There is no difference…

The following is an addaptation of a sermon that I gave a few weeks ago. I chose not to post the recording of this message because some specific names of people were mentioned, and I didn’t want to broadcast their names and their stories online without their consent.

Over the past 4 months my family and I have had the opportunity to meet many amazing young people from around the world.

Most of these young people, as I have mentioned before, are not Christians.

Every once in a while I get to spend some time ‘one on one’ with some of these students and when I do I try to find out about their spiritual and religious history.

Two Thursdays ago, I had the opportunity to bring a Chinese girl named —– to the airport.

—– is a senior at Canyonville Christian Academy and is very bright- the world is hers for the taking. So she has many important decisions to make in the next few months:

Where will she go to college?

What career does she want to pursue?

What country does she want to live in after graduating college?

And most importantly, what god will she serve? What religion or way-of-life will she adhere to?

She began to tell me of her time as an exchange student in Oklahoma last year.

She told me how she chose to leave her first host mother, a young single Christian mother, because she had been treated poorly.

She then told me of her second host family who she bonded with, Catholics who were “great people but never went to church”.

We talked about how Catholics, in general, are Christians. So it was time to ask her the big question,” So —–, are you a Christian?”

She proceed to tell me that she was thinking about becoming a Christian after hearing so much about it at school.

To her, it was as if Christianity was simply some information that she had been learning and she had to decide whether or not she would accept this “information”.

She didn’t see Christianity as being saved by an all-loving God and following His Son who died to set her free from sin and death. She saw it as information that she would either embrace or reject.

I’ve found this same type of response from many of the other students I’ve talked to so far this year.

For some reason, most of these unsaved foreign students do not understand the concepts of a real god, of redemption, of grace, of judgment…of salvation.

I get a strong impression that most of these kids don’t even agree with the concept that they are sinners…

And that’s when she said it,” Well Christians are really no different from everyone else, so as long as you’re a good person and believe in something, then you’ll be alright!”

To her, growing up in Communist China and only ‘knowing of’ one single Christian her entire life, and then coming to America and meeting many supposed Christians, her observation is that Christians are no different than everyone else!

And if Christians, to her, don’t offer anything new for her life; then why on earth would she want to become one?

And who’s to blame for this poor girl’s perception of Christians? Her and her lack of insight? Or someone else?

This week we will be celebrating the arrival of a New Year.

And the popular thing to do around this time of year is to make New Year’s Resolutions.

So may we, starting this instant, begin to search our souls to find out if we offer anything different than that of the world?

And if not, then let us question our devotion to Christ and make a firm commitment to Him today; and let us change our ways so that people all over the world like —–can see the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ through us.

In 1 John 3, John- the closest dispiple to Jesus- tells the reader what it means to be a Christian. He tells the reader what it looks like to be a Christian, how being a Follower of Jesus makes you look different. He explains that a Chrsitian is someone who: puts their trust in Jesus; Loves their brother and their neighbor as Christ loves the Church, does what is right, helps their brother in need, and someone who the Holy Spirit confirms to them that they are saved and that they are different.

So who will you be this year? Someone who looks like the rest of the world? Or someone who is different- not on a creepy way- than the rest of the world? Because there’s a world full of people just like —– who are dying to find someone who is different…who are willing to live their life differently through the power of a loving, saving, empowering god, if they could only find someone who could actually show them that it’s possible- someone like you!