Last night we covered the 2nd part of our 6 part series on Campus Missions. There are 5 things that every Christian must do, and those 5 things lead us to become Campus Missionaries. Those 5 things are to Pray Live Serve Tell and Give. Last night we talked about LIVE… we all need to LIVE our lives to please God and to set the example for those around us.
Last week we talked about how we need to have a TAG time (Time Alone with God) where we pray to God and read His word. But, spending time alone with God praying and reading the Bible isn’t good enough. Don’t get me wrong here, Prayer and reading the Bible are awesome and very important things to do. But, we have to put what we learn from our TAG time into practice… we must LIVE!
If we have true faith in Jesus then we are obligated to take action in and with our own lives. We must LIVE our lives as an example. Every aspect of our lives should set the example: our speech, our life, our love, our faith, and our purity are all part of the way we live. We should LIVE our lives to set the example to everyone we come in contact with, and we must LIVE our lives to please God.
1Timothy 4:12
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
Paul assigned Timothy to be a minister to the Church of the Ephesians. 1 Timothy was a letter written to Timothy to encourage him and to give him some instructions on how to minister to the Ephesians.
While encouraging Timothy, Paul stressed how important it was for Timothy to LIVE a life pleaseing to God, reguardless of how old he was. Paul knew that people were looking at Timothy as an example on how to LIVE even though he was very young compaired to Paul and the people of the Ephesian church.
There are 5 areas of our lives that Paul mentions here. They are Speech, Life, Love, Faith, and Purity. These can be divided up into 2 Groups: outwardly observable public traits and inner non-observable traits.
Group 1, the outwardly observable public traits consists of speech and life.
- Speech is our verbal expression or the way we say things.
Colossians 3:8
“…rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”
- Life is our behavior in general. we must live our lives in a way that is pleaseing to God.
Colosians 3:12-14Group 2 are the inner non-observable traits. This consists of Love, Faith, and Purity.
“As God’s chosen people holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive what ever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all theses virtues put on love, wich binds them all together in perfect unity.”
- Love is talking about a love for both God and Others.
Matt 22:37-39
“Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Faith. Paul wasn’t talking about right or wrong beliefs, but instead he was talking about an attitude of faithfullness or trustworthiness.
Luke 16:10
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
- Purity is talking about both sexual purity and integrity of the heart.
Colossians 3:5
“Put to death, therefore, what ever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry.
Titus 2:7-8
“In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned; so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”
There is no reason or excuse for you not setting an example of the way you LIVE your life. Not even your age.
We are all like Timothy, because people are watching us. Think about who could be watching you… Your parents, your brothers and sisters, your grandparents, your friends, your teammates, your teachers, your school mates, and even people that consider you an enemy. Now, through social networking, people are watching you that you have never met in your life.
You are being watched wheather you want to be or not. The people that are watching you are dicecting every little thing about your life. The way you talk, the way you act, the way you respond to things, your devotion to God, whether or not you LIVE the life in public the same as when your by yourself, and everything you say or comment about on Facebook or what ever social networking site you use. You are being watched!
That is why it is so important that you LIVE your life to set and example, and LIVE to please God.
Statistics say that the average (does not include celebrities, politicians, or pastors) person will influence over 10,000 people in their life time. Because of your influence on people, you must LIVE your life as an example. You must do what Luke 9:23 says and pick up your cross everyday to follow Jesus. When you LIVE your life as an example you will show people what Jesus is truly like. You won't be like the Hypocritical Christians that go to church on Sundays and act all holy then their lives like the devil the rest of the week doing stuff they should not be doing.
By LIVING a life pleasing to God, and not conforming to this word, you will have a huge influence on people around you. You will have hope, joy, and love in your life nomatter how tough life gets, and people around you will see that.
As Christians, we are to strive to become more and more like Jesus everyday through the way we LIVE. The way we LIVE our lives, our character, our speech, and our behavior must come from the time we spend with God everyday. When we LIVE our lives to please God we will be different from those around us. We will have an influence on people around us. People will see that we are different, and will ask us about what makes us so different.
We must LIVE our Lives as an example, and to please God!
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