Our Most Precious Faith: The Christian Life
As we continue our series “Our Most Precious Faith,” we come to a statement which we have just recently added as elders this past year and it addresses the Christian life. This, of course, flows from our statement on salvation that we addressed earlier, that salvation is a gift given to those who repent of their sin and trust Christ as their Saviour and Lord, as we teach very strongly here that a person does not morph into a Christian, but it is a decision that a person makes and therefore becomes an event in the person’s life where he or she is born again. So, as we address the issue now of the Christian life, we are talking about the life of the person who has already experienced salvation. And this is a major issue as you cannot live the Christian life if you are not a Christian. And you might say Mark, that is obvious, yet it is something that many people try to do. The Bible warns of those who may have claimed to be a Christian and yet were not, as the Bible is very clear that there is a clear-cut distinction between the believer and the unbeliever. And their destiny is clearly stated.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of the wise man who build his house upon the sand, and the foolish man who built his house upon the rock. And sometimes the foolish man can be deceived into believing that he has been wise when he has not. In other words, he may believe he is a Christian, when he is not a Christian. And this does not merely result in earthly consequences, but that it has eternal consequences. For Jesus did not make any qualms about the final destination of the foolish man, as D. A. Carson said, “There is a [certain] heaven to be gained and a [certain] hell to be shunned.” And so, Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by honestly attempting to frighten men and women into the kingdom, into salvation. So, if you are uncertain about your faith in Christ, or if you are uncertain about all that it means to be a Christian, you need to talk to me or someone else who can make that decision clear for you. So, here is our statement on the person who has received Christ as their Saviour and Lord:
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
We believe that all people are accountable before God. The Christian will desire to live for God’s glory by faithful stewardship, maturing in Christ, growing in grace, and reflecting God’s light to the world.
This statement makes one overarching declaration about the Christian that will determine four major outcomes in the Christian’s life: faithful stewardship; maturing in Christ; growing in grace; and reflecting God’s light to the world. So, if we looked at this statement, what would be the overarching truth here about the Christian? What is it? That he, the Christian would desire to live for God’s glory. This is a massive understanding that we must realize as believers. For any other reason for living out these four results listed in this statement is either a wrong motive or a secondary motive. In other words, if we are thinking that the Christian life is something nice, or a good influence on my children, or gains me respect at church or possibly in the workplace, or is just a wise way in which to live, or even that we will go to heaven someday—I would suggest that we have completely missed the purpose of our salvation and therefore the purpose of why I live the Christian life.
So, let me give you the following statements that we will go through this morning: One, the Christian is a faithful steward for the glory of God; two, the Christian is maturing in Christ for the glory of God; three, the Christian is growing in grace for the glory of God; and four, the Christian is a light to the world for the glory of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church:
“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
- Corinthians 10:31 (LSB)
Good to get up every morning and ask yourself, why am I here? For the glory of God. Now we might play the “humble card” and think I cannot add anything to the glory of God. And I would overwhelmingly agree, for God is God and nothing can add to God, and nothing can take away from God, but that is not the point. For my life and your life ought to showcase—not add to—but showcase the greatness and the glory of God. I mean what do we want to accomplish in life? That someday when we stand before God and fully see and realize His greatness. Man, I want to think that I have been convinced of His wonderful glory all of my life, don’t you? And therefore have been declaring His glory all my life through my actions and my words since the day I became a believer. That God is good and that when people see me and when people do not see me, the overwhelming reality is that God is so good, that we would be determined to forever praise and declare His glory. On Sunday nights we have just completed the book of Habakkuk, and through all the questions about what God was doing and the fears of what would be next as they were anticipating the judgement of God. The prophet Habakkuk declares:
“Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no produce on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields yield no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in Yahweh;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”
Habakkuk 3:17-18 (LSB)
And this is not an odd conclusion, but this is a conclusion that all believers must come to through the thick and the thin, through the hard times and the good times, through the good, the bad, and the ugly—that God is good. And even when we do go through some trials and struggles, or times when we might question God’s ways—as we do not always understand what God is doing—that we would take the counsel of Haddon Robinson to never let your questions distance you from God, but that they might drive you to Him. When Job was still lying in the dust as God had allowed him to suffer greatly, he declared, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” See, commitment to Christ does not always mean wonderful blessings as we might understand them in this life. In fact, sometimes those who serve Christ the greatest will have to go through the greatest trials. But through it all, the true believer will trust in the goodness and the greatness of God. So, let us look at these truths of the believer in relation to his desire to bring glory to God.
The Christian is a faithful steward for the glory of God.
We said last week that God has uniquely gifted each of us in various ways, as none of us are the same. And this is so evident in the body of Christ here as a church. And being a steward means we are managers of what we have been given. So, this would include management of our time, talents, money, health, and testimony. And not for personal gain, but to glorify God, serve others, and therefore to fulfill His purposes. And we trust that all of this is for our ultimate joy. For how would we know any greater joy than to have a part in the purposes of God? And then we might wonder, how we would not immediately jump at this? And the reason of course, is that we must at times fight our own human selfish tendencies. That’s why we don’t always line up for Christian service or do not always have the right motives or attitudes. For apart from God, we are prone to look after ourselves and even the things we do for others and for God are often done with selfish motives. In other words, for our glory or reputation and not God’s glory. And so, a faithful steward must be unselfishly obedient to his Master, in other words, my will becomes His will. It means that I become willing to live as God desires me to live.
Which at the outset might seem a tad overwhelming. For imagine saying to someone who is considering Christianity. As we know all the joys of Christianity: personally knowing Christ; having our sins forgiven; having great friendships within the body; and experiencing a whole new perspective of living under God’s care and love. But at the outset thinking that my time becomes God’s. My choices and boundaries are now under God’s direction. That it is God’s Word that now determines for me what is right and what is wrong. In other words, as D. A. Carson wisely said, “There is no place for my opinion against God’s.” And now therefore I must be obedient to Christ. Taking the teaching of Jesus and making it my own. As the faithful steward must live under the command of the Master, and therefore, be obedient to Him.
Now, we know that we are saved by faith because of the grace given to us by God, and that we are not saved by works or by our obedience. As I have been studying the Sermon on the Mount—which takes a mere ten minutes to read if you just read it straight through—yet in that short sermon if everything Jesus said was legally binding for me to obey it perfectly, I would conclude that no man on earth would ever enter heaven. However, works and obedience become the resulting fruit and desire of the true steward of Christ. Carson went on to say this:
“It is true that men are save by God’s grace through faith in Christ; but it is equally true God’s grace in a man’s life inevitably results in obedience.”
- A. Carson
Not perfection, as our perfect obedience has been given to us by Christ, or as the Bible says it has been imputed to us. In other words, the perfect righteousness of Christ’s life is now ours upon salvation, but we too grow in our practical obedience to Christ, which is part of what being a faithful steward is all about. Therefore, being a good steward means we serve with the resources that God has provided to us. Peter wrote:
“As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God—whoever speaks, as one speaking the oracles of God; whoever serves, as one serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 4:10-11 (LSB)
And we may think that we are to be stewards when we have much. Yet we are to be stewards of what the Lord has given to us whether that is in times of abundance or in times of little. Our temptation during times when we may feel we are lacking is to think if I only had more, I would give more time, or money or knowledge to others. And then we can become a little protective of what we do have. However, we are to give of what we have—whether in much or in little. And of course, being a good steward means to show the character of Christ. As we receive the graces from God and then use them in the way that He instructs us for the purposes of returning to Him the glory and praise that is due to His name. John Gatewood wrote:
“Christ is both the beginning of our stewardship since He supplies our needs and the end of our stewardship since we use His resources to show who He is. All things are for Him and through Him. And to Him be the glory forever. And we can only show Christ if we have received Christ. He has shed his blood for us so that He could redeem us from our sin and empower us to show who He is to others. So being a good steward means we use all of the graces of God that He has given us.”
John Gatewood
Yes, the Christian is a faithful steward for the glory of God. Secondly:
The Christian is maturing in Christ for the glory of God.
Listen carefully to these verses Paul wrote the Christians in Rome:
“Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 (LSB)
Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus:
“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:1-3 (LSB)
Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossae:
“For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God.”
Colossians 1:9-10 (LSB)
And the Apostle John also wrote:
“And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
1 John 2:3-6 (LSB)
Consider these truths. I suppose if we could describe the maturing Christian, we would say that he strives to live holy and pleasing to God; that he does not conform to the ways and thinking of the world; that his mind is being renewed spiritually so that he better understands the will of God, for he knows what is good and pleasing to God; and that he also walks worthy of his calling. For he is humble, gentle, patient, forbearing with others, and desires to live peaceably with others. He is also filled with wisdom and understanding, and he desires to please the Lord in all aspects of life, bearing good fruit, and he is obedient to Christ and desires to walk as Christ did. This is the sanctification, the maturity of the one who is a Christian. The one who the Bible says is God’s workmanship by the mercy of God. See, on the one hand we have this need for us to persevere and to grow in Christ, that Paul often describes as a race or as an athlete who beats his body to be the very best he can. But on the other hand, we know that God is working in us, enabling us, in spite of us, to mature and to grow in Christ. The Christian is maturing in Christ for the glory of God. Thirdly:
The Christian is growing in grace for the glory of God.
I believe that as we grow in our faith we do mature and we do deepen our faith in God. But part of that is also a deeper understanding of the wonderful grace which enables us to live for Him because we really know it is undeserved, don’t we? Peter wrote that believers are to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” In other words, to better understand His work of grace in us that in many ways overwhelmingly protects us and keeps us from falling flat on our faces. A grace that ought to strip us of any kind of pride, or feeling that I am somehow really something or that I have contributed to His workmanship. In other words, that we might understand now what we will understand then when we witness firsthand all of heaven’s eternal glories, and realize this is way beyond anything that I could ever ask or think or should ever deserve! Therefore, to Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. And this realization of His grace in our lives is due to the work of the Spirit in us as well as the teaching of the Word of God. That God’s Spirit and God’s Word would have a daily, continual transformation in us. Peter said, to Him be the glory, both now and then in the day of eternity. That we might understand this now and even in a greater way then.
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 (LSB)
As we grow older as Christians, we really understand better the weaknesses and smallness of ourselves and the greatness and bigness of God. And sometimes our attempts at humility seem to make more of us than God. But true humility is when we consider the cross, and the King who died on the cross, and the empty tomb, and the Father preparing a place for us, and the HS taking up residence in us. Andrew Murry wrote:
“The creature has only to look back to the origin and first beginning of existence, and acknowledge that it there owes everything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its only happiness, now and through all of eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.”
Andrew Murray
The greatness of God should cause us to be ever humble before Him and praise Him forever. This is my desire, To honor You—Lord, with all my heart, I worship You—All I have within me, I give You praise—All that I adore, Is in You. The Christian is growing in grace for the glory of God. Finally:
The Christian is a light to the world for the glory of God.
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The Christian is to shine for Christ in the darkness of this world. Kent Hughes said that Christians ought to write the best books, be the most courteous, work the hardest, be the best musicians and artist and craftsmen, and students. Why? To shine for His glory. When two English martyrs Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were being taken to the stake to be burned, Latimer turned to Ridley and said, “Be of good cheer, Brother Ridley, we have lighted such a candle in England as by the grace of God shall never be put out.” John Stott gives these two great lessons: one, that there needs to be some fundamental differences between the Christian and the non-Christian as there is a great danger when we are too similar to the world in character and yet opposed to the world in our love; and two, we must accept this responsibility of being light for we are far from powerless. Why? For this is exactly the purpose for which God has planned for us—to be the light to the world. In other words, if I am questioning this assignment, I am actually questioning God’s battle plan.
The two greatest weapons we have in bringing light to the world are through our character and through our words. One is simply not enough, it must include both. Peter said that we must “always to be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear.” Some will be influenced by our words, others will be influenced by our character, but they also must work together. For a gospel message without godly character is a lie and hypocritical; and godly character without eventually giving an answer is not helpful and unloving. Jesus made this odd statement:
“And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”
Matthew 23:12 (LSB)
The first part of the verse, “whoever exalts himself shall be humbled,” we get. But the second part is more difficult, “whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” There seems to be something of growing more like Christ that brings to us a greater glory. And there is a part of us that wants to repel that thought, but it is the secret of true humility. A false humility wants to take us away from much of ministry, and almost revel in the place of my own inabilities. You know, if someone was in the workplace and his boss asked him to do something, humility might cause him to sit on the sidelines and say, sir, I can’t do this. Though the boss has given him the resources to succeed, the boss is paying him, and the boss has actually chosen him for the position. Another person might see humility as placing himself under that boss’ authority, and though he may feel inadequate, he knows that this is his calling and that he is to serve the one who has authority over him. Therefore, he brings great effort to every task. Which man displays true humility? It’s the one who sees himself under his master’s authority.
This is the same with our calling in Christ, who by His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness that we might use the giftedness and the resources given to us, and therefore, give everything we can to serve our Master for His glory—for this is true humility. Murray wrote that the “presence and power of the glorified Christ will come to them that are of a humble spirit.” And I believe that becomes our exaltation, as it would seem that the greater we humble ourselves under God, the greater He will use us to proclaim His glory. As there can be no greater blessing or no fuller blessing then to serve Christ, who is the greatest Master and the One who deserves all glory.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
We believe that all people are accountable before God. The Christian will desire to live for God’s glory by faithful stewardship, maturing in Christ, growing in grace, and reflecting God’s light to the world.
Let’s pray. Lord, we come before You this morning asking that You might make us a humble people. Not with a false humility that would place ourselves on the sidelines, but with a true humility that would motivate us to serve You for Your glory. We thank You for Your great investment in us. Not only that You have given each of us various gifts, but that You also chose to save us by giving Your life for us at Calvary. So, we pray that all of our being, all our energies would be used for the glory of God, that we might revel in Your glory with all the saints, that we might be clean vessels, fit for the Master’s use. And all God’s people said, amen.