Getting Our Jesus On

Text: Romans 13:8-14

Christians need to look like Christ.

Illustration: Girl Scout that was dressed as a giant cookie.

Christians need to be dressed with Christ if we are going to have any impact on the world around us.

Romans 13:8-14 Paul tells us how to get our Jesus on!

This is a beautiful description of what a Christian should look like.

Everyone dresses for the occasion; athletes, astronauts, businessmen and women, doctors, construction workers etc. everyone has the proper attire and tools for the job.
Christians should also dress for the time and occasion we find ourselves in.
Our enemy can see the spiritual condition we are in by the spiritual clothes we are wearing.
It’s time to wake up and put on the attire our God gave us to wear.

Christians should dress with the attitude of one in debt.

The 10 commandments are a standard of love that we have all failed to meet.
We are in an eternal debt to God and we need to give the proper response to His mercy.
No one likes being in debt: home lone, car loan, cards, rent, medical bills…and we work hard to get out of debt. The house doesn’t belong to you until you pay it off. But then we greatly rejoice when our debt is paid off!
We should love people like we are paying off our debt. Jesus worked tirelessly to pay off our debt.
It’s a strange concept to live like we are in a constant state of debt to others, even our enemies or those who don’t believe in God’s Word.
We are not easy people to love especially when we have hurt another person.
Christ paid our debt with His very life; it’s our turn to live like He did for the people He loves.
We need to love like we are working to pay off that debt God paid for us.
We have one rule: love others in truth. WHAT IS TRUE LOVE? To not give into the sinful nature.

Christians should dress with the attitude of a servant.

Servants get up before everyone else to do their exercises and get ready for the day to serve their master.
They have a specific purpose to keep the masters house in order: our purpose is to continue the work of Christ by loving people so they can see God.
God has done a great thing for us and in us so our response should be to let God reflect His light to the world through us so that God can do something good in them as well. Mirrors need to be clean.
Paul says to wake up and get to work because our salvation is getting closer! We live in the light not in the darkness so we need to be at work.
We need to get into the Word and prayer early before the day starts so that we can see how to best serve others.
All day long we need to keep that attitude of a servant by keeping our hearts and minds in Christ.
When a person causes a difficulty in our lives we should use it as a reminder or the wake up alarm to pay off some debt; guy runs into our car, slow service at a restaurant, Syrian refugees, illegal aliens, family and friends and neighbors and strangers or politicians.
What if we met every difficulty caused by others as a reminder to pay off that debt of love? We would see everyone a little differently.

Christians should be dressed with the attitude of a warrior.

God made provision for us to LIVE in this world, not to partake of it. He made a way to have life to the fullest and that includes the exclusion of sinful cravings.
We have been given the armor of light so we can fight against the prince of darkness and everything that puts itself up against the Word of God.
The devil can see if we have our armor on or if pieces are missing or what we have been doing…the devil sees what goes on in our lives.
We don’t have a right anymore to gratify our sinful desires we are in a war and we need to be an active member of God’s army of righteousness.
We have been given the grace to fight against the devil and all he stands for.
Resist the devil and he will flee. That is the promise and our fight. We are above fighting against other people. Our eyes see the true fight.
The world is in the darkness but we are of the Light so it’s time to work.
Having our feet prepared with the Gospel is part of the armor.

How can a person love like Christ?

It is only the people who have been changed by God, filled with the Spirit of God and transformed by the renewing of your mind in God’s Word that can love like Christ.
Christians let God do the work that we need done in our lives.
Christians need to put Christ back into our name.
Clothe ourselves with the Character of Christ. He has paid our debt, taught us how to serve and how to fight.
What does a Christian look like? A person whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. How did Jesus dress Himself? In righteousness, goodness, faithfulness and truth.
We love others because Jesus loved us first.