A CHRIST CENTERED LIFE
Colossians 1:18 And
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all
the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him
to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things
in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to
present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight -- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith,
grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel
which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I,
Paul, became a minister. 24 I now
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in
the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to
the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of
God, 26 the mystery which has been
hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His
saints. 27 To them God willed to make
known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians could easily be titled, ‘Living a Christ centered life.” It is only 4 chapters long but in this beautiful letter Paul shows us that Christ should be at the very heart and core of a Christian’s life. Its important for us to grasp the concept that if we are “in Christ” and Christ is in us, we have access to every spiritual blessing which God intends for His people today Eph. 1:3. This is why Paul tells in:
Colossians 2:10 you are complete in Him, who is the head of all
principality and power.
Whenever you find a person who says they are a Christian yet they are always unhappy or they feel incomplete I can promise you that person is probably not living a Christ centered life because a Christ centered Christian will realize what wonderful blessing they have in Christ and they will not allow day to day disappointments to keep them down.
Now some Christians focus in too much on the church, and they expect that it will fulfill all their spiritual needs. Now while it is true that the church is the body of Christ it is
not the source of spiritual life and power instead it is the reflection or extension of that power. The source of spiritual life and power is Christ! That’s why Paul says:
Philippians
There are others who lean on their own wisdom and knowledge for spiritual life. But human wisdom is vain and deceptive and will leave you spiritually bankrupt.
Proverbs 14:12 There
is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Even knowledge that comes from Gods word can be very unsatisfying unless a person heart and life is wholly committed to Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in
Again in order for these treasures to mean anything to you must have a Christ centered life. Even an atheist might read the New Testament and know a lot about Christ (history, facts, etc.), but knowing about Christ and knowing Him are two different things! I have met people whose minds are filled with Biblical knowledge and facts, but their hearts are cold and empty because Christ is not the center and motivating force of their daily lives.
This reminds us of what Jesus told some of the Jews in his day.
John
There are also some who think that they can find spiritual life in religious activities and a multitude of good works. However, a person can “go through all the motions” of worship and every good work prescribed in Scripture—but, without Christ all is empty and vain.
However, if we have Christ as our main focus, every religious act is meaningful and edifying and fulfilling. Since this is the case don’t you think it important that we ask ourselves what does it mean to live a Christ-centered life?
I. FIRST OF ALL, WE NEED TO REALIZE THAT JESUS IS THE LEADER OF HIS DISCIPLES.
He is not merely just “the Head of the church,” in an executive kind of capacity, like our President of the United States is nor is the church just some institution with a Chief Executive sitting far off somewhere, handing down decrees. Instead, the Scriptures show Christ to be the Head of his spiritual body, the church, and His life flows throughout his body to each individual member. So you see the church is not just a mere organization but instead it is a living and breathing organism. Ever member of his church must be connected to Him and be ready follow him. You see Jesus has never commanded us commanded us to follow something or someone instead he says:
Matthew
This means if you want to have a Christ centered life then you must follow Jesus and the pattern he has left us in God’s Word.
1 Peter 2:21 For to
this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that you should follow His steps:
22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His
mouth"; 23 who, when He
was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten,
but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in
His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed.
II. SECONDLY, WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT JESUS IS THE THEME OF NEW TESTAMENT PREACHING.
In the first Gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled Apostles preached about Christ. They showed from the Scriptures how that He had fulfilled prophecy and they proclaimed His death, burial and triumphant resurrection. They also preached His ascension and how he was exalted at God’s right hand, reigning on David’s spiritual throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
As a result of that powerful message, some three thousand souls were pricked in their heart which caused them to obey the gospel by repenting of their sins and being baptized into Christ for the remission of sin. Acts 2:37, 38, That great story marked the beginning of the Lord’s church.
Throughout the book of Acts, we can see that Jesus was always the theme of New Testament preaching. In Acts 4, we find Peter and John preaching boldly in the name of Christ.
Acts 4:10
"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."
Also Philip proclaimed Jesus in Acts 8.
Acts 8:5 Then
Philip went down to the city of
We also see Philip preaching Jesus to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:35. As soon as this man heard the good news about Jesus Christ he wanted baptized immediately because he knew that he must be baptized in order to be saved and to begin a Christ centered life. So, they stopped the chariot he was on and went down into the water and Philip baptized him into Christ. We can see that once this man had been baptized into Christ that he went on way rejoicing because he understood that he was now free from his sins. However there are many today who do not want to want to follow the command of Jesus to be baptized and will say something along the lines of “it’s alright to be baptized but it isn’t necessary.” And some will even ridicule and make light of baptism altogether.
Those who have this type of attitude towards Gods Word have faith problems. You see they have not met God all the way because they are not truly ready to follow Jesus all the way. In the First Century when Jesus was taught we find those that heard this good news and gladly received were very eager to follow after Christ and be baptized for the remission of their sin. They never tried to put baptism off to a latter time instead as soon at was preached whatever the hour was they submit themselves to baptism in Christ because they understood that is was necessary for their salvation.
Anyone who is not eager to obey Christ and be baptized as those in the first century has either been influenced by false teaching and or they are not yet fully convicted by the true message and love of Jesus Christ!
III. SO NOT ONLY DO WE HAVE TO BE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST TO HAVE A CHRIST CENTERED LIFE WE MUST ALSO “WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.”
Romans 6:4
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.
Colossians 3:1 If then
you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God.
You see when a person submits themselves to baptism by their faith they know that their old self has died and they been clothed with Christ and raised a new creature. Since we are new creature and we have went through spiritual change we are to start life anew. Our concerns should be shifted from earthly things to Christ and heavenly things. We can learn have peace in our life and we put our faith in trust in God knowing that the life we have here on this earth is a short one even if we live to be 100 years old. The main goal of a Christian is now to remain faithful to Christ and to look forward to the day of Christ coming so that we can spend eternity in heaven.
Colossians 1:3 We give
thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for
you, 4 since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is
laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth
of the gospel,
So we can clearly see that living a Christ centered life means following after Jesus by living faithfully and keeping our hope on things above and not on this earth.
IV. AND FINALLY, LIVING A CHRIST-CENTERED LIFE MEANS THAT WE LOOK CONTINUALLY TO JESUS AS THE ONLY SOURCE FOR A LIFE THAT IS SPIRITUAL AND PRODUCTIVE.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
In these verse the inspired writer compares the Christians life to that of running a foot-race. In order to run this race successfully to the finish, we must do two things:
1. First, we must lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.
2. Second, we must continually look to Jesus as our help and savior because he is the author and finisher of our faith. Anything that might hinder us or hold us back, must be cast aside.
For some, this might be some sort of worldly entertainment which they allow to come between them and serving God. Others allow themselves selves to get into habits which keep them from running the race as they should. In order to become Christ centered sometimes it might mean giving up a friendship or association if they are influencing you to pull away from the Lord. The point is this, whatever the weight is in your life if it is holding you back and keeping you from running the race of Christianity it important that you lay that weight to the side if will keep from attaining the crown of life.
We need to look at one more section of scripture in connection with this.
John 15:1 "I am
the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that
does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes,
that it may bear more fruit. 3
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to
you. 4 "Abide in Me, and
I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the
vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in
Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide
in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and
throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My
words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
You see Jesus in the true Vine, and each of His disciples is a branch in that Vine. This is powerful illustration that shows us that we must look to Jesus, and “abide in Him” as the sustaining source for our spiritual life, if we are to be productive and fruitful because without him according to verse 4 we cannot be productive. So you see it is imperative that we always maintain our connection with Him who is the source of our lives. This not only includes faithful worship and fellowship with the church, but also daily, personal communion with Christ in prayer and meditation and in study of His word.
Remember
without Jesus we can do nothing.
“for without Me you
can do nothing.”
I believe the Paul sums up lesson and what it means to live a Christ centered life in:
Galatians 2:20 "I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
With this being said if there is anyone here tonight that has been struggling with running the race of Christianity because you have some weight that is holding you back why not free yourself from that weight tonight. Please consider Jesus invitation in:
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
If Christ is not the very center and core of your life then why not make him so tonight because nothing is worth losing your soul over. So if you need to repent of something publicly or just need the prayer of your brothers and sister in Christ why not come forward this evening or if you are hear tonight and you have never become a Christian and you realize I need to follow Jesus then why take the first step tonight. If you believe that Jesus is the son of God then why not repent and confess Jesus as you lord and then follow Jesus all the way by allowing yourself to baptized for the remission of your sins in the name of Jesus Christ and then begin your race of Christianity.