GUIDED BY AUTHENTICITY
Quote from Forum Archives on June 29, 2009, 11:05 amPosted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
Note: This message is from the Bunker Hill Community Worship Service where I was one of three different speakers addressing the topic "Guidelines for Christian Living."
GUIDED BY AUTHENTICITY
June 28, 2009
TEXT: James 1:19-27
Good morning. I am glad that you have come to be a part of the community worship service this morning. As we face challenges that keep looming before us, our communities, state, nation, and world need to know that Christians are united in the mission and purpose of spreading the light of Gods righteousness, compassion, and salvation into a world darkened by sin. This is not the work of any individual church, but the work of all the churches that together form the gathered Church of Jesus Christ.
I especially want to welcome anyone here this morning who does not regularly attend, or perhaps does not attend at all, one of the three churches represented here or any other church. We are glad that you are joining us in worship this morning. I also want to let you know that my part of the message does not apply to you. You get a break. Maybe there is something you can learn from it, but the application is directed toward those who are in attendance in church.
I sometimes hear comments that cause a Christians heart to weep. One that has always affected me deeply is being told by someone that they dont attend such-and-such church because so-and-so goes there. In other words, someone confessing Christ may not be living his or her testimony. Now I know that the comments may be part of a grudge, but I dont have time to go into all the factors that can arise. Therefore, Ill get right to the heart of the matter. No matter which church we were in when you accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, we all committed to make Jesus our Lord. We accepted Him as our Master and offered to be His servant. How can any of us dare to turn around and cause someone else to stumble because of our failure to be the servant we said we would be?
James pointedly tells his Christian audience, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. As we take a look this morning at guidelines for Christian living, we must recognize the importance of authenticity. Failure to be authentic in the faith means that we engage in hypocrisy. Throughout the gospels, Jesus directed some strong words toward those who taught one way and lived another. To make matters worse, the hypocrisy that Jesus condemned was perpetuated by religious folks. They were supposed to be the very people bringing people to God; instead, their willful failure to live in accordance with Gods will was keeping people away from God. I do not want to be counted as that person who kept another from experiencing the saving love of our Lord. Do not merely listen to the word Do what it says.
James continues: If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. It does not matter if we are reading the words of Jesus or of one of the apostles like James, the Christian message is clear: it is the responsibility of each and every Christian to obey Jesus twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Christian living means that we are guided by authenticity all the time. This is not a part time job. Yes, it can be a tough job, but it is not an optional job. If we do not measure our words, attitudes, and actions carefully, and by that I mean submit them first to Jesus, then we very well may be the reason another uses to stay away from church. Like I said, I dont want to be the one to do that because I do not want to cause someone else to stumble. I want to make sure that I am doing everything I can to help, not hinder, another persons relationship with the Lord.
At no time in my life have these words from James rung truer. We are seeing an age develop in which ungodly men and women want nothing more than to see Christs Church and the Christian faith dismantled and destroyed. We are seeing an age develop in which the message of truth, love, and salvation is needed more than ever. We must stop helping the ungodly succeed at their mission, and we must seek to be the willing instruments that God uses to fulfill His mission and build His kingdom. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it he will be blessed in what he does. The first guideline for Christian living is to be guided by authenticity.
Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
PO Box 515
179 W. Broadway
Bunker Hill, IN 46914
765-689-7987
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Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
GUIDED BY AUTHENTICITY
June 28, 2009
TEXT: James 1:19-27
Good morning. I am glad that you have come to be a part of the community worship service this morning. As we face challenges that keep looming before us, our communities, state, nation, and world need to know that Christians are united in the mission and purpose of spreading the light of Gods righteousness, compassion, and salvation into a world darkened by sin. This is not the work of any individual church, but the work of all the churches that together form the gathered Church of Jesus Christ.
I especially want to welcome anyone here this morning who does not regularly attend, or perhaps does not attend at all, one of the three churches represented here or any other church. We are glad that you are joining us in worship this morning. I also want to let you know that my part of the message does not apply to you. You get a break. Maybe there is something you can learn from it, but the application is directed toward those who are in attendance in church.
I sometimes hear comments that cause a Christians heart to weep. One that has always affected me deeply is being told by someone that they dont attend such-and-such church because so-and-so goes there. In other words, someone confessing Christ may not be living his or her testimony. Now I know that the comments may be part of a grudge, but I dont have time to go into all the factors that can arise. Therefore, Ill get right to the heart of the matter. No matter which church we were in when you accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, we all committed to make Jesus our Lord. We accepted Him as our Master and offered to be His servant. How can any of us dare to turn around and cause someone else to stumble because of our failure to be the servant we said we would be?
James pointedly tells his Christian audience, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. As we take a look this morning at guidelines for Christian living, we must recognize the importance of authenticity. Failure to be authentic in the faith means that we engage in hypocrisy. Throughout the gospels, Jesus directed some strong words toward those who taught one way and lived another. To make matters worse, the hypocrisy that Jesus condemned was perpetuated by religious folks. They were supposed to be the very people bringing people to God; instead, their willful failure to live in accordance with Gods will was keeping people away from God. I do not want to be counted as that person who kept another from experiencing the saving love of our Lord. Do not merely listen to the word Do what it says.
James continues: If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. It does not matter if we are reading the words of Jesus or of one of the apostles like James, the Christian message is clear: it is the responsibility of each and every Christian to obey Jesus twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Christian living means that we are guided by authenticity all the time. This is not a part time job. Yes, it can be a tough job, but it is not an optional job. If we do not measure our words, attitudes, and actions carefully, and by that I mean submit them first to Jesus, then we very well may be the reason another uses to stay away from church. Like I said, I dont want to be the one to do that because I do not want to cause someone else to stumble. I want to make sure that I am doing everything I can to help, not hinder, another persons relationship with the Lord.
At no time in my life have these words from James rung truer. We are seeing an age develop in which ungodly men and women want nothing more than to see Christs Church and the Christian faith dismantled and destroyed. We are seeing an age develop in which the message of truth, love, and salvation is needed more than ever. We must stop helping the ungodly succeed at their mission, and we must seek to be the willing instruments that God uses to fulfill His mission and build His kingdom. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it he will be blessed in what he does. The first guideline for Christian living is to be guided by authenticity.
Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
PO Box 515
179 W. Broadway
Bunker Hill, IN 46914
765-689-7987
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org