Passion for Jesus

I had the honor of preaching Sunday night about a topic that is really being embedded in me: Passion for Jesus.

I think this ties in with the unChristian series I have been doing with our Sunday school class. Here's why. We have been talking about hypocrites. We read through Matthew 23:13-32.

People outside of the church have a big problem with the fact that many Christians are not any different when they compare lifestyles. They do not portray any change in their lifestyle. And lifestyle is just the beginning of why Christians look like hypocrites.

Priorities is the other side of the story. Christians seem to think that living a sinless life or being good should be the top priority in their life. This unfortunately creates a rigged rule system in which Christians say you have to live by these standards or you are not a Christian.

Do we have rules to live by, of course. What keeps us from over emphasizing those standards and making rules for the rules? I think it has to do with our priorities.

My number one priority needs to become the passion I have for Jesus. One of the students in my class, Jemmy, said it is like learning a new language. You cannot learn it until you start immersing yourself and surrounding yourself with the language.

When I was pastoring our Hispanic ministry, I had to learn more Spanish than the 2 years of high school Spanish I had taken from 18 years ago. The more I was immersed in the language and the culture the more I identified with it and understood it.

Many Christians are speaking a different language, and people do not understand them and cannot identify with them. People can identify with passion, however. They know when you are honestly passionate about Christ because your lifestyle conforms to your passion. You do not have to have a list of rules because passion for Jesus compels you to learn more about Him and creates a desire to be more like Him.

I think this is the biggest reason so many Christians are seen as hypocrites: They just are not passionate about Jesus. How's your passion been lately? If someone put you in one room and a person outside of the church in another, could anyone tell who the Christian was?