Introduction
It matters how you live your life. Oh, it is great to be saved; but don’t neglect how you live your life thinking I have all I need. If you take that attitude now that I am saved it doesn’t matter how I live my life, your lack of following Christ faithfully might result in a family member, a friend, or a co-worker not accepting Christ in their life. I believe it would be terrible if the way I live my life prevented someone from coming to know Christ as their Savior.
Right now, it sounds good that I am going to heaven. But I believe that when Jesus hands out rewards for how you lived, you would have wished you done more in this life to store up treasurers in heaven. I believe that when Jesus assigns us places of service in His kingdom then we would have wished that we done more in this life to be able to have a greater place of service in His kingdom.
Jesus warned us in the Sermon on the Mount to store up treasures in heaven. The Apostle Paul testified that all he had gained in this life, he counts as loss for knowing Christ. He says the real value of life is knowing Jesus and serving Him while we have breath. The Apostle Peter talked about the importance of our obedience to God because He has set up an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you.
So what I am hearing is that salvation should not be enough in my life. I should want to live a Christ- Centered life; I should want to live big for Christ; Paul lived big for Christ; Peter lived big for Christ and every one of us in here should try to live big for Christ, but I can tell you from personal experience, it is not easy. In the world we live in today, we have so many things competing for the center stage of our life that sometimes Jesus is delegated to a side stage.
I would hope that you ask yourself today the question: Is Jesus center stage in my life? Is my life a Christ-centered life? You don’t know. You are not sure. So, I want to spend my time with you this morning sharing what I believe a Christ-centered life looks like, and then you must decide for yourself if my life is Christ-centered or not.
Point 1
A Christ-centered life sees Jesus as the source of everything in their life.
Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Notice the Scripture does not say that God shall supply some of my needs, nor does it say that God shall supply most of my needs. God supplies them all.
You would think that God being the source of my everything would be an easy concept for me to grasp. Can anybody here think of something that you do that God that God is the source? My very life, my very last breath, my sleeping, my working, the protection of my family, the food on my table are all the result of God.
You know what that tells me: if I am Christ-centered, Jesus is always on my mind because it constantly comes to my mind that He has done this; that He has done that for me.
But let me tell you what happens to us. Slowly over time, I switch the source from God to myself. I begin to think that I am doing it. I begin to think less about Jesus as I go through my day and more about what I am accomplishing. I am the one that got the promotion the boss just gave me. I am the one who put in the extra hours; I am the one that got the boss to notice the quality of work.
Pretty soon that self-sufficiency that pushed God from the center of your life turns into self-pride(look what I have done) and God moved even further from center stage in your life to one of the smaller stages on the side. I begin to forget about what Christ is doing for me, and it is all about what I am doing for myself.
God gave the Israelites a warning about that type of thinking: and I believe that by warning them, God is also warning us. Listen to
Deuteronomy 8:11–14 (NKJV)
11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Can that happen to us and we forget God? Yes, it surely can happen to us just like the Israelites.
Point #2
A Christ-centered life primary focus on the person of Jesus Christ not the rules of our faith.
Philippians 3:10 (NKJV)
10 that I may know Him ...
I remember when I was a young boy, my best friend Jerry Bagert’s grandmother had a sticker on her front door that said, “Keep Christ in Christmas”.
There ought to be a sticker on the front door of every Christian home that says, “make room for Christ in your Christianity.” I am afraid that a lot of people get so caught up in the do’s and the don’ts of their beliefs that they substitute a religion-centered life for a Christ-centered life.
The Jewish faith of the Old Testament substituted a relationship with YHWH in lieu of the do’s and don’ts of their faith. That is what make the Pharisees so powerful. They were the teller of the rules.
That same thing has happened in the New Testaments. There are churches that are so focused on the rules that they forgot the person of Jesus Christ.
And individual Christian people have been known to take the focus off Christ and put it on the rules. If you have done that you are in good company. The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:5, I got caught up in the do’s and don’ts of the Jewish faith.
Philippians 3:5 (NKJV)
5 circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
But he goes on and says in verse 7 all these things I count loss for Christ. Now Paul is talking the person of Jesus Christ. He saw his error and corrected it. If you focus on the rules over the person of Jesus Christ are you willing to correct it?
Point #3
A Christ-centered life wants no one to get the glory except Christ.
Revelation 4:11 (NKJV)
11 “You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power.
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”
A Christ-centered life has one goal: Jesus gets the credit.
I love it when after a football game when a player is interviewed by an on the field announcer and the first thing out of their mouth is all credit for my performance today goes to Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV)
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
But then there are those interviews with the politicians. And nine out of ten of them want to give the credit to themselves for something they done, some law that they passed. And as it gets closer to election time, they want you to know all their accomplishments.
What are you more like the football player who gives the credit to God or the politician who touts all his or her accomplishments.
In a Chris-centered life- Christ has got to get the glory.
Point #4
A Christ-centered life handles the troubles of this world with hope. A life that is not Christ-centered will sometimes fall apart dealing with those same troubles. The difference is the hope.
1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV)
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.
And in 1 Peter 1:4 Peter describes this hope as a living hope,
The hope inside of a Christian is Christ. And we know that whatever the outcome God is in control and that he has plans for us and we win.
The unbeliever can not see how this is going to turn out good.
Conclusion
A lot of things competes for the center stage of our life. Don’t let Jesus be removed from the center stage of your life for something that has no business being there. Christ is the only one that has business being on the center stage of your life.
