I'm readingDiscipleship: What It Truly Means to be a Christian by A.W. Tozer. It is a great book. If you have never read it, do so.
I was going to write a super long post, but then I thought I better just preach it on Sunday. So check out next week's message if you are interested in hearing more on this.
But I will say this... If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour but have not accepted the reality that Jesus Christ is your Lord and God, you are likely trying to convince people that you are a Christian (self-proclaimer) more than you are trying to convince others around you to become a Christian (Jesus-proclaimer).
And suppose you have lived for a while now like this, thinking this is what being a Christian is all about. In that case, you are likely not even trying to convince others you are a Christian any longer, and you are just living life believing that the trials and hardships you face are because you are a Christian. Jesus did say that in this life, we will have trouble... but in reality, the troubles you are facing are rooted in your inability to control your life and get your life to a place where you want it, just as you want it. Or, the trials are because you are fighting change as you try to keep your life in that place you comfortably have it.
It's crucial that we embrace Jesus as our Saviour AND commit to following Him in daily surrender and obedience as our Lord and God. To not follow Jesus and lovingly obey Him is to repeat the mistake of Adam and Eve in the garden (and countless others in scripture). They knew God and had a relationship with Him, but they chose not to obey His leading and words. It's contradictory to claim to be a Christian while constantly engaging in actions that sever the relationship between man and God. Sin is not just about bad deeds; it's about a heart that lives for itself, not in loving obedience to our incredibly good God.
There seems to be confusion among many regarding our purpose as followers of Jesus in this life. Our calling is to diligently pursue and, out of love for Him, obey Jesus Christ. Our focus should be on living for Him, allowing Him to fill us as we spend time with Him through prayer, study, fellowship, and reading His Word. The goal is for Jesus to be revealed and glorified through us - His teachings, His truth, and His life of grace and love seen and experienced through us by those around us. However, a prevalent belief today is the acceptance of the 'Jesus as Savior but not Lord' gospel. In this gospel, the priority for many is to convince themselves and others of their Christian faith. They proclaim themselves as Christians, striving to persuade others of their devotion to Jesus, yet what emanates from them is not the liberating new life and freedom in Jesus Christ or the fruits of the gospel nor the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Those who truly know them, along with those guided by the discernment of the Holy Spirit, can perceive the true nature of their fruits: religious on the surface but essentially self-centered within.
After saying this, I will speak as the author of Hebrews does, though for you, brother or sister in Jesus Christ who is reading this, I pray for you better things. I pray that, as the Church who are in Christ Jesus, our fruit and what pours out of our lives, our words and our deeds are more and more clearly and sweetly the fruit of Jesus Christ. May our lives shine His love, truth and grace and be lovingly filled with the obedience and reverence that our incredibly good God of heaven deserves. And may our lives be filled with and overflowing with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and may His power and presence be clearly seen, bearing and revealing all the evidence that others need to see to know we are Children of the Most High God in Jesus Christ.
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