Examine Your Christian Identity: The Narrow Path

He pulls over a car and asks for the driver’s license and the person hands him an animal collar and says I now identify as a cat. Well, I need to see your real driver’s license and the “cat” refused. The passenger starts talking and the officer asks, “who are you?” I am his owner. “Well, I am about to call animal control and have your cat taken to the shelter, because last time I checked a cat cannot be licensed to drive in California and the can make sure that your cat is caught up on all of his shots. After which you can go down and pay the $80 for the cost of the vaccination.” The owner says, “I don’t want to pay $80.” The officer said, “I guess then I need to have a counselor show up and give you an evaluation because you are actually thinking about getting him vaccinated instead of him just giving me his driver’s license.

That guy was not a cat. I don’t care if he used a litterbox and ate from a cat bowl. Still not a cat. His identity is not what he identified as. His identity came down who he really was. The mark that he left on the world, will be that of one who was deceived into believing he was a cat. What mark will you leave on the world. To figure that out one of the things we need to look at is our main text found in Matthew 7:13-14.

As church goers, just because we identify as a Christian doesn’t mean that is who we are. We can go to church, read our bible, sing songs, listen to Gospel music and claim to be a Christian, and you may identify as a Christian just like that guy identified as a cat. Your identity comes down to the path you follow and from that path, you will leave your mark.

You will leave a mark by….

1. Following your path.

Matthew 7:13, Luke 17:26

Anyone ever use GPS to figure out how to get somewhere? If you were to say type in, Springfield, Mo and let it do it’s calculating, it would probably tell you to go North on Cob Hill and at the stop sign turn right. If I were giving you directions, I would say on this road in front of the church go that way to the bottom of the hill and turn right on Hwy 60.

If you have gps and you go south instead of north it will recalculate and it will continue to recalculate on how to get to Springfield and if you decide to never ever do what the GPS says, then you will never make it to Springfield. If you choose to take your own path and completely not listen to GPS, then you will not make it to your destination.

If you take your own path in life, then guess what will happen at the end of that journey.

The mark that you make by following your own path will be devastating. It will be devastating to you and it will also be devastation to others. If you were to decide to never go to church, never read the bible, never follow Jesus around your children, or your family, most likely they will never go to church or take their children to church. The mark you leave behind will be one of regret and sorrow.

The bible says that wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. Taking your own path, following your own road may seem like a fun idea now and it may seem like a lot of your friends are on that same path that you are on and they probably are, because when you look at the rest of that verse Jesus says, that many are on the broad road leading to destruction.

Maybe that road you are on is, “if I just do enough good things, then I can earn Heaven.” Well, you can’t. No one can earn heaven by doing good. That is a lie of the devil. He wants you to believe that there is more than one path that is good enough. That is not what Jesus said. There is more than one path, but there is only one path that is going in the right direction.

But, in life we don’t just follow our own path, sometimes we just like to be wishy washy by….

2. Following no path.

Revelation 3:15-19

If you don’t know by now, either you have not listened to me or you live in a box, but I am a Dallas Cowboy fan. I take a lot of heat from fans from Chief fans, Steeler fans, Giant fans, but you know who I won’t take heat from?

Those people that refuse to choose a team. “Oh so you like the Cowgirls, huh?” “Yes, I do, I have been a Cowboys’ fan all my life. Who is your team?” “Oh I don’t have a team, I don’t even really watch football.” “If you don’t watch football and you can’t commit to a team then you just need to shut your pie hole.” Take your lumps like everyone else. Don’t jump from team to team. Pick one and stay with them.”

Everyday people are put into a situation where they are given a choice. A choice to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died for their sins and they choose to follow or go on their own path. And those people that have been put into the situation where they have to make a decision and they say that they are not ready to make a decision, those people have already made a decision. Not making a decision whether to follow or not is making a decision.

Cheryl, Tisha and I were having a conversation about her life and her testimony, (and one Sunday we will hear it), while we were talking, we were talking about people who like to sit on the fence. Sitting on the fence is a decision not to follow. You know who owns the fence? Satan. He will lead you to believe that not making a decision is okay. It is not. He is a liar.

3. Following Jesus’s path.

Revelation 3:20-21, Matthew 7:14

As I was putting this message together, I got a phone call from Jeffery Crumpton. He started telling me that after God had got a hold of him back in August of last year, he slowly started losing his fire. He told me that after all these horrible things that have gone on in America the past couple of months, with the shooting at the Church service, the stabbing of the girl on the train and Charlie Kirk, it put a fire back in him to be in the word, to pray more. As he was reading the bible, he felt like he should pray and he started praying for his son that he never sees, to follow Jesus. Jeff got a phone call from the mother of his son and she said that the son wanted to talk to him. The son told Jeff about the things he was doing and the books he was reading.

Jeff said, “I am reading too. Do you want to know what I am reading?” He held up his bible and said, “I have been reading the bible.” “Would you get me one, dad?” After their conversation, the mom gets back on the phone and says, that they have been going to church and that the son had given his life to Jesus and would be baptized in October.

Years ago, there was a saying that went throughout the Christian community. We wore it on our shirts. We put it on bracelets. We had bumper stickers. Bible covers, bookmarks, tattoos, socks, jackets, hats and all kinds of stuff.

WWJD! What would Jesus do? So, let me ask you, “What would Jesus do in the is situation with what happened to Charlie Kirk?” How would Jesus treat the one that killed him? How would Jesus treat those that applauded this murder? If we are going to follow the Path of Jesus, let’s get real. Jesus would have mourned the death, but He would have also mourned the sin in the person’s life. He would not have rejected them. For it is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. Just like the woman caught in adultery. Those without sin cast the first stone. He didn’t unfriend anyone. He spoke the Truth. Those that killed Charlie, those that applauded Charlie’s death are exactly the people that Jesus died for.

We need to speak the Truth. The Truth is that those that applauded the death of Charlie Kirk, need Jesus. The woman caught in sin. “Neither do I condemn you, Go and sin no more.”

So, let me ask you, what kind of mark will you leave? Are you going to leave a mark on the world that you followed your own path, and did your own thing? Are going to leave a mark that says, “I will follow Jesus most of the time”? Or will the mark that you leave be the one that says, “Jesus… Where You go, I'll go, Where You stay, I'll stay. When You move, I'll move. I will follow You. Who You love, I'll love. How You serve I'll serve. If this life I lose, I will follow You.”

Ooooh! That Will Leave a Mark