Sermon Cloud

Big Questions for a Big God: How is a Christian Different?

Colossians 1:1-8

Intro: Ark. To Va.  Made fun of for being different.  Tried to copy: speech, shopping, food, friends, etc.  I wanted to be normal – different was bad.

Most Christians today do all they can to look no different than the world.  And then on Sunday we can look like everybody in church.  We are closet Christians.

Got news for you: It’s time to come out of the closet!  We are different.

Ex. If acting equal to my dad – “now son.”

Paul’s letter to the Colossians came because they were falling into some false beliefs of those around them.  Some were worshipping angels.  Others were becoming legalistic in Judaism.  They were acting like the world around them.  In our world we get caught up in materialism and relativism/Oprahism.  We want to be like everybody else.

Proposition: In a world filled with people serving themselves it can be hard to remember we are to serve Christ and find our identity in Him alone.  We have to remember that we were the same as others, but now Christ has made us different.

Paul starts his letter to the Colossians with a greeting that focuses on who they are in Christ.  He encourages them by letting them know how they are different from the rest of the world.  The letter reminds us how we are different too.

I.                You are a brother. (1-3)

Paul starts off by calling believers “fellow brethren”.  Being a Christian makes you different, because you have been adopted into the family of God.  You went from being a slave of sin to a son of righteousness.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."  Romans 8:15

Ex. Africa-slave to prince.

As a prince why would you ever want to live like those in slavery to sin?  But that’s what we do when we try to live like the rest of the world.

Ex. Had to take the driving test.  Not scared, cause I knew I was fine.  You got to know who you are and not live in the past.

            I’m going to share with you two ways you are different as a brother or sister in Christ:

1. You are equal. (1-2)

Easy to think missionaries, pastors, evangelists, etc. are better than us.  But Paul the Super Apostle calls us brothers and sisters.  We are equal family members.

26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.  Galatians 3:26-29

Not as shocking to Americans, but still shocking in most of the world.  Doesn’t matter race, color, wealth, position, etc – you are equal in Christ!  It doesn’t matter what position you hold in the church.  We are all equal in Christ.  Ex. Anyone can lead a kid to Christ – VBS.  Anyone can visit a hospital.  Anyone can visit someone going through trials.

You can be a millionaire and you can be dirt poor.  You are equal in Christ.  None of that matters – all that matters is – are you in Christ?

2. You are a saint. (2-3)

Paul also calls us all saints.  Everyone in Christ is a saint.  What does that mean?

Not perfect.  Not holier than thou attitude.  Not better person.

The Greek word means “separated from the profane”.  It means you are different from the world, because Christ has made you different.  You’ve been called out to pursue holiness and shine as lights.  You’ve gone from part of every body to part of Christ’s body.  You’ve gone from a nobody to a real somebody.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10

“I’m no saint.”  Yes you are!  It is something Christ did to you not something you got figured out.

You have been made holy proclamations of the one true God!  It brings no glory to you, but it is meant to bring all glory to God!  Ex. Love offering was a testimony of you not me.

II.             You are a bearer. (4-8)

Being a brother is telling you who you are in Christ.  Being a bearer is about how you live in Christ.  Every believer should be obvious in how he or she lives in certain areas.  So Paul gives us some basic foundations of how a brother is to live as a bearer of Christ within.

1. You are a bearer of faith. (4a)

Paul has heard of the faith of this church.  And he lets us know that faith is not just how you get into God’s family.  But it is how you live as a family member.  You walk and live by faith.  In 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul tells us that “we walk and live by faith and not by sight.” 

So what is faith?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1

Living by faith means knowing that you know that you know that Christ has saved you and is returning.  It means knowing that no matter what happens – God is good.  A person of faith can overcome anything, because they keep their eyes on Christ.

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4

Ex. Visa Olympic commercial.  Guy falls and gets up and dad helps him finish the race.

The faithful are quite simply overcomers.  You can knock me down, but I’ll always get back up, because I stand on the promises of God my savior.

2. You are a bearer of love. (4, 8)

Tied in real close with faith is love.  Because real faith is lived out in love of God and others.  Paul says in Galatians 5:6 that “faith works through love”.  A person who has real faith will always be a person of love.  You cannot separate them.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:2, 13

If you miss out on loving than you have missed the whole thing. 

Do people think of you as a bearer of love?  Are you “patient, kind, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not holding grudges?  Are you, “always protecting, trusting, hoping, preserving, and forever loving?”  That is how Paul defines love.

Love makes you different, because most people are too overly focused on themselves.

Ex. The testimony of World Changers is strong because most youth are so caught up with themselves and their image that they never think to reach out in bold love.  It is life changing to experience such love.  It is world changing.

What will really make you shine from the rest of the world?  Loving the unlovable.  Remember Oak Express commercial – that’s not natural.  We are those who give and do not take.  We build and do not put down.  When others are in pain we don’t run – we come along side.

3. You are a bearer of hope. (5)

Paul says that you have faith and you love, because you have hope in the gospel and in Christ.

            Hope is what really separates us from the world.  The world has no hope.  Life for others is all about squeezing the most pleasure out of life while it lasts.  Got news for you – it won’t be over.  This life is only the beginning.  And as one famous gladiator said, “What we do now will echo in eternity.”

We can live selflessly today for we have hope for tomorrow.  Others who do not know Christ should not live in hope – but fear.  Fear of the literal Hell that awaits them.

Ex. Demaris – scared of death.  She should be.  Most use toys or drugs or tv to just not think about it.

Ex. Way of the Master: “Why think about it?  You can’t know.”

You can know.  It’s called hope.  You ask me how I know He lives – He lives within my heart.

4. You are a bearer of fruit. (6-8)

Paul says, the gospel has come to you and it bears fruit that continues to increase.  Every believer should be bearing fruit.  If you are planted in Christ then you will bear the things of Christ.  If you aren’t planted in him then you aren’t bearing fruit.  It’s simple.  Imagine two apple trees – one is planted in the ground the other isn’t.

What does bearing fruit look like?  What should you look like?

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-25

Conclusion: To fulfill his dream of erecting a pair of 200-foot-tall crosses book-ending the city of Houston, Pastor Steve Riggle of Grace Community Church will have to gain approval from a higher authority: the Federal Aviation Administration. Because of the hazard a 200-foot structure might pose to air traffic, Riggle would need FAA approval to go ahead with his plan. Even if the agency disapproves, the nondenominational megachurch pastor said he would settle for 150-foot crosses that would not require consultation from the FAA. "This will mark our city for God. If this doesn't work, nothing else will work," he told Houston Community Newspapers. Riggle hopes that like immigrants passing by the symbolic Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island, motorists will be similarly moved by huge crosses as they drive into the northern or southern ends of the city.

You know what will change a city, a town, a workplace, a neighborhood for God?  It isn’t cross statues.  It’s people picking up the cross daily and living for Christ.  That’s what will change people.  That’s what will change the world.  And that’s what it means to be a Christian and be different.