Becoming a Man or Woman of God pt. 1

Message Clutch Student Ministries Pastor Jordan Biel Rock of Grace A/G 03.07.2007

There are some things that are simply necessary for us to attain for us to become a man or woman of God.

1. Community

Community requires integrity and vise versa - integrity requires community.

The root word of integrity is integer. “Integer: a whole number, a complete entity, or something undivided.” You see you can’t have integrity on your own.

For you to be a person of integrity, it requires that you are person that is whole and complete with other people. You aren’t “an island” on your own. There’s no such thing as a “Closet Christian.” And for somebody to claim to be a Christian, yet claim that they don’t really need to go to church is crazy. They are only kidding themselves. God clearly communicated our need for community – for the Body of Christ to grow together!

There are no “Superheros” or “Lone Rangers” in God’s Kingdom.

ILL> Pic of Muhammad Ali I heard a story about Muhammad Ali, the former heavyweight boxing champion, that reveals the false claims of a “superhero.” The champion was aboard a commercial jet about to take off on a transcontinental flight. The flight attendant came down the aisle and, noticing that Ali’s seat buckle was not fastened, said, ‘Please buckle your seat belt. We’re about to take off.’ Muhammad Ali replied, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt,” to which the flight attendant responded, “Superman don’t need no airplane!” You can’t be a Christian all by yourself – growing closer to God, saving the word, one soul at time. We’re in this thing together!

Paul teaches us a lot about being the church – together, the body of Christ in Galations, Ephesians, and 1 & 2^nd Corinthians. Please read some of that this week.

1 Cor. 12: 27 “Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.”

“You can not change yourself. Change is the work of God operating through His Word, His Spirit, and His people. All three are necessary…” Having “integrity means being undivided in your relationship to God, yourself, and others. Integrity requires community, a collective commitment to ‘one Lord, one faith…” - Jim Van Yperen, Making Peace

Our American culture celebrates independence and self. Integrity celebrates interdependence – two or more relying on each-other – becoming one in Christ. God advises us to have integrity in many ways - one being honest with each-other about our sin and mistakes.

“We rarely expose our sin in the church because most of us are self-protecting and self-governing. Sin is a private matter. To protect (our) feelings, we keep sin in the dark. Rather than submit to a redemptive process of open confession and restoration, we cling to our rights and reputations. In raw terms, we lack spiritual integrity.”

- Jim Van Yperen, Making Peace

Remember the truth about the Redwood trees?

Pic. of Redwood trees and their root systems.

When we talk about our “walk with God” we are talking about our “life” with God – living out together. We are not on a walk with God by ourselves! Our “walk” requires others. Just as the Redwood trees need eachother’s roots to stay alive and keep growing, we need each other to keep growing in our commitment to Christ. We need each others honesty, love, and encouragement.

Notice how every reference to our life – our walk with God here is plural.

1 John 1:6-7 “If WE claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness, WE like and don not live by the truth. But if WE walk in the light, as He is in the light, WE have fellowship with ONE ANOTHER, and the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies US from all sin.”

The church is realm – the group of people in which community takes place – the community that we need in order to grow in our maturity as believers and become like Christ.

“The church is the place where we can work out our salvation through commitments and confessions that form new hats that change our lives, that develop Christ-like character..”

- Jim Van Yperen, Making Peace

Choose the right friends in which to have community – to share about your walk with God. Your friends do influence your decisions and therefore your destiny. So yeah, of course you need to have friends at school – befriending anybody there is fine. But your best friends – the ones that you spend the most time with are the ones that influence you and therefore need to be your Christian friends.

“We are formed, for good and bad, by the culture and community we keep.”

- Jim Van Yperen, Making Peace

For you to become a man or woman of God, you’ve gotta be a person of community, integrity and…

2. Character

Character has to do with WHO you are more than what you do. Character defines who you are as a person.

Having character means you’re morally the same person no matter who you are with.

Having character means you are not willing to compromise your morals and commitments to God just because the people around you are.

CUE: Character is seen in the life of a student unwilling to simply adapt to his surroundings.

DRAMA A bunch of youth group students go to someone’s house to watch a movie and in watching the movie actor 1 sees something he knows he shouldn’t be watching. For a moment, he compromises and is unwilling to be the “black sheep.” But then, a few moments later, he obeys the voice of the Holy Spirit and decides to leave – unwilling to compromise his character and commitment to Christ. Most of his friends ridicule him from their guilt, they accuse him of being “super spiritual” and a “goodie-to-shoes.” But a few friends realize that he was right to walk out, vocally stick up for him and do the same.

A person of character is unwilling to be a camelion.

Why do camelions adapt? Because of fear – fear of their predators; because it gives them the security of being un-noticed – they don’t’ have to stand out – and feel awkward – like they’re the only one.

We compromise our character when we are afraid at what others will think – when we’re afraid at how they will react to our decisions to stand up for truth. But to fear man is a trap of Satan.

Psalm “The fear of man is a snare – a trap that leads to destruction.”

“Our character is not transformed just by obeying rules or by conforming to laws. Rather, God would redeem our character through brokenness. We are to present ourselves as ‘living sacrifices’ We are transformed as we invite God to speak into our lives through His Word, His Spirit, and His church-His people.” - Jim Van Yperen, Making Peace

For you to become a man or woman of God, you’ve gotta be a person of community – having integrity, a person of character – unwilling to compromise. And lastly a man or woman of God is a person of…

3. Commitment

Plain and simple, this means you do what you say you’re going to do. Having commitment means that you are where you say you’re going to be and you do what you say you’re going to do.

Few things make me more upset in life than a person that doesn’t do what they say their going to do. So this means if you say that you’ll be at a practice for school or sports or CSM, then you better be there if you’re a Christian. It reflects your Christianity whether you are or are not. A man or woman of God is a “man of His word.” In other words, people know and trust you to be honest and committed to what you say.

In Ephesians 4:1 Paul begged us on behalf of God to “live a life worthy of the calling of God.”

God is asking us to live a life worthy of being called His own. God wants to be proud of you. Not just because you’re His son, but because you’re acting like it. And your actions are consistent with your words. Your life actions are consistent with your promises.

This means: Don’t sign up for Youth Convention if you haven’t talked to your parents yet!

Talk to your parents, decide how you’re going to raise the money together to pay for it, then sign-up the next week. Becoming a man or woman of God means that you stick to your original commitments.

TIP # 1 Don’t make commitments so easily.

If you’re not sure if you can make it somewhere, tell the person asking you’re not sure and that you’ll get back to them to let them know. But don’t just say “yeah, I’ll be there” and then when something else comes up that looks like more fun, you decide to do that instead. That’s not becoming mature as a Christian. That’s just showing that you’re still an infant Christian- a baby Christian – who still relies on others for everything.

TIP # 2 Be able to say “no.”

If you’ve got a prior commitment, or you simply don’t want to do something, or you know you don’t really have the time, just say “no thanks” or “I can’t make it.”

Being willing to say “no” is a valuable tip in helping you remain a person of commitment.

For you to become a man or woman of God, you’ve gotta be a person of community – having integrity, a person of character – you’re unwilling to compromise and lastly you’ve got to be a person of commitment – doing what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it. Becoming a man or woman of God isn’t always easy, but I promise you it is rewarding and fulfilling.

GUYS, being a man of God will probably come with the blessing of marrying a woman of God. A great girl isn’t going to stay with you if you’re a loner, if you’re a camilion – always acting different around different people, and she definitely won’t stay with you if you’re constantly late or standing her up! All the ladies said, AMEN!

GIRLS, the same is true for you. You want to marry a man of God, become a woman of God and GOD Himself will bring the right man along that will treat you like a queen and honor you the way you deserve to be honored. Remember what you get him with, you keep him with. If you “get him” with your virtue and love for God, that’s something that will never fade, only grow and it’ll continue to draw him to you. If you try to “get him” with your body and good looks, be warned, those DO FADE! =) Have a good week.

Pastor Jordan