Saskatoon Christian Centre

BEAT THE SYSTEM
PART 3

“Represent”

Review:

Last week we covered the messed up mentality that too many “Christian teens” have – think that your ‘mistake’ isn’t as bad as someone else’s sin!  The basic idea was that we always tend to think that other people’s dirt is somehow worse than our dirt…when in actuality, the Bible just calls sin SIN! We like to pretend that there’s some sort of invisible sin-scale that God measures our sin on, and because we go to church regularly, our sin is somehow less sinful than the sin of the teenager from down the street. But the reality is that your dirt is just as dirty as your friends’ dirt. And so the counter-point from last week was short and simple – know that sin is all the same. I know that this might strike you as too obvious, but it’s really amazing how we get sucked into false ideas all the time. So that was the jist of last week’s part2, in a nutshell.

Message:

I hope you all know by now that I don’t want you to become a stereo-typical “church teen” that only puts on a religious front to serve your own agenda and purposes. God has SO MUCH MORE in store for your life than that!

If you have that BEAT THE SYSTEM mentality woven into your idea of what it means to have a real walk with God…then no wonder you find church, devotions, the Bible, and prayer boring. Trying to BEAT THE SYSTEM always totally kills relationships. Friends can never last when one person is just trying to fool the other. In fact, that is the quintessential recipe for relational destruction…and there are few things worse than when a relationship falls apart.

How To Beat The Church System:

3. Always think of yourself first…but be sure to nod and smile.

In other words, just be a horrible representation to your friends of what living for Jesus is really like.  For these teenagers, it’s all about ‘false pretense’. This stage is actually a whole lot worse than the first 2 stages…because this is when you stop pretending as hard as you used to and start letting some cooped up rebellion start to manifest. In other words, this is when you start to not care!

This will not only have an adverse effect on your Christian friends…but it will also send a totally confusing message to people who don’t know Jesus. Because, and never forget this…people are watching!

This attitude is actually the foundation for SATANISM!!! Satanism isn’t just when people wear all black and light candles and chant and worship the devil. In fact, Satanism is actually defined as “the worship of self”. It doesn’t make Satan god, it makes you god!

 So we can’t afford to mess around and serve ourselves and follow our feelings and think of us first. The People who do not know Christ personally will look at these students with all their many issues and think that they are a real representation of what knowing Jesus is all about….so they never really give church or Christ a try. (examples)

Jesus has a Press Agent, and it’s YOU!!! So how are you making Him come across? Think about it…you are the only Bible some people will ever read, and the only picture of Jesus some people will ever see! So how are you doing???

How To Be Real:

3. Think of Jesus first…because you represent Him.

This is a BIG deal…it’s actually the most important job that you will ever have! There are some things that we have to do in life that we don’t take too seriously. (examples)

But if there was only one thing that ever took seriously as Christians, it should be our witness. You are your witness. Your witness is you. It includes your words, but it’s much more than just your words…because your witness starts before you ever even say anything.

And we represent Christ with our lives!!!

1 Corinthians 4:16 (NJKV) - Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV) - Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

John 14:12 (NKJV) - Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

I’m totally in love with the fact that Jesus calls us His ambassadors!!! Talk about a high-class job…with a ton of responsibility!

2 Corinthians 5:20 – “…now then we are ambassadors for Christ…”