Entry 5 - What is a Christian??

I bet you think you know, don’t you? In matters involving politics and religion, most thinking men and women have their own cherished opinions which they insist must be right simply because they believe them to be so. It is much easier to run the country from a chat board than from the Oval Office since the former asks only for an opinion while the latter demands action and result. Ask me what I think and I will entertain you for hours. Solicit my opinion on the subjects of national security, the death penalty, tax rebates, push ballots, heaven, hell, God or the devil himself and I will tell you much more than you ever wanted to hear. But of what profit is that to you? Opinions, though expressed as truth may, none the less, prove false and leave not only the speaker but the hearer in complete ignorance of what truth truly is. Of supreme importance, therefore, is not what I think to be true but what is true and to keep my opinion out of it.

Now, I ask you again. What is a Christian? I did not ask you what you think a Christian is. I am not looking for opinions. In matters as important as this, you need to know what a Christian is especially if your eternal happiness depends on it. Maybe it would be good to uncover the truth by first unmasking the error; to look at what a Christian is by unveiling what he is not. It is a widely held and erroneous opinion, for instance, that a Christian must be denominationally defined. In other words, many believe that they are Christians for no better reason than they are practicing and faithful Baptists or Methodists or Catholics or Lutherans or any other popular branch of denominationalism. If I am a Baptist I must therefore be a Christian. If I am a member of good standing in the Episcopalian church then I have the right to call myself a Christian. To be born a Catholic is to be born a Christian. You know how the thinking goes. It is the way by which specific groups monopolize the Christian world the way Microsoft monopolizes the computer world. You cannot become a Christian until you first become something else and enjoin yourself to a particular church or creed. Now that may be a clever way of legitimatizing one’s specific denomination, but it in no way touches upon the true meaning of the word Christian. A person may very well be a Christian and associate himself with the Baptists or Catholics or Lutherans, but being a Baptist or Catholic or Lutheran does not necessarily make that person a Christian. We must be clear upon this matter. To define a Christian by using denominational name tags is nothing more than defining a pretzel by the brand bag it’s in. You cannot define the one by its association with the other. This will not work.

Another widely held approach is to define the Christian not so much by who he is but by what he does. Here the Christian is zeroed in on as one who works hard, gives to charity, keeps the speed limit, minds his own business, doesn’t use coarse language and lives a responsible life. His children are polite, his home is maintained and his appearance, well-groomed. He polishes the halo over his head with the proud proclamation that he has lived a “good life”, has never hurt anybody, is a much better person than Charles Manson and, unlike our former president, has never been unfaithful to his wife. His works are weighed in the balances and as long as his good deeds outnumber his bad, he has earned the right to identify himself with Christ. A Christian, therefore, is just an all around good guy; a hardworking, law-abiding, church-going,
all-American Joe. Now, it is certainly beyond argument to concede that being charitable, keeping the law, speaking respectfully and living responsibly are honorable things. These are things that we all, whether Christian or not, should pursue. But we must be clear that the doing of these things, regardless of how reputable they are, does not make the practitioner a Christian. A Christian will always be noted by his good living, but his good living does not, by sheer consequence, make him a Christian. These things may describe how he lives but they in no way define who he is. No, this will not do either.

Well, where will we go with this? To what source shall we turn to find the plain meaning of what a Christian is? Well I can think of no better source than that from which the name was first used- the Bible. Granted, there is an inherent hesitancy in our age to turn to the Bible for anything. We expect information to come to us in pinstripe suits and lab coats. After all, technology and science are recognized as the most reliable sources of undisputed fact available today, aren’t they? Well, in the world of briefcases and test tubes, some say so . But when it comes to matters more spiritual than lab rats and computer chips, the Bible is the superior source. Christianity, after all, is not about the internet or corporate profits or even us. It is about Another. It has nothing to do with denominations, seminaries, church affiliations or religions. It has everything to do with a Person who had no church affiliation, never exhausted a moment in a seminary Bible class, and would recoil at ever being considered a “religious person”. Christianity in its purest definition is Christ. He is the focal point, the center of attention, the One around whom all of Christianity revolves, and He came to fulfill a most profound mission. Paul tells us of it in his first epistle to Timothy. In nine short words Paul gives us the creed of Christianity. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That was great news to the Apostle Paul since he, by his own humble testimony, considered himself to be the chief of sinners and in need, therefore, of a great Savior. A Christian, therefore, is one who recognizes himself to be a sinner and has been saved, not by his denomination, minister or favorite deacon, but by Christ Jesus Himself. He is one who has come to realize that a truckload of good living and charitable deeds will never be good enough to appease a God who demands nothing short of perfection. And, he is one who humbly places his eternal-well being, his salvation, his faith and his trust in Jesus Christ alone. Now that is a Christian. It is not Billy Graham’s opinion. It is biblical fact.

Now may we move on? Forgive me, but I do need to get a bit personal and ask you a question that only you can answer. Are you a Christian? Please don’t say “I think I am”. That would be expressing your opinion and, like the question that opened this paper, this needs to be answered with fact. Again, are you a Christian? If you say “Well I think I am since I attend a Baptist or Wesleyan or Catholic church and I help old ladies cross the street” well, I am afraid that you are living by what you think and not by what you know. Let me pose the question another way. Have you placed your need for forgiveness and your hope of heaven in Christ and in Him alone without the slightest measure of confidence in your own goodness or religious persuasion? If you say “yes” then you are a Christian. The crucial point is not the church door you pass through but the relationship you enter into in Christ. It is that relationship which defines what a Christian is, and in a topic as important as one’s eternal destiny, I would much rather live by fact than opinion. Wouldn’t you?