“The Goal of Christianity”
April 22, 2012
Romans 8:28-30
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
What in the world is God doing? When you think of the cosmos and creation and the complexity of it all – it is easy to be overwhelmed. It is easy to be perplexed and puzzled by it all. God is up to something and it is big – very BIG! David said,
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” Psalm 8:3-4
When you consider some of the awesome things God created, so complex, so beautiful—you have to wonder what He sees in man. We are born in sin and inclined toward evil continually. Why doesn’t God just give up on us? I know He was tempted to a couple of times (the Bible says) – but He is so patient; so loving; so gentle with us. He finds us so valuable that Jesus left the splendor of heaven to come to earth to die for us. We have been celebrating that all this month. But what is His purpose? What goal does Christ have in mind? What is the end of all His activity in our world and in our lives? Some people have some ready answers. Some would say it is our salvation. But it isn’t.
1. Salvation is not the goal of Christianity. Oh, it’s important- very important. It is critical. But it is not the goal. In fact, it is just the beginning. It is the door that we must walk through if we are to realize the goal. And I do not want to diminish the importance of it. I think one of the greatest blessings in life is to lead someone to the experience of salvation. I mentioned last week that I was so blessed to pray the prayer of commitment to Christ with someone in their home recently. That was fantastic! There are few blessings that come close. One that does, though, is when your child leads someone to Christ – and one of my kids did. Monica shared with me this last week, of her joy of leading one of her daughter’s friends to Christ. She was so blessed – and I in turn was blessed with her. If you have never led someone to the Lord – you are missing out on a tremendous blessing.
And it isn’t difficult. It talks courage on your part. You have to overcome the fear of rejection - but all you do is ask someone if they would like to turn their life over to Jesus. If they believe in their heart that Jesus is raised from the dead and confess with their mouth that He is their Savior – Romans 10 says they will be saved. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins- God will forgive us and cleanse us from our sinfulness.
I have used the “Roman Road to Salvation”, the “Four Spiritual Laws”, “Evangelism Explosion” and other methods to lead people to the Lord – but the bottom line is to just lead them in the prayer of commitment. It goes something like this:
“Dear Jesus, I am a sinner. Please forgive me for sinning. From this day on, with Your help, I will live for you.”
That’s about it. If someone sincerely prays that prayer – by grace he is saved from the consequence of his sin – which is hell.
Now, I believe that we ought to lead as many people into this experience of salvation as we can – but it not the goal of Christ. It is just the first step in obtaining the goal.
Some people think it might be entire sanctification. But it’s not. 2. Entire Sanctification is not the goal of Christianity. Entire Sanctification, or giving yourself over to God entirely, is necessary. It is so vital to our Christian experience. After a person comes to Christ, after they repent of their sins and ask His forgiveness; after they begin their journey with Christ – it doesn’t take too long before they realize something is wrong. They realize they are a slave to sin. They want to live for the Lord –but they can’t. They don’t want to sin – but they do. They find there is something in hearts that is enslaving them –so they can’t do the things they want to do. And with Paul, they scream, “Oh, what a wretched man I am! Who can deliver me from this horrible thing?”
The answer is the same as it was for Paul. It is in Jesus that we have deliverance. It is in Jesus that we are free.
You see, when we first come to Christ in salvation, we come with our sins. They overwhelm us. They are huge. We feel so ugly, so sinful, so despicable. And then, when we confess our sins and ask forgiveness, Jesus forgives. He wipes them all away. And, Oh! What a wonderful experience that is!
But before long, we find, through God’s word or the Holy Spirit’s leading, that we are still sinning. That curse word pops out; that anger issue rears its ugly head; that sexual urge overpowers our desire for purity – and we sin again, and again, and again.
It is only when we are so discussed with our sin, so upset, so contrite, that we beg Jesus to cleanse us from this body of death; it is only when we truly die to our self; it is only when we desire complete obedience to Christ that we can receive the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32). Before then the Holy Spirit is convicting us; leading us; forgiving us – but it is only after complete surrender that He is able to empower us so that we can overcome willful sin.
Now, that is huge. That is an important step in becoming a victorious Christian. It is the power we need to be overcomers. Most Christians, I am convinced, never surrender completely to God. They settle for a lesser relationship. They convince themselves that their sinful, shallow state is normal for the Christian. It isn’t. God wants complete surrender. Only then can He empower us the way He wants to.
As important as this step is in our spiritual walk, it is not the goal of Christianity. You can’t realize the goal without experiencing total surrender; total commitment; and entirely giving yourself to God. But it isn’t the goal. Here it is. Are you ready?
3. The goal of Christianity; the goal of Christ is – Christlikeness. This is God’s goal for your life. He wants you to become just like He is. Let’s look at some Scriptures.
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” Romans 8:29
“And we all… are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory...”
2 Corinthians 3:18
In one of Jesus’ last recorded prayers, He prays, “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” John 17:11
God wants us to be one with Him – how awesome is that! Our job, as growing Christians, is to become like Jesus. Christlikeness needs to be our goal – for it certainly is God’s goal for us. Let me suggest three important ways we are to be like Christ.
First, we are to have the mind of Christ. The bible says,
“Let this mind be in you who was also in Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5NKJV
Other versions: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (NIV)
You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does. (NIRV)
“…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:5
"Teacher," he asked, "which is the most important commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind.'— (Deuteronomy 6:5) this is the first and most important commandment.” Matthew 22:36-38
“You have been raised up with Christ. So think about things that are in heaven. That is where Christ is. He is sitting at God's right hand. Think about things that are in heaven. Don't think about things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2
One of the ways we are to become like Christ is with our minds. We are to “think” like Jesus thinks. When our minds begin to wander into UnChristlike areas – we need to take those thoughts captive. We need to control them. We need to master our thought life. It is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit – so that second work of grace is so very important.
2. Another way we are to be like Christ is in our hearts. Another way of saying this would be that HIS desires – needs to be OUR desires. His WILL needs to be our WILL. Paul wrote:
“…obey your masters here on earth. Respect them and honor them with a heart that is true. Obey them just as you would obey Christ. Don't obey them only to please them when they are watching. Do it because you are slaves of Christ. Be sure your heart does what God wants.” Ephesians 6:6
“Above everything else, guard your heart. It is where your life comes from.” Prov 4:23
In the Bible, the seat of the affections is the heart. So what it means when we say we need to have the heart of Christ, is that we need to feel what He feels; we need to be compassionate like Jesus. We need to love what He loves and we need to hate what He hates. Our hearts need to be Christlike.
Lastly, 3. Our deeds need to be like Jesus’ deeds. That works two ways. First we need to get rid of ungodly things. We need to stop the unChristlike deeds we do.
“So put to death anything that belongs to your earthly nature. Get rid of your sexual sins and unclean acts. Don't let your feelings get out of control. Remove from your life all evil longings. Stop always wanting more and more. You might as well be worshiping statues of gods. God's anger is going to come because of those things. That's the way you lived at one time in your life.
But now here are the kinds of things you must get rid of. You must put away anger, rage, hate and lies. Let no dirty words come out of your mouths. Don't lie to each other. You have gotten rid of your old way of life and its habits. You have started living a new life. It is being made new so that what you know has the Creator's likeness.” Colossians 3:5-10
The Bible teaches that our deeds is the product of our hearts. If we have a new heart – we will have new deeds as well. We, with the Holy Spirit’s help and power, need to stop doing those things we know God does not approve of. Our desire will be to eliminate anything in our lives that is not God blessed.
We also need to begin doing those things that God desires us to do. Here are some suggestions.
“God wants you to be made holy. He wants you to stay away from sexual sins. He wants all of you to learn to control your own bodies. You must live in a way that is holy. You must live with honor. Don't long to commit sexual sins like those who don't know God. None of you should sin against your brother by doing that. You should not take advantage of him. The Lord will punish everyone who commits those kinds of sins. We have already told you and warned you about that. God chose us to live pure lives. He wants us to be holy.”
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
We, when we become Christians, become new Creatures in Christ. We have a new mind, a new heart, and our deeds change from destructive deeds that leads to death – to constructive deeds that build up and edify and leads to life.
Friends, if you have not come to Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and believed unto salvation – you certainly need to do that. That is the starting place. If you have not surrender your will in complete abandonment to Christ – you need to. The power you need to live a Christlike life only comes to those who wholeheartedly devote themselves to Him. But after experiencing those first two acts, remember that you have embarked upon a lifelong journey to become like Christ. May it be so in my life. May it be so in your life.
Jesus, I surrender, once again, my heart and soul to you. Forgive me of any sin within me, known or unknown. Right now I ask you to begin anew a work within me that will transform me into the very image of Christ.
