Being who God wants us to be

Sermon by Ps. Alwin

We started with reflecting on Ephesians 4:24 that tells us about putting on a new self and that we are created in the likeness of God (true righteousness and holiness). The preacher mentioned three things:
– Separated from the world- Sanctified by the word of God – Submission to the spirit of God (yielding to him)
Hebrews 11:24-26 tells us that by faith Moses refused to identify himself with the pharaoh‘s daughter and chose to suffer affliction with God’s people. The preacher contrasted this with the church saying it has become so worldly that there is no distinction between us and the society and rather than influencing the world with the principles of the Word, we are influenced by world’s principles. Sometimes we say we are getting into the world to bring it to Christ but you cannot jump into a well to rescue somebody from it; we have to give them the rope of Christ. When Paul said he becomes a Roman to the Roman, he never meant that he compromised so we are not call to compromised with our Christian values. 
An example that the preacher gave us is that sometimes we do anything and resort to any means to attain success at work; we have to decide what we must do and need to examine what way do we take to attain our goals. 
The Bible always mentions God calling His people to Himself from start to end. In a foreign land, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego separated themselves from that nation. We must recognise that we are purchased by a heavy price (the blood of the lamb) and we cannot behave like the world. Paul tells us that we are set apart, a royal priesthood, called for a purpose. We like to talk about the blessings and promises in the Bible and that makes us happy but these blessings come to those who are obedient; we have to take a decision today.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 talks about not being unequally bound and it’s not just for marriage but about relationships and dealings with others in the world. We are not called to cut off from everyone but the emphasis is on not compromising and separating ourselves from the ways of the world. Separation mean separation from worldly pleasures, and worldly alliances and influences. Worldly alliances could even mean a business partnership. An example of worldly influence is when our CA tells us to cheat the government of taxes by cooking up the books; we have to choose.
If we think it is tough to follow all this, we need to ask ourselves the toughest question that can be asked to a believer. Jesus knew that God revealed to Peter that he is the Christ and even with this knowledge, we know what happened to Peter: Christ asked him do you love me more than these? (John 21:15-17) When some challenges come to us, like Peter we easily let go of God. Imagine Jesus asking us the same question! We cannot love Christ and love the world at the same time.
Some other verses that we reflected on:- Psalm 37:4: We need to delight yourself in the Lord and He’ll give us the desires of the heart. We need to ask ourselves, whether our real delight is in the world or in the Lord?- 2 Timothy 2:15: We must work hard to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God; when we are His, our life has to change.- Mark 12:30: We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. Can we think about who we really consider as our God and devoted our time and affections to?- Philippians 3:7-9: Can we emulate Paul who says that all things are worthless and that he says that he has given up such things so that he can gain Christ?
Can we declare that Christ is more precious then all these things of the world? Let us remember that when we are His, our life has to change. We cannot continue living our life without separating ourselves. The preacher stated that if we make ourselves available to God, He will use us mightily.