Gospel Worthy Lives, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I'm the vine and you're the branches.

He said, if you abide in me and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. See, even the Christian life, even being light in the world is his work, not mine, not yours. It's not me bearing down and doing it. All I can do is stop doing it. I can put my light under the basket. I cannot do it, but Jesus says, let me do it. You stay close to me and you'll bear light. Now, when you're not bearing light, it tells you something. You're not close to the Lord.

You're not staying with him. He said, that's what you'll do. You'll bear much fruit. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world. There's an Athenian philosopher named Aristides, and in A.D. 125, he wrote a letter to the Roman Emperor Hadrian. And this is what he said in the letter describing Christians. He said they do not worship strange gods.

They go, he said, and they go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness. Also, it is not found among them, and they love one another and from widows, they do not turn away their esteem and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he who has gives to him who has not without any boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him into their homes and they rejoice over him as a very brother.

They don't call him brother because of his flesh, but brother because of the spirit of God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them, according to his ability, gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their numbers imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity and if possible, to redeem him and set him free. And if there is among them anything, any of the poor or needy, and if they have no spare food, they'll fast for through two or three days in order to supply the needs of food to those who need it. So desperately, they observe the precepts of their Messiah with much care, living justly and soberly as the Lord, their God has commanded them to do so.

That's a pagan philosopher writing a Roman emperor. And he says that's the way Christians are. That's the lives they live. Just imagine. That our media would report on the evening news. That's how we are.

That that's how they would describe us. And you know what you say that can never happen now. Things were different then. There were no different than there were two groups of people on the earth and just like now say people and lost people. There were those of the church and those of the mission field. That's all there's ever been.

And by the way, I think I could prove that. Couple of months ago, I read an article. About the government in China. Now, the government in China is communistic. It's an atheistic government. Religion is, in that sense, outlawed. No Bibles are supposed to be in the country. No meeting places, nothing. All the children are taught secularism.

No God. And this is what the Chinese government is now saying. The Chinese government is now saying we are going to stop persecuting Christians. Now, there's between 100 and 150 million Christians in China. Many more Christians in China than there are here.

100 to 150 million. I just found that out in the American Bible Society as they keep smuggling Bibles into them. Now, what's interesting about this to me is the Chinese government says, and this might be bad for them, we're going to stop persecuting them. And here's why.

It said because. They're so honest. They're so hardworking.

They're so helpful to everyone around them. And they are so great for the morale of all the people of China. That's a secular, communistic government saying this, I see the lives of Christians and this is what I think. So don't say, no, it can never happen here. You can say it doesn't happen here. You see, and I think it's because outside these walls for almost all the churches, we really don't let our light shine.

Not at all. And we've earned a reputation that we have. Turn with me to Ephesians, chapter four and verse one, Ephesians four, verse one. Ephesians is a great epistle. It's sort of a Reader's Digest version of Romans.

It's a shortened version of a wonderful book. The first three chapters of Ephesians are theological. They Paul wants you, the Ephesians and us to know what does it mean to be Christian?

What does it mean to be a believer in Christ? What are the benefits that we have? And so we that's what he tells us in the first three chapters. He says in chapter one that you and I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He didn't say we have a lot of them. He said you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

They're all yours. So that's a gift from God to you. He also says that in you and I, the Holy Spirit of God resides. He has sealed us off as his people. We have the actual presence of God in our lives.

Unique to the church age into the church. He also said that we have access to resurrection power. That's amazing resurrection power, not just a little more strength to get through the day. We have access to resurrection power.

He said and all that's because in chapter two, he says we've been saved by grace. The unmerited favor of God. We didn't earn it. We don't deserve it. We have been saved by grace through faith. It is a gift of God.

No one can earn it. Otherwise would boast. He tells us we're saved by grace. Then he says we're all united into one body all over the world. All the believers in the world make up one body of Christ right now. What a benefit that is. And then he said, remind us, we're all the recipients of the love of Christ for each and every one of us.

Now that should fire us up. But Paul says, I have the reason I'm telling you all this is chapter four, verse one, all these benefits you have. He says, therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

Walk in a manner is a metaphor for live your life. All these benefits you have are so that you will live your life differently. You see, that's his point. You're going to live differently. You need to walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

You see, that's his point. We have to have a gospel worthy life beyond these walls. We have to be different. We have all the resources to be different. We have the spirit of God in dwelling us, the access to resurrection power. We have all these things. And yet for a lot of us, we just hide our light under a basket.

And we don't impact our world at all. Turn with me to Colossians chapter one, just a couple of pages. The right Colossians chapter one. And in verses three through eight through eight, he's thanking the Lord for the Colossians. And then in verses nine and 10, he says something else. Colossians one, nine and 10, he says, for this reason, also, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you will be filled with knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Well, who doesn't like that? In fact, I'm afraid often in churches just like ours, Bible churches, a lot of the time is spent filling your head with wisdom and knowledge. And then you actually believe that if you have enough wisdom and knowledge, you're spiritual. But you're not. James said, can't be a hearer of the word.

You actually have to be a doer of it. The only thing that measures your spirituality is how you do the word, not how much of the word you know. That's a very different thing. And so notice how he ends that verse. He said with a knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that result that with the result or purpose that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. He said, the reason you have all this is so you live differently. That's the advantage of growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. As I mature as a believer, I can live more distinctly beyond these walls. And so can you.

But that's the point of it. It's all about the basis and how we live. We are to please him in all respects. He says, bearing fruit in every good work. Now, please understand what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying that if you get some conviction, you say, OK, I'm going to do better. I'm going to work harder. I'm going to make an impact. I'm going to make my light shine.

I could be missing the point because you can't do that. What you have to say to yourself is I'm going to stay a lot closer to my Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I'm the vine and you're the branches.

He said, if you abide in me and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. You see, even the Christian life, even being light in the world, is his work, not mine, not yours. It's not me bearing down and doing it. All I can do is stop doing. I can put my light under the basket.

I can not do it. But Jesus says, let me do it. You stay close to me and you'll bear light. Now, when you're not bearing light, it tells you something. You're not close to the Lord.

You're not staying with him. He said, that's what you'll do. You'll bear much fruit. Christopher Wright said, if our mission is to share the good news, then we have to be good news people. People should be glad to see us.

Almost everybody, neighbors, colleagues, people would work. Everyone should be glad to see us that they should. I'm not so sure they are. See this when you read the Bible, this is all the way through the entire Bible. Take something like the wisdom literature in the Old Testament Proverbs.

I was reading that this week. This is what Solomon wrote. Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner. But blessed is he who is generous to his neighbor. A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with others. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord. And he will repay him for his deed. Speak up, he says, for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly. Defend the rights of the poor and the needy. That's from Proverbs. Job was called the most righteous man.

No, he wasn't called that. Job was the most righteous man on earth. And the reason I say that is God said that. God said to Lucifer, look at Job, he's the most righteous man on earth.

Once God says that, that's that. He's the most righteous man on earth. I wonder what he was like. Now, remember, when he was alive, there were no books of the Bible written. The first book written, chronologically, would have been Job.

And so there were no books. But what made him so righteous? You see, God said it. Now, he obviously had a relationship with God.

But what made him so righteous? Go with me to Job 29, verse 12. Job is making his last defense of himself. He wants you and I to know what kind of guy was Job. What do you spend his time doing? Verse 12.

This is what Job says about himself. Because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me. And I made the widow's heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it clothed me.

My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was the father to the needy.

And I investigated the case, which I did not know. What kind of man was he? He brought joy to widows.

He took in the orphan, which is the worst thing you could be in their culture. He said, I help the poor every chance I had. He said, I help blind people see and lame people walk.

Who does he sound like, by the way? Doesn't that sound like Jesus? Isn't that exactly what Jesus did? You see, that was Job.

God said he's the most righteous man on earth. Job's description there should describe all of us. That should be our description. You see, we are to be distinctly different beyond these walls. America is having a terrible time with the nucleus of the family. Marriages in America are in deep trouble, and they've been in deep trouble. The saddest part of that whole story is that marriages among Christians are virtually no different than marriages among heathens. Not just our divorce rate about the same as theirs. God could tell you all day and all night he hates divorce.

It doesn't matter to us. Our divorce rate is about the same. And even the divorce within the home is about the same.

The amount of counseling, the amount of abuse, all kinds of issues. But the Word of God says that our marriages are supposed to be different. You see, we're to treat each other different. We are both to be able to be subject to another. As a man or a husband, I am to love my wife as Christ loved the church.

I should be willing to give everything for her, and her job is to respect me. You see, and that's the way it should be, but it's not. So why would anyone in the world say, oh, you mean if I became a Christian I could have a marriage like yours? Our families are supposed to be different. The way we raise our children are supposed to be different.

We're to raise our children in the admonition and nurture of the Lord. There should be distinctions, but there's not. We should be different kind of employees than everybody else.

I just heard a manager, Velma and I were eating lunch yesterday, and a manager of the store was talking to us and talking about how horrible the employees are. And I wonder how many of them describe Christians. Because it says as a Christian, even if I was a slave, I do all as unto the Lord. I am to do it as unto the Lord. I don't know whether or not the employer or the boss is worthy, but it's unto the Lord, do I do it or not? If I'm an employer, I'm supposed to be giving grace and mercy to my employees.

Was that your reputation? Is that how you're revealed to the culture? We're supposed to be different. We're supposed to be different neighbors. Jesus said it's part of the two great commandments, love your neighbor as yourself. They said they should love us because we love them. We should be distinct. And people have been in the past.

But I'm afraid we're not now. One last passage. First John Chapter three. Verses 17 and 18. First John Chapter three. Verses 17 and 18. Verse 17 is a rhetorical question on John's part.

I'm afraid one that he's not comfortable with, but many of us are. He said in verse 17. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against them. How does the love of God abide in him? How does the love of God?

Where is it? Then he says this little children, let us not love with word. Or with tongue. But indeed, in truth. You see, it's not enough to say love you, man.

I love everybody. It's an action verb. It's not words. Talks cheap. You have to love people.

You see, that's what he's saying. It has to be in deed and in truth. We have to make this difference.

By the way, some of you do. I'll talk about this a little more next week, but I will tell you this. The thing I'm most proud of of this church are those of you people that I'm aware of. Who are doing all kinds of wonderful things beyond these walls.

I just love that. Not a church program. You follow the Lord's leading in your own life. And you're pursuing that agenda. That's a wonderful thing. I'm very proud of that for the church. We should all be involved in something beyond these walls where we make a difference.

You see, how we live is indispensable to our testimony to the world. It's still effective. This past week I read this. This happened not too long ago. It's an article written by Matthew Paris in the London Times. Matthew Paris grew up in Africa. He is an avowed, self-described atheist. He said, I write this article with great resignation, but honesty.

He didn't want to write the article. He didn't believe in God. But the church in Africa has been growing like the church in China. Largely to do in the beginning to all the missionaries that went there and the work that they did. And here's what he writes. He said, now a confirmed atheist, I have become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelicalism makes in Africa.

Education and training alone will not do. In Africa, Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation to their lives. The rebirth is real and the change is good. He said, it would suit me to believe that their honesty and diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with their personal faith.

He said, but that's not the case. It forces me to acknowledge that the work of these Christians, while secular, was deeply affected by what they were. And what they were was, in turn, influenced by the conception of man's place in the universe that Christianity had taught them. It's the words of an atheist.

Just think of that. Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings spiritual confirmation. The rebirth is real.

The change is good. An atheist is writing that. Because of the lives and the testimony of people just like you and me in Africa. The most important thing about this church is what happens beyond these walls. We are to be used by God to lead boys and girls and men and women to a saving knowledge of Christ. We do this by the words we speak and by the lives that we live. And our lives should be gospel worthy. If you leave with one thought today, this is the thought I want you to have. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the great Savior of the world, said of you, you are the light of the world. Think about that.

Let's pray. Father, let me confess that I think so often we don't think of ourselves this way. If we're honest, sometimes we become so preoccupied with our own lives, so preoccupied with our own needs that we spend almost all of our time either pursuing ideas or people that will meet our needs to help us. But Father, we have something else that we have to have in mind.

That you have placed every single individual in a strategic place. The families they were born in, the neighborhoods they live in, the places where they work or go to school. And there they are to be light. That's their responsibility. They are to live differently. Some of us have a lot of influence, Father. We influence countless people. Others of us only influence a few people or a couple people.

And that makes no difference to you at all. All you've asked us to do is let our light shine among men in such a way that when they see our lives, they will be led to bring glory to you. Father, I pray that we understand how important this is.

That if we are going to be effective to what you have called us to do this side of heaven, we have to live differently. For our good and for your glory, in Christ's name, Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.