A large portion of Christianity deals with how you respond to other people (and to God). Unfortunately, this is an aspect of Christianity that is rarely talked about in church – which makes you wonder what kind of Christianity we’re really teaching people about.
In thinking about this today, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit a post I wrote last year about what it really means to be a Christian. And I’m reposting this for my benefit as much as anyone else’s — I still need to internalize true Christianity as opposed to the version I’ve been taught all my life.
The word “Christian” is nearly as ambiguous as the word “love” in the English language. Ask 5 people what it means and you’ll likely get five different answers. Often it’s used to describe the following:
- a church member
- someone who has been baptized or confirmed
- someone who is very moral
- someone who is very religious
But if you look to the Bible for a definition of Christianity, you’ll see that it is none of those things.
So what does it mean to be a Christian?
The simplest answer is this: a follower of Jesus Christ. Of course, in this day and age that, too, is also fairly ambiguous.
So let’s start with the basics. How do you become a follower of Jesus Christ? That’s probably the simplest question to answer.
“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13 NIV)I really like what the Message says here too (emphasis mine):
Say the welcoming word to God—”Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”
It’s all about realizing that you’re a sinner and that there’s nothing you can do by your own power to redeem yourself. It’s about calling on Jesus to become Lord of your life and allowing Him to change you from the inside out.
Once you take the initiative to call on Jesus, then a process has started in your life. A process that changes you to become more like Christ in attitudes, ambitions, and actions.
From Jim Berg’s Changed Into His Image:
Christlikeness is not the same as following a moral or ethical ideal. It is not simply possessing more knowledge of Bible content or Bible principles. It is not merely replacing old habits with new ones or being and doing good. Furthermore, it is not becoming well-adjusted or recovering from some life-dominating sin. Christlikeness is the manifestation of the fruit of God’s Spirit* in the life of a believer beholding the glory of God.
[…]
While living on this earth, Jesus Christ exemplified the characteristics of a man controlled by the Holy Spirit and in perfect fellowship with God. His submission to and dependence upon His Father and His sacrificial ministry to others blended those characteristics into a perfect ideal Paul called “the form [nature] of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). Servanthood is grown-up Christianity.
*The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
