The Christian Life EVIDENCE not MYSTERY
As you look around you today you might feel as though you just stepped off a plane that landed in London.
You might see a replica of Big Ben that famous tall clock or you might spy the scenery of a street side cafe similar to what one would expect to see in London.
You also probably see some decor that reflects the thoughts of mystery or crime solving such as that which is famous in stories of Sherlock Holmes and Scotland Yard and other detective type tales.
If you did not know by now the Vacation Bible School Theme is
The Great Kingdom Caper...Cracking the Character Code.
Now ...Detectives many times solve a mystery by gathering information.
They look for all the evidence they can find.
I want to be clear this morning in sharing with you that the Christian life is not to be a secret nor is it to be a mystery.... But rather the Christian Life must have EVIDENCE.
What reveals the mystery?
How does a super sleuth solve the mystery.....
By putting together all the EVIDENCE!
The Christian Life is clearly .... no mystery
If an individual has experienced a life changing transformation in Jesus Christ.... then clearly...The Bible tells us that individual will have the evidence of the Christian life.
SO it leads us to ask the obvious question this morning
“What is the EVIDENCE of the Christian life?”
The Christian life.... is certainly a life of faith.
No one would deny that the Christian life is a life full of faith but James told us to look for the evidence of our faith wich is works.
The Bible tells us that if we have true Christian faith there will be good works.
James 2:14-17
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
Clearly what the Word of God says to us is this!
IF YOU HAVE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
AND YOUR LIFE IS LOCKED INTO THAT FAITH
THEN YOU ....WILL....BE....DOING GOOD WORKS.
Salvation does not come through good works....
Salvation comes through faith but it is a faith that will naturally and without hesitation lead you to do good works.
The EVIDENCE of your faith is good works.
Can the evidence be found in your life.....OR
when God sees you does He see a mystery..... because your life lacks good works.
A few days ago ....Several of our the teenagers from our youth department ......assisted in helping a woman and her young children who were moving there belongings into a new residence.
They carried furniture,.... carried boxes,.... carried bedframes.... and even some appliances.
I was proud of our young people because I saw some evidence...I saw some good works.
I am convinced that too many church members and so called Christians have joined the ranks of hearers and have failed to produce the evidence of doers.
Look just back a chapter in James 1:22 James said “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not just hearers who delude themselves.”
What God is saying to you and to me is this
GIVE EVIDENCE..... Do good works testifying in action that your faith in me is real.
So the evidence of the Christian life is
Faith that produces Good Works
But also the Christian Life is a life of LOVE
What about the evidence of love. 1John 3:16
How many of you after a long hard day..... have looked over at your spouse and said something crazy like this...
”Honey, if you love me you’d rub my aching back.”
Now ...I am here to tell you a back rub is not truly the evidence of love.
But people desire not just a word of love....
but they want to see evidence of love...
*Its like the young man who was an engineer .....
he was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant.
It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend.
She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned.
They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts as to if he was being true to her or not ,... exposed as the young man was to attractive Irish ladies.
The young engineer wrote back, declaring with some passion that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls.
"I admit," he wrote, "that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it..... I’m keeping myself for you."
In the next mail, the engineer received a package. It contained a note from his girl and.... a harmonica.......
"I’m sending this to you," she wrote,
"so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls."
The engineer wrote back with this reply,
"Thanks for the harmonica. I’m practicing on it every night and thinking of you."
At the end of his two-year stint, the engineer was transferred back to his company headquarters. He took the first plane to Tennessee to be reunited with his girl.
Her whole family was with her as he stepped off the plane, but as he rushed forward to embrace her, she held up a restraining hand and said sternly,
"Just hold on there a minute, Billy Bob. Before any serious kissin’ and huggin’ gets started here, let me hear you play that harmonica!"
Now that Gal wanted some evidence that her boyfriend’s love was real.
And GOD wants to see the evidence that MY LOVE and YOUR LOVE is real.
Let me just lay it out on the table.
IF THE REAL LOVE OF GOD IS PRESENT IN YOUR LIFE the EVIDENCE OF SACRIFICE WILL BE FOUND.
Love = Sacrifice that is the evidence of LOVE.
Look at 1 John 3:
16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
Listen friends....No one has ever...will ever know love like Jesus has shown love.
How did he show His love ?
Vs 16 says He gave up His life....
Someone says .....
“Hey we need your help at church”
Do you say “Sorry.... I’ve got a life..I’ve got other plans”
Someone says you know Suzy down the street could use a hand.
You say “Oh man my schedule is full.”
Someone says “Vince who lives across town needs a visit of encouragement from someone.
And the reply is “Well...I’ll se if I can get to that.”
Friends I am so glad that when I was in desperate need of Jesus to die on the cross for my sins....that He cared enough.... NOT to say
“ooppsss... Sorry... I’ve got other plans.”
Jesus proved His love when He gave up His life for you and me.
I am not asking you to be nailed to a cross BUT YES ...I’m asking you to sacrifice at least a little part of your life to SHOW THE EVIDENCE of LOVE.
Our churches across America are filled with people who SAY they know God’s LOVE but guess what THERE ...IS ....NO.....EVIDENCE.....
Look again at verse 18
NOT with word or tongue BUT WITH some action....
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ! SHOW A LITTLE SACRIFICE IN YOUR LIFE.
Show some EVIDENCE that your love is real by the fact that it truly displays some sacrifice for a change.
Many people who call themselves Christians have not truly began to sacrifice.
It is time to solve the mystery of love an let the evidence of sacrifice be found.
So works is the evidence of our faith
Sacrifice is the evidence of our Love
But when we look for the evidence of the Christian life where is the evidence of discipleship.
Where is the evidence of being a disciple?
What does it mean that the Bible called certain men of Jesus His disciples?
It means that the followed Him.
Well we need to go a little further than that.
A lot of people followed Jesus. But the true disciples of Jesus were the ones who followed Him not just in a physical sense of from this location to that location but in a sense of the life they lived they sought to become like Jesus.
To become a disciple of someone is to take in that persons ways,
that persons teaching,
that persons values,
that persons character.
If we were to identify disciples of the Hare Krishna some years ago those followers were easy to distinguish.
If you saw some guy with a shaved head standing in an airport selling flowers YOU KNEW that person was a disciple of the Hare Krishna .
Now here is the mystery...Why is it when Christians are in the work place...
when Christians are at school...
at the grocery store doing their shopping.
People do NOT SEE THE EVIDENCE that they are a Christian.
People fail to see that we are Christ disciples ...
That we are followers of Him...
So what is the evidence of a TRUE DISCIPLE...A TRUE FOLLOWER OF JESUS????
It is the continuance of walking in His ways.
That is the evidence of being a true follower of Jesus is that we walk in His ways. We live His ways.
John Chapter 8 v31 Jesus said
31 “If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed.”
What was Jesus saying....?
He was saying if you are seeking to live out your life the way I have shown you to do then you are my follower.
Jesus is saying
If you love.... in your actions..... the way I have told you to love..... then the evidence will be clear.
If you do with your body what I have told you to do with your body...the evidence will be clear
If you seek to walk by faith and follow my plans for your life ...the evidence will be clear.
The evidence...... that you are a follower of Jesus Christ....is this .....
you continue NOT for a week...
NOT for a month...
NOT for a year...
but in your life you consistently are walking in the way Jesus has shown....living the way He has shown.
Some of us today our life seems much like a mystery.... but here’s good news....
It’s time for a discovery that will end the mystery.
Discover today that the mystery can be over....
You need look no farther than Jesus Christ to find the answer you seek.
Perhaps today you are wondering ....
Why am I not doing more good works....
Come and let Jesus boost you faith and lead you to be a doer of His word.
Perhaps your question is why have I not been willing to show more love by sacrificing my life in giving me time and my attention to those thing Jesus would have me to.
Come and let Jesus boost your love that you might more willingly give your life to others.
Perhaps your asking “Why don’t others see me as a follower of Christ”
Come this morning and say Lord let my mind, my body, my everything be submitted to following the plan and the way of Jesus.
*1 Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 17-18.
