How to Live a Christian Life
What we want is a 1,2,3 step process of WHAT TO DO
- Not how this works
Some of the most important things in life don’t come with instructions
- How to have a good marriage
- How to be a great parent
- How to be a good friend
You may say…
Well, we HAVE a book
Called THE BIBLE
The Bible is NOT a 1,2,3 Step guide on how to be the BEST CHRISTIAN
The Bible is the story of God’s redemptive activity through history leading to Jesus becoming the Final King
So while the Bible does not give us a 1,2,3 step guide, it does give a great perspective on something called:
PRIORITIES
Priority:
the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important.
The thing about priorities is…
- There are RIGHT priorities
- There are WRONG priorities
Your priorities are different from when you were a kid/teen/Young adult
- Financial priorities
- Health priorities
- Family priorities
Something we all know…
Knowing the Right Priorities Takes MATURITY
5 Priorities for the Christian Believer
Priority #1
1: Jesus OVER Everything
Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
Being a Christian is not:
- Something you are born into
- Just a “small part” of who you are
- Based on your location
Being a Christian means to literally “PUT JESUS OVER EVERYTHING” in your life
Over Everything means:
- Troubles
- Doubts
- Fears
- Success
- Failure
- Desires
- Family
- Job
- Health
- Literally Everything
When we place Jesus in His proper place of authority, we become MORE who we are meant to be…
- More fully human
- More Passion
- More Drive for the right things
- More Joy
Priority #2
2: God’s Kingdom OVER Earthly Kingdoms
Matthew 6:9-10
9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus preached:
“Repent, the kingdom of God is near…”
We always recognize that there is an ETERNAL KINGDOM in which we belong
- Everything we do is filtered through that
How we view our modern POLITICS
- America is NOT God’s kingdom
- No Gov. leader is the savior
- God is working things out in his time
- He uses the wicked and the good
- We take part, but it’s never OVER God’s kingdom
How we view our own:
- Success
- Struggles
- Place in the world
- Family
1 Peter 2:10-12
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. 12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
We have DIFFERENT PRIORITIES because we belong to a DIFFERENT KINGDOM
We value what God values
- We disregard what he disregards
Priority #3
3: Heart change OVER Behavior modification
Many of us were trained to ACT Christian vs BEING a follower of Jesus…
- Not a set of behaviors
- That’s what other religions do
- Something we believe with our WHOLE HEART
Being a Christian means that SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED
We should never “Train” people to act Christian
- We always point people to LIFE IN CHRIST
Romans 12:1-2
- 1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformedby the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Priority #4
4: Others OVER self
At the Core of every Good relationship is this…
- Willingness to sacrifice for the other
There are relationships that DRAIN you are people who constantly TAKE from you
Philippians 2
2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
Relational Humility Does NOT mean:
- We agree with everything someone says
- We encourage sin
- We are afraid to speak the truth in love
- Thinking low of yourself
Relational Humility DOES mean:
- Lifting others higher than yourself
- Serving those you would otherwise overlook
Priority #5
5: Life OVER Death
Being a Christian means:
We act like Jesus has CONQUERED DEATH
Jesus took the full hit of death so that all we experience is its shadow
- Its fangs have been removed
John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
We have our eyes set on something greater than now
- Greater that:
- Our Struggles
- Pains
- Frustrations
- Sin
- Worry
- Fear
We set our eyes on God’s future city
Hebrews 11
16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Let’s conclude with this truth…
Being a Christian means…
Romans 8
If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.