What is a Christian? How do I become one?
Knowing God
You don’t become a Christian just by going to church or by trying to lead a decent life – although both those things are good things to do!
A Christian is someone who knows God – who has a personal relationship, a friendship, with God – through Jesus Christ.
If you don't have a relationship with God that may sound like an amazing idea – but, thanks to God’s wonderful love for us, such a relationship is actually something all of us can have. In fact, it’s what God wants all of us to have – including you.
How can it happen? There are probably as many ways of entering that relationship, of becoming a Christian, as there are Christians, but what follows below may help to make it happen for you – if that is what you want.
This isn't all there is to being a Christian, but to help you make a start there are:
- Three things to know about, and believe. And then:
- Something to do.
Three things to know and believe.
The first thing to know is that:
1. God loves you and wants you to know and love him.
God’s love
God doesn’t merely love us. He loves us so much that he went to the trouble of sending his Son (Jesus) so that we could have eternal life. Jesus said:
"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Eternal life – knowing God
But eternal life isn’t just life that goes on for ever. First and foremost it’s a relationship – knowing God our Father and Jesus his Son. Again, Jesus said, once when he was praying to God:
"This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3)
So Jesus tells us that God loves us and that he wants a relationship with us.
We will come back to why God had to send his Son Jesus in a moment. Before that we need to understand that there’s a problem.
Which brings us to the second thing we need to know:
2. Sin prevents us from knowing God and experiencing his love.
What is sin?
The Bible tells us that sin is lawlessness (see 1 John 3:4) – breaking God’s law. But God’s law is not an arbitrary list of dos and don’ts. It tells us how to behave towards God and – just as important – how to behave towards one another. Jesus summed up the whole law by saying:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
So sin isn't primarily about breaking rules. Sin is failure to love – failure to love other people, and failure to love God – with all our heart, soul and mind!
But love isn't just a warm feeling – it's real and practical care and concern. And when we fail to show care and concern we do the opposite - we hurt and offend. If we sin, we hurt or offend another person – our "neighbour" – or at least adopt an uncaring attitude towards him or her.
That means we hurt or offend someone God loves. God would be failing in his love towards that person if he just ignored what we have done, or ignored our uncaring attitude. After all, we would not ignore it if someone we loved got hurt.
We have all sinned.
What's more, the Bible tells us that "All have sinned" (Romans 3:23). None of us can claim to be innocent. In case we try to object that "I've never done any harm", it’s as well to remember that:
- We are commanded to love, not just do no harm. Do we really love God – or our neighbour – with all our hearts, souls and minds?
- God knows our thoughts. Even to think unkindly about someone, or adopt a selfish attitude, is to show a lack of love.
- Our failures can be sins. Failing to care for others and failing to support the poor, the sick and the oppressed are sins – failures to love – just as much as, say, deliberately hurting someone or stealing from someone.
We are all sinners – and, however much we may try, there is nothing we can do on our own to change that.
So – what happens?
We all sin, and when we sin – when we fail to love – we either spurning God's love or hurt one of God's loved ones – or both. How can God love us – and how can we make any claim to love him – if we behave like that?
The Bible puts the consequences of this in very strong terms, and paints all sorts of terrible pictures of what ir means – wrath, punishment, vengeance, death, the fires of hell – and contrasts it with the life – the eternal life – that is what God wanted for us. For example, Jesus himself said:
"...whoever disobeys the Son will not see life but must endure God's wrath." (John 3:35)
St Paul puts it this way:
"...the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life..." (Romans 6:23)
(You can also look at Matthew 25:41, 46; and 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).
But in essence what will happen is that, instead of eternal life with God, we will be eternally separated from him. Our sin has destroyed the very possibility of any relationship between us and God – the relationship that, at the same time, God longs for us to have.
Sorting that out needed more than a miracle – so, instead of just working a miracle God sent Jesus.
Which brings us to the third thing we need to know:
3. Jesus dealt with our sin – through him we can know God and his love.
How?
That’s not a simple question to answer. But, to begin with, we can go back to the first verse we looked at:
"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Without going into any explanation, this verse says why Jesus, God’s Son, came. He came so that everyone may have eternal life – eternal life that is first and foremost a relationship with God. And for it to work we have to believe.
In the end it comes down very much to believing – to faith – faith that, through Jesus we can indeed have eternal life, despite our sin. But it isn’t just blind faith – we have grounds for believing that it’s true. Let’s look at some of the things Jesus said and some of the things that happened to him.
Jesus said he had to die.
Jesus didn't just foretell his own suffering, death and resurrection. He said that these things had to happen and that he would die as a 'ransom' for many – a price paid to release us.
"Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man [the title Jesus used for himself] must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31)
"[Jesus said,] 'The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.'" (Mark 10:45)
Jesus proclaimed that sins were forgiven.
Not only did he say sins were forgiven, but that it was through his suffering and death – the shedding of his blood – and his resurrection that this had happened.
"When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" (Mark 2:5)
"Then [Jesus] took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'" (Matthew 26:27-28)
"[Jesus said to the disciples,] ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations. ’" (Luke 24:46-47)
Jesus claimed to be the only way to God the Father.
"Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’" (John 14:6)
Jesus was raised from the dead.
Jesus did indeed suffer and die as he had foretold (Mark 15:15-39). But at the very heart of the Christian story is the resurrection – the message that Jesus, after dying on the cross,
was brought back to life again. Every book of the New Testament part of
the Bible is shot through and through with the message, "Jesus is alive!"
"As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man......he said to them, 'Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.'" (Mark 16:5-6)
They [the disciples] were saying, 'The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!'......While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them..." (Luke 24:34, 36)
"After his suffering [Jesus] presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs..." (Acts 1:3)
"[Peter said to the crowd] '...This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.'" (Acts 2:32)
Jesus was recognised as Messiah, as Son of God – and indeed as God.
Jesus was proclaimed to be Son of God at his baptism by a divine voice from heaven, and his disciples and others gradually came to recognise him for themselves as Son of God, as Messiah
(the leader promised by God through the prophets) and, ultimately, as God.
"Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’" (Mark 1:9-11)
"[Jesus] said to [the disciples], ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’" (Matthew 16:15-16)
"Thomas answered him [Jesus], ‘My Lord and my God!’" (John 20:28)
"In him [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:19)
What do we make of all that?
Jesus was recognised as no less than the Son of God – indeed, as God himself in human form. If they had any doubts beforehand, the resurrection proved it to the disciples.
As God, then, he must have known what he was talking about
- when he said he had to die
- when he said that our sins would be forgiven
- when he said he is the only way to come to God
– even if we don’t fully understand why or how.
There are many ways by which we may attempt to understand these things more fully, for example, by saying that Jesus died in our place, took the punishment for our sins and made by his death a perfect sacrifice. Many of these are very valuable insights, but it is more important to know that our sins are forgiven and to have Jesus’ personal assurance that we can know God than it is to understand exactly how it happened.
So we have 3 facts:
- God loves you and wants you to know and love him.
- Sin prevents us from knowing God and experiencing his love.
- Jesus dealt with our sin – through him we can know God and his love.
But knowing these 3 facts doesn’t in itself make you a Christian – or give you a relationship with God. You have to act on them – and so there is:
Something to do.
We have to respond to God’s love – and to what Jesus has done – by receiving Jesus.
You won’t get to know God, let alone experience his love, if you don’t make contact. You and God have got to get together! God has made the first move by sending Jesus. What you need to do is receive Jesus and welcome him into your life. A verse in John’s Gospel puts it nicely:
"To all who received him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12)
You couldn’t receive Jesus unless you believed in him – in who he is and what he has done. In practice that means:
- Accepting that you are sinful – and that sin is what keeps us from knowing God and his love.
- Sincerely wanting to reject sin and to know God and his love.
- Accepting that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection your sins are forgiven.
- Accepting Jesus as Lord and God – and that means letting him be in control of your life!
Doing all that requires a conscious choice. You have to decide that it is what you want to do – and do it.
Perhaps you have already made that choice. If so – great, though you may still find it helpful to read on.
If not – is it what you want to do?
If it is, then you have to make that choice in your own heart and mind. But as you make it you need to involve Jesus – you can’t let Jesus be Lord of your life without telling him!
Of course, God knows our thoughts – so, if you have consciously made that choice in your heart and mind Jesus already knows! But you may still find it helpful to put it into words as a prayer.
Prayer can be thought of as talking with God or talking with Jesus, although it can take many forms and doesn’t have to be out loud, or even put into words. But, if you would like some words, you may like to use these, either spoken out loud or passing through your mind in silence:
Lord Jesus,
I want to know you and your love.
I want to love you in return.
I know I am sinful, and I am sorry. Thank you that my sins are forgiven because you died on the cross.
I want to reject sin and live in a way that pleases you. Be Lord of my life and help me by your power.
Have you accepted you are sinful? Do you want to reject sin and know God personally? Do you believe your sins are forgiven through Jesus, and have you asked him to come into your life as Lord?
If your answer to those questions is 'yes' you have begun that relationship with God that he wants you to have – consider yourself a Christian!
Perhaps you have just done it while reading this – maybe even using the little prayer above.
Or perhaps you did it some time ago. Or maybe you can’t remember when, or it seems something that happened over time. That doesn’t matter – just so long as you know you have done it.
Maybe you don’t feel any different. That doesn’t matter either – being a Christian and having a relationship with God isn’t really about feeling good, or feeling anything else. What matters is you believe – that you believe God does love you, that your sins are forgiven, and that he has come into your life – as a friend!
Sometimes you will feel different – perhaps supremely happy about it, or maybe the opposite – doubtful and unsure. But these feelings probably won’t last. They might come and go. But what matters isn’t your feelings – important thought they can be at times. What matters is that you believe.
Author's note. The material above has been written with the prime purpose of helping members of Immanuel and St Andrew's to understand church teaching and practice. However, the information given is entirely the responsibility of the the author, David Gray, and does not necessarily reflect the view of all members of the Ministry Team or PCC. Corrections and comments are, of course, welcome!
© Copyright David Gray 2007
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Page last updated 27 September 2007.
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