Sermon Date: 2009/6/14

DATE: 2009/6/14
SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 16:24-28
SERMON: What are the characteristics of a Christian?
講道題目: 甚麼是基督徒的特質
How do you spot a Christian in a crowd? What makes a Christian different from any other person in his behavior? If you were to make a list of things which are distinctive of a Christian’s behavior, what would they be? (a) We would eliminate from our list the habit of going to church, saying our prayers, and making our pledge, because these things we would take for granted as the normal activity of a Christian. (b) What we would want to indicate would be the things that this kind of religious activity might be expected to produce, the attitudes and qualities that are the natural result of such religious beliefs and practices.
These are the things which to me are most noticeable in Christian behavior and things which I should most like to cultivate myself.
I. There is a quietness about a Christian that you cannot miss. (1) By quietness I do not mean necessarily that he is any less noisy than other people, although he may be. By quietness I do not mean that a Christian is necessarily any more placid by way of temperament than any other person. He may be, or he may not be. I mean rather that he is less jittery, more at peace with himself, his world, and his God, less anxious, less fretful, less fearful of the future than the rank and file of people that he lives with. (2) There are two kinds of quietness. (a) One comes from resignation. It is really more like dumbness than quietness. You see it in people who have been so badly beaten by life that there is nothing left in them. They are silent because they have neither the strength nor the will to say anything more. (b) Another comes from a confidence in God. It is a willingness to trust in resources that are beyond your own and a certainty that after you have done your best there is God who will carry forward what you have begun, supplement your inadequate efforts, and correct your mistakes. It is the sense that whiles everything depends in you, nothing depends on you. Therefore, there is a stillness about Christians that is like the stillness of water that runs deep.
II. There is an unworldliness about a Christian that is very noticeable, particularly in our society which is worldly and materialistic to the extreme. (1) The average Christian has not withdrawn from the world, and he has not renounced the world; he loves the world because God loves it and gave himself for it. A Christian enjoys the food on his table, but he doesn’t live to eat but eats to live. He makes money to live on, but he doesn’t live for the money he makes. (2) The things God has given us to make life beautiful are not to be scorned and are surely too precious to lose. Yet you realize the minute you go into a Christian’s home that he is not smothered by things he doesn’t need, and that he has left himself room to be aware of the things that other people do need. If he should lose all his possessions tomorrow, he would have lost nothing essential to himself. (3) This is the kind of freedom from the things of the world that Jesus had. I suppose that is why he makes such an enormous appeal to the world at his particular time, because he moves through life traveling so lightly and so unencumbered by the things that weigh us down.
III. A Christian is gentle, not because he is weak and not because he doesn’t care one way or the other, but because he is strong and cares so much about another’s life that he would sooner die than violate, crush, or inhibit it. (1) He believes that love can do things that nothing else can do. He has learned that you can fight your way through a crowd, but you can never fight your way into another person’s life. You can only win your way. And that is love. (2) He believes that there is something stronger than physical force to bring about the things that he wants to bring about for the people that he knows and loves. He is not the kind of person who puts on pressure, who is high-powered and quick to resort to temper, force, and violence. He is the sort of person who tries to cultivate in himself the gentleness he sees in Jesus, the strong Son of God, yet who would not lay hands on another’s life, even to save his own, inasmuch as that life too is a child of God.
IV. A Christian is the kind of person that other people like to have around. (1) He quickens them. They are more alive when he is there. He draws something out of them that they didn’t know they had. He communicates to them something of his own extraordinary vitality, and they are aware of what they call his good character. (2) He possesses real joy, and he enjoys life. A person has real joy only to the degree that he is really unselfish. If you are trying to spot a Christian and you see someone glum and grim, casting a cold damp blanket on a group of people, you know he hasn’t the joy of the Lord Jesus. I cannot imagine the tax collectors, sinners, and people on the street wanting Jesus in their company if he hadn’t quickened them because of his own joy in them and in life.
V. Two things will help you to become more like a Christian. (1) Your relationship with God does not depend on the score you make. God accepts you even if you make a score of zero. Don’t be afraid and discouraged. If your relationship with God is what it ought to be, you should be improving from year to year. (2) You cannot improve by trying harder. You can do it only when and if God comes to you, as he will come in many different ways and in ways that you least expect if you are at the time ready to receive the light and life, the power and inspiration that come from another person who crosses your path, flashes that come from a book that you read, insights that come from an experience which plows you to the depths. If you are ready to receive this coming of God to you, this inflow of life, you will improve, and you will behave more like a Christina as the years go by.
Amen

Synopsis
How do you spot a Christian in a crowd? (a) We would eliminate the habit of going to church, saying our prayers, and making our pledge, (b) What are the attitudes and qualities that are the natural result of such religious beliefs and practices.
I. There is a quietness about a Christian that you cannot miss.
II. There is an unworldliness about a Christian that is very noticeable, particularly in our society which is worldly and materialistic to the extreme.
III. A Christian is gentle, not because he is weak and not because he doesn’t care one way or the other, but because he is strong and cares so much about another’s life that he would sooner die than violate, crush, or inhibit it.
IV. A Christian is the kind of person that other people like to have around.
V. Two things will help you to become more like a Christian. (1) Your relationship with God does not depend on the score you make. God accepts you even if you make a score of zero. (2) You cannot improve by trying harder. You can do it only when and if God comes to you, as he will come in many different ways.

讲道大纲
你能在人群中把基督徒找出来吗？（1）我们不会因他去礼拜堂，祷告，奉献，便说他是基督徒。（2）我们要问他在这些宗教活动後，有甚麽态度和品质表现出来。
甲． 基督徒是安静的。
乙． 基督徒不是一个世俗的人。
丙． 基督徒是温柔的。
丁． 基督徒是人人乐意亲近的。
戊． 两件事帮助你更像基督徒：（1）你与神的关系不在乎你的表现。你的表现就算是零分神仍然接受你的。（2）你不能靠努力改变自己，当神来到你面前时，你就得到改变。