THE PATTERN OF LIFE
By Lahry Sibley
1 Cor 11: 1 PATTERN YOURSELVES after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah).
Such a challenge to all who would hold a position of leadership in the church, and such a guiding light to any and all who would follow them.
Wisdom would ask this question, does my pastor, prophet, deacon, etc. follow Christ? Can I see Christ in His life? In what ways do I see Christ in His life? In what ways do I NOT see Christ in His life?
No one is perfect. Paul certainly wasn’t. But so much of his life, how he lived it, and what he lived through, so modeled Christ. Knowing full well that he was God’s called Apostle, he accepted his responsibility to lead others, as a very noble shepherd.
To lead as a shepherd, means that you live it and experience it before any of the sheep do. You are out front in everything. You experience the same things they do and you do it FIRST. You let them see Christ in you, the hope of glory.
It makes me wonder, why people flock to men who say they are shepherds, and yet provide little leadership by being a model of Christ before they ask others too. They themselves live according to tradition, and compromise, rather than according the dictates of the Scriptures.
Another thought is this. No true Christian is exempt from applying this to their own personal life. We are all leaders to someone. Husbands lead their wives and children. Mothers lead their children and other ladies. Somebody is watching YOU, and ME, hoping to see Christ in your life and mine. You may never know who they are, but I assure you, they are there and they are watching. Is Christ what they see in you? In me?
I know of no other compliment that can be bestowed upon a man or woman, than this. “I’ve been watching you, and I see Christ in your life”. Oh my.
If there be any “life” in dead people, it must be resurrected life. Resurrected life is Christ. If folks see little of Christ in someone who calls themselves Christian, how is it you claim to have resurrected life? If all they see most of the time is “me, myself, and I”, where is Christ? How can you be living the newness of the resurrected life, if the old sin life is what YOU model as Christian? What’s wrong with this picture? Someone is deceived. If you say you are a Christian, but the “old sin nature” is still prevalent in your life, you are witnessing to others a lie. You are saying I’m following Christ when in fact you are as selfish as can be. That, to me, borders on blasphemy. You are either a sinner, or a Christian. You have either been crucified with Christ and resurrected, or you are not a Christian. There is no middle ground. You cannot be alive in Christ “part time” anymore than a dead person can be resurrected part time. You cannot be resurrected, if you have not first died!!! If you have not been to the cross for death (repentance) you cannot have Holy Spirit life. (Acts 2:38, 5:32) If your life is not a model of obedience, it is not a model of Christ!!
Phil 2: 8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
If your life is not a model of obedience, it is not a model of Christ. Willfully transgressing God’s 10 commandments is not a model of obedience even unto death. Therefore it is not a model of Christ. This conclusion is sure, steadfast, and cannot be compromised. It is a Biblical reality. It’s time for the so called “church” to stop being the great “pretenders”, and start obeying God. It is impossible for others to see Christ in your life if they do not see a model of obedience in your life. When you whine “I am still a sinner”, that YOU ARE. But you are not a Christian sinner. You are just a sinner. Sin is not a model of Christ life. You say you are walking in the resurrected life when your old life has never been taken to the cross for death. You are a liar and fool. Anyone with a half an ounce of brain knows it would be better if you said NOTHING, that to claim you are a “Christian sinner”. Oh my, what a detestable thought.
If you say your are born again, do others see Christ in you, the hope of glory? Or do they see a “religious” person, but not Christ? You cannot “learn” how to live like Christ. It’s either who you are, or who you are NOT. If Christ lives in you, that means YOU have been CRUCIFIED. You have that newness of life. But if you have never been to the cross for death to sin and self, no amount of training and practice can make you a Christian, any more than a goat can become a sheep by living with sheep.
You may ask, “Bro. Lahry, why do most of your messages end up in the same place?” It is because as Paul was so obviously grieved continually over the spiritual state of his beloved kinsmen, so am I over what is called church today. God has called me to minister to the so called “Christian community”. He has called me to keep bringing you to the Cross, for death to self, so He can live His life in you. Why is it such a big deal? Well, apart from Him, you have no life. And there are so few in what is called “churches” today, who are actually walking in the newness of life. God in His mercy has raised up men and women to cry out truth and light. REPENT!!! Your life does not model Christ. If there is no fruit of the Spirit in your life, you are part of the apostasy, the great falling away from truth and light. You cannot hang “fruit of the Holy Spirit” on a dead tree like folks hang ornaments an X-mas tree, and call yourself a Christian. Fruit grows naturally upon the branch, or the branch is DEAD.
Is defending what you have been taught and what you believe that does not line up with the Word of God more important than your eternal home? You cannot escape, and furthermore, you are without excuse. You can’t say you didn’t know, because I am here to state it clearly before you. If you do not lose your life, you cannot keep it. That’s what Jesus said. How can you explain that away? How can you excuse your lascivious lifestyle, and yet call yourself a Christian. How can you boast of being a resurrected man, when it’s obvious there has been no death to self at the Cross? REPENT!!! Or you shall surely PERISH!!!! - Lahry
