Tag Archives: Christ-like

Are Christians Different?

Posted on by

Are Christians Different?  Are believers different than non-believers?  Are Christians different than followers of other faiths?  Let’s go the scriptures.

Jesus was different. The Sermon on the Mount is recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5 – 7.  Jesus spoke to a Jewish audience familiar with the traditions and laws he spoke of.  He turned those well established conventions upside down, often repeating “You have heard it said… But I tell you” something different.  Hating your brother is the same as murder.  Lustful thoughts are committing adultery in the heart.  We are told to love our enemies.  These are just examples.  And the Sermon on the Mount was just the beginning. Continue reading →

The Grace to be Christ-Like

Posted on by

A couple of days ago I published The Challenge to be Christ-Like on the blog Life in Mordor.  It’s a group blog that I contribute to.  In Luke 23:34, while Jesus is hanging on the cross, he prays “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  How can anyone be that Christ like?  Perhaps some have given sacrificially, prayed for our enemies, served on the mission field, maybe even given up their own life to save another.  Jesus prayed the prayer of intercession for the very people mocking him while they crucified him.  And we are commanded to have the same mind in us (Phil 2).

As I have continued to think about this challenge, I am reminded of a couple of things. One, we are never tempted beyond what we can bear.  God knows what we are made of, and he has searched and knows each heart.  As we learn from Job, the devil is on a leash.  Even when he’s the devil, he’s God’s devil.  Secondly, and more importantly, is the promise that God’s grace is sufficient to meet each need.  His grace provides our daily bread, as Jesus taught us to pray and history demonstrates in Exodus with the heavenly manna.  When Elijah asks the widow to feed him (1 Kings 17) she was just about to make one cake for herself, one for her son, and then they were both going to starve to death.  By God’s grace, she makes three cakes and they each have a small meal.  The next day, there was enough flour and oil for one more day; and the same the next day, and the next day, and the next day.  There was always just enough; the Bible never says one morning the bowl was full of flour, nor the bottle full of oil.  God’s grace was sufficient daily.

By the way, the original challenge was about being Christ-like to the extreme.  I asked who besides Jesus himself could do what he did on the cross.  Read Acts chapter 7.  As Stephen is being stoned to death, he prays in verse 60 “Do not hold this sin against them.”  It’s one of those “With God all things are possible” moments.  When the time comes, his grace is sufficient for whatever he has called us to.

Christians and Halloween

Posted on by

Halloween – I’m not going to write a new rant on Halloween this year, click here to read the one I wrote last year.  After reading the post, be sure to read at least the first two comments; I probably should amend the post by including those footnotes in the article.

Christians – Here’s another thought to keep in mind: we should be Christ-like toward each other.  If you have Christian friends, co-workers or relatives that do not celebrate Halloween, please don’t study up on it and accost them.  Don’t e-mail someone a link to my blog and brag about how right you are/wrong they are, etc.  If I saw a Christian brother who was putting his marriage in danger by spending too much time with a female friend, then I have an obligation to say something.  Maybe he doesn’t even realize, or perhaps he assumes no one has or will notice.  That would be one thing.  If my neighbor does not hand out candy on Halloween, then that’s another entirely.  I have to respect his doing what he feels is best for his family.

If you read those first two comments on that post I linked, you will be reminded that celebrating Easter and Christmas are extra-biblical.  So many details about how to live as Christians in our particular culture have to be worked out by each believer. We are all on the same side.  Christians should not be cannibalistic and apt to devour our own.  Infighting hurts the witness and testimony of us all.  If we can’t love each other, how can we love those in the world?  The un-saved and un-churched need to see Christians treat each other the way we would each like to be treated.

Jesus Would Not Burn a Koran

Posted on by

Last Wednesday I asked the question “Would Jesus burn a Koran?”  I was responding to recent events in the news regarding Terry Jones and his Gainesville, FL church.  Jones and company will be hosting Burn a Koran Day on September 11th, marking the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

That post was somewhat stream of conscience as I worked through the issues and hoped we would all arrive at the same conclusion.  I have worked those ideas into a sermon, with more focus on exactly what Jesus would do and why.  The major points are:

  1. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches us to live counter-culturally.  He speaks on anger, retaliation, going the extra mile, turning the other cheek, and the golden rule. Continue reading →

Discussions That Are Academic

Posted on by

debateThere are some discussions/debates that are purely academic in nature, meaning that they have no real bearing on anything practical.  Is Superman strong enough to beat up the Incredible Hulk?  It doesn’t matter who wins the debate, there is no practical application for the results.  Continue reading →

The Jesus Disconnect

Posted on by

jesusThis blog has two stated purposes, clearly displayed in the headline banner: to be God honoring and Christ centered.  Those words are written there to both advertise what this blog is about, but also to remind the author what this blog is supposed to be about.  We must keep our eyes on the prize; so said the Apostle Paul, in a manner of speaking.  For the Christian – take note of the first five letters of that word – Christ must be the central theme running through everything we do, from studying the Bible to blogging on the internet. 

I’ve written on this several times before (read the About page) and have to fight the temptation to repeat everything.  InternetMonk has posted on nothing but the Jesus Disconnect  for the past couple of days.  He notes that many professing Christians show interest in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but are less focused on his actual ministry.  Some do not see his ministry as having any relevance to “our ministry” at all.  Continue reading →

Jesus’ Example (What Did Jesus Do?)

Posted on by

wwjdWhat would Jesus do:  Remember that one?  Just in case you missed the 90’s, that was the Christian youth catch phrase to end all others.  There were backpacks, bracelets, t-shirts, teddy bears, pencils, bumper stickers, and the list goes on.  If it could be printed, it was.

The question wasn’t new.  “What would Jesus do” is asked by the characters in the short novel In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.  The locals of a small church congregation are challenged to ask this simple question before making any decision of consequence, and their lives are changed in the process.  The only problem, of course, is that we cannot always know for certain what Jesus would do in a particular circumstance.  What then?  Continue reading →