In our last study, we talked about the Way of Salvation. It is not difficult to become a true Christian. What is difficult, is living the life that a true Christian should live. In Matthew 7:20, Jesus talks about living the life. He said, "by their fruits ye shall know them". In verse 16, he said "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" He was saying that we can be expected to show what we are. We know when we see a skunk; that it will probably have a bad smell. We would not expect a skunk to smell like a rose. If we see a police officer, we expect a certain uniform and certain actions. If we meet a minister, we have certain expectations of him. Everyone has certain expectations of "The Christian". It would seem that many people who have never read a page from the Bible seem to know how a Christian should act or what he should be.
Let's look at some behaviors and see what a Christian really should look like. Should you always carry a Bible? Should you wear certain clothes? How about the way you cut or don't cut your hair? What about the words you speak or the stories you tell? Is it ok to have a beer once in a while? Is it ok to get drunk occasionally? Must you shower every day? What about smoking, driving fast, watching TV, going to church or Sunday School, borrowing things without intending to return them, fighting, arguing, having sex outside marriage, looking at pornography, serving in the military, using illegal drugs, over eating, stealing, or lying?
The people around us may see all of these actions. Some of them don't fit what others think a Christian should be doing, and the result is often "If that is what a Christian is, he's no better than I am. Why should I become a Christian?" or maybe "I'm better than that. Christians are just hypocrites, all talk, but no substance".
Books have been written and sermons preached about all of these actions and many more. Certainly, we cannot begin to study each one completely here, but there are guidelines that God has given to us so that we can get a good start. First, there are the Ten Commandments. These are not the Ten Suggestions. God gave them to us so we would have a measuring stick to measure our behavior. The Bible teaches that breaking even one of the commandments is sin, and we learned in our last lesson that just one sin is enough to condemn us to eternity apart from God. James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." We also learned that God will forgive our sins. ( 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.") Does this mean, then, that it is ok to sin since God, through Jesus, looks at us as if we had not sinned? The answer is No! To sin intentionally, is to insult God and belittle His tremendous gift of Salvation. It also tells those watching us that God's wishes are not important. No sin is just mine. God sees everything that I do and other people see much of what I do. If they see me do wrong and are encouraged to do wrong because of what I do, then even if my action was not really wrong in itself, I have sinned by misleading someone else.
Jesus said in Matthew 18, "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" This would suggest three guidelines with which we should begin our Christian life.
If God commands it, do it.
If God forbids it, don't do it.
If someone observing you thinks God forbids it, don't do it.
What about my rights as a free person? After all, I am an American with certain inalienable rights. The Bible does not guarantee any rights. The only rights we have are those privileges God has given to us. "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also". (Matt. 5:39) "Children, obey your parents, for this is right". (Eph 6:1) "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. . ." (Matt. 5:10) "The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (Jn. 15:20) "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up" (James 4:10) "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement." (Matt. 12:36) Obviously, God has not promised that the Christian life will be an easy one. It would appear that he has promised that it will be difficult.
We need to review our perspectives, our purpose, and our goals in life. It would appear that God's goals are different from ours, and since we now owe to Him a debt greater than we could ever hope to repay, it should be our intent to dedicate all that we have, and all that we are, and all that we ever hope to be, to His purposes and goals. Therefore, maybe we should begin to look more at what we should do than at what we should not do. Back to the idea of fruit. . . "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. . ." (Gal. 5:22-23)
In Matt. 5:16, Jesus says, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." In John 13: 35, he says, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:9, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." The things we are to do, the fruits by which people will know that we are Christians, are good works; deeds that God has planned ahead of time that we should do; works of love and gentleness, done in humility and for the benefit of those around us rather than for ourselves, works that earn nothing for ourselves but will bring honor to God
What, then, are some of the good works that we should do? Certainly, we can not build a complete list here, but the Bible gives us some examples. In Matt: 26, Jesus commends the woman who poured perfume on him for a deed of honor. In Acts 9, there is the story of Dorcas who was "always doing good and helping the poor." Jesus said in Matt. 25:40, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." In Mark 12, Jesus watched the people at the temple who brought gifts and recognized the widow's mites as a gift or good work of more worth than the larger gifts by others who had greater resources. The parable of the talents in Matt: 25, shows that Jesus considered responsible use of the resources that we control to be work worthy of recognition. Hebrews 10 says, " let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together. . . but let us encourage one another" Could this mean we should go to Church? It certainly means we must get together with other Christians and encourage each other. When Jesus visited Mary and Martha in Luke 10, he defended Mary when she chose to sit and listen to him rather than spend her time scurrying around attending to the details of entertaining.
Peter summarized instructions to believers in his first book, chapter 3, this way, "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, Whomever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
If you think that living the perfect Christian life is impossible, you are right! But, don't let that discourage you. Even though God says in Matt. 5:48, "Be ye. . . perfect. . ." He tells us through Paul in Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.", and in Matt. 6:33 Jesus, himself, says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."