Compass by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Believing Is Not Enough — Imitate

A senior pastor friend said something that shook everything: "Believing in Jesus doesn't make you a Christian."

Believing in Jesus will get you saved. It will get you to heaven. But it is not what makes you a Christian. The people who first called believers Christians did not call them that because of what they believed. They called them Christians because of how they acted. They acted like Christ. Christianity is a term to describe disciples — not merely believers.

The church is full of people who believe but are not changing. The anger is still the same. The covetousness is still the same. The lust is still the same. There must be a commensurate change. The problem with the church is that we have many believers and very few imitators.

Philippians 2:5 — let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Not just the faith that is in you — but this mind. This mentality. This ideology. This worldview. It must be forming in you. No matter how gradual, there should be improvement, there should be progress.

Two things mark a disciple of Jesus Christ:

1. Faith in Jesus — John 3:16: for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
2. Emulation of Jesus — Ephesians 5:1: be imitators of God as beloved children.

Here is a growth hack: if you want to grow in Christ, look at everything he is — everything you celebrate him for, his communicable attributes — and copy them. Just copy them.

Matthew 5:48 — be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. When people read this, they immediately retreat to "how can I be perfect like God?" But read the context. It is about forgiving like Christ forgives. It is about being generous like Christ is generous. It is about controlling your temper. Those are attainable. You can do those.

The Pattern: Receive, Then Emulate

Every major truth about Christ that you have received is simultaneously a challenge to emulate him in that same area.

• Ephesians 1:7 — in him you have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. You celebrate this. You worship for it. And then he says: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. You must emulate him in forgiveness.
• John 3:16 — God so loved the world. You receive that love, rejoice in it, worship about it. And then: husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. The love you receive becomes the love you are called to demonstrate.
• 1 John 3:16 — by this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Nine out of ten of us will never be asked to literally shed blood. But at minimum: go the extra mile for people because of Christ. Think about their well-being. Don't just accumulate for yourself.

The reason we have a weak church is that we are enjoying things we have refused to emulate. We receive grace, forgiveness, love, and sacrifice — and we give back casual attendance, convenient offerings, and a commitment level that costs us nothing.

What Genuine Sacrifice Looks Like

The story of Abraham and Isaac is the most powerful illustration of what the gospel actually costs — and what genuine devotion looks like in response.

God commanded human sacrifice nowhere. The Bible commands death for it. So why did God tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Because it was meant to prefigure what God himself was going to do. By providence, the same region where Abraham bound Isaac and raised his hand to strike is almost exactly where Christ was crucified thousands of years later. God was creating a lived picture of what was coming — so that when it came, those who understood the story of Abraham would grasp the weight of it.

And now, read John 3:16 from that vantage point. Feel the weight of "he gave." To see your only son on the cross. To watch them spit on him, flog him, draw his blood, drive spikes through his hands, put a spear through his side. At any point, God could have intervened. He chose not to. Because that was the plan. You are alive because of it. And you respond with casual Christianity.

You are either a serious Christian or an impostor. You cannot be genuinely convinced that someone died for you and remain casual about it.

Seek First the Kingdom — Then Receive the Additions

The revelation of Jehovah-Jireh came after Abraham placed his only son on the altar and raised his hand. It was at the moment of ultimate sacrifice that God stepped in and God was discovered as provider. When you remain in your selfishness asking God for provision, singing "Jireh, Jireh" — you are using the name outside the context in which it was revealed. That revelation belongs to people who took a step of genuine sacrifice because God said so, went out without having the capital, and found that their allocation was waiting in the location.

Matthew 6:33 — seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Most believers do this backward: they believe in God so that in God they can seek things. Things are the goal, and God is the means. But the scripture says to seek God first — and the things come on the side. They come the way side dishes come with the main course. You don't have to ask for them. They come naturally when the main thing is in order.

Three Categories of Divine Help

When God intervenes in human situations, there are three distinct categories:

1. Sovereign Help

   God steps in not because the people prayed, not because they fasted, not because they trusted — but simply because God is God. The Exodus is the clearest example. When God decided to step in, Moses needed God to introduce himself: "Who do I tell Pharaoh sent me?" The people were not crying out to God — they were just crying. God heard it sovereignly and acted because of a covenant he made with Abraham, which had nothing to do with the current generation's faithfulness.

   Some of the blessings in your life are sovereign help — pure goodness that cannot be attributed to your consistency. You know this. You would tell the truth and say: honestly, at this period I wasn't even reading my Bible like I should. This was just his hand.

2. Evangelical Help

   God helps people who do not yet know him in order to draw them into relationship. He did it with Israel: miracle upon miracle, provision upon provision — not because they had a covenant relationship, but to woo them into one.

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   He kept telling Moses: I am doing all these miracles so that these people will follow me. The intent behind the help was relationship. This is what happens in many people's stories. God showed them extraordinary favor while they were far from him — because the favor was the invitation.

   God does miracles many times to provoke devotion. If your attitude toward him does not change in response to help you have received, it is a hardness of heart. The children of Israel received miracle upon miracle — and still made a golden calf, and called it the god that brought them out of Egypt. That is the extreme version of receiving evangelical help and never arriving at covenant.

3. Covenant Help

   This is the category where a believer lives in conscious expectation of divine intervention — not because of what they can do, but because of who God is and what the covenant says.

   Nobody in Scripture understood this better than David. He left nothing to chance. He asked God about everything. He demonstrated helplessness with complete confidence. He would write: Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? They say there is no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord. He knew how to pivot from the problem to God's reputation in one breath.

   Proverbs 3:5-6 — trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.

   Psalm 37:23 — the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Not just the big decisions — the daily steps. David believed that by the leading of God, he would be doing the right thing on a day-to-day basis. He would not walk into a company that was about to collapse. He would not be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Directed Steps and "By Chance"

Isaiah 48:17 — I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit and leads you by the way you should go.

Not just salvation. Not just eternal life. The one who teaches you how to profit. Who leads you in the way you should go. There is direction available for the believer that covers the practical dimensions of daily life.

The Greek word in the Good Samaritan story translated "by chance" — where a certain man came by chance — is a derivative of *kairos*. In Jewish theology, there is no such thing as true coincidence. What looks like a chance encounter is the ordering of steps. The Samaritan did not stumble upon that situation by accident. The timing was arranged.

The brothers of Joseph had concluded that they would leave him in the pit to die. At just that moment, slave traders passed by. The timing of that passing turned the entire story. Joseph was not destined to die in that pit. What looks like a detour is often the route.

The same God who preemptively placed a brook where Hagar and her son would need it centuries before they needed it — that God is arranging things in your life ahead of time.

The provision for a need that is still future is already being positioned. The resource in the strange place is already waiting. The right person has already been placed in the right cubicle. Expect divine intersections. Anticipate them. Build your life around the belief that your steps are ordered.

When Things Do Not Go According to Plan

A word of caution: do not hear a sermon like this and conclude that life will be a bed of roses. That is not what ordered steps means. Joseph had ordered steps. He still went to prison. In Potiphar's house, he didn't grumble. In prison, he didn't abandon his character. He held on to his testimony through every stage — because he believed.

Romans 8:28 — all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. This does not mean God caused the bad things. It means that if bad things happen, he will redirect them. Like a GPS that reroutes when you miss a turn — he doesn't stop guiding; he adjusts the route.

Even if something was done in error — even if the decision seemed to have been wrong — the posture of the believer can still be: God, I may have gotten this wrong, but please still help me. That is the God of the Bible. He still reroutes. He still brings you to where he destined for you to land.

You will end up where God destined for you. His genealogy of Jesus included Rahab, a prostitute. People with real mistakes. And out of all of it, God still brought what he intended. At the end, we always win. Always.