Living Life Out
Notes
Transcript
Right now I have a group of youth that truly inspire me. I get to meet with this group after our typical Wednesday night service every week, sometimes we will meet for 2 hours. In our discussions we talk about our own walk with the Lord and we will also talk about our public walk. See they realize that they need to live their life following Jesus in secret and in public. We can read our Bible every morning, spend time in prayer daily, and come to church regularly but if our lives outside of those areas don’t reflect it we have a problem.
This same group has started some different things in the school such as putting verses on mirrors and using their own lockers as places to accept prayer request. Through doing this they have been faced with a lot of persecution in it. The verses have been destroyed and defaced, their lockers have been messed up multiple times, and there has been the meanness from the students that are against it. This has not been easy for them but they haven’t backed down. These attacks have hurt them but they continue to live life out for Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but in my life I am not the greatest example of this. Put me in my youth room or the sanctuary, in my office or here before you guys and I can be pretty bold. I can call out and address issues, I can speak the truth that is needed, but when I am just out in the world living life I am not the greatest at it. I wake up and read my Bible every morning, I pray every day, I serve in my church, but outside of those areas it gets tough.
There is a war going on between the light and the darkness. When we are passive in this we are just allowing the evil side to win. Satan loves it when you read your Bible in your home and nothing more happens. We need to fight in this war, we need to live for Christ in those moments and when we leave them. It says in 1 John 2.6
whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
A few weeks back we talked about abiding in Christ and I hope that you have been doing just that. Abiding in Christ is vitally important and in this passage it says that if we do abide in him we have to do something. We have to walk in the way that he walked. This passage is telling us to live like Jesus.
How did Jesus live? He lived in a way where there was nothing was hidden. He lived where everyone could see what he was about. There was no question about the man that Jesus was, some people didn’t like who he said he was but they knew exactly what it was. Jesus was bold in the public square always proclaiming the gospel. He talked with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners. He did not hide who he was and what he was about from them.
As I read this verse I just can’t help but think what it might look like if we all did this. Maybe you do but what if you did more. What if all of us walked like Jesus in every moment of life, not just the easy ones. Imagine the kingdom impact we could have on our community and the surrounding communities. Not just letting the evil win but putting up a fight.
In this there will almost certainly be trials but in James 1:2–4 it says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Through the difficulties that we will face we find joy, this is not just any joy though. This joy is a lasting joy that is present no matter what. See happiness relies on our circumstances, a big fat juicy wagyu steak that I bought at Mike’s and cooked to perfection brings me happiness… until I finish it and it’s all gone. Joy is not the same, it does not rely on our circumstances, it stands no matter what our situation is. As men we like that, steady. Not there then gone then back. This passage says that we can count it joy when we meet these trials because they test us and when we stand the test we get this joy. This will produce in us steadfastness, the ability to endure and press on even further.
Through all of this we can see that even the “bad” outcome of living our life out for Jesus works out for our good.
Actually putting this into practice in our lives will look different for all of us. We are each in unique situations in life and are each faced with different things each and every day. Really we just need to start with one thing, think what one thing that you could do is and put that into practice. Maybe it is praying with people that you encounter, maybe it’s displaying scripture in your workplace, and I hope for all of us it involves sharing the gospel with those around us.
This is what has been on my heart lately all because of those 5 youth that are doing it here in our school system. Really right now I can relate to Jude 3 “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Today I found it necessary to talk to you about contending for our faith in all areas of life. To live a public faith not just a private one. To contend against the evils of this world. To walk like Jesus as we abide in him. To never waiver from this in the good and easy times and in the times that it gets difficult.
Those few youth inspire me and honestly without them this job would be so difficult on my soul. They are living for Jesus in their private lives as they read the Bible daily and pray constantly. They all serve in this church. They also contend for the faith in school and in their sports teams and in their free time. May the same be said about us as we go through life. May we abide in him and walk in the same way that he walked and contend for the faith in all areas of life.