Walking Christ Like
Illus: During a trial, in a small Missouri town, the local prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand. The witness was a proper well-dressed elderly lady, the Grandmother type, well spoken, and poised. She was sworn in, asked if she would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, on the Bible, so help her God.
The prosecuting attorney approached the woman and asked, Mrs. Jones, do you know me? She responded, Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a young boy and frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, cheat on your wife, manipulate people and talk badly about them behind their backs. You think you’re a rising big shot when you haven’t the sense to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper-pushing shyster. Yes, I know you quite well.
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?
She again replied, Why, yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He’s lazy, bigoted, has a bad drinking problem. The man can’t build or keep a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. Yes, I know him.
The defense attorney almost fainted. Laughter mixed with gasps, thundered throughout the courtroom and the audience was on the verge of chaos.
At this point, the judge brought the courtroom to silence, called both counselors to the bench, and in a very quiet voice said, If either of you morons asks her if she knows me, you’re going to jail.
Neither of the attorneys nor the Judge seem to be walking CHRIST LIKE
Text: Eph 4:14-24
14 We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. 15 Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head 16 of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love.
17 As a follower of the Lord, I order you to stop living like stupid, godless people. 18 Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right, 19 and they are so greedy that they do all kinds of indecent things.
20-21 But that isn’t what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about him and learned about him. 22 You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. 23 Let the Spirit change your way of thinking 24 and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.
If our behavior is to match our belief, then we must be different, so different that the world notices. How are we to be different?
1. We are to THINK differently from the world.
THE LOST
1. The lost live according to a polluted minds.
2. The unsaved man’s thinking is polluted because his mind has been darkened by satan
3. Their hearts are hardened to God
4. The unsaved man dwells on sinful things because of his sinful nature
THE SAVED
1. The saved person thinks about Godly Things
2. Salvations begins with repentance, a changing of the mind in the way we think
3. The whole way we think changes when we come to Jesus, the old self has been cast off
4. Physically you are what you eat; spiritually, you are what you think
We are to think differently from the world if we are in Christ Jesus.
2. We are to TALK differently from the world.
THE LOST
1. The unsaved lie because they are children of the devil , the father of lies
THE SAVED
1. Christians are to speak the truth.
2. Christians should be known in their community as honest, reliable people who can be trusted.
3. We are not to let any unwholesome word come out of our mouths
4. The mouth and the heart are connected. Jesus said, For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart
5. The word unwholesome literally means rotten.
6. Sometimes we may join in when others are talking about things we know we shouldn’t be talking about.
7. Sometimes our words hurt, insult, divide.
8. As Christians, our words should edify or build up, comfort, encourage.
As Christians our talk should be that of grace and not the gutter.
3. We are to Walk differently from the world.
we are not to walk as the unbelievers do. Christians are to conduct their lives differently.
1. THE LOST: Fruit of the flesh
Gal.5:19-21 19 People’s desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, and shameful deeds. 20 They worship idols, practice witchcraft, hate others, and are hard to get along with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are 21 envious. They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as well. I told you before, and I am telling you again: No one who does these things will share in the blessings of God’s kingdom.
2.The Saved: Fruit of the Spirit
Gal.5:22-25 22 God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, 23 gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. 24 And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. 25 God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit.
4. We are to be Christ Like in our work.
WE are to do everything as unto the LORD
Illus: Sophie, the scrub woman, was a Christian. One of the gentlemen in the large building where she worked said to her, "Say, Sophie, I understand that you are a Christian." "Yes, sir, I am a child of the King," was her immediate reply. "Oh! So you must be a princess, since God is your King." "I sure am." "Well, if God is your Father, and you are a princess and a child of the King, do you not think that it is beneath your dignity to be found here in New York City scrubbing these dirty steps?" Not being daunted Sophie replied, "There is no humiliation whatsoever. You see, I am not scrubbing these steps for my boss, Mr. Brown. I am scrubbing them for Jesus Christ, my Savior!"
As Christians, everything that we are to do, we must do it as if we were doing it directly for the Lord , for so we really are
5. We are to care for people Like Christ Did.
1. To treasure something means that we hold it dear. It is special. We love it. , That’s what we are to do with others.
2. We are to be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving.
Why should we be different from the world? Because if we aren’t we will grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We don’t want to bring grief to our heavenly Father. Paul commands us to do the opposite. When we think differently, talk differently, walk differently, work differently, and care for people , we will honor God with our lives. After all, isn’t that what we want as Christians? It should be our goal as individuals and as a Church.
Illus: A father’s two daughters were begging him for permission to see the latest movie, which happened to be rated "R," with their friends. When he denied their request, their pleading only intensified. "It’s only rated R because it has just a little bad language and just a few scenes that are bad," they reasoned.
Later that night, the father baked some brownies for his daughters. They dug in and commented on how much they enjoyed them. "You like them, huh?" he responded. "Oh yes. They’re great," answered his daughters. "That’s interesting because I used a new recipe," he said, matter of factly.
"Oh yeah? What is it?" they asked.
"Well, I’ve always heard that, if you add a little dash of dog droppings to the brownies that it gives them a distinct taste that people love," he answered, straight-faced.
The daughters immediately stopped chewing and their faces transformed from enthusiastic smiles to panicked looks of confusion. "You’re kidding!" cried one as she spat her brownie out on her plate. "What in the world are you thinking?" complained the other.
The father explained that he would never serve such a dish because even just a small amount of some things is completely unacceptable. He went on to explain that God views sin in much the same way. It doesn’t matter how little it is, it still is so distasteful that God cannot look upon it.
The girls agreed with their father that rated "R" movies were not for them.
Gal. 5:9
9 A little yeast can change a whole batch of dough
A little sin can harm your witness
Gal. 5:16-17
16 If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires. 17 The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should.
