Hey Andy, where does the Bible talk about how to live as a Christian?
Hi, wow, interesting question. I mean, where doesn’t the Bible talk about how to live as a Christian?
All throughout the Old Testament, we read about how God continuously worked towards getting His people to act as God’s people. It meant so much to God for His people to be Holy that God gave guidelines, A.K.A., “the Law” to follow. The Apostle Paul described the Law as a “nanny”, bringing the people up in God’s ways.
Jesus also said that in order to be His disciple, one must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him. People also came up to Jesus swearing to follow Him, only to be challenged by Jesus’ reference to how rough it is to commit to such a decision (“rabbits have holes, foxes have dens, but the Son of Man does not have a place to rest His head”).
I have also heard (and even used myself) a sermon about what it meant to be a disciple to a rabbi in Biblical times. It included the expectations each Jewish child endured, and how only “the best of the best” were chosen to continue in their education, every ancient Jewish parent’s dream. Then also, how a disciple was chosen by a rabbi, and what this disciple did in order to become a carbon-copy of their rabbi. But if a child was not of this group, they usually worked in the family business. This segued into how Jesus’ disciples were “rejects”, “losers” if you will, which explains why they dropped everything to follow Jesus when He called them. We then pulled it around to how we too are “losers”, but Christ called us to Him to be His disciples, just as He called His first disciples. So as Disciples of Jesus, I believe we have been called to demonstrate Christ to others through the behavior in our lifestyles. As salt and light to a dark and tasteless world, we are Christ’s ambassadors. Jesus has called us to become carbon copies of Himself. Plus, the fact that ethics, morals, lifestyle, and what it means to be (and act like) God’s people are (literally) taught all throughout the Bible, its importance cannot be denied.
But the neat thing about this is also that as we devote ourselves to becoming Christ-like, we also grow closer in our relationship with Jesus. I have to wonder if such wasn’t the bigger picture of God’s Law.
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