WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
SERMON TITLE: WALKING WORTHY WITH THE LORD
?For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.? John 3:16-18
TEXT VERSE: Colossians 2:6-9 ?As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.?
I don?t expect you to read and study your Bible like a Pastor or a preacher would. But I expect you to read and study your Bible enough to know how to live your life.
What we find here in verse 6 that how and what you receive from the Lord is how you ought to live your life. It?s disturbing to see Christians tonight that say they have received what the Lord has for them yet they don?t live that kind of life. None of us can be perfect but we?re supposed to be like Paul was and press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. If things aren?t going too well in your life as a Christian it could be because you have not received what the Lord wants you to receive. I?m still a firm believer that what God does for you, will work for you. God does more things for his people than we often realize. I found sometimes that God has answered our prayers and we?ve overlooked them and he?s had to bring them back to our remembrance because of this carnal mind. So we should live our lives according to what we?ve received from the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren?t you glad you received Salvation. That?s the foundation of a Christian and where they can build from. If we?ve been saved by the Grace of God and we?ve received that from the Lord then that ought to be the type of life style we?re living. That word walk in verse 6 is a representation of how we live our life according to the Bible. There?s a lot of Christians out in the world today that are shaming God and his Son and the Holy Spirit because of their lifestyle. So for a few minutes I want to preach to you on walking worthy with the Lord.
You say, preacher that?s not possible. Sure it is. When we were lost we weren?t worthy. The only reason we were able to get saved was because of the unmerited favor and grace of an Almighty God that cared for us and loved us while we were yet sinners. We weren?t worthy to become a child of God. It wasn?t because of what we had done or who we were or what family we were raised in or what color we were or what country we came from. We were all born in sin. Aren?t you glad that the devil will never get victory over us as long as we continue to receive what we need from the Lord.
Let me give you an example before we go on. You?ve been around people who?ve come to church one time and then you never see them again. I?m not trying to pick on anyone and I?ve got family members like that. Think about that in reference to what it says in verse 6. Evidentally they didn?t receive from the Lord that one time what he had in store for them because I believe if they had, they would come more than one time. I believe they wouldn?t only be a Christian on that one Sunday but they?d be a Christian all the time. So we need to realize that we?re saved and that we are worthy to live a good Christian life. There?s enough Christians in the world that aren?t living right and we don?t need to be like them.
Ephesians 4:1 ?Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.?
You know why he was a prisoner? The Lord had captured him with his Spirit and he couldn?t get out or away from Jesus.
Why is it important for us to walk worthy of the Lord?
Number one: To help you. When I feel real good is when I?ve done something for the Lord. I don?t do something for the Lord when I sin against God or don?t do what God says. If I?m in bad shape, how can I help somebody else? How can I be a soul winner if I?m not living right? So we have to walk worthy of the vocation wherein we are called. Not only will living right help you but it will help the people you are around. If you?re just a good Christian on Sundays around the church family, that?s easy. What kind of Christian daddy are you? What kind of Christian mother are you? What kind of Christian husband are you? What kind of Christian wife are you? What kind of Christian son are you? What kind of Christian daughter are you? If you?re going to be a child of God then be a child of God in everything that you do. The Bible says that whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. How do you treat your children? Really, are you treating them as a Christian parent? The men of God are responsible for their family. They are supposed to share the word of God with them and pray with them and encourage them and strengthen them. I was reading some scripture on how Christ loved the church. He said men love your wives even as Christ loved the church. I?ll say this....He loves his church! When he says his church, he?s not talking about you as an individual. He?s talking about every man, boy and girl who has ever been birthed into the family of God. God loves his church! It takes all of us to make up the church. Then he said to let the wife reference her husband. God uses that husband and wife relationship as a pattern of how he loves and cares about the church to how the church loves and cares about the body of Christ. If you read on down it also says, children, obey your parents in the Lord. God uses family values to show us how we ought to live our Christian life. How are we walking with him? What kind of life style are we living? What kind of Christian are you when you go to work? Do you get in there and cuss with them that curse. Are you still the child of God that he saved? You?re supposed to uplift the name of Christ. It?s not just about how we live on Sunday but every day.
2 Corinthians 5:7 ?For we walk by faith and not by sight.? There?s that word walk again. We don?t go by the things that can be seen. The Bible says the things we see are temporary. But the things that can not be seen are eternal. We?re supposed to live our lifestyle in faith. Faith is the essence of things not seen. The substance of things hoped for. A lot of people say they will believe it when they see it. No, you?ve never seen Jesus Christ and you believe in him. I?ve never seen him but I have through faith. Not only that but I feel him and hear him. I feel his presence. The world walks by sight. But as Christians we walk by faith. The Bible says without faith you can?t even please God. Where does faith come in? The Bible says we?re saved by grace through faith. You can?t even get saved without having faith. Faith is important.
Ephesians 5:2 ?And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.?
Number two: We?re supposed to live our lifestyle in love. Love and lust...there?s a big difference between the two. Some man of God that?s saved by God?s grace and he?s married and has a family and he?s out on Friday night chasing down some other woman...what kind of Christian is that? That?s not right. That?s not love. That?s lust. The love of God will change your life. If you realized how much God loved you, you?d be able to love somebody else. We?ve got to live our lives in Christian love. I remember my dad one Christmas during a depression and we barely had food to eat. Dad called us into a family meeting and he said, ?I want to be honest with you. We?re having a rough time this year and you?re only to get one present each and it?s going to be very small. You see we don?t have much food.? Tears began to flow down his cheek. and he said, ?We don?t have much money but if I could I would get you anything you wanted.? There were eight of us and we were all so touched by what he said that we told him that we didn?t even need that one present as long as we had each other. Isn?t that a blessing? That?s the kind of Christian love I?m talking about. I?m not talking about going out and buying your children anything and everything they want. Is that Christian love? You get them too far out in the world and you won?t be able to get a hold on them. They?ll get so far out there that they?ll want to stay out. You better be teaching them about the love of God. You better love them in the Lord. Parents today say they?ll raise their children the way they want to. No you won?t. The Bible says you should train them up in the way they should go according to the word of God. Then when they get older they won?t depart from it. If you?re going to tell them you love them you?ve also got to love them also as a brother and sister in Christ. We?ve got to live our life in the love of God and in the faith of God.
Galatians 5:16 ?This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.?
Number three: We need to walk in the Spirit.
What did God say to Moses on the mountain? He said take off thy shoes for the place where you stand is Holy ground. It wasn?t the dirt he was standing on but the place and position where he was at with God. That?s where we need to be. We need to be walking on Holy ground. Quit living like the devil and start living like the Lord. Sometimes we have to share things that are bad. Mistakes that we?ve done or things we?ve haven?t done when God told us to do them. When you don?t do what God tells you to do, you?ll know it. I got to church and went out to check the mail and a guy was coming by on a bicycle. I wasn?t really paying attention to him but I did see something go by me. As he passed by the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, ?Jesus loves him.? When I turned to look at him, he was way on down the road. The Lord said, You need to be telling everybody that I love them.
Let me tell you a story about a man and woman and how they got saved. Someone had invited them to a fellowship supper and as they were standing in line waiting to get their food the Pastor was at the table and he said, ?He did it all for you.? That man standing there said right when the pastor spoke that, the Holy spirit spoke to him and moved into his life and said you need to be saved. He said they ate and fellowshipped and they went home and couldn?t wait till Sunday to come to the house of God. That Sunday they fell down on their knees and asked Christ into their life. All because one man was obedient to the Holy Spirit of God. So if God tells you to tell somebody he loves them....you better do it.
Quit talking about all these earthly things and start sharing Christ. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I?ll be the first to tell you...it?s not an easy task. What was it Paul said? The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh but these two are contrary one to the other so that you can not do the things that ye would. And if you start concentrating on that inward battle more than you do the victory, we?ll not get anything done for God. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
1 John 1:7 ?But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.?
Number four: We?re supposed to walk in the light. I believe that?s talking about the robe of righteousness. We?re supposed to stay just as close as we can to him. We?re supposed to be different. There?s supposed to be a change in us. We?re supposed to be different from the lost people. Every family needs one good Christian who will start working on the rest of the people in their family. That?s the only thing that will change those peoples lives with the Lord?s help. We?ve seen many of them saved and changed here at Westside. I thank God for that. God is in the life changing business. There?s a lot of Christians that get in this frame of mind: they say Christians aren?t supposed to have very much. You?re wrong. God said he would supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. There isn?t anything wrong with Christians having things. You?re supposed to strive to have things. The reason most of them don?t have things is because they waste their money and time on everything. That?s what the prodical son did. He got his money and he went out and wasted it. That?s what a lot of Christians are doing. They?re wasting God?s stuff. Then when they end up with nothing they say, I?ll rise an go back to my Father. Thank God you can do that. I?ve messed up plenty of times and had to start over. I?ve bent down on these knees and asked God to forgive me and asked him to let me start over and every time he?s said, ?You?re forgiven.? I didn?t go from being saved to lost. I started over with a new spirit.
A lot of Christians feel as if they can?t reach that point that God wants them at and they start faltering and failing. The only way you can be worthy is through the Lord?s help. You can be what God wants you to be.
Ephesians 5:15-16 ?See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.?
That means realizing that every second is important. Quit wasting God?s time. People are dying and falling off into hell. We need to realize the importance of time because one day it?s going to run out. Use your time wisely. Use it for the Lord. We get so wrapped up in the world that we don?t realize how wrapped up we get. There?s nothing wrong with watching clean programs on television as long as you?re also talking care of God?s business. God gives us time to rest. But people are taking these worldly things and putting them before God. They?re letting them come between them and God. They?re letting them come between them and their family. That?s not right. That?s sin. It?s idol worshipping. But it?s happening everyday.
Romans 6:4 ?Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life.?
Number five: We should walk in the newness of life. Not the oldness but the newness. Why? because Christ saved us. That?s how we can walk and talk differently. Not only are you important to God but you?re important to a lost and dying world. Who else is here that can help them? The Lord left us in charge of the church. Well, he?s in charge but he left us in control.
1 John 2:6 ?He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.?
There?s a lot of people that say they are abiding in him. But are you walking like he walked? Are you trying to live your life like he did? I thought about that scripture where Jesus told him about forgiving his brother. Peter asked how many times he should forgive him, seven times? Jesus said, no but seventy times seven. But Christians will start walking out of the way and they start holding grudges and then they want to stop forgiving people. They want to stop loving people. Then they want to stop fellowshipping with them. You start stopping everything with you?re brothers and sisters in Christ you might as well mark it down in your book that you?ve also stopped it with God.
Everybody that?s ever been saved has a purpose in this life. If you don?t know what that purpose is it?s because you?re not walking close enough to find out.
Are you taking what the Lord has given you and using it as part of your life? or Are you just receiving, receiving and receiving and not giving, giving and giving? We need to give away what they Lords given us.
LET US PRAY: Father, thank you for speaking to my heart tonight. I desire a closer walk with you and pray that you would forgive me of my sin. Let me start a new today Lord and may the joys of your salvation be renewed within me. Let me rise and tell the world that Jesus lives and that God loves them. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
