Kingdom Community
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How We Act Should be Appealing
How We Act Should be Appealing
How we act should define who we are.
I want some descriptions of your best friends:
Kind, Funny, Caring.
Why are they these ways? Well they most likely have acted Kind, they said something funny or they cared for you once.
Their actions are exactly how they showed they are those descriptors.
If they called you mean names, never helped you our, or did not want to spend time with you, they probably would not be your friend but you would use different works to call them who they are.
See we as Christians are defined the same way, just like how we define a friend:
If we say friends are kind and caring and funny.
and our friends do not act in those ways, then we start to realize that they may not be our friends.
If we say Christians are Kind, Loving and Caring
and we act selfish, prideful and boastful
Then can we call ourselves Christian?
Well yes and no,
We still follow Jesus and so YES, but we need to realize we are not the best example of a Christian, even more is that if you do not work towards becoming better in these things then you start to drift further away from being who God wants you to be and the worlds definition of what a Christian is.
We have all seen Christians name dragged through the mud by some people acting or speaking in a certain way that makes others
However The Apostle Paul gives us the examples of how to act as Christians,
This list I am about to read to you should be the definition of what a Christian is but right after the sentence of Christ follower:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
So that should be our first look, that when we are hanging out in public people would know we are Christians because we hav: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,
That should be the running definition that if I were to look at each of you and with out you talking about Jesus I would know you are Christian because the way you follow these fruit of the spirit.
These are the ways that make our interactions with others os much more valuable.
If we act in these ways we become more of what God wants us to be and less of what the world is. This is how we show others the community of Jesus, that if we act in these ways to each other then others will take notice, however if we act in these ways to people who don’t know God then we show that we are not just a exclusive club.
When we meet people that do not know Jesus we really have to show them what it means to be a Jesus follower by the way that we act. If we act in these ways that shows them that Jesus is not a God who is agressive or selfish but is a God who is loving.
The way we show others Christ is by living like Christ, it’s the example that we want, the role model.
When Paul tells us to be like Christ we are to take up the fruit of the spirit in our daily lives and live this way out in the world. That when other people look at us they would see that we are Christians by the way we act.
We need to act a little more like Jesus,
in these ways:
Like he did to others on his ministry journey
eating with the less than people
speaking with outsiders
loving those who society deemed unloveable
Praying with full energy
To God
for others
Seeking Kingdom ways
Forgiveness
building of God’s way
social justice
There is a lot more but these are just some ideas, take the 4 gospels and read through them and there is your image of what a Christian should be like.
Paul says we need to:
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children
that we:
Imago Dei
That we are the image of God. So we must represent the image of God in the way we live.
When it comes to other people in this would that do not believe in Christ, we are supposed to be the Imago Dei so that they would see Jesus through us.
This week I want to challenge you to pray for someone else. Since you are imitating Jesus, just as he did for Lazarus:
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Jesus prays for Lazarus in his needs so that him but even more the people around him would see the Glory of God.
If we want our community based around God to be perceived by others in a good light we have to be Christians in the way we act and in the things we do.
If we want our community based around God to be invitational we have to model Jesus
If we want others to experience the Glory of God we have to pray for them.
So this week I want you to take this passage of Lazarus, that Jesus would pray for him to come back to life so that everyone would see God’s glory and move to praying for someone in their need.
So I want to challenge you to pray for someone this week in front of them:
For someones test
For a injury
Trouble at home
Problems with Friends
Sickness
Anything
Pray for another person this week and be an imitation of who Jesus is for another person.
Which fruit of the spirit do you know you are good at?
Which fruit of the spirit do you need work at?
What are some ways we can imitate Christ? (Think examples from the gospels)
Who can you pray for this week? (people at youth don’t count this time)