all. And they usually never ever fast and pray. Although they don't say so in as many words, by their prayerlessness they testify that they can handle every situation. Such believers can never do an eternal work for God.

(2) Those who have no confidence in themselves and who have no confidence in God. They confess that they have no strength or wisdom. But they do not believe that God will work on their behalf. Such believers are usually prayerless too. Even if they do pray, their prayers are invariably without faith. Such can never do an eternal work for God either.

(3) Those who have no confidence in themselves, BUT who have total confidence in God. They are aware of their lack of strength and wisdom, but they also believe that God will help them mightily, and do a work in them and through them. Such believers alone are truly spiritual, and only such can do an eternal work for God. It is good for us to recognise that those in Category 2 above are just as useless to God as those in Category 1. Those in Category 2 may look more broken, but they are not - for unbelief can never be found alongside genuine Christ-like humility. Without faith it is impossible to please God, no matter how broken we may appear to be. Merely acknowledging our inability will not solve our problems. We must trust God too.

To confess that we are rotten, good for nothing, useless and foolish, is not humility, but unbelief!! If we keep on confessing that, we will remain useless forever. False humility like that is often mistaken for the genuine thing by undiscerning believers!

But Jesus told us to learn humility from Him (Matt.11:29). And where do we find Jesus ever confessing that He was useless and good for nothing? Never.

True humility is taking the place of entire nothingness before God, so that God might be all in all. This is the place that Jesus took as a man. This is what we must do too. In that lowly place, we can trust God to do a mighty work in us and through us, and to crush Satan under our feet.

[url=http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/home_page.php]Zac Poonen[/url]

Very interesting question and one that sheds light on how our contemporary thinking is so deviant from the "old ways". To add to what has already been said I'd like to provide some historical background as well.

In ancient times and up until the invention of modern warfare kings/generals/etc. would ride out to battle and lead their armies at the head, often dying in battle, but it was their vocation and their calling to lead.

The song "Saul has killed his thousand, and David his ten thousand." lead foreign kings to think that David was already king when he was still in subjection to the annointing of Saul.
(1 Samuel 18:6 and on into 1 Samuel 21:10)

To see the original meaning of priesthood it's interesting to follow the etymology of "clergy":

clergy
c.1200, clergie "office or dignity of a clergyman," from two O.Fr. words: 1. clergie "clerics, learned men," from M.L. clericatus, from L. clericus (see clerk); 2. clergie "learning," from clerc, also from L. clericus. Clergyman is 1577; clergywoman is 1673. Cleric (1621) was borrowed directly from L. clericus after clerk took its modern meaning. Clerical (1592) was originally "of the clergy;" meaning "of clerks" first attested 1798.

clerk
O.E. clerc, from L.L. clericus "a priest," from Gk. klerikos (adj.) in church jargon "of the clergy," derived from kleros "lot, inheritance" (orig. "a shard used in casting lots"), used by early Gk. Christians for matters relating to ministry based on Deut. xviii:2 reference to Levites as temple assistants: "Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance," transl. of Heb. nahalah "inheritance, lot." If the word choice was meant to remind clerics of anything, however, the reminder was lost with the knowledge of ancient Gk. Modern bureaucratic usage is from c.1500, a reminder of the dark ages when clergy alone could read and write.

In ancient thought a king was beholden to his people under God, if the kingdom suffered the king was held personally responsible. The kings owned nothing, not even their body, it was all for the people. The ancient priesthood was held in the same regard, taking personal responsiblity for maintaining the socio-religious order, if they messed up they were held personally responsible. Again they owned nothing, not even their body, it was all for the people under God.

When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire they were consumed, when Saul disobeyed God he was driven by an vexing spirit until he committed suicide in a loosing battle against the Philistines.

Neither kingship or a priestly calling are reasons for pride, they are deeply humble professions that require a person to give everything of themselves. If a king becomes their nation, as it was thought in ancient times, then there is no room left for the self. If a priest becomes the socio-religious order, then there is no room left for the self. The decadence of past ages is due to king's who thought more of themselves than their kingdom or priests who sought self gratification and pleasure rather than a Godly order.

Isaiah 14:12-15 -
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

Hi Matt, how is it going? How is it going with this question for you?

Chris