Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

What is the meaning of life?

A question that has been asked for generations and millennia.

Why are were here on earth and what’s the point of living?

What’s is the point of our existence?

Now, this is deep stuff for a Sunday evening - and these are philosophical questions, and many of these questions come with answers that are as confusing as they are philosophical.

I did a Google image search on the meaning of life so that I could get some quotes for the powerpoint without having to type them out.

Here are a few...

[Show Slides]

This last one is interesting...

The meaning of life is just to be alive.

As if being alive and living is all that we have to do.

That’s fine if you’re an animal.

Pause

But when it comes to our purpose in life - we need to be clear on what that is.

Because, we call ourselves a Christian, then we have a purpose to our lives and fulfilling that purpose will bring glory to God and honour to Jesus… but not fulfilling that purpose will bring shame and dishonour.

Today we’re going to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves if we are really truly living up to our PURPOSE as a Christian.

Pause

You see, if you’re not a Christian, your purpose in life can kinda be whatever you want it to be.

You’re your own boss, so to speak, so you can pick one of those definitions that we just saw and run with it.

Be the best you can.

Be yourself.

Choose life…whatever…or at least that’s what they think.

But if you ARE a Christian, then your purpose in life is completely different.

And if you’re a Christian you’re NOT your own boss.

Your life ISN’T your own - you’ve been bought at a price.

Christ has shed his blood and paid a price for YOU, releasing you from slavery.

So YOUR purpose is whatever God says it is.

The problem is that in our society, so many Christians don’t really think of their lives like that.

So many people pray a prayer to Jesus in the hope that that will sort out their future in that they will go to heaven, because that’s the gospel that has been preached.

But so often they haven’t been told that the Christian life is MORE than the forgiveness of sins.

So many people haven’t been told that their lives have to turn around, that their focus of living needs to be shifted off themselves and ONTO Jesus.

And so many Christians think that their life is still their own and they can do whatever they want with it.

That they can live whatever way they want or DO whatever they want - and they can live for themselves but still go to heaven because they’ve ‘said a prayer’.

Let me tell you that’s NOT the case.

There are many people, in our society, and let’s face it, in OUR CHURCH, who call themselves Christians but go about their everyday life with very little time for Jesus or serving him.

Take Samantha, for example...

Samantha calls herself a Christian.

She goes to church on a Sunday morning.

She works as a teacher, which is a busy job and she enjoys the down-time during the holidays.

Samantha likes keeping fit and would attend the gym a few times a week for classes and socialising.

Or take Michael, for example...

Michael works for an accounting firm.

He works long hours and is exhausted at the end of the day.

He calls himself a Christian and he would attend church most Sundays.

He plays golf on a Saturday, and also goes to football training every Monday night.

Anything wrong with these people?

Of course, I haven’t told you their full story.

But let’s say neither of them are caught in adultery or anything like that.

They aren’t committing any blatant sin.

Let’s say their marriages are good, they don’t overindulge in food or alcohol to the point of being sinful.

They are good people....

AND YET, both of these people might not be fulfilling the purpose of their lives, because they are travelling through life with little thought for Jesus except for maybe on a Sunday morning.

For them - to live is NOT Christ.

Pause

In verse 20, Paul talks about his hope that he will not be ashamed but Christ will be honoured in his body whether in life or death.

SO now, let’s turn the spotlight on us (me included).

Could it be, that we are bringing shame on ourselves and dishonouring Christ in our bodies without realising it?

Could it be that we are going along in our lives and blissfully unaware that we are NOT living up to our life’s purpose?

Could it be that for some of us, to live is ‘me’, and Christ gets a tiny percentage for an hour or two on a Sunday?

Scary thought, isn’t it?

And yet it’s a reality for many people in the world, in our country, in our churches, and - dare I say it - in this very church too.

Pause

So what do we do?

Well, to know what the meaning of life is for a Christian, we need to know what it means to be a Christian.

So let’s take a look at what it means to be a Christian from our passage today...

First of all, the term ‘Christian’ was first coined in Antioch and is reported in Acts 11:26...

And the term was used as a derogatory term - it was slagging off these people who followed Jesus Christ.

But the Christians wore this title as a badge of honour.

But here’s the thing - the term means, ‘little Christ’ - like a miniature model of Christ - a replica - a scaled-down replica of Jesus himself.

And so when we call ourselves Christian, we are taking on the name or the title of Jesus - and we are therefore taking on all the characteristics of Jesus.

And so IF we call ourselves Christians.

If we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we HAVE TO be like him.

We HAVE TO want what HE wanted.

We have to have HIS goals.

Now, we fail in every area of this, but there needs to be a movement towards this.

The stark reality is that there are many many Christians in the world and in our churches in Northern Ireland and possibly even here who aren’t even trying to be a replica of Jesus - and that’s the frightening part.

They’ve said their prayer and they THINK that that’s enough to get into heaven…and as a result there’s very little of Christ or his character in their lives and they aren’t bearing fruit… and you know what Jesus said happens to those who don’t bare fruit...

Pause

So, if being a Christian means being a scaled-down replica of Jesus - let’s get uncomfortable for a few minutes and ask ourselves, how do we compare to Jesus?

Because Jesus was about forgiveness.

Jesus was about spending time with the Father.

Jesus was about prayer.

Jesus was about helping the poor and needy.

Jesus was about loving our enemy.

Jesus was about SERVING and sacrificing…and that’s where many of us haven’t even got off the starting blocks.

But that’s where we can learn from Paul.

Because Paul was a ‘little Christ’ - he was the epitome of what it means to be a ‘Christian’ - and because of that he knew the meaning of life and it changed his whole outlook.

Pause

Paul is in prison, as we know, awaiting trial that could lead to his release or his death.

And if we’re looking on as non-Christians we would be forgiven to think that Paul’s release would be the better option.

Not to Paul.

To Paul, death is the better option.

Let’s look at verse 23...

Paul would rather die.