Unique Lifestyle
Notes
Transcript
Influencers
Influencers
The word “influencer” has taken on a new meaning over the past several years.
It isn’t a new word, but since the invention and growth of social media platforms, it has become a new career path that didn’t even exist 20 years ago.
Studies show that somewhere between 35-45% of kids and teens want to be a social media influencer when they “grow up”.
That makes a ton of sense when you hear about people like Ryan Kaji.
He is an 11 year old with a YouTube channel than currently has over 33 million subscribers and gets 500k views per video.
He and his parents started the channel in 2015 to review toys.
7 years later they have their own toy line, a TV show, multiple video games, and are worth more than $100 million as a family.
When Ryan reviews a toy there is a measurable influence on the sales of the toy.
I will warn you in advance, unless you are into excessively long and super corny commercials for kids toys, you should probably pass on Ryan’s World videos.
Influence in the world of media and technology is weird.
It doesn’t necessarily require unique skills, talents, or ideas, just the ability to draw a crowd.
But influence isn’t a negative thing, it is actually very much a Godly aim.
God desires us to be influential.
Throughout this series we have examined the doctrines/beliefs that shape us as Christians;
These beliefs make us an uncommon people in this crazy world we live in.
They make us stand out in our culture and that is all by God’s design.
The biblical word for influencer is ambassador.
A representative of a another nation
We were UNIQUELY created and called to be INFLUENTIAL in our world.
We were UNIQUELY created and called to be INFLUENTIAL in our world.
From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The final words of Jesus to His disciples was a command that we are very familiar with, the command to GO and make disciples.
Matthew 28:18–20 (CSB)
18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I have pointed this out numerous times before, but it is essential we must not miss what Jesus is saying here:
The word Jesus uses for “go” here isn’t a simple verb, it is a participle, a verb and adjective together.
So Jesus isn’t commanding us to “GO”, but rather to “BE”
As you are GOING, BE people who MAKE DISCIPLES.
This passage is so often understood to be a missions passage, sending us around the world to share the Gospel and start churches.
When we read it like that then we can quickly read ourselves out of the passage.
But Jesus’s command/commission here is directed at each and every one of us who have been saved and set free from our sin.
“As you are going, MAKE DISCIPLES...”
as you are working, make disciples
as you are parenting, make disciples
as you are shopping, make disciples
as you are fixing, tinkering, make disciples
as you are cleaning and cooking, make disciples
as you are hunting, fishing…, make disciples
God wants to use each of us, where He has us, to make disciples in the ordinary stuff of life.
But this requires that we see the people around us, ourselves, and Jesus from perspective that has been transformed by the Gospel.
We must see with NEW EYES, a new/changed perspective.
We must...
We must...
1) See PEOPLE differently.
1) See PEOPLE differently.
16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
Love, grace, compassion, humility, and patience.
Those are the terms God use to describe His attitude toward us in Christ.
These are also the words He uses for how we are to relate with others.
but it isn't natural or ordinary to treat people this way.
We are hardwired and culturally influenced to appraise people on the basis of their physical attractiveness, their style of dress, their educational achievement, their social status, their level of “success” in life, their political affiliation, the color of their skin, or the language that they speak.
When we have been looking for houses to buy, we have both struggled to see beyond the dated and worn physically features of a home
We struggle to see the possibilities that could come from some fresh paint and new flooring.
But when we shift our perspective, we are able to begin to see the potential and the value.
We just needed new eyes...
This is Paul’s point here, in Christ we no longer see people through the eyes of the world/the flesh...
We see people with the eyes of Jesus
35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
Jesus went from town to town healing, teaching, and sharing the good news of the Kingdom moved and motivated by compassion for those He saw all around Him who were lost and wandering, broken and they didn’t even know it.
Sure, maybe your neighbors are annoying or a little “out there”, maybe your coworkers are CNN-watching liberals or Fox News-conservatives...
But HOW WOULD JESUS SEE THEM? And how would He TREAT them?
2) See OURSELVES differently.
2) See OURSELVES differently.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
In order to see people rightly we must see ourselves rightly
In Christ we are new creations, reconciled to God not because we were smart enough, talented enough, obedient enough, religious enough, or successful enough.
I used to watch “Extreme Home Makeover” with my roommate in college.
We would sit in our recliners with the room basically dark and at the end of the show we would both be quietly crying as the family walks through their entirely rebuild home.
What was broken, dirty, and worthless had been made new.
This is how we need to see ourselves.
In our efforts to justify ourselves we fail to see ourselves rightly...
And we struggle to see people rightly because we use them as the measuring stick of our own worth, goodness, and/or acceptability.
But when we see ourselves as reconciled sinners, broken and lost outside of Christ, then we can see the people around us with fresh, humble, and compassionate eyes...the eyes of Jesus
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
We so often read OTHER PEOPLE into this verse, but WE ONCE WERE those harassed and helpless sheep without a shepherd.
3) See JESUS differently.
3) See JESUS differently.
21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
If we are to see ourselves rightly we must first see Jesus rightly.
He is not a god who is out to get us, but a God who came for us.
God didn't turn his back on his rebellious creation, He became sin in order to destroy sin and reconcile his broken and lost children.
The way we see Jesus dramatically affects how we see the purpose of our lives.
Christianity isn't something we do, it is the identity we possess.
Our lives REVOLVE around our identity as "little Christs".
Our faith dictates our calendars, our bank accounts, our attitudes and actions, EVERYTHING.
Because God came FOR us, to save us and to SEND us.
Reconciliation is about building bridges between imperfect people and a Holy and perfect God.
it is what Christ has done for us and…
It is the purpose of our life.
So many professing Christians are content to be reconciled to God in Christ, but have missed what it means to now be an ambassador for Christ in the world, living to invite and implore people to be reconciled to God throughout the world. It’s what a Christian is, every follower of Jesus, as new creations, as men and women who have been reconciled to God in Jesus, we live for the world to be reconciled to God in Jesus. — David Platt
3 Questions
3 Questions
Are you a New Creation in Christ? — Have you trusted in Christ? Given your life to Jesus? Are you a New Creation, or is the old still sticking around like an old set of kitchen cabinets?
Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you were to die on your way home today that you would spend eternity in Heaven with Christ?
If you aren’t the I want to invite you, plead with you to pray right here and right now.
“Dear God, I know I’ve sinned against You. I know I’m separated from You. But today I want to trust in Jesus and what He did on the cross to remove my sin and to reconcile me to You. Please make me a new creation, God. Please give me a new identity. Please give me a new future with You forever.”
Have you publically declared your new life in Christ through baptism?
If not, I want to call you to do something about that TODAY.
Come forward or catch me or Andy after the service and tell us you want to be baptized.
How is your lifestyle? Are you living out a life of reconciliation.
Are you living as an ambassador of Christ?