In Acts 11:26 we read at the bottom of the verse these words “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
The word Christian is misunderstood in a lot of ways these days. It seems few really know what a christian really is. People tend to think these days that they can call themselves Christians just because they belong to a church. They believe the idea that if they know about Jesus and what He did then they can “claim Christianity” because, after all, they believe in Him. They forget the verse in James 2:19-20 that said “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” You can’t play christian by claiming a belief in Christianity!
Then there are those who will even attack real Christians because they don’t fit the mold of what people think Christians should be. Which more cases than not people think a christian should be perfect. That too is based from their idea of perfection. Not necessarily from a biblical view on what perfection is.
Well today I want to deal with this word Christian. The subject of this message is “What is a Christian?” Lets find out today exactly what a christian is. If you remember anything from this message it should be these three things. I will go through them one by one, but remember these things. A Christian is first a believer, then a follower, and then a disciple of Jesus Christ.
So a christian is a believer, a follower, and a disciple.
The first thing about a christian is that they are a believer. What they believe is God and His word. Hebrews 11:6 puts it this way “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” There is no debate with a christian as to if there is a God! There simply is too much evidence to a christian that God is real anyway. Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,”
As Christians we believe that God created man to be like Him. But man turned his back on God and in doing so death was brought into the world because God is the beginning of life! He did not make man to be destroyed in death! He made him to live eternal in fellowship with Himself! From the beginning in the book of genesis we know this!
But God who loved us made a way through His Son Jesus Christ for us to be brought back to God! Our sins of turning our back on God needed justice to be done. The justice to be done had to be death so in His mercy Jesus took our death! He made a way to pay for our crime and to make us able to come to God again and live.
What we believe is that whosoever believes in what Jesus has done and accepts Him as Lord and Savior will be saved from the wrath of and eternal separation from God according to John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
These are the things a christian believes. We believe it because deep down we KNOW it is true. God has caused us to know it by the conviction that we feel in our hearts. That belief is what causes us to turn to Jesus and make Him Lord of our lives. Like I said earlier, you can believe but if you don’t follow up on what you believe then it is in vain!
Secondly a christian not only believes, but followers. We follow Jesus as He commanded in Mark 8:34-35 “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
We lay our lives down. We consider Jesus to be worth more than what we may want here on earth. To follow Jesus is to have a personal relationship with Him! It isn’t just a Sunday thing! Everywhere we go Jesus is there. We take Him with us! Going to church because Jesus is there isn’t following Jesus! Jesus is at the church, but you should have Jesus at your house, in your car, everyplace you are!
Don’t go to church thinking you are following Jesus and just leave Him at church! Following Him means to spend time with Him and learn of Him. You have to do this even on Monday and Friday night! Following Him means you are His and He is yours! Christians follow Jesus.
It’s like a puppy following his owner. The puppy follows everywhere the owner goes. He watches with excitement and curiosity every move made. The puppy wants to know what his owner is doing and where he is going. He learns the masters habits and recognizes his voice when he calls because the puppy has spent time with him!
Just like the puppy a christian follows Jesus to know Him and what He does. A christian learns through a relationship with God and not just through a Sunday school class about Jesus! A christian follows Jesus through having that kind of relationship.
The third thing that makes a christian is probably the most misunderstood areas of all three. A christian not only is a believer, and a follower, but he is a disciple! The word disciple means one who is disciplined. We don’t stop at learning more about Jesus…but we learn to be LIKE Jesus! A christian strives to do as Christ wants! A christian will say no to the prostitute on the corner. He will guard his mouth to keep from speaking foul language. He not only learns from Gods word how he should be, but he attempts to be that! A christian doesn’t just hear the word of God but he acts on it too!
This does not mean a christian is perfect as some think they should be if they are “real”. It just means a christian disciplines himself to do what God wants. He may and will fail at times, but he will try to be better.
Listen, people watch every move you make Christian. They want to see if you are a christian. They judge your life based from your fruits. If you don’t show love and kindness then you are judged by the world, and by God too really, as not being a christian.
The problem is we are NOT perfect! But being perfect is not what being disciplined means! It means only that we try to be better today than we were yesterday. We try to be as God wants. It doesn’t mean we will always succeed in our efforts though.
When we discipline our children is it because we think they should be perfect? I hope not anyway. We don’t do it because of that! We discipline our kids because we want them to be better than they are acting. We want to make them better. We know they will never be perfect. We just want them to continue to be better.
That’s how God is with us. He knows we are not perfect. He just wants us to at least try to be better. And we can do it too with His help! As it was said in the bible “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
This world is full of false Christians. It is also full of people who think they have to be perfect in order to be a christian. But God called you to follow Him and to simply make an effort to do the things He wants, or to not do the things He doesn’t. He doesn’t want you to be some “holier than thou” hypocrite! He just wants you to try. That’s what being a disciple is. It is being disciplined enough to try to do right. Just to try!
But listen, all of this is done in order. You can’t be better in Gods eyes unless you follow Jesus first. You can’t have a relationship with Jesus unless you believe in Him first and accept what He has done for you.
If you want to know what a christian is, it is someone who believes Jesus dies for them and has decided to follow Him by having a personal relationship with Him by learning of Him and spending time with Him. Then a christian is someone who disciplines themselves by trying to be more like Jesus whom they know personally. They are not perfect but they press on to be more like Jesus. They follow the perfect one. That’s what a christian is.
Are you a christian? Do you believe Jesus died for you? Have you made Him Lord of your life by following Him? By having a relationship with Him? By learning from Him and trying to be more like Him?
God doesn’t expect much from you. He doesn’t expect perfection. He just wants you to follow Him and to become more and more like Him. He doesn’t stand over us with a big stick waiting to hit us! He stands by us teaching us how to walk and not crawl.
Maybe you followed Him once but you found that it was too hard to be perfect. You placed too much on yourself. God never wanted that. Maybe you don’t know where God is anymore.
You may feel like a child looking at his bloody knees after falling down, and your wondering where daddy is. You feel like He isn’t there because you can’t see or feel His arm around you. All you see is your bloody knee. Your Father is still beside you though. He never left. You just couldn’t see Him because you were looking at your own knees.
He waits for you to realize you don’t have to be perfect. He waits for you to relies your fall wasn’t the end of the world. He waits for you to let Him clean your knee and teach you to walk again.
You may have fallen, but as long as you look at how you are fallen, you will not be looking at your Father. Forget being perfect. Forget the pressure of trying to be perfect. Just try to take one more step. If you fall, and you will, just get up and keep going. Forget being a perfect christian and just hold onto daddy’s had!
Will you be a Christian? Will you believe that the conviction you feel in your heart is from God? Just accept that Jesus gave all for you. Chose to follow Him now. Chose to live with your loving Father!
