To Be a Real Christian
Acts 26:28
DATE: 2 Jan 2005 AM PLACE: BBC Ballincollig
I. Introduction (1Peter 2:21)
A. We have the best message folks – the Gospel message – the Good News that Jesus saves, secures, and satisfies, every minute of every day!
B. But that message gets muddled up with our sometimes “limited view” of just what it is that we have
C. Sometimes, we need to take a step back and see the big picture – that picture is wrapped up in the full life of just one Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ
1. His death on that cross was the culmination of a perfect LIFE
2. That LIFE is given to us in the Bible as an example – as OUR example, even in 2005.
3. Jesus says about Himself in John 14:6, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and bless your soul, the LIFE!”
4. If there is anything this world needs today, it is the example of the LIFE of Christ
5. The Life of Christ is THE best example for:
a. Struggling teenagers
b. Frustrated housewives
c. Angry workers
d. Disheartened believers
e. Lost sinners
6. It was THAT life, transferred into the life of a few stumbling fishermen, tax collectors, and carpenters that propelled them throughout the world preaching and challenging the world to follow ONE life - Jesus Christ’s!
D. I want to introduce to you all this morning a goal – my goal, and the goal of this church now for 2005 – TO BE LIKE Jesus – Theme verse is Acts 26:28
1. Sounds so trite and cliché-ish – but it is the most important goal you will ever strive for
2. And believe me, more people have missed that goal than can be numbered
3. It will be the roughest battle ground to fight in
a. Not because we will be dealing with sins in our lives, no…
b. It will be rough because it will be challenging the very roots of our character – our old habits – our old nature – our old ways
E. With this goal in view, I want to focus on twelve areas of Christ-like-ness over the next twelve months
1. You heard me – a whole year
2. Intensely focusing our studies throughout each month on one aspect of the life of Jesus Christ
3. It is so that we can work at trading in our OLD, flawed ways of living, and replacing them with Christ’s awesome way of doing things
4. Jesus promised us “life, and that more abundant” but I doubt many experience that kind of abundant life very often, and for very long
F. Notice Gal 4:19
1. Paul had preached the Bible to the people of the area in Turkey called Galatia, and won many of the people there to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2. But after many years, they were still Galatians, still in too many ways, just like they always had been, and were in danger of being ruined with false doctrines and false goals in their lives because they had ONLY gotten saved, but never changed
G. The same thing occurred in Corinth – yes, they were saved, but never grew up (1Cor 3:1-3) – the Corinthians were still simply Corinthians.
H. Contrast that with the believers in Antioch (Acts 11:26)!
II. Message
A. The Problem with the Old Me – the original me
1. Born wrong – wired wrong
2. Listen to the character traits of us before a person gets born again
a. Blasphemous
b. Boastful
c. Covetous
d. Greedy
e. Deceitful – always lying – pathological liars
f. Disobedient
g. Envious
h. Fearful
i. Fierce – not just angry but vicious
j. Forgetting God – rarely in the thoughts
k. Hypocritical
l. Lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God
m. Lustful
n. Self-righteous
o. Proud
p. Unmerciful
q. Unruly
r. Unthankful
3. No matter how you looked at me, before conversion, we are all as an unclean thing Isaiah says – like filthy rags
4. Psalms 14 says there is nothing good in us – nothing at all – we are sinners and therefore eternally separated from God – and no matter how hard we try, we will never be good enough for heaven
B. The Person of the New Me – is Jesus Christ – full-stop!
1. What is it that makes a person a Christian?
a. Their church?
b. The way they dress
c. The country they are born in?
d. The parents belief – what the parents believe surely makes their children the same? Right?
2. None of the above
3. What makes a person a Christian, as opposed to a Muslim, or a Buddhist is CHRIST Jesus. It is when a PERSON named Jesus MOVES into your life (John 1:11,12)
4. So, if a person is saved, born again, what is lacking? Why do they still struggle with so many sins and temptations, and failures?
a. Simply, it is because they may only have gotten hell insurance
b. What so many people reject is the concept that Christianity comes as a package deal!
c. And that, THAT package needs to replace all the awful bits in me
C. The Package called Christianity (Acts 26:28)
1. Christianity is More than just being saved, or putting on a good act
a. Agrippa knew Paul wasn’t just asking him to repent and believe on Jesus as his Saviour
b. Agrippa knew that he was being challenged to trade-in his old life for a completely NEW one
c. I call it a LIFE transfusion
d. We know how important a blood transfusion can be – mean the difference between life and death
e. More important is the replacement of the OLD me with a NEW me
2. Christianity is a life – we would say, a lifestyle – a way of living
a. Jesus taught us how to pray – how to live a life of praying about everything
b. Jesus taught us about a life of loving people, not fighting them
c. Jesus conquered the whole world so that we would never live defeated again
d. Jesus taught us how to not sin, and how to kick the teeth in of the devil
e. Jesus taught us how to trust God for every thing in our life
f. Jesus taught us how to live – how to be truly normal, in God’s eyes
g. And, Jesus taught us how to die – in victory, and in confidence that heaven is the only thing greater than being a Christian down here (Philp 1:21)
D. The Counterfeits that the Devil Offers.
1. Religion – segregated from real life
a. Lots of ceremonies and traditions
b. But no real life
c. Yet so many are locked in a religion’s grasp
2. Good works – best efforts
a. Convinces people into thinking that they just need to work harder at being good and they will make it into heaven
b. Yet the devil conveniently hides the fact that we can never be good enough for God’s heaven
3. Right beliefs
a. The devil is behind so many religions and beliefs systems
b. The number of books on all the religions and viewpoints
c. Satan doesn’t care what you believe as long as you just don’t trust in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ
4. Lots of praying
a. Praying is no substitute for a godly life
b. There are older people who pray constantly the rosary
c. But they have no hope of heaven
d. They have no personal, real, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ
5. Big, beautiful and ornate cathedrals and temples
E. The Challenge in 2005 – to really BE Christian
1. Paul challenges every believer so powerfully in Ephesians 4:11-15 with the following goals:
a. For all of us to have one faith – one confidence
1) Too many times people rely on their accomplishments, or on their own wisdom, or on their own persona
2) For others, there is a constant giving up because of all the past failures
3) We need ONE faith folks – not the catholic faith, but the faith of the Son of God (Gal 2:20)
b. For us to personally, intimately KNOW Jesus, the Son of God
c. For us to become as “one man” – that’s us – a perfect man
d. That our lives would “measure up” to the perfection of the life of Christ
e. That we from now on would not be babies, tossed back and forth
f. But that we would firmly, steadfastly, confidently know, believe and speak the truth in love
g. Here is the summary: That we may be grown up, like Jesus – notice: IN ALL THINGS!
2. To be Christian means to be Christ-like - In twelve areas BEYOND salvation
a. In Our Purpose – our aim, objective, goal, target, end, calling
b. In Being Spirit Filled – not just dabbling in spiritual things
c. In Prayer – constantly dependant upon the all-sufficient God
d. In Soul-Winning – a natural, active part of Christ’s daily life
e. In Attitude – Jesus always had the BEST attitude, even when dealing with the Pharisees and problems
f. In Relationships – He had right interactions with people
g. In Labour – Jesus was hard working – zealous of good
h. In Serving – Jesus always did things for others – a way of life – the way of the CHRISTIAN life
i. In Consistency– Jesus was unmoveable, steadfast in life
j. In Courage – Jesus had a Confidence that we all could use a good dose of
k. In Success and Victory – Jesus won every battle He faced and demonstrated each time how to win each of our battles!
l. In Suffering – Jesus did not only have great days, but faced hardship and heart-break. It is imperative that we learn how to struggle and especially suffer like Christ did
3. If we want to be Christian, those are the areas we are going to have to have LIFE transfusions in – complete replacements for our old habits and ways of living
III. Conclusion/Application
A. Sometimes, we need to take a step back and see the big picture – that picture is wrapped up in the full life of just one Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ
1. His death on that cross was the culmination of a perfect LIFE
2. That LIFE is given to us in the Bible as an example – as OUR example, even in 2005.
3. Jesus says about Himself in John 14:6, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and bless your soul, the LIFE!”
4. If there is anything this world needs today, it is the example of the LIFE of Christ
B. That’s why the goal of this church for 2005 is TO BE LIKE Jesus
C. With this goal in view, we will focus our Sundays on studying twelve vital areas of Christ-like-ness over the next twelve months
1. Intensely focusing our studies throughout each month on one aspect of the life of Jesus Christ
2. It is so that we can work at trading in our OLD, flawed ways of living, and replacing them with Christ’s awesome way of doing things
3. I call it, having a LIFE Transfusion
4. Jesus promised us “life, and that more abundant” but I doubt many experience that kind of abundant life very often, and for very long
D. It all begins with the new birth (John 3:3)
E. But believe me, that is only the beginning – from that moment on, for the believer, there is a whole new life to start living, and we need to get beyond all the stumbling and failures, and get to living it!
Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church
Ireland