Standing next to another christian ought to make you want to shout AMEN

Romans 15:4-13

They are your brother and sister in Christ 

Romans 15:7, “receive one another, just as Christ also received us.” Through out this passage the theme of christian brotherhood is clear. This is more than tolerate. Verse 5 states, “be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus”; and verse 6 “one mind and one mouth”.  

Christians come in all shapes and sizes; with different nationalities, languages, and ethnicities…and yet we all share a common re-birth through faith in Jesus Christ - and that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus calls us “the church”. He did not use the more common phrase “congregation”, but used a more greek word - “church”. It means being called to a public assembly. In essence, we are a new community - called out of the life of sin and into a life redeemed by Jesus Christ. And this new community is not limited to people groups, nationalities, or anything else…its open to all who believe that God was working through Jesus on the cross to bring about salvation. We are not merely saved as individuals but we are saved as a people.

and together we bring glory to God

Verse 6, “you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And again verse 7, “receive one another, just as Christ received us, to the glory of God."  

I’ll never forget visiting the Christian community in Arib Emirate of Dubai. 11 different churches worship in the same building. Standing in their building challenged my views of segregated christianity. Now why is all of this important? How does Christian brotherhood and sisterhood bring glory to God? How do groups of different people, redeemed by Jesus and reborn by the Holy Spirit, bring glory to God simply by their unity? Christian unity brings glory to God because it is a reflection of heaven - one family united by our faith in Jesus Christ. It brings glory to God because it illustrates to a broken and hurting world how to live in peace and harmony with one another. It brings glory to God because it shows the universal love and salvation of God’s plan. And thats why standing next to another christian ought to make you want to shout amen!

The single greatest decision we can make everyday is the decision to put on Jesus Christ!

Romans 13:11-14

Keys, books, coat, wallet, purse…we prepare ourselves every morning - why is it so important to also remember to put on Jesus Christ? Putting on Jesus Christ…

Establishes our Identity 

Have you noticed how obsessed our culture is with identity - particularly our self identity? We have become enamored with ourselves! The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the year for 2013 is “selfie”. Selfie is defined as a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.  Our culture is training us to be obsessed with ourselves. But sadly, its not even our true self - its a shadow of our fallen nature that we are catering to. And this is no place for a person born of the Spirit, washed of our fallen nature to be.

In his book Mere Christianity, CS Lewis addresses this issue of our fallen self and our true self found in Jesus Christ. He relates it to table salt. Salt is a strong substance, and its hard to imagine how something so strong could be good. Yet, salt bring out a deeper, truer flavor. The same is true of Jesus. It is only when we give ourselves over completely to his personality, that we, for the first time, experience our true self.

Romans13:12: “Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Daily we are faced with forces that influence the way we think, act, and speak. Sometimes these they capitalize on our weakness, other times they chip away at our foundation. But regardless of the type of influence, it requires daily attention to our identity in Jesus Christ. Establishing our identity in Jesus is achieved by, what Paul calls, “putting on the armor of light”, which is the same as “putting on Lord Jesus Christ”. It is only through giving ourselves completely to Jesus Christ that we can experience our true self.

Eternal reward is something every Christian should think about!

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Did you hear about the Arab Emirate’s weight lose campaign for Dubai this past summer?  It was a 30-day reward based weight lose campaign.  Residents were weighted at the beginning, given advise and information on healthy ways to lose weight, and weighted again after 30 days.  As long as you lost 4 lbs you received a prize: gold!  1 gram of gold for every 4 lbs!  What an incentive program!  Guess what they called the program?  “Your weight in gold.”   At the end of the 30 day program the Emirate gave 2.6 million dollars worth of gold.  

I once heard a pastor say, “Being a Christian is the best choice!  Even if God doesn’t exist, and the Bible is not real living as a christians makes you a better person.  But if God does exist and the Bible is real, and you live life as a faithful Christian…well, then you’ve secured the ultimate retirement plan - eternal life.” 

Paul’s letter to Timothy covers a lot of important topics including eternal reward.  

Eternal reward is something every Christian should think about!  Because it is completely related to…

The life we live

2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race…”  

These are pictures that represent the substance of Paul’s life.  He can anticipate his eternal reward precisely because he fought the good fight, and finished the race!  On Judgement Day he can stand firm on the life he lived as evidence that he “fought the good fight and finished the race.”

The Bible is clear: one day we will stand before a righteous Judge, and we will be asked to account for the life we lived.  One of my most trusted spiritual mentors said to me once, “We have to live our life in anticipation of one day standing before our Maker; I want there to be enough evidence to find me guilty of being a good and faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.”  Eternal reward is something every Christian should think about!  Because it is completely related to the life we live.  

The faith we keep 

Paul concludes verse 7 with a wonderful affirmation, “I have kept the faith.”  

He was able to fight the good fight, and finish the race because he kept the faith.  You see it faith in Jesus Christ that sets us free; that unties the chains so we can fight and race.  Without faith, we have nothing!  How can we live a good and faithful life without having faith in Jesus Christ?  How can we live free from sin, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, without faith in Jesus Christ?  

In the cartoon strip Peanuts Lucy and Linus are sitting on the couch, and Lucy asked Linus to get her a glass of lemon aid.  Now if you don’t know Lucy, she a mean sort always treating others a little rough.  Linus says, “Why should I get you a glass of lemon aid?  What have you ever done for me.”  Lucy replies, “On your 75th birthday I’ll bake you a cake.”  And with that Linus heads to the kitchen for the lemon aid.  The strip closes with Linus saying, “life is so much easier when you have something to look forward to.”

Why do we sacrifice so much, give so much, and work so hard at the Christian life, why is it so important - because one day we will all stand before our Maker and the life we live and the faith we keep will provide the evidence of being found guilty of being a faithful christian. 

a little man’s big lesson

Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus is a story of a little man’s big lesson on making amends.  Now there are two important lessons we want to learn about making amends from a Christian perspective.  Making amends is…

a reflection of God’s love
Luke 19:10 Jesus reminds the disagreeable crowd that he is here to seek and save the lost.  Zacchaeus was a Jewish tax collector for the Roman government.  The only thing worse than a tax collector was a chief tax collector - of which he was.  Zacchaeus’ wealth was in large part due to what he and his employees took from others.  This occupation was seen as unforgivable; outside of God’s compassion.  Yet here is Jesus, making a very important lesson on God’s love - it’s for everyone, and it covers everything! 

There is a connection between salvation and restoration.  This is what Jesus was saying in verses 9-10.  Zacchaeus was part of a larger story - God’s story to bring salvation to his creation, and restore the relationship that was lost when sin entered the world.  The good news is that you and I are also part of this grand story - we are asked to come down, accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and allow him into our lives…our homes.  God makes amends with us - he fixes the relationship - through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Making amends with those we have hurt or been mean too is a reflection of God’s love.  

Lynette Hoy, a marriage and family counselor who writes for the website Power to Change says, that one of the strongest excuses to making amends that people make is called, “fundamental attribution error.”  In essence, we push the blame to someone else.  Think of Adam and Eve disobeying God.  God looks at Adam as he is still chewing on the fruit, and Adam says, “she made me do it.”  We deflect responsibility to someone else, and blame them for our behavior.  Lynette argues that for christians its worth the effort to work through forgiveness to amends.  “The ability to forgive is rooted in being forgiven ourselves.”  We forgive and make amends precisely because God has forgiven and make amends.

2 Corinthians 5:17, 20 summarizes this point well: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new…Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…”  Making amends is a reflection of God’s love.

a reflection of new life
Why did Jesus story by the tree Zacchaeus was in?  What did he see in Zacchaeus?  And why was it so easy for Zacchaeus to come down, and accept Jesus?  And why, for goodness sakes, did Zacchaeus feel obligated to make amends for his actions?  This felt need to make amends for his actions is a new element to the story!  Jesus didn’t ask him to do it.  The crowd didn’t demand it of him.  Yet he made a public example of himself, and Jesus not only allowed it, but seemed to approve of it.  “Today salvation has come to this house!” said Jesus.

It doesn’t take much to realize that Jesus saw something in Zacchaeus - a man searching for salvation and restoration.  And it seems clear that as a result of this new friendship with Jesus Zacchaeus felt obligated to so something other than say I’m sorry.  Scene in this light, it’s more than saying “I’m sorry” - right.  It’s also amending the behavior that led to the hurt or fracture.

Have you ever experienced the emotions that come when a person in the AA program get to that step of making amends?  AA is a 12 step program to help those with additions, especially with alcohol.  Making amends is so important to healing 2 of the 12 steps are devoted to it: steps 8 and 9.  Former heavy weight boxer Mike Tyson was recently seen making amends with his former trainer.  This was part of Mike’s recovery.  He was asked what he was doing talking to a man he had not talked too in 20 years.  Mike said, “Life is short; I made amends with everybody.”  Mike has become a positive example of something we can all do.  Take some time to consider who in your life you might have hurt, or been less of a christian too.  And send a card, Facebook message, or note to make amends.

Look again at 2 Corinthians 5:17, 20: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new…Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…”  

Making amends is a reflection of God’s love, and a reflection of new life we have in Jesus.