Having a Life Worth Showing
Having a Life Worth Showing
Have you ever put your trust in something or someone, only to find yourself lost? That question set the stage for Pastor Mark’s message as he challenged us to consider what it really means to live a life worth showing others.
Bishop Matt Thomas says that disciple-making is about coming alongside someone, showing them how to live, and teaching them how to live. But before we can do that, we have to have a life worth showing. We must know Christ deeply enough that we actually have something to teach others along the way. Showing people miracles isn’t enough. The goal is helping people develop a lifestyle that leads them to become long-term followers of Jesus.
The central question of the message was simple:
How do I show the world a life worth living?
Pastor Mark used the illustration of marriage to answer that question. When a man gets married, the wedding ring is only a symbol. The real change happened when he said, “I do.” At that moment, he became something different. He was no longer a bachelor. Everyone, especially his bride, expects him to live according to who he now is. The only way forward is to consider himself dead to bachelorhood and alive to marriage.
In the same way, Galatians teaches that believers have been joined to Christ in a permanent relationship. We have entered into a covenant with Him. When we surrendered our lives to Jesus, we became new creations. It wasn’t simply a decision we made. It became our new identity.
The challenge is that many Christians want the benefits of belonging to Christ without living according to who they now are. Following Jesus isn’t something we put on and take off depending on how we feel. Our responsibility is to live according to what we have become.
Pastor Mark then turned to Galatians 5:13-25 and explained the freedom we have in Christ. Paul warns believers not to misunderstand grace. God’s grace is not permission to do whatever we want. Freedom in Christ is not freedom to indulge the flesh. Instead, it is freedom to serve.
Paul writes, “Serve one another humbly in love.” If he could summarize the Christian life, Pastor Mark said it would be this:
We have been saved to serve.
The driving force behind that service is love. Paul teaches that the entire law is fulfilled in one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” When genuine love fills a believer’s heart, the law no longer feels like a list of restrictions. Love becomes the motivation. Love changes how we see people. Love puts different glasses on our eyes.
A person who truly loves others has no desire to hurt them. Yet many believers continue living however they please, damaging relationships with others and weakening their relationship with God. Pastor Mark pointed to Hebrews 10:26-27 as a sobering reminder that grace should never become an excuse for deliberate, ongoing sin.
Without love controlling our hearts, we miss the very purpose of the freedom Christ has given us.
The second half of the message focused on the practice of our freedom.
Paul writes, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
This is the new way believers are called to live. Christianity is not primarily about rules and regulations. It is about the ministry and leadership of the Holy Spirit. Before Christ, all we had was our old nature. We were driven by our own desires and controlled by the flesh. But when we surrender to Jesus, everything changes.
God gives us His Spirit.
We are born again.
We become new creations.
We say goodbye to the old life and hello to the new one.
The challenge is that the old nature doesn’t disappear overnight. Every believer lives with a daily tension between the old nature and the new nature. The flesh is everything we were before Christ. Whenever we allow that old nature to dominate our lives, we begin living like our former selves instead of like followers of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit’s goal is to make us look more like Christ.
The world operates according to the flesh, but believers are called to operate according to the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is not a one-time decision. It is a daily, moment-by-moment choice to surrender to God’s leadership. Every day we must choose to let the Spirit direct how we think, speak, act, and respond.
When God speaks through His Word, our response should be simple:
Yes, Lord.
Pastor Mark reminded us that God has unlimited resources available to those who walk in the Spirit. As we continually surrender to Him, we begin experiencing the life He intended for us.
The message concluded by returning to the original question:
How do I show the world a life worth living?
By living according to who we are in Christ. By allowing love to shape our actions. By serving others. By walking daily in the power of the Holy Spirit. And by continually moving forward in our relationship with Jesus.
A life worth showing isn’t a perfect life. It’s a life that increasingly looks like Christ. When we walk in the Spirit, love others well, and live according to our new identity, the world sees the difference and is pointed toward the One who transformed us.
Thanks for joining us for a weekly message from DuBois Light & Life Church. Today you will hear encouraging words, worship, and a message. Our goal is that you would find Hope, Healing, and Purpose in Jesus Christ.
Live from DuBois Light and Life Church.
128 S 8th Street,
DuBois PA 15801
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