Please Stop Telling People You Are One Of Mine…
Romans 8:1-14 (Amplified Bible)
1THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death. 3For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], 4So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit]. 5For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and [e]seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. 6Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. 7[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot. 8So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him. 9But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].10But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].11And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.12So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.13For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
I heard a Pastor in Hawaii, who one day during service made the statement,” I am going to need some of you all to stop telling people I am your Pastor,” at first I was confused until He went on to explain that people were living a life that was far from Christ like and were wearing things and inwardly and outwardly that were further from defining a Christian, than the east was from the west. I chuckled at the statement at the time. My Bishop almost a year ago, said something similar, when He was preaching about our witness, how many of us are inviting people to go to church on our jobs and we are inviting family members and they do not want to come because or witness is contradictory to our lifestyle, our attitude is so nasty or we are living lives that when people look at us they cannot tell that we are any different from the world because we are doing the same things as people who are in the world and do not profess Christ. As I thought about these two very different sermons, but similar statements, it hit me like a two tone mac truck, if these statements were coming from Men of God, but they were men none the less, who make their mistakes and have their issues, what must God be saying and thinking about many of us, who say we wear the name Christian, like Christ?
In the 8th verse of this passage it states that if we are living for the flesh that we are none of His (NIV version). So why is it that we think that we can say, we are Christians and that magically makes it so. If we are Christ’s, we walk not after the flesh, but after he Spirit. We are not ruled by the flesh, but by the Spirit, yes we may fall prey to it on occasion, because we live in this earth suit, but that is not where we spend the majority of our time and energy…We think that just because we name and claim it that it will be ours, that does not make it so. Salvation is something that God gave us, but it is up to us whether we accept it and whether we maintain it. God has given us free will and for many of us it is that free will that is willing us into sin daily, and we have lived this way so long that we have become immune to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the Voice of God. I can only imagine that God is looking at many of us who are living our lives our ways and saying loud and pride I am a Christian He is saying “please stop telling people you belong to me, because that is hardly what I am about, and that is far from how I asked you to live and act.” I have heard people say over and over, God knows my heart, or what do people expect I am only human.” Jesus was human and he was tempted at ALL points just as we are, but yet without sin, and yet we throw up those lame excuses, for compromising holiness, purity, uprightness, standard and the convictions of Christ, like it should mean something to God and should give us an out with those who are watching us the minute we say we are Christians. I have also heard well “I am not God,” well if you accepted Him, you have Him living on the inside of you, that makes us god with a little “g”, and He living in us is greater than any temptation that we face but we miss that because we are too busy making excuses to be who we want to be and live how we want to live.
It is time to be who we say and say who we really be! If we are going to play Frank Sinatra and “do it our way,” then just say that. Do God a service and be honest about you stuff. Stop trying to hide behind His name with all your compromise, and excuses, it is time out for that. Tomorrow is not promised to us, and the Lord is too soon to come. SO many of us think that we have time to get it right, time to get our mess together, time to stop the sins that we have allowed to become a part of daily lives. God is calling us to account. It is time to put up or shut up. Don’t claim it if you can’t live it!
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