Who Is A Christian?
WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?
Answer: A follower of Jesus Christ.
If you accept God's offer of life through Jesus then you are a Christian. The Bible says you become "born again" into a new life, one that is no longer your own, as you have been bought with a price. The beauty is, even though you now "belong" to Jesus, He also "sets you free!"
According to the Bible, being a "Christian" is not fundamentally about the family that you grew up in, the country you live in, going to church, being a good person or following certain rules (though Christians should honor and obey God according to the Bible.
Being a Christian is about believing what God says about His children - that we are now of His household, and He sees us as "in" Jesus.
Three Keys
Repenting - This doesn't just mean being sorry for your sin, but it means CHANGING YOUR MIND FROM WHAT YOU USED TO THINK, AND BELIEVING WHAT GOD SAYS.
Converting - IS THEN TURNING AND GOING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION (180。) - IN OTHER WORDS: OBEYING GOD. REPENTING IS CHANGING OUR MIND, CONVERSION IS THE "DOING" OF IT.
Trusting - WHAT GOD SAYS IN HIS WORD ABOUT JESUS AND ACTING ON IT. BELIEVING IS ACTING / DOING. THERE ARE SO MANY EXAMPLES IN THE GOSPELS THAT JESUS "SAW THEIR FAITH" BY WHAT THEY DID. IT IS GOD'S WILL TO forgive you YOUR sins.
Christianity is not about what you do. It's about what God has done for you.
How Do Christians Behave?
How should we behave? That's another question. The fact is, however, that every Christian is still only human, makes egregious mistakes all the time, and remains in need of forgiveness.
There are, however, clearly-defined guidelines for things we should do and should not do in order that "they will know us by our love" (_).
Don't mistake this incomplete list for "The Do's and Don't's" of Chrisitiainty. That list doesn't exist. Doing or not doing the above things isn't going to put you into Heaven or damn you to Hell. (_) says we are no longer under the Law, and are free, but that this freedom does not mean we should go on sinning.
Discipleship: Growing in the Faith
"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).
A New Name for Christians?
(from blogger Glenn Kaiser)
Christ Followers
"More and more, I have received emails and shared face-to-face conversations with people who have come to walk with Jesus as their personal Savior in the past 5-8 years who refer to themselves not as 'Christians' or 'believers' or Baptists, Presbyterians, Charismatics or whatever, but simply as 'Christ followers.' I LOVE this!
Years ago I stopped asking people 'Are you saved', or 'born again.' or 'How long have you been a Christian' or the like. Why?
Often they'd respond with an emphatic 'Yes!' So the next question I'd ask is 'How long have you been truly FOLLOWING Jesus' and they'd give me a different time-line!
In a large church I recently had a quick chat with a lady who said 'I've been a Christ-follower for five or six years now,' smiling. I smiled too. I LIKE this phrase.
Jesus indeed said 'Come, follow Me.' I think this is, in very short, the most revealing matter of whether a person is seeking God with the intent and will to find Him. It's not informational, it's transformational to follow Jesus Christ.
When I am a follower, I go where He leads, walk as He walks; I'm concerned with being WITH Him and not only knowing Him from afar or knowing ABOUT Him. What a difference spiritual intimacy makes. What a difference between the 'convert' and the 'disciple.'
Some years ago I was a bit amazed by a brother in Christian leadership. We met at a large gathering, and in small-talk, I merely asked him what was a key thing I could pray for regarding he and his large, evangelical church. He immediately said 'That our people would understand, really get a clue on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ!'
I then asked him how long he had been in leadership there, to which he replied 'Three years.'
My own internal thinking was -- how could you be leading/preaching/teaching folks for that long and not really hit that issue in a local church... followed by another question: I asked, 'Are most of your congregation highly-paid, stressed professionals?' He said they were.
I then thought, 'Whew, we've got it easy in Chicago with a lot of truly poor, messed-up, sin-right-on-the-table sort of folks to serve!'
But for both of us, the issue is the same. God calls us to be Christ-followers, and all whom we influence in our local congregations to be... Christ Followers. If we are, more will come to follow Him in part, due to our own loving obedience in following Him.
Jesus said, 'Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.' Let's go followin'... then go fishin'!"
History: The Law of Moses, Fulfilled Through Jesus
Who Is a Christian?
Church, "The Church," & Going to Church
Why Do Christians Evangelize?
Daily Christian Living
Quotes About Christianity
Becoming a Christian
More Links to Important Related Topics
Originally published April 25, 2005.
