Text - Matthew 7:21-29
In recent times, the word ‘Christian’ has become more of a tag. The name Christian has become a title we carry around and tell people. We forget that the name Christian was first given to the believers by the world because of their actions and what people saw. Today, we have lots of Christians who don’t do what the name stands for instead, they go about living as though they have nothing to account for. Modern dat Christianity seems to have much forgotten its roots and the result is careless living.
There are two types of Christians; The born Christian and the Christ-like Christian.
The Born Christian: This category of Christians are born into Christian homes and have received every part of Christian teachings right from birth. They live their lives simply the way they know Christians should not because they love God or have experienced God in any form but because they grew up in homes were they were referred to as Christians and so they call themselves Christians. They barely do anything in accordance to Christ's teachings but rather they live as normal “good” people do.
Christ-like Christians: This category of Christians might have been given birth to in Christian homes or otherwise, but they have made a decision along the way to live their lives emulating the teachings of Christ. Each day they live their lives just to see that they please God.
A lot of ‘Christians’ fall under the first category. They live their lives not recognizing that we are God’s workmanships and therefore we were sent for a purpose. They also don’t live with the reality in mind that we would one day go back to God with results of what we have lived for.
The apostles were first called Christians in Antioch. They had lived with Christ through out His ministry but they were never called Christians until they started exhibiting Christ-like attitudes that were strange to the world
Jesus calls us wise if we listen to his teachings and follow them and foolish if we don’t.
For example, if you buy a car and it doesn’t function well or doesn’t move, you would be so sad and wont even want to mention it to someone. You would be sad knowing that that despite being called a ‘car’, your vehicle isn’t performing well as one. Its the same when we bear the name Christians with nothing to show for it. The way we wouldn’t want to be called owners of spoilt cars is the same with Christ.
Christ encourages us to build our foundation in Him by following his teachings. We have to show Christ like behaviors in our daily doings to properly bear the name Christians! Building our foundations is simply following God’s teachings and also living as Christ lived whilst on earth.
Christ didn't die for us to come to church, He died for us to be the Church.