“What Must I Do?” (Matthew 19:16-30) - Not a Fan III -

Two Flowers, Two Paths  

This morning I brought some flowers. Some are in the vase, and others are in the pot. They both are beautiful. They both have a nice fragrance. If we look at outward appearance, we can’t tell the difference. But there is a significant difference between the two. What is it? One is connected to the root, the source of life; the other is not. One is alive; the other is dead. 

A Rich Young Man

We have just heard a story about a rich young man. He is like a beautiful flower in a vase. He was a good man. He was a moral man. He was a rich man. In Jesus’ time the rich were believed to be rich because they were blessed by God. Besides, the rich had more time to study the Scriptures so as to better know God’s will. The rich also had more resources to give to the temple and to the poor. And people believed the rich would gain greater favor with God, a greater chance to get eternal life. The problem of the young rich man was not that he was rich. The problem was he was not poor in spirit. The problem was his spiritual pride and complacency. When this young rich man came to see Jesus, he had confidence. When Jesus told him to obey God’s commandments, he said, “I have kept all of these. What’s left?” Deep down in his heart there was pride: “I am good.” He was rejoicing in his own security based on his wealth, his good reputation, his morality, his charity works and good deeds, but not necessarily on God himself. He was trying to get eternal life through what he has and what he does. Jesus said, “With man this is impossible!” Although this man was seeking very hard, from Jesus’ point of view he didn’t hunger and thirst for God. His possessions gave him false security and made him think, “I am ok. I am good. I am enough.” So Jesus wanted to help him to remove that false security, but the man was not willing. He chose his own security rather than Jesus. And he went away sad, although he still had everything – his money and his status. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:2). Let me ask you, how hungry are you for God?

A Man Who Collects Pearls

The Bible tells us another parallel story. In Matthew 13:45-46 Jesus says, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” The man in this parable is like a flower in the pot, a tree planted by streams of water. Let me paraphrase this parable. There was a man who collected pearls. One day, while walking downtown, in a store window, he sees the most beautiful, magnificent pearl he has ever seen. He knows he must have it. He enters the store and an old man comes out from behind the showroom. “I must have that pearl. How much is it?” he asks the storekeeper. “How much do you have,” the old man asks. “Well, I’ve got $300 in my pocket.” “Good. I’ll take that. What else do you have?” “Well, I’ve got a BMW outside, low mileage, two years old, paid off.” “Good. I’ll take that as well. What else you got?” “Well, I’ve got two CD’s worth about $22,000.” “Good, I’ll take that too. What else you got?” This goes on and on until the guy has given away his house and even his family. Then finally the storekeeper says, “OK, here. The pearl is yours.” The man is relieved that the ordeal is at last over and that he finally owns the pearl. He turns to leave the store, but as he is walking out, the storekeeper stops him and says, “Hey, you know what? That family of yours? I don’t need a family. I’m going to give them back. But remember, they are mine now, not yours. You must take good care of them.” “And that house in Connecticut? I don’t need a house so I’m going to give it back to you. Although it does belong to me, I want you to take care of it. As for the stocks and bonds and that BMW, and even the $300—you can have it all back. But remember, it is mine. Take it. Use it wisely. Care for it for me.” So the man left with everything he had when he walked into the store—plus the pearl. But there was a big difference. He walked into the store owning everything he had. He walked out owning nothing. Instead, everything he had before was now a gift.[1]

The Exchanged Life

“We own nothing, Jesus owns everything.” This is the secret to eternal life. This is the secret to an abundant life. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, called this the “exchanged life” – I no longer live, but Christ lives in me! As his position became continually more and more responsible, Taylor got stressed out. He wrote, “I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for meditation––but all without avail. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness sin oppressed me.” When his agony of soul was at its height, God used a missionary friend, named John McCarthy, who wrote a letter that transformed Taylor’s life. It said, "But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One." Taylor said, “As I read, I saw it all! I looked to Jesus and saw, and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!”^[2] The Christian life is a life of abiding in Christ. It is complete dependence and surrender of our whole being to Jesus.

As long as we own something, we constantly swing back and forth between pride and insecurity, between “I am good” and “Am I good enough?” But when we abide in Christ, when we surrender everything to Jesus, true rest and joy flow, and we praise him, “Jesus, you are good. You are beautiful. You are enough!” Let us not strive nor struggle as the rich young man did. Instead, let us abide. Let us trust Jesus and rest in his love moment by moment. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing” (John 15:5, MSG). Amen.

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[1] Adapted from “Stewardship: Story about a Man Who Collects Pearls,” Luther Seminary, https://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship/default.aspx?m=6667&post=3827

[2] Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret (London: China Inland Mission, 1955), 110-116.

“Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9-13) - Not a Fan II -

Jesus Calling

If someone wants to be a pastor in the United Methodist Church, the Board of Ordained Ministry always asks the following two questions: (1) what is your conversion? And (2) how do you know if God has called you to ministry? These are two distinctive Christian experiences. In the Old Testament the word “converted” means “to turn back or return.” In the Bible the word convert is to return to what we were initially created to be. When we put our trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are converted. God gives us a new nature, a new heart. We are born again. But this is not all. God also give us a new purpose to life. God calls each of us to his kingdom ministry. Some people think that “call to ministry” is just for few chosen ones. But actually, God has a purpose for everyone. God has a unique mission and ministry for each one of us.

I shared my conversion several times in different occasions. It happened when I was in the army. I fell ill with an endemic disease, called “Dengue Fever,” in East Timor, and I had a near death experience. At the valley of death I repented my sin and surrendered my life to Christ. Miraculously, I was completely healed. I was converted. I knew I had a new nature. I knew I had assurance of pardon. But once I went back to college, I was still not sure what God’s plans for my life were. I kind of wanted to have my cake and eat it at the same time. I wanted to have a decent job and salary and do some church work. I wanted to have a little of Jesus but at the same time I also wanted to have my own areas that I can make decisions. I pursued “moderation.” At that time I felt like I was sitting on the fence. I didn’t feel satisfied. I didn’t know what to do. Around that time I attended a youth Bible camp as one of the teachers. At the end of the evening service there was a corporate prayer time. I was praying for my group students. I prayed that they might encounter Christ and discover God’s plans for their lives. While I was praying, I heard the inner voice of Jesus calling, saying, “My son, I want you. I want you to follow me.” That night I gave Jesus Christ the master key of my heart.

“At the Tax Collector’s Booth”

Jesus meets us where we are and calls us to follow him. Jesus meets us in our mess and then begins the process of change. In today’s passage there was a man named Matthew who was suffering from a bad reputation. As a tax collector, Matthew was rich, but he was absolutely despised and considered outcast. No one wanted to associate with him. I want to draw your attention how and where Jesus met this man. Verse 9 says, “… he (Jesus) saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.” Jesus didn’t meet Matthew at the synagogue. Jesus didn’t meet him at the prayer closet. But Jesus did meet Matthew right where he was – “at the tax collector’s booth.” Many biblical scholars say that Matthew’s conversion was not some kind of miraculous summons that suddenly changed him from a racketeer into a saint. Matthew had heard of Jesus long before He challenged him to follow Him. He had heard Jesus’ gracious words and had seen His mighty works. Matthew was being moved. A change was taking place. He began to loathe his business in life. He began to ponder his purpose in life. Matthew was greatly distressed. He wanted to change his life. He wanted to run away, but he couldn’t go anywhere because he didn’t know which way to go. He didn’t know what to do. He felt like his life was a treadmill set at a pace that he couldn’t control. He just kept going. One day Jesus came and stood before his desk at tax office and said, “Follow me!” Jesus didn’t condemn Matthew. Instead, Jesus did meet Matthew in his mess and call him to follow Him. And Matthew followed. Have you met Jesus in your mess? Have you heard Jesus calling? Have you responded to His calling? How do you live out your calling?

What Separates Real from Fake

In today’s passage there are two groups of people who were following Jesus. The first group of people was those receiving Jesus’ love and rejoicing in it. They repented and believed Jesus. They ate with Jesus and followed him. They were tax collectors, prostitutes, and “sinners.” The second group of people was those rejecting Jesus’ love and calling because they considered themselves righteous and healthy. They didn’t need a savior. They didn’t need a doctor. They were Pharisees, religious leaders, and coddle insiders. They thought they were following Jesus. Yes, they were being around Jesus, but they were not following his ways and his words. In Matthew 23 Jesus rebuked teachers of the law and Pharisees. He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (v. 37). They rejected Jesus and his love.

On the Day of the Lord many will say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then Jesus will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away form me, you evildoers!” (Matt 7:22-23) Pharisees and religious leaders did lots of God’s works, lots of good works. But Jesus said to them, “Away from me, you evildoers!” From what Jesus said here we can learn one very important truth. It’s not how much we do. What separates real from fake is “love.” If we have a great faith, if we give all we have to the poor and sacrifice ourselves for others, but have not love, we are nothing! My father-in-law is a Presbyterian pastor in Korea. Once my mother-in-law shared her testimony with me. After they planted a church, by the grace of God the church grew in numbers and experienced revival. But then, a time of great tribulation came to their lives. One pastor, who was invited as a guest speaker during the church retreat, stirred up divisions in the church and took many church members with him. To make things worse, that pastor and the followers spread a vicious rumor, saying “We are the real followers of Jesus, and those remaining in the church were fake.” The church was falling apart. My mother-in-law was crushed in soul, and prayed to God: “Lord, am I really fake?” Then, God showed her two visions. In the first vision, two eagles appeared. One was a young and strong eagle, and the other was an old and weak one. Both of them flew up into the sky. The young eagle flew high, but the old eagle barely flew. But, after a while, the young eagle suddenly fell to the ground. Actually, it was a wind-up eagle, and then the voice said to her, "When the time comes, you’ll know what is real and what is fake.” In the second vision, two doves appeared. Both of them looked exactly the same. One of them kept approaching the other and trying to hug, but the other one kept rejecting and avoiding. And finally he fled away. Then, the voice said to her, “What separates real from fake is love.”

Life with Love

Love. By love people will know we are followers of Jesus. This love is agape love, different from other loves. The Bible says even those who are evil know how to give good gifts to their children (Matt 7:11). It’s rather easy to do good things to our family and friends. But agape love, Christ-like love, is different. It is to love the unlovable. It is to bless those who curse us and pray for those give us a hard time. It is to lay down our lives for those who hate us. We do not have this agape love in us. But when we experience Jesus’ love first, then and only then can we love others as Jesus loved us.

Recently I have read the story of Mother Antonia. She was a blond Beverly Hills socialite. She married twice, divorced twice, and the mother of seven. But when she was 44, her life was transformed. She heard Jesus calling, “follow me.” She followed. She sensed God’s call to serve the forgotten prisoners. She went to notorious La Mesa prison which contains six thousand of Mexico’s worst criminals. Mother Antonia voluntarily took up residence at La Mesa. She has lived in the tiny cell for more than thirty years alongside her inmates. She spends her time praying with them, counseling them, and ensuring they have medicine and clean water. Although La Mesa prison experienced remarkable transformation, it remained a very dangerous place. In September 2008 a riot broke out in the prison when she was not inside. The prisoners had taken hostages, fires had been started, and bullets were flying everywhere. The 82 year old Mother Antonia pleaded with the police, “Let me go in. I love the men there.” They let her enter. She found the leader and begged him to end the riot, saying, “It’s not right that you’re locked up here, hungry and thirsty. We can take care of those things, but this isn’t the way to do it. I will help you make it better. But first you have to give me the guns. I beg you to put down your weapons.” The leader replied, “Mother, as soon as we heard your voice we dropped the guns out of the window.”[1]

The love of Christ transforms us. Jesus invites “anyone.” Anyone is welcome to follow him. Anyone. Sexual past? Anyone. Ex-con? Anyone. Inmate? Anyone. Recently divorced? Anyone. Legalist? Anyone. Alcoholic? Anyone. Addict? Anyone. Hypocrite? Anyone. Matthew heard Jesus calling. And he became a follower. Years later, as he was writing the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew humbly shares his own story with us how Jesus found him and changed him. He once was cheating his own people as a tax collector, but later with love he laid down his life for those who persecuted him in Ethiopia. And now Jesus is calling you. Are you listening?

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[1] Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011) 159.

“Fan or Follower” (Luke 9:18-25) - Not a Fan I -

D.T.R.

Fan or Follower? How do you define your relationship with Jesus? Who do you say Jesus is? Every semester Scot McKnight, professor of religious studies at North Park College in Chicago, gives his students a test on the first day of his Jesus class. He gives 24 questions about what the students think Jesus is like. Is he moody? Does he get nervous? Is he the life of the party or an introvert? Those questions are then followed by a second set— with slightly altered language—in which the students answer questions about their own personalities. And the results are remarkably consistent: everyone thinks Jesus is just like them. McKnight said, “The test result suggests that even though we like to think we are becoming more like Jesus, the reverse is probably more the case: we try to make Jesus like ourselves.”[1]

What do you think Jesus is like? Some said, “Elijah,” because they wanted to have miraculous signs and wonders in their lives. Some said, “John the Baptist,” because they wanted to have some kind of fresh start and spiritual renewal in their lives. How about you? Who do you say Jesus is? Over the next several weeks I want all of us to have a DTR talk with Jesus and find out where we stand with Jesus. In the Bible there are two kinds of groups who were with Jesus: the first group of people is called, “fans,” and the second group is called “followers.” Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word, “fan” in this way: “an enthusiastic devotee usually as a spectator,” or “an ardent admirer or enthusiast.”

Life FROM God

Then, who are fans of Jesus in the Bible? Skye Jethani gives us a good insight and defines relationships with Jesus by using different prepositions. The first group of fans is the people who live “from” God. Right before today’s passage Jesus feeds the five thousand. After this, in John 6 large crowds continue to follow him, go before him and wait for him on the other said of the lake. Jesus says to them, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (26). Then, Jesus says, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (53). He challenges the fans to a deeper, more intimate relationship with him. Guess what? In verse 66 the Bible says, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” The fans who have a Life From God posture view God as a divine butler or a holy vending machine to dispense their desires. They want God’s blessings and gifts, but they are not particularly interested in God himself. God is a means to an end. This view is so appealing because it doesn’t ask us to change anything. We become the center of the universe and expect God to orbit around us. So, when Jesus challenges us to define the relationship, we go home. When pain comes, when healing doesn’t come, we turn away from God.

Life UNDER God

The second group of fans is the people who live “under” God. In the Bible the teachers of the law and the Pharisees fall under this category. They saw God as an angry righteous judge. They put God in a box, labeled “cause-and-effect”: We obey God’s commands and God blesses our lives, our families, our nation. On the surface, a Life under God posture looks devout, religious, humble and moral. But ironically, we seek to control God by keeping religious rituals and morality. Through our righteous behavior and our worship, we put God into our debt and expect him to do our bidding. Many Christians are told if we obey God’s commands, if we attend the church service regularly, give financially to the church, and abstain from immorality, then God will bless our lives. Cause and effect. One Christian leader made the following statement after the 9/11 attacks: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen.””[2] These kinds of judgments happen when we believe that living under God should be the essence of Christian faith. But the limitation of the Life under God posture is that they can only see external behaviors –following rituals and obeying commands – but they cannot look into a person’s heart. Pharisees did all kinds of good religious things, but inside they were filled with hatred, greed, pride, lust, and deceit. That is why Jesus said to them, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men” (Matt 15:8-9).

Life FOR God

The third group of fans is the people who live “for” God. You may wonder what is wrong with living for God. Of course, there is nothing wrong with serving God. But the problem comes when we find our identity and worth in serving or obedience. Our obedience becomes our self-righteousness. It becomes bitterness, resentfulness and anger toward God and people. For example, in Luke 10 Martha invites Jesus and his disciples. She welcomes them, serves them, and cooks for them. But while she is preparing a meal, Martha is getting upset and angry. Finally, she interprets Jesus with the question. “Don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” Martha found her worth in serving. Her service became self-righteousness. “I did something for Jesus. I fed Jesus and his disciples. What about my sister Mary? She is doing nothing! What about Jesus? Is he aware of what I am doing for him?” So Martha got angry at Jesus and her sister Mary. Many Christians fall into this trap. One study reveals that every month about fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry because of conflict, burnout, or moral failure. They start with passion for God, but when they fail to have a sense of significance or reward, they quit the ministry.[3]

Life WITH God

So far, we have explored three groups of Jesus’ fans: life from God, under God and for God. In fact, these three postures are not all bad. But they are “incomplete.” If these three postures become the entirety of how we relate to God, the most important is missing. God didn’t just make us to receive good things (Life from God). God didn’t just make us to keep a list of rules to follow (Life under God). God didn’t just make us to accomplish a mission (Life for God). Rather God himself came to be with us. Immanuel, “God with us.” The purpose of our life is to live life with God more than life from God, under God or for God. I have spent time living in each one of these categories. Our life is a journey to learn to live Life with God.

Our sin has separated us from God. But God sent Jesus, Immanuel. Jesus took the penalty for our sin on himself. He died my death. Jesus opened the way to live with God forever. So, a follower of Jesus is a person who trusts in what Jesus has done and by faith lives life with Jesus. The follower dines with Jesus, talks with Jesus, walks with Jesus, watches TV with Jesus, reads the paper with Jesus, and sleeps with Jesus. In today’s passage, Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, be killed and then be raised to life” (22). If we are followers of Jesus, we also must go along the same path that Jesus walked. We must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Jesus (23). A follower goes wherever Jesus goes. I think the Apostle Paul can be a good example of what it means to be a follower. At first, he lived life under God and for God. He kept all God’s law and persecuted the church as a service to God. But he was restless, tired, angry, and resentful. But then he encountered Jesus. Since then Paul lived life with Jesus. In prison Paul wrote to Philippian church, saying, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (3:8). Here the word “know” doesn’t mean an intellectual knowledge about someone, but it is an intimate and experiential knowledge. In prison every night Paul did sing and dance with joy while nothing was accomplishing tangibly for God. Fans know about Jesus, but followers know Jesus. Fans rejoice in Jesus’ gifts, but followers rejoice in Jesus himself.

Fan or Follower

All of us in this room are invited to live as followers of Jesus. We are invited to live life with Jesus, ongoing communion with him. In the 1980s the CBS anchor interviewed Mother Teresa. He asked, “When you pray, what do you say to God?” “I don’t say anything,” she replied. “I listen.” “Okay,” the anchor asked a follow-up question, “When God speaks to you, then, what does he say?” “He doesn’t say anything. He listens.” The anchor was baffled. Mother Teresa added, “And if you don’t understand that, I can’t explain it to you.”[4] By definition, a follower is always with Jesus and listening to him. Are you a follower? Are you listening to Jesus? Do you believe Jesus is also listening to you all the time? Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

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[1] Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 61.

[2] Jerry Falwell quoted in “Falwell apologizes to gays, feminists, lesbians,” CNN , September 14, 2001, http://archives.lesbians.cnn.com/2001/US/19/14/Falwell.apology.html

[3] Skye Jethani, 91.

[4] Ibid., 114.

“Marks of a Christian” (Gal 5:16-26)

Marks of a Christian??

If you are asked by someone “What are the marks of a Christian?” what would be your answer? One research found that 5 out of 6 young non-Christians say they know a Christian personally, but only 1 in 6 say the lifestyles of those believers are noticeably different in a good way.[1] The word “Christian” literally means, “belonging to the party of Christ” or a “follower of Christ.” But, what does it really mean to be a Christian? What are the marks of a Christian? There are at least two infallible marks to see whether we are true Christians.

Transformed Will and Affections

The first mark of a Christian is transformed wills and affections. Suppose you have a pig. You give him a bath. You polish his hoofs. You put a beautiful ribbon around him. You sprinkle nice perfume on him. Now he smells good and looks good. Everybody says, “How nice! I’ve never seen such a lovely pig!” You open the door and let the pig out. Where does he go? He directly goes back to the mud-hole, because his nature has never been changed. He’s still a pig. You can take a man, dress him up on Sunday morning. He sits down in the church. He smiles and beams all over. After the service, he walks out, shakes hands with the minister, smiles and says, “It was a wonderful service.” Then, he goes back and practices the same old sins, because his nature has never been changed.[2]

That’s why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again!” Nicodemus was a good man, a good Pharisee. He was an honorable, respected and conscientious man. But he felt something was missing in his life. He thought if he knows God’s law a little bit better, it would be ok. He thought if he becomes a little bit better person by keeping the law, he would have eternal life, more satisfying and abundant life. But it didn’t work. So he came to see Jesus. The very first thing Jesus said to him was, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again!” All of our efforts – leading a moral life and doing good works – are no use unless we are born again. Self-help is no use, because it cannot change our nature. Jesus says there is only one way to enter the kingdom. We must be born again, born from above, born of the Spirit! To be a better person is not enough. We must be a new person in Christ. We must have a new nature.

Then, how do we have a new nature? The Bible says when we come to believe in Jesus Christ, we have transformed will and affections. For the first time our most inner being is transformed and delights the law of God. Here are two important questions to examine whether we are born again: “Do I love and desire and do what God loves? Do I hate and avoid what is evil?” In natural state of human beings we do what is right in our own eyes (Judges 21:25). We love sin because it fulfills the desires of our sinful nature. But, when we are born again, we have transformed will and affections. We are dead to sin. We are dead to self. We crucify our sinful nature. We hate sin. We forsake sin. We don’t desire and do sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, discord, dissensions, factions and the like. Rather, we love Christ. We obey Christ, not from fear, nor from a sense of obligation, but from love. After he was born again, Charles Wesley said, “I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear, a sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near.” Are you born again? Are you transformed?

Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

The second mark of a Christian is to grow in grace and bear the fruit of the Spirit. From the moment we come to believe in Christ we are grafted into the vine. We have new life. We have a new nature. We begin to grow. Then, what does it mean to grow in the faith of Jesus Christ? It means to follow in Jesus’ steps. We grow when we follow Christ. Twenty times in the New Testament, Jesus issued a challenging invitation to follow him. He was not interested in mere “fans” who admired him with enthusiasm. He wanted “followers” who wanted to grow in him. In his book Not A Fan, Kyle Idleman compares and contrasts fans and followers as follows:

Fans love rules; Followers love Jesus.

Fans glorify themselves; Followers die to themselves.

Fans settle; Followers sacrifice.

Fans create outcasts; Followers create followers.

As we follow Christ, we grow to be more like Christ. We love God. We sacrifice for others. We reproduce followers of Jesus Christ. Above all else, we bear much fruit. What fruit? Galatians 5:22-23 gives us the fruit of the Spirit which are definite marks of a Christian: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can’t tell whether we are Christians by our outward appearance or activity that we are doing. But we do know by the fruit. Jesus said, “By their fruit you will know them!” (Matt 7:20) So the question we must ask ourselves is not, “Am I doing such and such good things?” Instead, we are called to look at our lives and ask, “Am I more loving? Am I more joyful? Am I more peaceful? Am I more patient? Am I more like Christ than I was a year ago?” Are you growing in grace? Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit? If you are not growing spiritually, if you are not fruit-bearing, it may be that you have never been grafted into the vine and the nature of God. You had better check to be sure.

Are You a Christian?

In church history followers of Jesus Christ were first called “Christians” in Antioch (Acts 11:26). They didn’t call themselves Christians. But people around them called Christians, because their behavior, their attitude, their speech and their lives were like Christ. They were filled, controlled, and empowered by the Spirit of Jesus.

Are you a Christian? Are you born again? Are you transformed? Are you growing? Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit? Are you sure? This morning I commend you to present yourself, your life to Christ and receive him as your Lord and Savior. If Jesus is already your Lord, commit yourself to obey him, follow him, and grow in his grace. My prayer is that all of us in this room may bear much fruit, the fruit of the Sprit, and people around us may notice it and call us “Jesus freaks,” so that our heavenly Father will be glorified through our lives. Amen.

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[1] “Test Yourself: Are You More Like Jesus or More Like the Pharisees?” https://theway21stcentury.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/test-yourself-are-you-more-like-jesus-or-more-like-the-pharisees

[2] Illustration adapted from Billy Graham’s sermon, “The Marks of a Christian” (Oct 14, 1957), Christianity Today (Oct 28, 2008), http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/octoberweb-only/144-28.0.html