Fitness has become very important in our society. We think about being healthy and fit more now than ever. This allows us to serve the Lord with more energy and intensity. If you decided to get a gym membership and hire a personal trainer, your initial conversation might be extremely informative. However, if you met the personal trainer and they were extremely out of shape, you might decide not to move forward with that personal trainer. Why? Because they didn’t practice what they preach.
Likewise, if the personal trainer was built with muscles and their fitness was obvious, yet they had little knowledge, you still might decide not to move forward. You would want a personal trainer that has the knowledge and who practices what they know.
It’s not just about what you claim with your words, but what you practice in your everyday life. Does the internal reality of your heart, reflect the picture the world sees on display?
Does the life you live match the words you proclaim with your mouth? All of it should be aligned. What you say and believe should be reflected in your practice. Both faith and practice matter to the Lord. What you believe should influence your conduct.
You must press on to the goal of knowing and being transformed to the image of Christ.
15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their [l]appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
If the prize of Christianity is growing in Christ-likeness, then in order to achieve this prize, we must know what we believe and then live it. We must pursue the idea of completeness, wholeness, and maturity in Christ. So how are we to mature in Christ? By knowing Him and becoming more like him.
Know What You Believe.
The first step is knowing what you believe about Jesus Christ. Doctrine matters. What you believe matters and what you believe about Jesus matters the most. If you try to live what you believe without knowing what you believe, you’re going to have confusion. We must start with knowing Christ. Faith and doctrine must proceed your action and conduct.
If you don’t let your faith and doctrine precede your actions and conduct, your actions will be misguided. They’ll be maligned, and even possibly, as the Scriptures say in James, meaningless. We must be taught, we must be guided. We must know what we believe before we try to live out what we believe on our own.
At Coggins, we have a statement of faith to see what we believe. Everything that we know about Jesus comes from the same place. It comes from the Bible. We believe that the Bible is God-breathed. We believe that it’s absolutely trustworthy. And we believe it is without error.
We learn the core doctrines of the faith like the Trinity of God: God The Father, God The Holy Spirit, and God the Son. We believe in His gospel that Jesus Christ lived a life we couldn’t, he died was buried and rose again so when we believe, we can be saved.
We believe in his substitutionary atonement. Christ died as your substitute. We learn this in the Word of God, the Bible. We must know what we believe about the Bible and what it says about Jesus. Because of these core doctrines, we must practice what we believe, like believers’ baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
We should know the major doctrines of Christianity and we shouldn’t major on the minor points like preference and tradition.
Practice What You Believe
Once we know what we believe, instead of getting caught up in the secondary doctrines, we should then avoid legalism or getting caught up in tradition and instead we should start living what we believe. It’s dangerous to live out what you don’t understand.
What you believe must go into action. If there’s a change in belief, there must be a change in lifestyle. Paul is trying to get us to understand that the lives that we live every day must be in step with what we say we believe about the Gospel.
Faith must lead to practice or it’s dead. Faith without practice is empty. The practice is the fruit of the faith that you have. This is a struggle today, to know what you believe and to put that faith in action. The truth should transform you when you read the Bible, attend small groups and learn more about what you believe.
Many people struggle with what they believe. To help people, understand what they believe, we’re launching core classes to help people know what they believe. It’s really important for you and I to understand that the Scriptures point to Christ from beginning to end.
Follow Godly Examples
A great way to see that process all the way through is to look for someone who’s doing it. Follow the example of a mature Christian as a mentor. Follow them as they follow Christ. It’s so important to choose the people you allow in your life.
When we get off course and don’t follow Christ, we get into serious trouble. It’s important to have mentors and guides in every stage of your life, but it’s critical for young men and women. Maybe you need to be a mentor and example to someone else.
Run from Ungodly Examples
Be careful whose footsteps you are following. The bad examples can come from outside the church, but unfortunately today they can also come from inside the church. How do you know? Look at who is leading you towards Jesus and who is leading you away from Him. Ultimately, those you shouldn’t follow are unbelievers. Because their end is destruction.
Satan is the destroyer. He only cares about himself and he wants to see you follow him in misery and destruction. Ultimately, those who follow the destroyer will be destroyed. Our enemy will be destroyed as they’re all cast into the lake of fire for an eternity of suffering.
Paul continues to describe them. He says their God is their stomach or their God is their appetite. What does that mean? It means they worship their passions and their selfish desires above everything. Do not follow men and women who act like this. Don’t follow people who only care about themselves and what makes them happy.
These are the people in our society who do wicked things and they’re proud of the wicked things that they do. This is accepted in our society today. They wear their sin like a badge of honor. Today, being vile is seen as funny.
Many people today celebrate the things that have been breaking God’s heart for thousands of years. So, here’s my admonition to you and even my warning to you – Be careful who you follow. Be careful who you celebrate. Be careful whose flag you are flying. Don’t follow men who are proud of their opposition to God. They spend their whole life with their mind on earthly things. You know, these people that talk more about their business, that talk more about their bank account, that talk more about their earthly successes, and they never mention Christ.
Does your faith match your practice? Do you know what you believe and in whom you believe? If you don’t know what you believe if you don’t feel confident in that today, there’s but one choice. Learn. Take time. Get in His Word. Learn about your savior, not from what other people say, but what he says in his word. Spend time with him that you know and ask God to bring clarity to your soul.
We abide with him. He transforms us as we spend time with him, and he sends us out to imitate his example to the world. Faith. And practice. Can we try to do that this week? Let’s pray about it.
