What do you call a baby that grows older but mentally stays a baby? We say they have a developmental disability.

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1 Video Footprints in the sand. You accept Christ as your Savior and you are a baby Christian, but God doesn t expect you to remain a baby, He challenges you and you are expected to grow and over time to become a mature adult. What do you call a baby that grows older but mentally stays a baby? We say they have a developmental disability. We know it is not normal for a baby to develop physically but not mentally. It is also not normal for a Christian to grow older physically but not develop into a more mature Christian. Babies are cute but a 35 year old baby is ugly. You are expected to become more like Jesus as you grow in your Christian life. This is referred to as becoming more Christlike. Sermon Title: What does that look like? A few weeks ago I mentioned in a message that we should all be striving to become more Christlike. After the message Robert Nelson told me it would be a good thing to not only talk about becoming more Christlike but to also to talk about what that would look like. If you were more like Christ what would you be doing differently than you are doing now? In 1989 a book came out that became a best seller. It was a book designed to give people the tools they need to enjoy powerful and effective living. The book is full of advice on leadership, life management and relationships. It was based on the idea that behavior is learned and that old habits can be replaced by new better and more effective habits. The book was The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. The habits he talked about were: Initiative, Creativity, Productivity, Consistency. Etc., He showed in his book what these concepts were and how you could make them a habit. Today, I want to do something similar and talk about the habits that enable you to become more Christlike. 1

2 If you were to describe yourself in one word what would that word be? According to Covey, if you exhibited the habits in his book in your daily life, you could describe yourself in one word, Effective. How does God want us to be able to define ourselves? If we were to live the life that God wants us to live, what one word could we use to define ourselves? I think Christlike sums it up pretty well, but what does that mean? 1 Corinthians 1:2 says, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be His holy people BTW, holy means to be separate, different. Separate from the world for a special cause. I don t think many of us would refer to ourselves as being holy. But as Christians we are called to live a holy life. 1 Peter 1:15-16, But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy. We are called to be holy because Christ was holy and we are called to be Christlike. The things that Jesus did we want to make habits in our own life also. What describes a person who is Christlike? 1. Christlike people use the bible as the guide for their life. Psalm 1:1-2, Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. Christlike people love God s word, they base their lives on it. They know that it has the power to protect them from all kinds of junk in life. Psalm 119:11, I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. They share the word whenever possible. Colossians 3:16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. The study and application of the Scriptures is a habit with Christlike people. 2. Christlike people seek God daily in prayer. 1 Thess 5:16, pray continually. If our lives are going to be defined as Christlike we must be a people of prayer. 2

3 Prayer is our half of a lifelong conversation with God; it is how we develop a relationship with the creator of the universe. We need to understand the power of prayer and how it is necessary for everyday life. Parents and Grandparents Let your Children hear you pray. Expose them to the discipline of prayer. Prayer is a habit of Christlike people. Over and over again in the Gospels it says Jesus prayed, if Jesus felt the need to pray that means we should really feel the need to pray and if we are to be like Jesus then we have to be a person of prayer. 3. Christlike people are devoted to following Christ no matter what. 2 Timothy 2:8-9, Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. Christlike people understand that being a Christian is not a cakewalk, but they do it anyway because of their devotion to Christ. They know that nothing they experience comes close to the suffering that Jesus experienced. They endure because they know what Jesus went through and are willing to do the same. They are devoted to following Him no matter what. But more than just enduring hardship, Christlike people are devoted to Christ because they understand that in Him alone is an eternal reward. John 14:6, Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. We want to identify with Christ and then live with Him eternally. Unconditional devotion to Jesus Christ is a Habit of Christlike People. We are talking about becoming more Christlike and I realize it is impossible to become completely like Christ. I know that, but I want you to consider something. You will never be able to become completely like Christ but as you try, as you strive to become like Christ you become a much better person, a much better Christian for the effort. As an example of what I mean I want to show you a video. I have shown this video before but it illustrates the point I m trying to make so perfectly I m going to show it again. 3

4 It was from something I noticed when looking at a movie about the 1980 Winter Olympics. And from that movie I put together a short video about a speed skater, Eric Heiden. Eric Heiden was simply the fastest ice skater in the world at the time. He won every men s ice skating race, 5 gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. No other ice skater in the Olympics could beat him and they knew it. But a very interesting thing happened in each of the races he won. See if you can pick it out. Show Eric Heiden video. All the skaters who came in second skated the best and fasted race of their life. Just trying to keep up with the best in the world made them better than they had ever been in their life. 4. Christlike people live each day guided by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16,25, 16 So I say, live by the Spirit 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Usually the Holy Spirit lets us know what is right and what is wrong. If we start to do something and our conscience bothers us that is probably the Holy Spirit. You say that is pretty subjective and you are not sure if you are living by the Spirit. The Bible gives us a definitive way of knowing what it means to live by the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These traits define a life that is being lived in the presence of the Holy Spirit. A Christlike life. You know, right here is where you sometimes lose men. When they hear things like love, peace, forbearance, kindness and gentleness as being Christlike it might sound to some men like something very feminine, like they are being asked to trade in their sports talk, technology, guns and fishing poles for pink shirts. Don t get the idea that Jesus is a woman in a beard. Remember that risk, danger, challenge and sacrifice marked Jesus life. Part of being Christlike involves the possibility of us coming up against the same thing. Christlike people follow the leading of the Holy Spirit even when it is contrary to their own plans. 4

5 Like Paul in Acts 16:6-10, Paul and his companions traveled through the region of Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching in the province of Asia. They tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia begging him, Come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Because of Paul s willingness to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit the world was changed. 5. Christlike people are accountable to God s house and His people. Hebrews 10:25, Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. Now being in church doesn t necessarily make you a Christian any more than being in McDonalds makes you a hamburger. But Christlike people understand the benefit of being with God s people. Paul says that the church is like a body. All of us are members of it. And how can the body benefit from an arm that sleeps in. If church is just an occasional thing you need to make it a habit. Parents, if you want your kids hanging around the right kind of people, make sure they are in church. By doing so, you cultivate holiness in their lives as well as your own. Be in church. Get involved. Find your place of ministry and be faithful to it. Besides being present, be accountable to someone. Find a friend you can share with and be accountable to. A place where you pray and study the word. 6. Christlike people separate themselves from the spirit of the world. (They are holy.) A life of personal purity is a trait of Christlike people. 1 Thess 4:3-8, God wants you to be holy, so don't be immoral in matters of sex. Respect and honor your wife. Don't be a slave of your desires or live like people who don't know God. Remember, we warned you that he punishes everyone who does such things. God didn't choose you to be filthy, but to be pure. So if you don't obey these rules, you are not really disobeying us. You are disobeying God, who gives you His Holy Spirit. (CEV) 5

6 If we are to be Christlike we must control our flesh and work toward presenting our bodies as living sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing to God. You cannot do that and live a life of sexual impurity. Young or old, single or married, male or female, sexual purity is a must if we are to be defined as Christlike. We live in a time of godlessness, where men and women are more concerned with immediate gratification than with the eternal. The spirit of the world is a spirit of selfishness and is the opposite of Christlikeness. 7. Christlike people seek to serve the body out of thanks to God. They use their gifts to serve the body. 2 Corinthians 9:8-13, And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. Each one of us has been gifted in one way or another. The bible says some are called to be pastors, some teachers, some evangelists, some are hospitable, some are giving, some are helpful and on and on. Christlike people do what they can to determine their gifts and then put those gifts to use within the Body of Christ which is the church. Without that obedience your Christianity is hollow. It is important that a Child of God seek out a place of service. God did not give us our spiritual gifts just for our own enjoyment. If God did not intend for us to be Christlike He would not have told us to be so. 1 John 4:17, If we truly love others and live as Christ did in this world, we won't be worried about the day of judgment. (Contemporary English Version) 6

7 The fact that the passage says that we are to be like Jesus means that it is possible to develop habits in our lives that make us more Christlike. However, if you try to do these things on your own, you are doomed to fail. Only Christ living in our lives can make us more Christlike because He works from the inside-out. What is the most important Christlike feature? It is love. It is how you treat others. It is putting others before yourself. 7