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Show Notes
We’re going to talk about:
- How not to act as a Christian
Bible Verses
Links Mentioned
Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church
How to Act as a Christian,”Check out Ep 2 of the podcast:
Are you a Weird Soul? Weird Souls live a Jesus-centered life in modern culture.
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Transcript
hey weirdos today we’re going to be talking about what you shouldn’t do as a Christian hey weirdos and first time friends I’m Shannon Davis and like I said we’re going to be talking about the things we shouldn’t be doing as Christians now I did talk about all the things we should be doing as Christians in episode two of the podcast from Romans 12 and I promis that I’d be doing another video talking about the things we shouldn’t do because we just didn’t have time in that video so that’s this
episode epode we’re going to be talking about the things Romans 12 says we shouldn’t do as Christians and it might feel a little repetitive but I think sometimes saying the things we shouldn’t do puts extra emphasis on the things we should do so if you haven’t watched episode two of the podcast go back take a listen or watch whichever you want to do I’ll link Romans 12 down in the show notes if you want to take a read through it before we get into it but we’re just going to talk about the actual sentences
and phrases of do not rather than trying to read through the the whole thing so the first thing is do not copy the behaviors of this world meaning we’re supposed to look and act different if we are actually following Jesus we are not supposed to look and act and fit in with the way the world operates it should be obvious to people that we’re acting different and it should be obvious in a way that makes them say hm that seems like a better option I kind of like that way maybe I’ll go talk to them and
figure it out it’s supposed to be attractive the way that we act so we’re not supposed to act and do all the things that this world does we’re not supposed to be self-seeking and try and get stuff for ourselves and selfish and look down on people and all of these other things that we’re going to be getting into we are supposed to be the opposite of that an upside down kingdom so to speak we’re supposed to do things the way Jesus did which is the first is last and the last is first and that
looking good is not the same as having a good heart towards God and all of those kinds of things we’re supposed to prioritize others and we’re supposed to not look out for ourselves and we’re supposed to not look at outward appearance and all the things that we get caught up in as humans we’re not supposed to do that so don’t let culture influence you make sure that you’re centering yourself in the Bible what God says we should be doing first and foremost the next thing we’re not
supposed to do curse people especially those who are persecuting you and I think we can start with the simple things like being angry and traffic and being like what’s going on with you and all of that we might not think of it as cursing people uh our culture doesn’t really do the cursing of people kind of thing but we curse at people and we treat them poorly because they treated us poorly and this is just emphasizing like we’re not supposed to want bad things for people just because they’ve
done bad things for us or in a lot of ways in America made our life a little more inconvenient uh I don’t know how much we can say we are actually persecuted but we do act aggressively towards people that have inconvenienced us or maybe acted a little bit negative towards us we need to make sure that we are acting the opposite way of that so don’t wish ill on people don’t want worse for people don’t do any of that stuff just because they’ve done it a little bit not the way you want it to another thing we’re not
supposed to do don’t think of yourself better than you actually are this is a place that we start getting into humility and what is actual humility and all of that kind of stuff what Paul is driving here is that we should be centering ourselves in God enough to know the reason I am who I am and the reason I’m able to do what I’m doing is because of God and the gifts skills talents abilities resources that he has given me it’s not because I am so amazing and I’ve done it all myself it’s
because God has given me that he can take it away too we saw that in j so making sure that we realize that and that we don’t think of ourselves better than we are we don’t think that I know more or I’m more important or you should treat me differently because I have or can do certain things don’t think of yourself as important just do what God has asked you to do with what he’s given you and that that’s all the more you need to worry about the next one never be lazy God wants us to work well at the
jobs that we have we see this Proverbs don’t be lazy uh it continues here in Romans 12 that there’s a lot of stuff that needs to happen in this world there’s a lot of stuff that needs to happen just for the sake of the gospel and what Jesus is asked us to do we don’t have time to be lazy and to just wait around hoping it gets done or wanting somebody else to do it we have to play our part and when everybody is doing their part in the work of the church the work gets done so it’s not that I need to overwork
myself to get it all done it’s that I’m going to do the job that’s mine and everybody else is going to do the job that’s theirs and by doing that and all of us working effectively all the work gets done now this unfortunately doesn’t happen in the local church uh the the rule is 8020 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work so not everybody is doing the work that is Theirs to do and people are getting burnt out and people dropping out and people are moving on and all of and that’s why a lot of times
people show up at church and they don’t do anything for 2 years because they did six years worth of stuff in one at their last so don’t be lazy don’t let everybody else do the work while you just enjoy the products make sure you are contributing in some way to the work of the community that you are in the next one is don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people so I we see this a a lot in Christian culture right now uh I linked a book a couple episodes ago I forget which one it is
I’ll link it again uh but it’s on the whole Celebrity Status thing of churches and Christians and mega churches and all that kind of stuff and there is definitely come this influence of certain people have more influence so certain people get more attention and special treatment and Paul is reminding us that there is no person or situation or position that deserves special treatment and likewise we shouldn’t avoid people because they don’t have those things and the more that we can just let everybody be who they are and
enjoy each other’s company the more Christlike we are treat everybody as who they are first and foremost which is a child of God the next one is don’t think you know it all we’ve all been around those people I’ve been one of those people probably where we just think we know everything or we know the most at least and that nobody can tell us anything and Paul is reminding us that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing something we all have
things to learn and so the important thing here is to remember that we don’t know it all we aren’t God we don’t know it all uh so make sure that you aren’t setting yourself up to be that kind of a person just remember you don’t know at all the next one pretend to love others yeah I mean what else do we need to say about that one but the reality is we think that pretending to love someone is the same thing as actually loving them and this is a heart issue this isn’t something that unless I’m being really
honest with people that can hold me accountable they would never know I can treat somebody very well and people not know that I absolutely disdain them in my heart and Paul is reminding us we can’t pretend to love people we are called de actually love the people in front of us and when we are actually loving them that is when not only is the betterment of them happening but the betterment of ourselves somebody that I absolutely disdain and I’m acting like I love them they might go on to the blessings uh that God has for them and
continue on not knowing any of the disdain that I have for them they aren’t being hurt by that I am and so Paul is saying like you can’t just act like this and hope bad things for them and only pretend to be this way it’s going to hurt you in the long run so you have to make sure that you’re actually trying to love people sometimes that’s harder than others but you have to actually try to love them so that your heart changes and your focus on God is not being corrupted by other options and emotions and things
of that nature all right I’m going to do the last three kind of together uh cuz they’re kind of similar so the last three is do not pay back evil for evil do not take revenge and do not let evil conquer you so with these final three sayings we’re seeing that we need to not focus on the bad things in life we need to not look towards bad actions we need to make sure that all of the evil of this world is not getting a foothold in who we are and how we act uh revenge is taking Justice into your own hands and
deciding what somebody deserves that’s not our role that’s probably why Paul goes a little bit more in the next chapter about obeying the government the government’s there to enact Justice and sometimes we get it and sometimes we don’t because it’s imperfect people in that government but it’s not our job to enact Revenge our job is to be Christlike and to love the people in front of us that’s our job and the more we focus on being more Christ like the less of a foothold evil actions and evil
thoughts will actually have on us the more we keep refocusing and re-entering into who God wants us to be the less we will be entertaining and trying to be more like this world and making decisions like this world and letting evil slowly seep into our everyday decisions so I hope that helps you just see a little bit more in a different light the things that we are supposed to be trying to get rid of in order to be more of the things we should be like I said episode two of the podcast it’s linked below if you want to go
check that out and see all the things we should do as Christians uh for now that’s all the things we shouldn’t do make sure to like And subscribe so you never miss a video here and we’ll see you next time weirdos
