Why Am I a Christian?

What It Means to Be a Christian

Why am I a Christian? Well, to answer that question, I first have to do something very basic, and that is define what a Christian is. And unfortunately, that's not the easiest thing in our world to do because there are many people who believe and do many different things who claim to be Christians.

So to answer the question, why am I a Christian, first I have to explain to you what a Christian is before I can then apply that to my own experience and why I myself am in fact an avowed Christian. And to begin to answer that question, I have to tell you a little something about something that Christians as a group believe.

God Has Spoken in Scripture

We believe that we are created in God's image and that since we have the insatiable desire to communicate with one another, some people more insatiably than others, especially if you're a teacher in a high school, you know how that works, since we have the desire to communicate with one another, that God Himself is the origin and source of our ability and our desire to communicate, that He Himself is able to communicate, that He is not a silent God, He's not just a force, but that because He is personal, we are personal, because He is communicative, that is why we are communicative, God has spoken.

And I'm not talking about a little voice in my head. I'm not talking about something that's just subjective. God has spoken in such a way that generation after generation can receive the same message.

It's a message that transcends culture. It's a message that in some senses transcends any one language. It's a message for all people. We believe that God has communicated to us so that we can actually know truth.

Christians believe that what they believe is true, not because we are somehow special in and of ourselves, but because God, the origin and source of truth, has made known what truth is. It's not just a collective people getting together and saying, our opinion is this is the best way to do things.

No, God has spoken. And He's spoken in such a way that each generation can know what He said, and He's spoken in Scripture. Now you might immediately hear the word Scripture. And you might be aware of the fact that, well, there are a number of Scriptures in the world.

There actually aren't that many Scriptures that have impacted any large portion of the human family on this planet. There are all sorts of small groups maybe here or there, but there are only a few Scriptures that have actually impacted a large number of people.

And the Christian Scriptures are unique amongst those claimed Scriptures. Unique in the fact that they speak to the way human beings actually are. There's no whitewashing of the fact that we tend to be selfish, that we tend to be people who focus upon ourselves rather than upon others.

Even when recording the lives of great men and women that God has used in this world, those Scriptures talk about their shortcomings and their failings. And as I have looked at the world's Scriptures, and then I have looked at the Christian Scriptures, I have been struck by so many things about the Christian Scriptures that, to me, as a Christian, speak loudly to their uniqueness and to their divine character.

For example, they not only describe man and the way that man really does live, but they also contain something called prophecy, where men who were writing thousands of years ago describe events that took place long after they themselves lived.

Those fulfilled prophecies speak very loudly to me. The fact that this book is written over a space of 1 ,500 years, and yet it speaks consistently to the same topics, even amongst men who came from completely different backgrounds and educations and even spoke different languages, and yet they present one coherent message.

This speaks very loudly to me, that there's something more behind these Scriptures than merely human opinion. A Christian can then be defined because God has spoken as to what truth is. The definition can't change from generation to generation.

It's not what a Christian is today. It's going to be something completely different than what a Christian was 1 ,000 years ago. Am I a Christian? Why am I a Christian? Well, one thing's for certain. You can't define the term Christian outside of this person Christ.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of God

That word Christ, by the way, just simply means that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish Messiah. And Christianity and being a Christian is all wrapped up in this one man. And that may be difficult for someone to understand how me living in a technological age, beginning of the 21st century, that I could wrap my life up in a man who never saw a television, never had a telephone, didn't experience the things that I experience in our modern age.

How can my modern life be defined by that? But it's because of, again, what those Scriptures tell us about this man, Jesus Christ. Remember I mentioned to you fulfilled prophecy. A lot of those prophecies in the Bible had to do with this man.

And what they say will probably amaze you. Because those prophecies said that there was going to be one coming, this Messiah, this one that the Jewish people were looking for. Some of the names that were given to him 700 years before he came are amazing.

There was a man in Israel by the name of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet and we have his prophecy to this day. Long before the birth of Jesus. Seven centuries before the birth of Jesus. He spoke of one who would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He referred to one who would be called Emmanuel, which means God with us. 700 years. And when Jesus came, he fulfilled all those names because he did things that only the God-man could do. You say, what's a God-man?

Is that like a science fiction thing? No. You see, the Bible is very clear in saying there's only one true God. There's no question about that amongst Christians. And yet the amazing thing that Christians believe is that Jesus was the Son of God.

Not that God had a wife and begat a child. But that there had eternally been a relationship between the Father and the Son. They both eternally existed along with the Spirit. It was the Son who actually entered into his own creation.

That's why Emmanuel, God with us, could be fulfilled. He's called the Mighty God. And Jesus said and did things that only God himself could say. He wasn't like any of the other prophets. He said, come to me.

None of the other prophets said, come to me. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He accepted the worship of his followers. He said before Abraham was, I am using a very name of God from the scriptures themselves.

His opponents knew exactly what he was saying. And they hated him for what he was saying about himself. So we make the amazing claim. And we admit that it's an amazing claim. But that's why it captures me today.

The amazing claim that God entered his own creation. This creation that came from his hands and his power. He entered into his creation. Well, you'd say, well, why? Why? Well, because those same scriptures, though they wrap Christianity up in Jesus Christ, your question was, why am I a Christian?

Sin, Guilt, and the Need for a Savior

And that means I have to look at what the Bible says about me. And I have to see that in the light of Jesus. I never look at myself outside of that light. But what does the Bible say about me? And the Bible tells me that since God's my creator, he has written upon my heart, upon my mind, his revelation about what's right and wrong.

He has revealed himself even in my own ways of thinking, acting, the way that I live. And his word tells me that I'm a rebel. He's put a conscience inside me that testifies that I've gone my own way. And I know that that's true.

There are times in my life I know that I do something, and I know what the right thing to do is, and I don't do it. I know what the wrong thing to do is, and I do the wrong thing. And I've never met a person who was rational and honest that didn't know exactly what I was talking about.

I don't do the good thing, I do the wrong thing. God as my creator defines what's right and wrong, and I certainly have no right to question him on that. And when I do the wrong thing, I'm demonstrating that I don't really believe that God is who he claims to be, my creator.

That I'm not honoring him the way that I should honor him, since I owe everything I have to him. And I am in essence saying, I don't believe, I will not obey, I walk my own way. And the scriptures tell us we've all done that.

Not all of us in the same way. Not all of us in the same way. There are some people who struggle mightily in the realm of where God addresses our sexuality. There are some people who struggle mightily where God addresses arrogance and pride.

And other people have a real problem with anger and violence and theft. We're not all cookie cutters. Don't call me a cookie cutter. We all sin, that's the Bible's word for breaking God's law, going against God's will.

We all sin in different ways, but we've all sinned. And since God is holy, he's completely other. He is pure. We violated that purity. And there are penalties that God's law provides for that violation.

But who can pay those penalties? Especially since we have violated what is right that has been defined by an eternal creator. Who can pay my debt if I'm already the debtor? Can I do enough good things to offset the bad things?

A lot of people think that you can. But if we're honest with ourselves, we know even when we do good things, we take pride in it. And those Christian scriptures reveal that pride is also very reprehensible in the sight of God.

Christ's Death, Resurrection, and the Call to Follow Him

So it doesn't sound like a really good message up to that point, does it? Except that now we come back to what we said before. Jesus, God with us. Why does Jesus enter into human flesh? Why does he become the God man?

Why does he live amongst us? As a man. Well, the scriptures tell us that he was without sin, so he didn't have any penalty to pay. He came for the specific purpose of giving his life as a ransom for many.

Well, what does his giving his life have to do with me? Well, as amazing again as this sounds, and I know we're talking about the Creator here, and sometimes it's hard to believe. But what I am really saying is that the Creator showed such an incredible love that he actually voluntarily gave himself as a perfect sacrifice.

You say, what's a sacrifice? I don't understand what a sacrifice is. That's not really something we experience much in this day. He gave his life so that I could have life. He gave what he did not have to give so I could gain what I could not possibly gain.

Perfectly, willingly, in full knowledge, he gave himself. And he endured the penalty of God's wrath upon himself so that anyone who believes, anyone who turns to Him, turns away from that rebellion, turns away from that self-centeredness, and turns to Him, accepting Him for who He is, not wanting to edit Him down, not wanting to change Him, but to just embrace Him as He is, whoever will believe in who He is, in repentance, in turning from their old ways, and embracing Him, He bears their penalty.

Their bill is marked, paid in full, with nothing to be added to it. You see what I mean when I say Christianity is all wrapped up in this Jesus? And so you ask me, what is a Christian? Well, a Christian believes that Jesus Christ, Son of God, came into this world.

He died upon the cross. You've undoubtedly seen the cross around. That was the horrible death that he experienced. But three days later, He rose from the dead. We don't serve and believe in a man who just died 2 ,000 years ago and that was it.

He just gave us a good example. You might say, well, why did He rise from the dead? Well, one of the amazing things, again, is that He lives His life through those who believe in Him. And each and every generation, every generation, people believe in Christ, and He lives His life through them.

He empowers them. Not only that, but His resurrection then becomes, His rising from the dead then becomes the promise that when I die, that I too will rise from the dead. The certainty that I have in the face of the last enemy of mankind death, the certainty that I have in the face of that is the same certainty by which Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and we know that He did.

So we serve a risen Lord. Now do you understand when you ask me why am I a Christian? Now at least I can tell you what a Christian is. A person who believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world, gave His life, died, rose again, and now Christians go throughout the world and proclaim the message that God commands men and women and children everywhere to repent, to stop walking their way, stop loving their sin, turn, believe in Christ, and repentance and faith in Him.

So a Christian is a person who's done that. A Christian is a person who is always doing that. A Christian is a person who is always looking to Jesus. A Christian is a person who lives by faith, who lives repentance, and whose life is defined by someone else other than himself or herself, whose life is defined by Jesus, and by what it means to follow Him.

Because following Him, it's not that I can bring anything, I can't come to Jesus and say, I really appreciate everything you've done, and so let me give you some money. Let me buy the salvation. There's no price it can pay.

And there's nothing I can do to add to what He's done. In fact, that would insult Him to try. And yet there is a sense in which, when you believe in Jesus, if that's real faith, if it's really believing that He was the God of men, and He calls me to follow Him, Jesus said, if you would follow Me, deny yourselves, and take up your cross and follow Me, and you go, take up your cross, what does that mean?

Well, again, it's another one of those amazing parts of all this. I know you've been hit with a lot of amazing parts so far, but in that day, to take up the cross was to join a death march. The cross is a horrible way to die.

If you were bearing a cross, you were about to die yourself, and you were about to die in a pretty miserable way. So Jesus doesn't say, well, just tip your hat toward Me and everything will be fine. He says, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me, and that's wherever He goes, His path took Him to the cross, and for many Christians down through the centuries, that path has been through suffering and difficulty.

But His promise, of course, is that wherever that path leads, He will always be there with those who truly are following Him. Why am I a Christian? I can give you lots of reasons why. I believe the Bible is the Word of God.

I can give you lots of reasons why. I believe Jesus rose from the dead. I can argue all those things. But fundamentally, why am I a Christian? Because I believe fully by God's grace. As a very young person, I recognize that if God is good, if God has all power, then if I break God's rules, if I rebel against the One who made me, there are dire consequences to doing that.

I was a very young child, so I couldn't use real complex language to describe that. But I do remember to this very day, realizing that because I was who I was, I had done things in God's sight that were wrong.

From the world's perspective, I was a good little boy. But I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I did things that I knew were wrong. I knew if God was truly good, that He would have to punish me. And I didn't like that idea.

And I, thankfully, had heard the Christian message, and I talked to my parents, and I said, I don't want to be punished by God. What do I do? And they explained to me that there is only one way of escaping the punishment of God.

And that was, Jesus took it in my place. Will you believe in Him and follow Him? And as a child, I said, yes, I will. Now, you need to understand one more thing. When you say, why are you a Christian?

There is a very real sense in which the reason that about four decades have gone by in my walk with the Lord that I'm a Christian today actually has nothing to do with me. What I mean by that is that faith that expressed itself as a very young child in fear of punishment from God and a desire to know who Jesus was and to know how He could save me, that faith has continued, not because of anything special about me, but because that faith comes from God.

It's by something we call grace. Grace is God's way of working with people who don't deserve anything from Him. In fact, they deserve His wrath. But instead, for reasons that glorify Him and Him alone, God is gracious to people who don't deserve anything but God's wrath.

And so the reason that even that day my heart was open to understand the danger of the situation that I was in as a sinner and why to this day I continue to believe all goes back to that one word, grace.

God has sustained me. God has kept me as a Christian. He's done what I could not do in and of myself. And so, why am I a Christian? On one hand you might say it's because I have seen all of these things and I've agreed that these things are true.

But in another sense, the reason I've done all of those things is because God in His grace has been merciful to me. And so I ask a question of you. If you are not a Christian, why are you not? You know that God is holy.

You know that God is your Creator. You know that He's there. You've always known that He's there. Every time that you've sinned, every time that you have gone your own way, there has been that sense that you're being watched.

Even when you were alone, you felt that guilt. You know God is there. And you know that you're not at peace with Him. So why aren't you a Christian? Have you found some other way that can actually give you true peace with God?

Is there truly any foundation that you've found to believe that by doing something in some religion, you can buy peace with God? Isn't it obvious that the only way you could ever have peace with God is if God is the one who provides it?

And that in a very special way? You say, what am I supposed to do? Cry out for mercy. Cry out for mercy. You say, that's all? The person who cries out for mercy is the person who has already confessed, I need mercy.

I'm justly condemned. I need mercy. I can tell you this, God has never, ever, ever rejected one who has come to Him in the name of His Son seeking mercy. And He will not reject you. So one last question you might ask is, well, if you've told many people this, why aren't everybody Christians?

Because sometimes you can tell this to someone and they'll honestly look you in the eye and say, I love my sin. I love my life, and I'm not going to give it up for anything. Which one are you? If you realize, if you sense, if you know, if you recognize, yes, I have broken God's law.

I know what's right and wrong, and I know. I know that the only God who makes sense is a God who must punish sin. Does that make you numb? Does that make you want to feel, you just want to run away and have nothing to do with it?

If in your heart of hearts you desire to cry out for mercy, remember, He will always, always be found to be merciful to those who cry for mercy.