HOW TO LIVE AS A CHRISTIAN
Preached 21 November 2004 -- Gregory W. Lee

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bible to Col 1

-- have you ever seen that commercial about bricks -- about using bricks for houses -- it's got several couples standing in front of their brick houses and they look in the camera and say -- "our life is modern" -- and then they move to the next couple, and they say "our life is traditional" -- and so on -- the last couple is a middle-aged black couple -- they're sitting on their porch swing in front of their brick house and they say "our life is..." and then they look at each other and say "comfortable" -- "our life is comfortable"
-- do you know that feeling? -- is that how you would describe your life? -- is that your goal in life? -- to be comfortable?

-- I think that's what we kind of all want -- to be content with our place in life -- to be comfortable with our life
-- that was my goal -- when I was getting out of school, my goal was to have a comfortable life -- to not have a lot of money, but enough to be comfortable -- to not have a large house, but one big enough to be comfortable -- to not have a new car every year, but one that was comfortable
-- I wanted the same thing from my job -- not being in charge of the whole place or being the one who just got told what to do, but kind of being in the middle -- able to do my own thing at my own pace -- content -- comfortable
-- and I wanted the same thing from religion -- not being one of those people who never went to church -- and not being one of those crazy fanatics who went around witnessing to everybody and preaching on street corners -- just being a person who came to church and went to Sunday School and just was kind of middle of the road -- comfortable
-- but then something happened -- God reached down and got a hold of me and He pushed me out of my comfort zone -- He forced me to go in areas I didn't want to go in -- He led me in directions I didn't want to go -- He took all my goals and my plans and my desires and He changed them by challenging me to do more than what I was doing

-- you see, God doesn't want us to be comfortable -- He doesn't want us to be sitting there in the middle of the road, just doing the same old thing the same old way every day and every year -- He wants us to be challenged -- He wants to lead us out of the places where we are comfortable and lead us into the places where we have to depend on Him -- He doesn't want us to be comfortable Christians -- He wants us to be crucified Christians -- Christians who are crucified with Christ and who are living for Him in His kingdom -- not comfortable Christians who are just content with living in this world

-- there is a difference between being a comfortable Christian and being a crucified Christian
-- Galatians 2:20 -- "I have been crucified with Christ" -- we are supposed to be crucified people -- we are supposed to be living only by the power of God today -- we are supposed to be people who are not afraid -- people who are serious for reaching others for Christ

-- this passage in Colossians is about living a life worthy of God -- pleasing Him in every way -- only a crucified Christian can do that -- let's look now at this passage and see what Paul tells us about being a crucified Christian

II. Scripture Lesson -- Col 1:9-14
-- the church at Colosse had a problem -- they were comfortable -- they tried to not make waves but to have peace with all -- they had allowed into their midst some false teachings and some false teachers -- but they refused to confront the heresies because they didn't want to rock the boat
-- in this epistle, the Apostle Paul tries to call them out of their comfortable lifestyle and into the life that is worthy of the Lord -- look with me now at verse 9 and lets go through this and see what we can learn about living a crucified life

9. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
10. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:

-- the first thing we see in this verse is that God has a plan -- His will -- for our lives
-- this is where we start to get in trouble -- God has a plan for us -- but we have our own plan -- our own idea -- of where we want to go and what we want to be and how we want to live -- and generally, our plan and God's plan don't match up
-- we want to live a comfortable life -- a life without waves -- without valleys -- but God doesn't want that for us -- He doesn't want us to be content and comfortable with the way things are in this world -- He wants us to be uncomfortable and unsatisfied with life so that we will turn to Him and live in faith -- separate from the world and in His kingdom -- Peter tells us that we are to live like strangers in a foreign land -- that is God's will for our lives and that is what Paul is praying for the saints at Colosse -- that they would come to know God's will for their lives through all spiritual wisdom and understanding

-- now there's a point that we need to see there -- having wisdom and knowledge is not merely the possession of facts -- you can go to church and Sunday School and Bible Study and know the Bible frontwards and backwards -- but that is not spiritual wisdom -- that is only knowledge and by itself, it's not worth much
-- knowledge only becomes useful when you live it out in your life -- what good is it to know how a car works if you don't get in and turn the key and start driving -- knowledge is useless unless applied
-- it's the same thing with spiritual matters -- spiritual knowledge is useless unless we use it -- spiritual wisdom is when you take knowledge and apply it to your life -- the combination of spiritual wisdom and understanding is to be practical -- it is to be lived out -- Paul says that if we have spiritual wisdom and understanding, then we will know God's will for our lives and we will live it out -- we will not only know it, but we will do it
-- and when we quit living comfortable lives -- when we know what God's will is for our life and when we start living it out -- then we are living a crucified life -- a life that is worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way

-- what does a crucified life look like? -- what does a life worthy of the Lord -- a life that is pleasing to Him in every way look like? -- Paul tells us here -- there are four characteristics of a crucified life -- look back at the second half of verse 10

10b. "bearing fruit in every good work,"

-- a crucified life bears fruit -- a crucified Christian shows evidence of their salvation -- as James says we should show our faith through our works -- works are evidence of our salvation -- works are evidence that we are living for Christ
-- do you remember the purpose driven life -- bearing fruit in every good way is living out the purposes of ministry in your life -- it means bringing friends to church -- it means caring for the poor and the oppressed and the widows and the orphans -- it means loving your neighbor as yourself -- it means sharing with someone the good news of Christ as you serve them and love them
-- what kind of fruit are you showing in your life?

-- look back at verse 10

10c: "growing in the knowledge of God,"

-- a crucified life means that you are alive and growing in God -- you are alive and growing in grace -- this is a dangerous area for a lot of people -- as we've talked about, we have a tendency to try to live comfortably -- to plateau out in our lives -- to become stagnant
-- if we are not deliberately trying to learn more about God and trying to apply what we learn in our lives, then we run the danger of becoming stagnant and comfortable -- let me ask you this -- when you read the Bible, do you find new ideas and new concepts and new knowledge -- or are you just confirming what you already knew?
-- if you are not learning something new about God every day, then you are not living the crucified life

-- verse 11

11: "being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, "

-- a crucified life means you are strong in the Lord -- when this verse talks about being strengthened, it is not just talking about being made strong physically -- the word here in the Greek is "dunamoo" -- it means "to be enabled -- to be empowered " -- it means that you reach the point where you have God's power filling you in all situations
-- true strength and power only comes from the Spirit of God -- in Zechariah it says "not by might nor by power but by My Spirit" -- Paul says here we would be strengthened by His power and by His might through His Spirit
-- the end result of being strong in the Lord is endurance and patience -- the ability to live in this world -- to fight the daily battles of the flesh and this world -- because we know that our endurance and our patience will end with heavenly rewards

-- the end of verse 11

11b. "and joyfully
12. giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
13. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

-- a crucified Christian is a thankful Christian -- a crucified Christian is a joyous Christian who praises and thanks God for all the blessings that He has given us -- especially the blessing of salvation through Jesus Christ"
-- this is Thanksgiving week -- have you paused for a moment to consider what you might be thankful for? -- God doesn't only bless us materially and physically -- but He also blesses us spiritually

-- Paul tells us here that we should be thankful because He has qualified us to share in His inheritance -- we who were not qualified have been made qualified -- we who were not righteous were made righteous -- we who were sinful have been made holy in Christ

-- in John we learn that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have become the children of God -- adopted sons and daughters of a King -- and we have the right to share in the inheritance of the King

-- Paul also tells us that we should be thankful that we were rescued from the dominion of darkness -- at one time we were all held in bondage to sin and to death and to Satan -- maybe some of you still are -- but through the precious blood of Jesus, sin and death and Satan have been defeated -- we have been redeemed through the blood of Christ

-- to be redeemed means that we have been delivered and freed from the penalty of sin by the payment of a ransom -- by the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross

-- finally, Paul tells us that we should be thankful because we were not only freed from the dominion of darkness but brought into the kingdom of the Son -- the kingdom of light
-- this is not a future event -- this is the current state of affairs -- the kingdom of the Son doesn't refer to a physical territory -- it doesn't refer to our life in heaven -- it means that here and now we live in a new kingdom -- under a new authority and under a new power -- the authority and power of Christ

-- do you know what the difference is between a comfortable Christian and a crucified Christian? [Note: Adaptation of Illustration by Joe White]

-- comfortable Christians are on the throne of their heart and Christ is on the cross -- crucified Christians are on the cross and Christ is on the throne

-- a comfortable Christian is reading a story -- a crucified Christian is living a story

-- a comfortable Christian has the armor of God and spiritual weapons -- a crucified Christian is on the front line of battle and is using what God gave him

-- a comfortable Christian fits in with a comfortable Christian culture -- a crucified Christian takes a comfortable Christian culture to an uncomfortable cross

-- for comfortable Christians, faith is safe -- faith is comfortable -- but for crucified Christians, you are so far out there you have to depend on faith -- knowing that without God holding you up you would fall and fail

-- comfortable Christians come to church -- they come to Sunday School -- they come to Bible study -- but crucified Christians not only come to church -- they bring others to church week after week after week

-- comfortable Christians offer to pray for those in need -- crucified Christians grab them by the hand and pray for them

-- in the book of Acts we read about the revival at Pentecost -- comfortable Christians go to Pentecost -- crucified Christians bring Pentecost to their family and their friends and their churches

-- comfortable Christians live in the world -- but crucified Christians live in the kingdom of the Son -- they are willing to put aside their own desires and wants and wishes -- they are willing to sacrifice the comfortable for the uncomfortable because they want to live a life worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him in every way

-- crucified Christians are those who are willing to leave behind security and self and flesh and worldly vices -- to lay it all down for Christ -- to lay it all down for their family and their unsaved neighbors and friends

-- crucified Christians are those who are willing to go forth and stand up for Christ and lead their churches forward into battle, their denominations into the future, and their country back to God

-- so, how would you describe your spiritual life? -- is it a life worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him in every way -- or is it just comfortable?

-- let us pray