Your Christian Life Doesn’t Have to be Toxic - 2

Your Christian Life Doesn’t Have to be Toxic - 2

Subject: The Secular Christian

By Rick Welborne

Matthew 20:30-34 (NKJV)
³⁰  And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"
³¹  Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"
³²  So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
³³  They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."
³⁴  So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

--We are talking about Your Christian Life Doesn’t Have to be Toxic…last week we spoke of the disconnected Christian and hopefully we helped you with being connected God’s way.

--Tonight we are going to talk about the Secular Christian. Secular humanism teaches us that our situation dictates our ethics. Secular Christians tie their salvation to someone else.

Secular Humanism – The belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God. 

--Just look around you here in the United States and see how Secular Humanism has impacted our country. We have definitely created a morality that is absent of God. 

1. The Secular Christian Follows People, not Christ.

--This may come as a shock to some of you, but there are more than likely people coming to church, who are not attending for the right reasons. What do you mean, Pastor?

--There may be a husband here, not because you love Jesus, but because your wife is here. If she said, let’s go fishing, after you woke up would say, oh yeah! We simply follow.

--There may be a young person here, not because you have a close relationship with God, but because you have a close relationship with someone else…or at least you think you want one. Been guilty.

--If someone in the church is the reason that you are here and if that person was taken out of the equation …puff…you would be gone.  I think the 10 Commandments said something about that:

Exodus 20:1-5 (NIV)
¹  And God spoke all these words:
²  "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
³  "You shall have no other gods before me.
⁴  "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
⁵  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 

--It almost sounds like your salvation is connected to that person you are following instead of being saved by Jesus…God is jealous and He wants you here for Him.

Mark 12:29-34 (NKJV)
²⁹  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
³⁰  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
³¹  And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
³²  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
³³  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
³⁴  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him.

--Be careful not to follow after pastors, prophets or any other superstar ministries. The Book of Hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus…the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

--I have watched for years people who follow after man instead of God usually get disillusioned after they see that person is human and makes mistakes. Follow Jesus.

2. The Secular Christian Looks to People, not Christ.

--The pastor did not call, the deacon didn’t care, my connect group did not check on me, if they really cared they would have called or at least sent me a wonderful hand written note. You don’t send me flowers…

--Maybe I am mistaken but I thought I read somewhere in the Bible that there is only one Savior and His Name is Jesus Christ. Why do you keep looking for love and affirmation in all the wrong places?

Willie Nelson:  Looking for love in all the wrong places…looking for love on all the wrong faces…

Acts 4:10-12 (NKJV)
¹⁰  let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
¹¹  This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'
¹²  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

--No other name…no other pastor…no other deacon…no other person by whose name you can be saved except the Name of Jesus. Look to Him…fix your eyes on Him not them!

--Maybe some of you do not know this; I received my license in the Assemblies of God at a District Council that was held at Jimmy Swaggart’s church.

--So many people…too many people in Louisiana considered themselves to be Swaggartites or Gormonites. They followed Jimmy Swaggart or Marvin Gorman. The lines were drawn.

--These two pastors were competing with each other to have the most influence and the greatest following. People were put in a place to choose. Very divisive and wrong.

--People would ask me which camp I was in and I would answer the same way every time. I am a Jesusite. We saw how that situation turned out. 

--It is never good to divide the body of Christ. I hope and pray, and even believe, both of these men repented and are being used for God’s Kingdom. 

3. The True Christian Knows Jesus Christ is Their Savior, not People.

--The two blind men heard that Jesus was passing by…obviously they could not see Him. This portion of scripture tells us that there was a multitude there.

--As a matter of fact, the multitude were telling them to be quiet as they cried out to the Son of David, have mercy on us.

--You see, people were everywhere…surrounding them…I am sure someone would have been glad to pray with them, if for no other reason, to shut them up…don’t let people shut you up when you go after Jesus!

--I am sure someone would have counseled with them about just hanging in there thru their difficulty…their blindness.

--They could have looked to people but even though they were blind…they could see that people could not help them…they needed a Savior Healer and His Name was Jesus! Mat. 20

Matthew 20:31-34 (NKJV)
³¹  Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"
³²  So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
³³  They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."
³⁴  So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. --They cried out to Jesus and what happened…Jesus stood still and He called them to come to Him…can you see it?  How they stumbled…almost ran to the Savior knowing He was their answer.

"What do you want Me to do for you?"  Open our eyes… So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

--They were Jesus saved not secularly saved because people couldn’t do what they needed! Only Jesus could! Did you know that we have eyes in our hearts? They need to be opened.

Ephesians 1:17-19 (NIV)
¹⁷  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
¹⁸  I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
¹⁹  and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

--What a powerful prayer that Paul is praying to God, the Father:

A. He prays for them to have the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to know Jesus better.

B. He prays for the eyes of their hearts to be opened to understand the hope we have in Christ.

C. He prays for them to understand the incomparably great power they have in Christ.