Sermon Tone Analysis

Am I A “Good” Christian?

It’s the Million Dollar question....

Am I A Good Christian?

If you have given your life to Christ and accepted His Salvation, then you most likely have asked yourself this question.

Are you a good Christian?

Maybe you think you are, maybe you’re not sure, maybe you don’t care, if you don’t, you should.

In order to find out if you are a good Christian maybe we need to ask ourselves a very basic question,

What is a “GOOD” Christian?

Everyone has their own opinion of what makes a good Christian.

If I asked 20 people in here to give me their definition of what a good Christian I would most likely have 20 similar yet different answers.

According to Crosswalk.com the top 10 qualities of a Christian are:

Loving

Forgiving

Humility

Compassion

Gentleness

Self-Control

Patient

Obedient

Honest

Prayerful

You can no doubt add to that list fairly easy.

But these qualities or attributes are part of the character that you hopefully get from being a Christian.

So the question then becomes.

After you accept Jesus Christ and His Salvation.

What at its core, makes you a “good” christian?

The apostle Paul was dealing with this in todays text.

So turn with me if you would to Romans 7 and we will look at three different aspects of being a GOOD Christian.

To start in verses 15- 20 Paul shocks the reader.

In fact for centuries after he wrote this He shocked the Church.

Paul admitted to something that we look at as a scarlet letter of sorts in the church even though it is something that is inevitable in any Christian walk.

Paul admitted that a good christian will struggle with sin.

A “Good” Christian Struggles With Sin.

Even though this is something that no one is surprised about, this simple admission has caused issue.

-

For a man with the faith and stature of Paul to make such a startling statement there has to be a reason.

This is what he said.

Read with me Romans 7 starting with verse 15.

The first excuse scholars have made for this admission is that Paul was talking about his life before his conversion?

Who doesn’t struggle with sin if they aren’t saved.

They are drowning in it.

The problem is in the way the verses are written.

Now I am no Pastor Mark.

I was taught grammer and English very well growing up but ask anyone who taught me, it’s not exactly my strong suit.

With that being said, I know from the way that these verses were written that they were not written in the past tense.

It was written in the present tense.

It was written as if he was dealing with it right then and there.

So.

The fact that it is present tense eliminates the option that Paul was talking about before conversion.

There has to be another reason according to at least one scholar to why Paul would write something like this.

If that wasn’t the reason that he wrote it, maybe he didn’t even write it at all.

J. C. O’Neill tried to solve the problem by denying that Paul wrote 7:14–25.

His “best explanation” is that it was incorporated into Paul’s original letter by a Hellenistic Jew to “help persuade his non-Jewish neighbours of their need of deliverance if they were to live up to the high ideals they knew they should follow.”

This idea is even more ludicrous than the idea that it was written before he was a Christian.

The Bible is God’s written word.

Not God’s edited for what people need word.

The only other possible explanation was Paul saw something in himself that he struggled with.

A sinful nature.

Wait, isn’t It impossible for a good Bible believing Christian to struggle with sin.

Paul starts this portion of scripture by comparing himself to a slave in verse 14.

WHY? Think about slavery for a second.

Slaves didn’t obey their masters because they loved and admired them.

Slaves did what they were told because they had no choice.

Paul wants nothing more in life than to follow the words of his savior but like a slave he has no choice because his flesh is weak.

Paul saw a simple truth.

He sinned, and he hated that he did it.

His soul longed for perfection yet his flesh wouldn’t let him have it.

Paul is fighting a battle against an enemy that refuses to let go.

If recognising that he was in a battle against his sinful nature doesn’t make Paul a bad christian, then why does the fact that Paul saw something in himself that he hated, the fact that no matter what he did he couldn not overcome that sin that held him back, why does that make him a good Christian?

If in your life you don’t see the fact that you still struggle with sin, you need to check where your relationship to the savior is at all.

Failure to realize that we struggle with sin means we have a disconnection somewhere with Jesus.

When we like Paul realize that we are an imperfect sinner that needs a Savior it helps us rely on Him and we grow closer to Him.

Thus becoming a better Christian.

Someone who wants to be a better Christian and is not satisfied with where they are at in their walk is most definitely trying to be a good Christian.

Paul knew a simple truth.

A truth that he learned from the master....

Christians Aren’t Perfect, Just Forgiven

Paul saw that Salvation doesn’t mean that we don’t sin.

Salvation means that our Savior takes that sin in spite of our shortcomings and purifies us.

That is what Salvation is.

Salvation was Jesus Christ dying on the cross.

He did this for one reason and one reason only.

Jesus Christ died on the cross so that he would take all of our sins on himself.

The ones we have committed, the ones we are currently committing, and the ones that we will commit.

And all this coming from Salvation if we only ask for it.

Paul knew this.

Paul hated that he sinned.

Paul recognized that this was a flaw in his humanity, something that he needed a savior to fix.

This makes him and all who realize this a “good” christian.

Then Paul went on to tell us why in spite of his sinful nature he doesn’t give up.

Read with me verses 21-25.

Paul knew that would continue to fail.

Paul saw that other believers were going to struggle.

Paul knew this was a fight that would never end.

But Paul was a “good” Christian and a good Christian stands with Christ.

A “Good” Christian Stands With Christ

I think if we were all honest with each other we would admit that the sin that the world offers seems like an easier way to live than the Christian life.

Anyone who has walked with God knows this to be the case.

We have been over this before.

Perfection is unattainable.

I know that things have been hard, and I know that things will continue to be hard.