I am an Example

Introduction

As you all know, I am a northerner. I was born and raised in the north, I was surrounded with northern culture and obviously submerged in it. There are a few differences between Pennsylvania and Kentucky, but not too many.

However, the largest difference that I can note has to do with driving. A large majority of Kentucky drivers I have seen since we moved here have been TERRIBLE! This isn’t to say that all Kentucky drivers are bad, but my experiences tell me that a large majority are. People on the road seem to forget that they have a cool little indicator that actually tells the people in front of and behind them that they plan on moving over or turning. They zip in and out of traffic, merge without looking, and speed like crazy! However, this isn’t the worst I have seen.

A few years ago I was in San Antonio. My grandmother had given her car to drive down to the store from the family ranch. Our ranch is not only one of the last ranches in San Antonio, but it is completely surrounded by the city that has been expanding. My grandmother’s driveway literally comes off of the busy highway. So, when you leave you are quickly met by hasty drivers.

Now, up until this point in my life I believed whole-heartedly in the concept of “southern hospitality.” However, after this experience, southern hospitality is not so…hospitable.

I drove out of the driveway, merged onto the highway, and was on my way. Now, the posted speed limit was 65MPH, and that’s what I did. I drove carefully on the road called 1604, making sure to do the speed limit and use my turn signal, but that wasn’t enough for people! They wanted me to speed, weave and dive through traffic, and race them to see who could get pulled over first!

Well, I wasn’t playing that game. I continued doing the speed limit and eventually that annoyed someone. It annoyed them so much that they drove as close to my bumper as possible without hitting it and they began blaring on the horn! For what seemed like 10 minutes they followed me this close with their horn constantly going. They had plenty of opportunities to go around me, but chose to spend their time doing this.

Well of course this concerned me. I thought, “man, they must really want me to slow down!” So, I slowed down from 65MPH to 60MPH. That was the last straw. At this they whipped over to my left and sped up erratically. As they passed by my window I looked over at them to find two elderly people starting back at me. The man and the woman, who had to have been around 75 or 80, gave me a stare that would shake anyone to their core, and they both made sure to give me a sign to show their displeasure in my safe driving.

As my jaw hit the floor, not expecting what I had just seen, they drove up ahead to get around me. As I began picking my jaw up off the floor I saw something that caused it to crash down so hard that it almost broke a hole through my floorboard.

On the back of this sweet little old couples car was a sticker that said, “Jesus is my savior!” With that they had an ichthus decal (an ichthus is that little fish symbol), a license plate holder that said, “Jesus loves Texas,” and another bumper sticker. Does anyone care to guess what this sticker said?

What

Would

Jesus

Do?

Well, let’s just hope that if Jesus were living in the flesh today that he would not react in a such a way, yet again he did flip tables and whip people in the temple, so who knows.

However, with my best guess I would say that Jesus would not act in such a way, and I’d suspect that as Christians He would not wish us to act in a similar way either.

Paul’s Letter to Timothy

Now, as you have heard this story you probably had one of two thoughts. You either thought, “I can’t believe that they responded that way,” or you thought, “That’s all they did! Man, I hope I don’t get stuck behind the pastor on 52, I’ll end up in a sermon!”

But, no matter if you were appalled or thought I deserved what I got, I have some pretty awesome news for you from Paul’s letter to Timothy. He says, “even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence, I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus

Paul was a blasphemer, a persecutor of Christians, and a man of violence. He was living a life not worthy of the grace of Jesus Christ, yet even though he deserved nothing, Christ still gave him mercy and grace. So much of it that it overflowed!

That is the same for all of us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, even that older couple in San Antonio. But, the amazing thing about God is His redemptive love. He recognized our fall, our shortcomings, our sins, and still chose to send His son Jesus to die on the cross, rise from death, and ascend into heaven. All of which saves us.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

We’ve heard this story before, and we will hear it again. But, at some point in time you heard the story of Jesus and said, “I believe this.” That belief caused you to surrender yourselves to Christ and submit yourself to His will, His desire, His teachings. More than that you also did something else, you invited Christ to become a part of you and within you lives the Holy Spirit.

This means that you as a Christian, Paul as a Christian, Timothy as a Christian, all housed the Holy Spirit and became a Holy Temple. You yourselves are Holy Temples that house the Lord. The older couple who showed me two birds that I had not identified in my birding books before, they are Holy Temples of Christ. But, do we always act as if we are those temples? Do we always act as though we are an example of Jesus Christ to the WORLD? No.

Let’s look at a little bit more of the letter that Paul wrote. He says, “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.”

Paul begins this section by saying that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That was the point of Jesus’ life on this earth. That was the intent written out by the prophets of the Old Testament. It all builds up to Jesus forgiving the sinners of the world. And Paul, under his own consideration, is the worst sinner of all.

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

He then says that because he is a sinner, because he is evil, because he has turned his back on God so many times, he needed to be saved by through Jesus’ death. He received Christ’s mercy as a sinner, and so have we. Even though we have fallen short of God’s glory, even though we lie, cheat, steal, lust, and turn our backs on God, He still forgave us through the mercy and grace of Jesus through His death on the cross!

But, Paul tells us that because he was saved by Christ, there is something else that happens. He says, “But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.”

Paul becomes an example.

He becomes an example of Christ’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He, from the moment he accepted the forgiveness of Christ, took on the task of embodying Christ within himself, to be for the world the body of Christ.

He started a transition from the broken sinner he was to the living EXAMPLE OF CHRIST! What an amazing transformation, one that we must go through as well.

Are we Stuck and What Next?

But, do you think it is possible that we are stuck? Although we have been forgiven by Christ, although we have become the Holy Temple of God, although we have become the living EXAMPLE OF CHRIST, maybe some of you feel stuck?

Stuck in your ways of living, stuck in the sin that once controlled you, stuck in this sense of shallow Christianity. Is it possible that we have grown so accustomed to our sins that we are literally stuck in them, so much that becoming an example of Christ is painful to us because we know we would have to rid ourselves of that very sin that just feels so good to us?

I think that is where some of us may be. Stuck.

We all know where God wishes us to be, for it’s what the Scriptures tell us, yet we don’t actually make the changes.

The older couple that showed me that their middle fingers were indeed longer than their other ones know that they are supposed to be an example of Christ, yet their actions speak otherwise.

Their actions, and the actions of many people who call themselves Christians, reflect something other than Christ. Their actions reflect their sin. Their words and bumper stickers may say, “I love Jesus,” but their actions scream “I LOVE SIN!”

What are your actions saying about you? What are they saying about Christ?

Are we proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ through our hearts and our actions, or are we forgetting the one who SAVED us?!

Maybe you feel like you are stuck, maybe you do slip up, but what can we do about it?

First, we need to recognize when we are broken and when stop being an example of Christ.

Second, we need to ask Christ for forgiveness and confess the sins we have committed.

Third, we need to re-orient our eyes on God.

Third,

Lastly we need to strive to be the example of Christ that our community, nation, and world desperately need right now.

We all need to be the example to the world of Christ’s life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension into heaven.

Be the example that Paul says he his, be the example of the fruits of the spirit that are within you. Show the world those things, and not the two new birds I had not seen before!

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.