Wednesday, April 17, 2013

What is a Christian?


“What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.” 
J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 200.

When it comes to being a Christian, I live in a very dangerous cultural context. That may sound like a bit of an overstatement considering I live in the “Bible belt” of a country that has freedom of religion and was founded on biblical values; but when I say dangerous I don’t mean in danger of physical or emotional harm, but rather danger that comes from the eternal righteous wrath of God. I live in the southern portion of the United States of America. Over the past 100-200 years this area has been heavily churched, and because of that the culture has been heavily influenced by biblical principles and morals. That in and of itself is not a bad thing, in fact it’s a good thing, the problem is that somewhere along the line Christians became so focused on morals and principals that many lost sight of the gospel which led to many false conversions and nominal Christianity. A person would/will simply claim to be a Christian because they go to church, because they grew up in a Christian home, or even because they were born in a certain area. Many would/will engage in “religious activity” and try to be a “better person” and claim the name of Christ.

Along with this form of nominal Christianity is the form that comes from what has been labeled easy believism. Many well meaning churches, pastors, and evangelists have unintentionally created a false form of Christianity that puts its assurance in an act or decision instead of the work of God. Pastor and author Mike McKinley says it like this.

"[M]any churches make the decision to follow Jesus a little too easy. They make it about the decision. Just say you want to be a Christian, and you are one. Pray these words. Sign this card. Follow those steps. Presto, you are a Christian. End of story. Case closed. Welcome to heaven!

It is true that we need to make a onetime decision to follow Jesus. But a true onetime decision is followed by the everyday decision to follow Jesus. Jesus did not think that it was enough just to superficially identify yourself with him. There is more to being his follower than just a profession of faith. My fear is that too many churches have encouraged people to expect that Jesus will one day say to them, "Well done, faithful servant." But in fact, they will hear him say, "Depart from me." Such people will discover the truth only after it is too late." 1

In the first form of nominal Christianity that I mentioned people consider themselves Christians because of association. They often push themselves to appear as Christians by striving for righteousness and trying to be a better person, but it never last because what they are doing is just behavior modification; the only change that last is change that comes from a heart that has been transformed by the gospel. This form of nominal Christianity looks to outward obedience and association with certain groups (family, church, location) for assurance.  

In the second form of nominal Christianity people consider themselves Christians because of some sort of profession of faith. While we certainly should make a public profession of faith, namely baptism, it is not our profession of faith that saves us or even gives us assurance. No; biblical Christianity is much more than behavior modification, association, or professions of faith. D. A. Carson writes:

“[B]iblically authentic Christianity is never merely a matter of rules and regulations, of public liturgy and private morality. Biblical Christianity results in transformed men and women—men and women who, because of the power of the Spirit of God, enjoy regenerated natures. We want to please God, we want to be holy, we want to confess Jesus is Lord. In short, because of the grace secured by Christ’s cross, we ourselves experience something of a transforming moral imperative: the sins we once loved we learn to fear and hate, the obedience and holiness we once despised we now hunger for. God help us, we are woefully inconsistent in all this, but we have already tasted enough of the powers of the age to come that we know what a transforming moral imperative feels like in our lives, and we long for its perfection at the final triumph of Christ.” 2

How do you become a Christian?

Biblical Christianity comes from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that all men are naturally dead in their trespasses and sins, following the prince of the power of the air, living in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3). The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, namely all of mankind outside of Christ, to keep them from repenting and believing the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace (Ephesians 2:4-5).

How did He make us alive with Christ? “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “[F]aith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The word of Christ is the gospel and the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith (Romans 1:16-17).

When we were exposed to the gospel (Bible, preaching, tract, etc…), God worked in us and gave us the ability to repent and believe by opening our hearts to the truth of the gospel. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1a). The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit caused us to be born again which enabled us to repent and believe. The Bible is clear, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, upon hearing the gospel, all to the glory of God alone. Salvation from beginning to end is the work of God. That’s why the Bible says that “children of God, [are] born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). A true Christian is born again. And this only happens by the power of God, not by anything we say or do.

How do I know if I’ve been born again?

One of the most abused verses in the context of false conversions is Romans 10:9. Paul says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Now don’t get me wrong, this verse is inspired, inerrant, and completely infallible, so of course I believe it is completely true; however, the key to understanding this verse is to know what Paul means when he uses the word heart. The word heart here is not some “fluffy” language used for emotions. Author Jerry Bridges says, “what the Bible calls the heart…[is] the very core of our being…the center of our intellect, affections, and will.” 3If we take this definition of heart and apply it to Romans 10:9, we can see that to believe with your heart effects everything you are. You think and feel differently and now you want different things as well.

Paul ends this verse by saying “you will be saved;” Paul is speaking of our salvation from sin, sin’s effects, and the righteous wrath of God. Sin is what put us in the position of needing to be saved. As we have already seen we naturally desire sin over God and live in the passions of the flesh. So if to believe in our heart is change in the very core of our being, then we must change from being a sinner loving sin to being a sinner grieved over our sin. When I say grieved I mean true sorrow and conviction over our sin, not just guilt. Paul says it like this, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Now we can see that this idea of believing in our hearts is directly linked to repentance; so when Jesus says, “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15b), we know that Paul means the same thing in Romans 10:9. Now, linking all of this together we can see that repentance is a deep experience that profoundly affects the mind, will, and emotions. Repentance changes the heart. It is not enough to ask for forgiveness, be baptized, or join a church; repentance involves our whole being…

Repentance literally means to turn. When the Bible speaks of repentance it is in the context of turning from sin to God. Because we are sinners by nature we are unable to completely turn from sin. Because we were born in Adam there is always lingering sin in us. The Bible tells us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). We know our repentance is true when we have genuine godly grief over our sin. “[T]he sins we once loved we learn to fear and hate, the obedience and holiness we once despised we now hunger for.” 4 When a Christian looks at their sin they should despise it and see it as the reason Jesus, their Lord and Savior, uppermost in their affections, had to die. A true Christian views sin as the nails that nailed Jesus to the cross. The clearest way that I know of to tell if you have been born again or not is to take an honest look at how you view the sin in your life. Are you grieved? Does your sin bring you sorrow? These are marks of a true Christian.

What is a Christian?

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Christ became sin on the cross, meaning He took our guilt and our punishment upon Himself, and in doing so He imputed His righteousness to us. Because God poured out His wrath upon Christ He can now look at the Christian and say this is my son in whom I am well pleased. A Christian’s identity is in Christ. In Romans 5 Paul says there are really only two kinds of people, those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ (Romans 5:12-21). “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Peter tells us that Christians “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Biblically then, there are only two types of people; those who are in Adam or those who are in Christ. Again I say, the Christian’s identity is in Christ.

Paul opens up his letter to the Ephesians by pointing to this glorious truth.

Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.(emphasis added)

Conclusion:

As J. I. Packer says, “a Christian is one who has God as Father,”5 but the only reason we have God as Father is because we have been adopted through Jesus Christ. A Christian is someone who has been saved, redeemed, reconciled, adopted, and loved in Christ. The only thing we deserve in this life is death and hell but by God’s grace in Jesus Christ we have been adopted into His family and will spend eternity in His presence. What is a Christian? A Christian is a blood bought child of God who is saved, sanctified, and sustained by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for His mercy and grace!


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1 Mike McKinley, Am I Really a Christian? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 23.
2 D. A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 31-32.  
3 Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), Inside Cover.
4 D. A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 32.  
5 J. I Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 200.