What Kind of Christian Are You ? (Part 2)

In my last article I posed the question, “Are we saints or sinners?”. My point was that the apostle Paul in particular taught that prior to coming to Christ for redemption we were sinners who habitually lived for ourselves at God’s expense.   However, after coming to Christ and being forgiven of our sins we are “Classified” by God as saints, not because we are now perfect but because we keep “Short Accounts” and refuse to live as we once did.  It is all about transformation!

I have always hated the old bumper stick that was developed back in the 80’s that stated, “Christians Aren’t Perfect Just Forgiven” because it implies Christians have a get out of hell card and are no different from non-Christians. Granted, the face value of the statement is true, Christians are not perfect yet forgiven is correct but they also have changed who is the lord of their lives and are attempting to live for God.  A non-Christian doesn’t understand that and only thinks Christians are hypocrites.

Paul’s declaration of believers being saints had a twofold purpose. First it establishes that believers in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice paid for our fogginess and should be transformative.  Paul spoke about this clearly in his letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21                                                                                                         

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You can’t get any clearer than this passage. We are reconciled to become brand new in what we live for and we are now on a mission to see other people set free from sin like ourselves and reconciled to God as well.

Now, if we are not forgiven of our sin and yet we claim to have Christ as our savior we are lying and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:6-7                                                                                                                                   

If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The apostle John put it very well that if we walk in “Darkness” meaning we are not living in the light of God’s forgiveness and yet claim to be Christians we are hypocrites. A hypocrite is one that “Pretends” to be something they are not.

Now there are different maturity of Christians. some are brand new to their faith and others have developed their faith by reading the scripture, praying, listing to God etc. The new Christians has not leveled these skills and habits for living and will in all probability stumble a lot depending on how immoral they were before coming to Christ. the point being that whether mature or immature a Christian has decided to trust God with their lives and are daily trying to figure out how to please God.

Romans 8:1-2                                                                                                                         

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 

Paul is saying that if you are “IN” Christ you should not feel condemned because you are trusting God has forgiven you and will change you. If, however, you are still living for yourself and using God as a cover up for your mistakes but not trusting him, you have every right to feel guilty because you are guilty.

So, “What Kind of Christian Are You?”  I would like us to consider that as a Christian we are called to be changed by our thinking and our thinking should be influenced in a major way because we read the scripture.

Romans 12:1-2                                                                                                               

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. [2] Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Our mind is the security system by which we evaluate how and why we live. If we continue to think the way we did before we experienced Christ’s forgiveness we will continue to make one mistake after another even though we want to live for Jesus.

This leads me to ask the question, “Why do Christians celebrate Halloween?  They do so in spite of the fact that it glorifies and celebrates evil. How can intelligent people be fooled by such a holiday? It is because their mind is not renewed to think biblically and they are ruled by their emotional Halloween “baggage” because they trick or treated as a kid and they want the same “Thrill & Delight” for their kids even though it honors evil. Remember what Paul said about Satan blinding people’s minds.

2 Corinthians 4:4                                                                                                                    

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 

2 Corinthians 11:14                                                                                                                  

For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 

You and I get to decide what kind of “Christian” we will be. We can be healthy and glorify God with our faith walk or we can stumble and fall regularly, which will cause un-believers, as well as believers, to doubt God existence. Many people will go to hell because of “Christians” who walk like unbelievers and discredit the sacrifice of Jesus through their unreformed lives. It’s time we recognize Satan’s lies and get into the scriptures to discover our true calling in Christ and live as over-comers rather than as the overcome.

Questions:

1) Are you living like a worldly Christian? Start reading Paul’s writing now.

2) Are you making excuses for causing unbelievers to doubt God’s love through your lifestyle? Ask God’s forgiveness and start equipping yourself to live like a child of God.

Matthew 22:29                                                                                                                   

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” 

Pastor Dale