Over the past three weeks we have looked at who you are in Christ. The 33 passages should have been a great encouragement to those in Christ. The passages should build a great foundation for your life in Christ. They should also assure you of Christ’s acceptance, give you a secure position in Christ and show you the significance you have in Christ.
So how should a person in Christ appear to others?
What is it that makes a person in Christ different, an alien, stranger, foreigner in this world?
Over the next couple of weeks we are going to look at the traits of a person, or the new creature that is in Christ.
When a person comes to Christ the old man passes away and all things are made new.
The Holy Spirit in a person begins His good work in making the new creature into the person God desires them to be. God’s word tell us that this process will be complete on the day of Christ and till then He is working in you to make you just like Christ Jesus.
The “Who I am in Christ” passages tell us of our position and build our foundation. The passages we are about to study explain to us what the Christian looks like. How he acts. Where he goes. What he does. How he reacts and interacts with others.
Now, don’t ever think you can take up the following passages and act them out in your life. These traits are not natural to the old man living in his un-crucified self-spirit.
To act out something is not real. To be given a script and follow it is acting. It is not being.
There are great actors and actresses in our world. They play their parts rather well. They win awards for their acting. Their awards are based on how they preform their parts.
A well-disciplined person who takes up his script and plays his part in the show with an award winning performance, is not the person they are playing. They are a person playing a part. They are acting out not being.
If a natural spirited person was to act the part of a Christian, he could fool many people but not God. God knows who has been recreated into new creatures and who has not.
So, what we are about to study over the next few weeks is not your lines in an acting part but the Traits of a person that has the Spirit of Christ living in them.
If these traits are not natural to your being, you are just acting out the part not actually the new creation. You may play the part well but your just an actor not the real person.
I knew a man by the name of Patrick McCreary. He is an incredible actor. He is best known for playing the role of Abraham Lincoln. He looks like Lincoln, He talks like Lincoln and he has been called upon to be Abraham Lincoln by many different organizations. He has played Lincoln for Presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush 42. Many new age thinkers thought Patrick had channeled the spirit of Lincoln because of his ability to impress crowds of people. Although Patrick played the part very well, Patrick is not Abraham Lincoln. It would take a miracle of God to recreate Patrick into Abraham Lincoln.
It takes a miracle of God to recreate a naturally born, self-spirited person into a Christian. The miracle comes when God, by way of Christ places His Holy Spirit into a human being. This miracle recreates the natural man into a new creature called a Christian.
You can try to play the part of a Christian but you will only be acting until the Spirit recreates you into a new being.
Now let’s start looking at the Traits.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 & 13
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. 6 It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
13 There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
The number one and most important trait of a Christian is Love.
We must love the Lord our God with our heart, mind, strength and soul. We must also love others as we love ourselves.
Love in this manner is not natural.
We love ourselves naturally and we do everything we can to care for, provide for and protect the self. Is this how we love those around us?
Do we really love God at all?
Are we so interested in self that we ignore God, unless of course we think we need something? Are we so interested in self that we ignore others, unless of course they have something to offer us?
We must first establish the trait of Love.
The passage tells us, 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. 6 It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
13 There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
So let’s start with the first trait of Love.
Love is patient.
Are you patient? Does your patience come naturally or is it forced? Do you act patient or are you naturally patient? Acting patient takes a great deal of effort. Being patient is a trait of one who loves others more than self.
It doesn’t take long to see through the patient actor. Just tell them to wait and watch their reaction. It may not be evident at first. But watch their jaw line. Watch for their foot tap. Watch for the sigh. Listen to sharpness of their voice. Then tell them to wait another minute.
Love suffers long. This is not what we want to hear. By nature we want it our way and right now. To be able to wait patiently is a trait that is not natural. We make act patient but are we really patient?
The second trait is being Kind.
Kindness is not a natural trait either. Most people have to act kind to others but they are generally not kind at all.
This is evident as soon as the person they are trying to be kind to leaves their presence. The truth spills out. Their kindness turns into ugliness. They revert back to their true nature. The person they are unkind to in their heart returns to the scene and the act begins again. The award winning performance is back on display.
Are you kind by nature or is it just act?
The natural-spirited person is not kind. A person that has been recreated can be patient and kind because they have a new nature. The old man has died and a new person has been raised to life.
Now the new creature can be impatient and unkind but it is not natural. They don’t want to be. They can sometimes be provoked but they quickly revert to the new nature which is working in them to make them more like Christ.
The next four natural traits that must be crucified at the cross are being jealous, boastful, proud and rude.
Jealousy is envy. By nature we envy those that have that which we do not. Our envy and jealousy can turn us into little green monsters.
Love, a trait of the new creature, is not jealous. We have Christ. This is a far greater possession than anything this world has to offer. In the world we may want things but if we don’t have them it’s not that important because it all temporary anyway.
Jealousy and envy come from wanting what others have. Covetousness is dangerous and can destroy the self-natured individual. If we find our completion and significance in Christ we should never be jealous.
Being boastful is parading self before others. It’s the idea that you want everyone to look at you and notice you and your accomplishments. This falls right in with pride. The state of being puffed up.
Christians are filled with love. They do not need to be proud and boastful. Actually they know they that the only thing that makes them worthy at all is what Christ has done for them. This is why the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 2:1-4, “Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. 4 Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.”
Paul also says in Philippians 3:3 “For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.”
What a difference Christ makes in a person’s life.
The Christian is also not rude. Love for others makes you considerate of them. Being rude is setting yourself above others. You see others as less than yourself. This give you the position to treat them as less than yourself.
People are rarely rude to those who have higher positions or power over them. They are rude to people they feel they are superior to.
Love does not set itself up in this manner. Those in Christ see themselves as low in this world. They know they are sinners that have been saved from their sin. They know their righteousness in in Christ so they have no position to treat anyone rudely.
The next trait of love does not demand its own way.
Why should a person who has the Spirit of Christ in them force their will upon a world that does not know Christ?
We don’t demand our own way. Christ has reserved a place for us once we leave this realm. This realm belongs to the enemy and is passing away. We need to keep our eyes fixed on the future and not how things are right now in our midst.
Demanding people are very irritating. They are forceful and treat those around them with little or no consideration unless they are serving the purpose of their demanded way. Then they will use them for their own gain.
Love does not demand its own way. Love is considerate of others and allows them to have their place. Do you love others enough to allow them to do their own thing? It may not be your way but that’s alright because we have Christ.
Our next trait says love is not irritable.
The Christian is not irritable. We do not demand our own way. We are not rude, we are not proud, we’re not jealous, we boast only in Christ, We’re kind and patient. Does this describe your nature?
Irritability comes from selfish desires and ambitions. When what you want is not fulfilled you become irritable. This is how the world acts. This is how the self-natured individual goes about this world. Irritated all the time because life is not what they desire.
The Christian has come to terms with the world and its ways. We know the truth about this place. This gives us the ability to live in the world but not be a part of it. It also gives us a understanding that allows us not to be irritated when life is not the way we desire it to be.
We are not in control of the six billion people on this planet. God has given them freedom and in their freedom they will not do what I desire most of the time. I can either be irritated or understand my position.
Due to the Spirit of Christ in me I am less and less irritable and more and more loving. My prayer is Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.
Love, the number one trait of the Christian, keeps no record of when he or she has been wronged.
How many of you have an accounting record book listing everyone who has ever wronged you?
How many of you just can’t wait to get revenge on someone who has done you wrong?
This is not the heart of love and it is not what the Holy Spirit produces in the Christian.
When you love someone, even an enemy, you have compassion upon them when they just don’t see like you see. The might have wronged you but you know in your heart if they knew the Lord as you do they wouldn’t have acted out in this manner.
You can’t keep records of the wrongs of those who don’t know any better. You may think they should know better but they may be blind to the spiritual reality that you are aware of.
If a blind man was to walk through your house and begin to know stuff over would you be mad and hold it against him? No, you would do everything you could to help him to eliminate the problem.
So, as you can see, love keeps no record of wrongs because it looks at the situation through the lens of love and not the self-centered spirit.
The Christian hates injustices but must understand that they are going to happen. We live in a fallen world that is filled with spiritually blind people. There are going to be a multitude of injustices. We, as Christians, must understand this will happen. We are not glad about the injustices but we know they will happen and we can have compassion upon all those involved.
Too many people go crazy in their self-righteousness and get way too radical about stopping injustices and then they act out injustices in their protests. This leads to an escalation of the very thing you are fighting against.
Now the Christian does rejoice when the truth wins out. So what is truth? Truth is that which corresponds with what is real.
Of all that surrounds us what is it that is real? What is it that is eternal? What is it that is temporary? The temporal is not necessarily real. Only that which is real will last. Only that which is real will stand the test of time.
Truth can be determined by what is real, and everlasting.
We don’t know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth until we know Christ. Jesus said I am the truth. All truth must be deciphered through an everlasting relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Nothing else will last.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15
12 Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. 14 If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames.
What if all you are doing is built on a foundation that is not true? It will not last and will be burned up.
This is why the Christian rejoices when the truth wins out. He knows that which is true will last. He stands firm knowing what he can build upon and rely upon for all time and eternity.
If it will not last, why do we spend so much time trying to preserve it?
We must know the truth, stand firm in it and build upon it. We will rejoice because it will last.
We are taught in our passage that love does not give up. Because the Christian is filled with the Spirit of love he will not give up either. The Christian stands in the truth and holds to what He knows to be true.
If something is true you cannot give up on it you just have to endure to the end so truth can be proved.
Many lies and deceptions will come to derail truth. But one who truly loves never gives up on what he knows to be true. To do so would be hateful to God who establishes truth and to others who need to know truth.
You endure because those around you needs to know the truth and you have been given the message of truth.
Love never loses faith because our faith is established upon truth. It will stand the test of time and so will our faith that is built upon it.
Love is also hopeful. The Christian hopes for others to come to the truth that he has come to know.
Hope is what keeps us going. If there is no future hope there is no way a person can endure because the end is never able to be realized.
We must have a hope built upon truth or we will be continually scrambling about trying to find something to build our lives upon. There is no hope if our lives are nothing more than an accident that has no destiny and all things come to an end with nothing to look forward to. How hopeless is that scenario? That is why we must know the truth and build our hope upon it.
The love, which fills a Christian, will endure through every circumstance because it is based upon that which is true.
13 There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Let us Pray.
