A few months ago Tom came to see that things were not quite right in his life. In his honest, quiet moments, he felt alone, lost, broken, superficial, and empty inside. He did not know what was truly real about God, himself, reality, and life after death, and he did not know what a truly good, significant life looked like.
He also had a gut level sense of how drastically short he had fallen every day of his life from God's standards, and thus his need for a savior. He went to a church meeting and heard someone teaching about the life of Jesus. His heart strangely burned within him as the pastor spoke, and he found himself moved to tears in hope that what the pastor was saying was true. He had quite a lot of questions, and met with the pastor to talk. As they talked, he found himself full of faith that Jesus really was God incarnate, Savior, raised from the dead, Lord, etc. He found himself humbled and awestruck by the fact that Jesus loved him so much that he came to die in his place to forgive and deliver him from sin, emptiness, and brokenness and restore him to perfect fellowship with God. He was also surprised that there was such robust proof about the validity of the Bible and Jesus' resurrection...because to be quite frank, he always sort of thought it was pie in the sky.
Tom couldn't help but feel like God was pursuing him, loving on him, and drawing him to Himself. He thought all day about his conversation with the pastor, and while a few doubts kept creeping in, he decided he needed to give this relationship with God thing a try. That night, he got down on his knees and his face, and cried out to God. He said, "God, I am not as whole as I want to be or feel I could be. I need you and I desire you. Jesus, would you come into my life and save me, help me, and make me new. I want a fresh start with you. I want to be united with you. I want to hand the reigns of my life to you. I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you and serving you with my life. This is all a little crazy and new for me, so can you please reveal yourself to me and help me out? I know I have done a lot of things to offend you, but I want to trust that what Jesus paid on the cross was good enough to make me at peace with you. Thank you for loving me and providing a way for me to have fellowship with you, the Creator of the Universe. Wow. Amen." After he got up, he decided to open his Bible and start reading. He couldn't get enough, and he read the whole New Testament six times in six months. Within a few months, his life was totally transformed, and he felt like he had a new life and heart.
So now, Tom is a Christian. What exactly does that mean? He has put his wholehearted trust in Jesus as his Savior, teacher, master, and friend for this life and the life to come, and he is now at peace with God. He is now a part of God's family and realizes how special and loved he is as God's son. Tom now lives under the loving authority of this eternal King where the King's will is done, not Tom's...and Tom is delighted about this even though it is hard at times to submit--it is always more life giving. His heart is transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit who now dwells within Him, and he now desires to follow, obey, treasure, love, depend on, and worship Jesus above all else. While he still sins and makes mistakes, his core desire is to keep turning away from sin and becoming like Jesus in heart, speech, mind, and action. Thus, he keeps repenting and seeking God with great perseverence until the day he dies. Tom lives every day with his heart and mind set on God and eternal things, loving and praying for those around him and telling them about this great God he knows. He knows that he might stand in the presence of King Jesus at any moment, and this informs his priorities, the way he spends his time, and the way he lives his life. He lives this life as a foreigner looking forward to his heavenly home and reward where he will finally be united with Jesus--his God, king, friend, brother, and lover. Tom loves to read the Bible, because it is the supremely authoritative owner's manual on how life was intended to be lived and the authoritative word on true reality and how the story ends. He also loves getting to know the mind and heart of God all the more clearly through the Bible, and it informs the way he thinks, feels, and lives. Tom loves God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and he loves his neighbor as himself. Tom is different from the world--so incredibly different. The way he lives makes absolutely no sense to the world, because he isn't pursuing, hoping in, or finding his worth in the same things as the world. He is so kind, humble, loving, and filled with peace, hope, and joy. He excels and works hard, but doesn't seem to be bogged down by the same things as those around him. He has a lightness and joy about him that most people around him know not of. The freedom he has actually seems to allow him to do better at his activities because he doesn't have as much fear, stress, or pressure surrounding them. Tom is a truly beautiful human being. From an onlookers perspective, it seems like Tom has something that is a key to abundant life--and he does.
Now, Tom will read the above paragraph, and think to himself, "wow, is that paragraph about me? That describes my longing and vision for my life to a tee. But I so often fall short of that." However, rather than feeling discouraged and miserable, ready to throw in the towel, Tom will joyfully say, "I am unable, broken, and powerless on my own, God, but you are more than able to make me the Tom you intend for me to be, and the Tom I desire to be. My inability is the very prerequisite to being filled by your Spirit, so thank you for this deep experiential knowledge of my need for you, for your power works best in my weakness--for when I am weak, then I am strong in you. You say blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now fill me anew. I thank you Jesus that my merit with you is based on what you did, not what I have done and will do. Thank you that I am victorious by your power. I will depend on you and keep getting up when I fall every day of my life."
Now the first paragraph paints a vision of the person Tom is becoming, and what a true Christian longs for, strives for, and increasingly lives into. But the second paragraph reflects a posture of the heart of true faith: dependence on God. If you are someone who mourns over your sin and longs to be conformed to the image of Christ, be encouraged by this call to depend, realizing that your weakness and spiritual bankruptcy is the very prerequisite to being filled by God's spirit.
Now to flesh a few things out a little more of what it means to be a Christian:
1. We are all spiritually dead: Imagine an inner person that is literally dead and unresponsive to God. Apart from God seeking us out, awakening our spirits, and giving us spiritual life, we can't even respond to Him in faith because we are dead. This is a great mystery according to John 3:5-8.
2. We are all desperately wicked and sinful (especially when compared to God rather than other people) and therefore need someone worthy, upright, perfect, spotless, (etc) who can stand before a perfect and holy God on our behalf in order to justify us and protect us from the just consequences of our sin. Sinner is not the most popular term, and most people don't think of themselves as sinners. So how are we to understand what sin means? First of all, it is important to see sin not just as "bad" instead of "good," but as broken instead of whole. God made all of his creation to reflect him like a mirror, but when sin entered into creation (see the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-3), it's like that mirror was broken and there was now a huge wedge between us and God. Wherever God's goodness is not present, it's just bad news. So sin is the brokenness and bad news in our own hearts and in the world that we are all familiar with.
Sin is also defined as "falling short of the glory of God" in Romans 3:23. So sin is falling short of God's perfection and his standards. Not only do we fall short of His standards, but we fail to even meet our own standards and conscience. We all fall short of being the person we desire to be and know we should be. The Bible says we are enslaved to sin, and I think this is totally in line with human experience. If we were not enslaved to sin, we could all be the people we wanted to be: loving to all people, genuinely selfless and humble, caring, upright, honest, courageous, without fear or worry or anxiety, patient, gentle, kind, slow to anger (especially with the people closest to us), persevering, full of life, peace, joy, and hope, justified and guilt free, self controlled, merciful and forgiving, a truly "good" person on the inside and the outside. If we were not enslaved to sin, we would have power over the things we did not want to define us: jealousy, hopelessness and despair, worry, fear, anxiety, fear of what people think, addictions, eating disorders, anger and rage, gossip, a mean, harsh, and out of control tongue, greed, destructive self centeredness, numbness and coldness towards others, pride, sexual brokenness, using other people, lying, cheating, stealing, abuse, desperate for pleasure (even at your own and others expense), and the list goes on. We not only violate our own standards and desires, but we violate God's standards too, which are way higher than ours. In the New Testament, just a few things that God calls us to be/do: love our enemies and bless those who curse us, forgive always, never be anxious about anything, be completely loving and humble, not self seeking--putting others above ourselves, giving up our rights, never doing our own will but the will of God, forsaking temporary pleasure to pursue God and the rewards and blessings found in Him, living for his glory and not our own, living to build and usher in his will and Kingdom, not our own, and the list goes on of many more things that we fall terribly short of. We are all sinners indeed! For who could stand before a perfect, holy, and just God, whose very justice depends on punishing all sin (otherwise he would not be just), on one's own merit and "worthiness." Not one!
3. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). What does this mean? Well faith means wholehearted trust, dependance on God, and according to Hebrews 11:1, "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Hebrews 11:6 says, "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." To list a few things, the heart of Christian faith says, "God is real. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God and the second person of the Trinity (ie he is fully God and fully man). Jesus died for my sins, and then defeated death by rising from the dead. He is Lord of Creation, sovereign ruler with all authority on heaven and earth. He died and was raised in order that I could be set free from the power of sin. He empowers me by His Spirit to live a new life in obedience to Him, becoming more and more like Him. I can now be reconciled to God and come boldly into his presence without a single fault or blemish upon me, because Christ's merit and worthiness is cloaked around me rather than my own. He died for me because he loves me. The Bible is His inspired words to us and can be reliably trusted and stood upon, for how else could we "believe God"--another way the Bible specifically defines faith (Romans 4)...etc. BUT, in true saving faith, the head is not alone in believing these things. The heart, the will, and the life are dramatically transformed as well. We enter the life long process of being renewed, cleansed, empowered, and conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus (again, slowly!!:). This new life with God being renewed and conformed to his image is our destiny as human beings and life on the highest plane. Our heart, mind, will, and life come under the authority and loving leadership of Christ, and we submit to Him. We yield to Him and willfully return to Him that which is rightfully His--every aspect of our lives and hearts. We lose nothing in the process, and gain everything our heart longs for, but it is not easy.
4. We are saved from sin and an empty life: a cool quote by Dallas Willard: Much of evangelism today is rooted in a misunderstanding of salvation. People have been told they are Christians because they have confessed they believe that Jesus died for their sins, but the total package is presented in such a way that it leaves the general life untouched. Biblically, salvation means deliverance; the question is, "Deliverance from what?" The common message is "deliverance from guilt." But the full concept of salvation in the New Testament is deliverance from our present sins. Deliverance from sins comes from the new life of God’s Kingdom when we place our confidence in Jesus the person.
Matthew 1:21 says, "He (Jesus) will save his people from their sins." and 1 Peter 1:18 says, "God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors."
He saved us from sin and emptiness in order to restore us to what? To list a few things:
1. Relationship and peace with God and forgiveness of sins.
2. Power by His Holy Spirit (who literally dwells inside of us when we put our trust in Jesus) to live a new life that pleases God and is abundant, whole, and eternally significant. Power to obey His commands and to love God and others rightly.
3. Freedom--Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that you have been set free." We often wrongly think of freedom as doing whatever we want. However, our experience affirms that doing whatever we want leads to slavery and prison to ourselves--our cravings and lusts, our pride and selfishness, our self absorption, our narcissism, our attitudes, actions, and addictions, etc. True freedom is found only in Christ through obedience to His commands. One of the most amazing verses of the Bible is John 8:31-32 where Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The knowledge of the truth here is an experiential knowledge of the mind, soul, heart, and life that fully "knows" by experience that obedience to Jesus brings freedom.
4. Hope--hope in what? Essentially hope in Jesus and the future blessings, inheritance, glory, and consummation/fullness of salvation that are still ours to come in the future. This consummation of His Kingdom and our salvation includes complete redemption of all of Creation--no more death, evil, injustice, sin, or pain and suffering. All things will come under the authority of Jesus and will be completely renewed and redeemed. This is the fullness of the gospel and the rock solid hope we have in Jesus. (Ephesians 1:17-19, 1 Peter 1:3-9, 1 John 3:2-3)
5. Eternal life: means knowing Jesus and eternal fellowship with Him (versus eternal separation from Him). Eternal life includes heaven after we die, but starts in this life because we can know Jesus now. The same is true about hell because we can live independent and separated from God now (though not completely until we die if we should choose this). In John 17:3, Jesus explicitly defines eternal life: "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Another key verse about eternal life is 1 John 5:11-12: "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."
6. Light--revelation of God into our hearts about his character, his truth, his way of thinking, his heart, his values, his economy and government, his eternal plan, his priorities for our life, his standards, etc.
7. Active membership in his body and family--the Church: this is manifest in a local church that every believer is called to be apart of. The church is where the believer is built up in his faith and connected to other believers in such a deep way that they can together show the world what Jesus is like, in a way they cannot do on their own.
I will end with a statement of faith that I like:
As a community of followers of Jesus Christ:
We believe God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that he is a being of unimaginably wonderful power, goodness, and love.
(Psalm 118:1; Psalm 145:1-9; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
(Psalm 118:1; Psalm 145:1-9; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
We believe the world exists because God created it, that it belongs to him and therefore we should cherish and care for it.
(Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1-2; Isaiah 40:25-26; 1 Corinthians 10:26)
(Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1-2; Isaiah 40:25-26; 1 Corinthians 10:26)
We believe all human beings have dignity because they were created by God in his own image, and great worth because they are valued by God beyond our ability to measure.
(Genesis 1:27, 31; Psalm 8:3-6; John 3:16; Romans 5:8)
(Genesis 1:27, 31; Psalm 8:3-6; John 3:16; Romans 5:8)
We believe this world also has pain and suffering because human beings have fallen and sinned, and are estranged from God, from each other, from ourselves, and from creation.
(Genesis 3:17; Romans 3:23; Colossians 1:21; Titus 3:3)
(Genesis 3:17; Romans 3:23; Colossians 1:21; Titus 3:3)
We believe God does not intend for sin and suffering to get the last word, but is at work to redeem and reconcile what he has made.
(Isaiah 11:6-9; Colossians 1:21-23; Revelation 21:1-5)
(Isaiah 11:6-9; Colossians 1:21-23; Revelation 21:1-5)
We believe God has revealed the truth about himself in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are our unique and authoritative guides in faith and action.
(Matthew 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
(Matthew 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
We believe God has expressed himself uniquely in his Son Jesus, who lived, taught, died, and rose again for our sakes. Jesus is our master and teacher and savior and friend, and now reigns forever with the Father and the Holy Spirit. (John 14:6-7; Acts 2:32; 1 Corinthians. 15:3-4; Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:15-20; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 2:5-6)
We believe the Spirit of God is now available so we can be closer to God than the air we breathe. (John 14:26; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:26; Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 1:13-14)
We believe the Church is the community through which God wants to bring love, healing, and growth to the human race, to which he invites everyone who is willing to follow Jesus to join.
(Matthew 18:18-20; John 1:12-13; Acts 1:8; Galatians 3:28; 1 Peter 2:9)
(Matthew 18:18-20; John 1:12-13; Acts 1:8; Galatians 3:28; 1 Peter 2:9)
We live in hope because one day Jesus will return, love and justice will prevail, and God will set the world right.
(Matthew 24:30-31; Luke 12:40; Romans 8:37-39; Revelation 21:1-5)
For the above statement of faith, I don't like that they don't add anything about physical resurrection for all people when Christ returns, either to eternal life and joy with God or eternal judgement apart from God, so for good measure I have copied and pasted another statement of faith that I like:
For the above statement of faith, I don't like that they don't add anything about physical resurrection for all people when Christ returns, either to eternal life and joy with God or eternal judgement apart from God, so for good measure I have copied and pasted another statement of faith that I like:
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