What Does God Require of Mr and Mrs Ordinary Christian?

Ordinary People Who Belong to God

-We are ordinary people with ordinary problems.

-Being born-again believers adds another dimension to our lives that unbelievers do not have.

-Being a follower of Jesus Christ is the most important dimension to living out our daily life.

Walk in a Manner Worthy of Your Calling Ephesians 4.1, 5.1; Romans 8.29

-“You” is plural and refers to the saints in the church at Ephesus

-Ordinary people with an extra-ordinary purpose to be like Christ

-The goal is maturity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God to fullness in Christ.

-“Be imitators of God”.

-“Conformed to the image of His Son”.

Four Aspects of Being Like Christ

1)    Attitude. We are to continue to increase in Christlike attitudes as God’s Spirit works in our life. We need to continue to repent of our worldly and self-centered attitudes confessing our sinful attitudes to God.

2)    Actions. No sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness. This should not even be talked about among you. No filthiness, no foolish talk or crude jokes. Let me encourage you to read what Ephesians 4-5 says about how to use our mouth.

3)    Renewal of the Mind. We are to have a Biblical worldview. A Biblical worldview means we assess and order our world by the truth of the Bible. It means we apply the truth of the Bible to our whole life and not just to bits and pieces, while doing what we want in the other parts. A Biblical worldview is living our whole life under the authority of the Bible.

There are many bible doctrines we can learn but there are a couple that are crucial to becoming like Christ – justification by faith; our union with the death and resurrection of Christ.

4)    Perseverance. Three enemies, Devil, world, self. Many times we will fail

and fall as followers of Christ but we need to continue to follow Christ and become more like Him.

How to Become Like Christ

1)    You must be born again. The Christian life is not the adoption of a gentle

and kind and serving attitude, and the application of a good living ethical system to your old way of life. The Christian life is the expression of Christ living in you by the supernatural change of God making you into a new creation in Christ. So to have a Christlike attitude you have to have Christ in you by the indwelling Holy Spirit which God gives in the new birth.

2)    You must be filled with the Holy Spirit. I think of being filled with the Holy

Spirit as submission to God. To me that means having no known sin before God and doing what God wants me to do. To attentively read the Bible every morning to see what God wants to do I need to make time.