Subject: How To Live In This World
Scripture Reading: Romans 12:2
You heard about the business lady who, between flights at an airport bought a small package of cookies. She then sat down in the busy snack shop to glance over the newspaper.
As she read her paper she became aware of a rustling noise. Peeking above the newspaper she was shocked to see a well dressed gentleman sitting across from her helping himself to her cookies.
Half-angry and Half-embarrassed she reached over and gently slid the package closer to her as she took one out and began to munch on it.
A minute or so passed before she heard some more rustling. The man had gotten another cookie! By now there was only one left in the package.
Though flabbergasted, she didn’t want to cause a scene so she said nothing and did nothing.
Finally as if to and insult to injury the man broke the remaining cookie in to two pieces and pushed one piece across the table toward her with a frown, gulped down his half and left without even saying thank you.
She sat there dumbfounded.
Some time later when her flight was announced the women reached into her handbag to get her ticket To her shock there in her purse was her package of unopened cookies. And somewhere in that same airport was another traveler still trying to figure out that strange woman who could be so forward and insensitive.
Do I need to remind you that things are not always as they appear.
You would think that because we live in such an advanced and civilized culture that all of us would be kind and courteous people.
How often we think that as Americans we are all full of righteous zeal, respect for authority, uncompromising integrity, and a humble submissive spirit.
As much as we may wish that to be true, all you have to do is rub shoulders with the world for a few hours each week and you soon wake up to the fact that it is an inaccurate assumption.
This 21st century is certainly a different America than our ancestors fought and died for.
America has become a melting pot of Me-firsts.
Believe it or not ours is a very selfish generation and we have all been there from time to time.
Just this week, I left my wife and Karra off at a store and ran over quick to Price Chopper to pick out a roast for Sunday.
In fact it was Friday afternoon and the store was already crowded.
I had one thing on my mind as I came to the meat case, and that was to get back to the other store as quick as I could.
Now let me tell you something about meat cases on Fridays. When you go to look the meat over, you never park your shopping cart out of the way.
No, you push it in front of you and then you stand there and decided which piece you want so you are blocking 5 or 6 feet of the case as you decide.
I saw a small opening, and as soon as I did, I dove in, almost knocking an older lady over in my rush. I picked up what I wanted after I looked each one over and headed out.
I wish I could stand here and tell you that I looked at that older lady and apologized, But in my mind, all I though about was getting back to the other store.
It wasn’t until later that night in my office as I was studying and praying that God brought it to my attention.
I shared that with you to remind you that all of us get caught up in the me-first, selfish attitude from time to time.
Now listen, that doesn’t make it right or give us an excuse.
In fact I want to help us address the question How to live in the world and give you some practical helps.
If we are ever going to make an impact on our culture, we can not let ourselves become conformed to it.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
To avoid being squeezed into it’s mold. we must live different than our culture.
But how can we do that in this dog eat dog society? Let me share some things from the Bible that will help us to live in this world as Christ would have us live.
I. It All Begins With Knowing Christ Personally.
There is no way for me to live like I should in this world without first having a personal relationship with Christ.
You see, without Christ living in us, we are just like the rest of the world.
Oh we may be a little more refined, or even religious, but we are still like the rest of the world.
We find this in Ephesians 2:1
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Notice that verse 1 tells us that all of us were dead in our sins. We are born into this world with a sin nature and the results of that nature is the deeds and acts of sin.
Verse 2 tells us that we walked according to course of this world, which means we lived just like everyone else, a sinful lifestyle.
We were controlled by Satan, the same one who works in every person’s life who is without Christ.
Verse 3 tells us that we lived by the desires of the flesh doing whatever our flesh desires just like everyone else.
I think that these verses clearly tell us that when a person doesn’t know Christ personally, they live like the world around them. Amen?
The only hope we have to live lives that count and are different. Lives that are not controlled by sin and Satan is to be made alive spiritually.
How does that happen? Verse 1 tells us, And you He made alive. The He refers to Christ. It is only through faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross that we can be made alive and set free from the bondage of this sinful world.
And that brings us to point number 2:
II. It Takes The Power Of The Holy Spirit.
Because when we ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness we not only receive forgiveness, but the Holy Spirit of God enters into us to give us the power that we need to live a brand new wonderful life.
And it is through the power of the Holy Spirit of God that we can live in this world, as God desires for us to live.
Now I’m not talking about being religious. I’m not talking about going to church and trying to live good lives through good works.
I’m talking about a relationship with Jesus Christ where the Spirit of God lives in us and gives is the power.
Look at Romans 8:8
. . . those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Then verse 11
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Can you see that we must know Christ personally and have the Spirit of God living in us if we are going to live in this world as we should?
You see, the question today is not do you go to church? Or even do you read your Bible and pray?
The question is, Do you know Jesus Christ personally in such a way that the Holy Spirit of God is dwelling in you?
I want to share with you 2 things that the power of the Holy Spirit will do for you:
A. He helps you to be like Jesus in this world.
Are you aware that the Bible tells us that we are to be like Jesus as we live in this world?
Look at I John 4:17 ". . . because as He is, so are we in this world."
But what is Jesus Like?
I think the passage of Scripture that shares with us what Jesus is like is Galatians 5:22
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance:"
The fruit of the Spirit is the undeniable consequences of the Spirit of God living in us.
Paul tells us in these verses that the evidence of the Spirit living within us will be demonstrated through the fruit of the Spirit.
As you look at the list of fruit that is named here you will find that there are nine different ones listed. But all of them are the expression of the Spirit living within us.
If we could sum up the fruit of the Spirit with one word it would be character or conduct.
To be more precise it is the character and conduct of Christ. "As he is, so are we in this world."
But what is Jesus Like? I think these nine fruits say it well.
You see, the same Holy Spirit that dwelt within Jesus Christ as He walked this earth, is the same Holy Spirit that lives inside of you and me who are born again believers and wants to express the same qualities in our lives.
Now when the Holy Spirit is living inside of us, there will be a change in our character and that change will be expressed in two way:
1. We will have a changed attitude toward people.
We find this in two of the fruits listed: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, & gentleness,
All of these are seen in our attitude toward other people.
When the Holy Spirit is living within us, there is a genuine desire to be like Jesus.
Jesus taught us what our attitude should be toward others. He told us how to live different than our culture in Matthew 5:38
In verse 38 He begin by quoting one of the oldest laws in the history of civilization.
Jesus said, Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Now it is true that in Leviticus 24:19 it reads If anyone injures his neighbor; as he has done, so shall it be done to him: 20fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has injured someone, so shall it be done to him. (WEB)
But those verses do not mean that if you put out my eye, I could come over to your house grab you and put out your eye.
Those verses were written for the judges, so that in giving out punishment for a crime, the punishment received would be equal to the crime committed.
But the code of conduct for the followers of Jesus Christ goes beyond that.
His followers are to release instead of resist. to love instead of hate.
To establish the foundational principles of His kingdom Jesus dug deep. He digs through the layer of Old Testament rules and regulations to the bedrock of character found in the Beatitudes.
On the basis of that He constructed His code of conduct and in verse 39 he replies
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Now I realize that woven into these words are certain rights that we in our human nature cling to: Our right to dignity & comfort.
When these rights become threatened. we hire the best legal fist money can buy and go to court and try to win them back.
But Jesus’ advice is that we take off our gloves and refuse to fight in the first place.
Now if we are honest that teaching goes against our red American blood.
Now these verses are written to every person who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And everyone who wishes to embrace Christ, will for their life.
Now I want you to notice how carefully Jesus chooses His words. He says slaps you on your cheek, not punches you in the mouth.
A slap in the face is not to be understood literally, but figuratively.
It is another way of saying when some gives you an insult.
And when we are insulted the natural tendency is to strike back with an insult in return.
Nobody was better at insults than the late Winston Churchill, who did not like Lady Astor and member of his parliament. Actually the feeling was mutual, It is told that on one occasion she found the great statesman rather obviously drunk in a hotel elevator. With cutting disgust she snipped, "Sir Winston you are drunk!" To which he replied. "Madam Lady you are ugly. and tomorrow I will be sober."
Another time she said "Winston, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee."
"If you were my wife, Madam," said he replied, "I would surely drink it."
Now that is a classic example of how not to handle an insult.
The sad thing is that the more you do it the better you get at it and some of us are very good at it.
We can make one person’s insult look mild compared to the slapping insult we give back.
Not all insulting retaliations are verbal. Some of the worst occur in our driving when we are on the highway and some self appointed idiot races in front of us, cuts us off, and misses us by one coat of paint.
The road hog is careless, reckless, and thoughtless.
But what do we do? Our first thought is never, God bless you, my son.
We usually wait for our window of opportunity so we can cut him off or at best we hope some burly trucker will cut him off That’s the way the human nature is.
Now this verse does not mean that we are never to defend ourselves. Nor does it mean that we are to become just a doormat to those around us.
I think that it is worth noting that our Lord suggest two cheeks not a dozen of them.
But the slap in the face is clearly an insulting comment.
Remember when Jesus was standing trial, and they insulted him and even slapped him. But He refused to answer back.
Release your right to answer back. When you do, you only simplify the conflict, you usually discover that the verbal conflict ends as quickly as it began.
The desire to be like Jesus is expressed in our attitude toward other people.
Acts 10:38 tells us: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Do you have a desire to be like Jesus, if you do, it will be expressed in your attitude toward other people.
Jesus loved people. He went about doing good.
The song writer wrote:
"His look of love went everywhere, and lives were changed when He was there. Hungry eyes and hungry hearts fell his embrace. He stooped to raise each cripple child His healing touch was strong but mild and like this man of Galilee I Want to be!"
Oh, that is what the world needs to see from the lives of born again believers.
The second change in our character will be:
2. We will have a changed attitude toward circumstances.
Listed among the fruit of the Spirit are: Joy, peace, & longsuffering.
That word longsuffering means patience.
Now each of us face difficult circumstances that would like to rob of us of our joy, disturb our peace and exhaust our patience.
However, when we give our hearts to God and the Holy Spirit comes to live in our lives, He brings a new attitude and perspective on our problems.
Now I don’t need to tell you that a born again believer is not exempt from difficulties, But with the Holy Spirit living within, we are equipped to go through them and to survive.
Now let me remind you that there is a big difference between joy and happiness.
Happiness is a comfortable feeling determined by circumstances.
If you pull out of your driveway, on a beautiful summer day in a nice new convertible car and as the warm breeze flows through your hair, you pull in for a nice ice cream cone. You might describe that as being happy.
But as you pull away from the Ice cream stand enjoying that nice cone, a sudden thunder cloud, let’s go pouring down sheets of cold rain.
As you try to quickly fumble for the button to raise the top, you drop your ice cream off the cone and in the excitement to find your ice cream, you don’t see the guy up ahead stopping until it’s too late and you rear end him.
Now you are sitting with your top down, in the pouring rain, your ice cream is slowing melting on the carpet and you have just smacked up your nice new car. I would say you would lose your sense of happiness.
Why because happiness is dependent on nice conditions and it is superficial.
Joy. However is something that is far deeper. It is a confidence in God that sees beyond the circumstances.
Joy is the ability to see beyond the hardships and the troubles and being able to rejoice in the goodness of God and the working of God.
The peace of God does not mean the removal of difficulties. We can experience peace within the difficulties.
Paul told the Philippians in 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Paul knew there would be situations in which we normally would worry. But he says, instead of worrying we can present the situation to God and leave it with Him.
If we can trust God, we would not need to worry so much, because God will take care of the situation.
Patience is closely related to peace. Our peace is threatened when we are concerned about what is happening to us right now.
But once the situation is over, and we look back we always see things in a different light.
Patience helps us see beyond the present and wait.
Oh, I know that it is sometimes easier said than done, but as born again believers with the Holy Spirit of God living in us, we are to face things with a different attitude then the world.
The second thing the power of the Holy Spirit will do for you is:
B. He gives you a desire to let God flow through you.
God gives us the Holy Spirit, so that He might flow through us, and make a sinful world thirsty for what we have.
Jesus shared this truth in John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given.
Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes to live within the hearts and lives of born again believers He would be like a river of water that will flow from within the Christian.
A mark of the Spirit’s presence is a desire that God will flow through us to bless and enrich others.
I am greatly concerned when people tell me they are Christians, but nothing ever flows from their lives that makes the unsaved thirsty to know God.
The presence of the Holy Spirit within us will be evidenced by a desire to let the world know that we have been changed by the power of God.
Paul tells us how we are to live in this world as believers in Philippians 2:15
That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
That verse tells us how we are to live in this world. We are to shine as bright lights in a dark world of sin. And that can only happen as we desire the Holy Spirit to flow through us.
As we allow the Holy Spirit to take us deeper and deeper into the person of Jesus Christ. The presence of God will flow more and more out of us. And others will know that we are a born-again believer.
Let me ask you again, do you know Jesus Christ in a personal way? Is the Holy Spirit living in your heart?
That is God’s purpose for you today.
He want to forgive you and give you the Holy Spirit, so He can send you back into the world to live differently than the world, so that the world will be thirsty for what we have.
Sing to be like Jesus
