Called to Witness

Christian Life Seminar Session 2

God made it possible for us to be saved.

God has done everything to enable us to experience salvation. But we need to respond. We need to live out the good news that is Jesus in our lives.

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What is authentic Christianity?

It is meeting Christ, living Christ, and sharing Christ.

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Meet Christ.

Living the authentic Christian life.

To meet and know Christ is to be in a personal relationship with him.

• Jesus is alive and wants to be intimately involved in our lives.
• It is being a friend of Jesus.

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Live Christ

Living the authentic Christian life.

We are to be holy as God is holy (1 Pt 1:15-16).

We are called to Christian perfection (Mt 5:48).

We are to be true disciples (Lk 9:23).

• Self-denial.
• Embrace of the cross.
• Following Jesus.

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Share Christ

Living the authentic Christian life.

To share Christ is to participate in witnessing to Jesus and proclaiming the gospel in the normal day-to-day circumstances of our lives.

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Further, we are to love God and neighbor.

Living the authentic Christian life is following Jesus’ command in Mark 12:28-31.

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Mark 12:28-31

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, Which is the first of all the commandments? Jesus replied, The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.

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Loving God

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

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Loving God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What it means to love God with all our heart?

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To love God with all our heart is to be totally committed to Him.

• It is a decision to put God first, to be loyal to Him, to place His will and interest above our own.

How do we put the Lord first in our life?

• It requires a decision to obey Him. Jn 14:15.
• We need to develop a personal relationship with Him.
• We need to spend regular time with Him in prayer.

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Loving God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What it means to love God with all our mind?

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To love God with all our mind means to serve Him with the use of our mind, or simply to make available our minds for His purposes.

Using our minds can have incredible consequences for society.

• It can be applied to contribute to world progress (e.g., science, neurosurgery). Or it can become an instrument for destruction (e.g., nuclear bomb, biological warfare).

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Loving God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

How do we love and serve God with our mind?

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Keep your mind clean and holy.

Be very discerning in the use of TV, the Internet and other media, which can expose our minds to inputs not consistent with Christian living.

Let your mind be preoccupied with the things of God.

• How you can please God.
• Fill your mind with thoughts of God. Read the Bible, Christian books and other helpful Christian literature that can help form your mind.

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Loving God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What it means to love God with all our strength?

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This means making all our resources available to God—time, money, energy, possessions, gifts, abilities.

• We are God’s creation. He owns us. What we call “ours” is not really ours but His. We are mere stewards.
• We have a responsibility to manage and use well the resources given to us. We must act according to God’s interests.

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Loving God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What it means to love God with all our strength?

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Concrete steps we can take:

• With money: Tithing, resource sharing, almsgiving.
• Time and talent.
• Use it not just for ourselves, but for others.
• Volunteer to do Christian service.

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Loving God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What it means to love God with all our soul?

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We are to love God with our whole being (Lk 10:27)—emotional, spiritual, mental, physical. The love of God must engage the total person.

We are God’s creation, called to be holy, intended by Him to spend eternity together with Him. While in this world, we are to love God with all our soul.

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Loving Neighbor

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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Loving Neighbor

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Loving God and loving neighbor go together. 1 Jn 4:20-21. Thus it is clear: no love for others, no Christianity.

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

What Christian love is not.

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Love is not only having positive feelings.

• Love is often equated with feelings of sexual attraction, personal affection.
• But feelings change and thus cannot be the sole basis for love.

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

What Christian love is not.

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Love is not always saying “yes.”

• To serve others or to put them first does not mean never turning down opportunities to serve. Sometimes you are unable. Sometimes you should not, even if able.
• We have the wrong concept of a loving person as a nice guy who tries to please everybody.

Love is not self-seeking.

• The focus in loving is not ourselves but others. By its nature, Christian love is ready for self-denial.

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So what is Christian love?

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Jesus spoke of a love that is connected with keeping God’s commandments (Jn 15:9-10).

• There can be no Christian love apart from righteousness. Loving is not compatible with sinning.
• The world’s experience shows that love apart from God has become convoluted with sin (e.g., sex outside marriage).

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So what is Christian love?

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Jesus was specific about how we are to love one another. Jn 15:12.

• We are not free to change or dilute Jesus’ direction.

How does Jesus love? Jn 15:13. With a self-sacrificial love.

• It is not just giving our time, imparting our wisdom, praying for others, etc., but it is being willing to die for others.

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

How then do we translate love into practical everyday terms?

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The answer is in Jn 13:1-5 (the foot-washing episode).

• What Jesus did was most unusual, because it was the task of the youngest slave.

Thus, dying on the cross was not the only example Jesus gave. He demonstrated Christian love as service love.

When he finished, Jesus told them to do likewise. Jn 13:14-15.

• Later he commanded them to love each other according to his example (Jn 13:34).

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And who is our neighbor? Can you choose whom to love?

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The answer is in the parable of the good Samaritan. Lk 10:29b-37.

• The Jews hated the Samaritans, who had inter-married among the gentiles. Thus it was remarkable for this Samaritan to help the Jew who was robbed and beaten.

The implication for us: all persons in need of our help are our neighbors.

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Loving Neighbor.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

How do we love in everyday life?

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Characteristics of Christian love (1 Cor 13:4-7).

Read the passage yourself but substitute “I” for “love.”

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God has loved us. Jesus has saved us.

We are to respond by witnessing to God’s

love and salvation.

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