What Does it Mean to be a Christian?

John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and 
 to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that 
 they may have it more abundantly.”

Before we become a Christian we are still walking in this world under the curse of sin and death, under the rule of Satan in our lives. He has one motive that is to steal, kill and destroy our lives. The other option is to be born again of a new spirit through Jesus Christ and be free from the curse of sin and death (John 3:3). A Christian is someone who not only believes in Christ, but also follows what He taught as a way of life. Jesus came to give us life and life “more abundantly” as Jesus said! The words “more abundantly” are translated “superabundant” or superior.” The Christian life is not to be like the life you had before you were saved, it is to be extraordinary! Does this mean you will have a lot of money or you will never get sick again, or your children will always obey you or you will never have any problems? No, but it does mean that you will have God Himself stepping in on your behalf in every situation you face in life. He is your intercessor, your provider, your strength, your peace, your joy, your hope, when you face any life difficulties, because you had no hope of making it through these things on your own, without Jesus as your Savior. With the new birth in Christ, you are free from the rule of Satan in your life. The most important life Christ has given you is a way out of the death sentence of Satan, by giving you a promise of eternal life with Him in heaven when this body dies.

Being a Christian Means a New Life

Our lives should look entirely different as Christians than they did before we were saved. Does it change immediately? We begin the new life in Christ after salvation through sanctification, which is the purification we must all go through. Sanctification leads us to experience the Christian abundant life. It does not happen instantly, but step by step, day by day, through total submission to Christ practicing the faith and learning to do what God has called us to do as a member of the body of Christ or the church.

You joined this church or come here regularly because you need to hear the word of God, to learn more about who God is and who you are in Christ, but your first reason for coming into a building called a church should be to worship the Lord with other believers, to express and experience God’s love from brothers and sisters. God loves our worship more than anything. It shows Him how much we love and reverence Him. He loves you so much He even gave you a place to worship Him!! When you walk out of these walls is when you show Him your obedience to His word, by demonstrating in your everyday life the abundant Christian life.

Being a Christian requires something of us. It means we must do things different in our lives than we did before we were saved. It is not enough to just try to give up our sin, we must love God first as Jesus commanded with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 12:30). And fulfill the second most important commandment Jesus taught was to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Luke 12:31). These two laws fulfill all the other commandments.

Love is the Key to being a Christian

So as a Christian the most important thing we do is love God, each other, and our selves. In order to love God we can only love Him as much as we are able to receive and understand how much He loves us. We can only love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. The Apostle John said in 1 John 4:19, we love God because He first loved us. His love is so amazing!

Do you love yourself? We might think it is prideful or arrogant to love ourselves, we are not talking about the ego or thinking you are better than everyone else, but loving the nature of God that we were created in. You may not love yourself or even like yourself, but God created you in His image for His purpose and His glory here on earth. We can’t love the bad things in us or the things we have done wrong, but we have to love ourselves because we are created by God in His image (Gen. 1:26). He is not looking at how many mistakes or sins we have committed, or all our physical or emotional or mental flaws, but only at our need for relationship with Him. That is why we are to love ourselves, because we are children of God. He created us; He loved us so much He gave His only Son to die for us (John 3:16). His grace is so amazing, that He loved us even when we were still sinners and He died to forgive our sins when we didn’t deserve it.

When we can see ourselves through God’s eyes and love ourselves the way God loves us, we will then begin to understand how to love God and others. “God is love” according to 1 John 4:16 If we are created in His image then we are to demonstrate His love to everyone including our enemies (Matt. 5:44).

After the new birth in Christ we receive a new spirit, the Spirit of God lives in us (John 3:5), the Holy Spirit the third person of God. If you have not been born again, you are still living without God’s Spirit, operating on your own unredeemed spirit and it will be impossible for you to love the way God does. Only with His Spirit in us are we able to love the way He does. His love is called “agape” love, which is unconditional love, meaning, there are no strings attached, you didn’t do anything to deserve it, you can’t do anything to lose it; it is eternal.

The Apostle Paul says this about God’s love. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Grace is a gift from God because of His great love for us, His underserved favor, to come to Christ and receive forgiveness of our sins without doing anything but believing in His Son, Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:8). No greater love has any man ever experienced than this love that God has given us through salvation. Jesus said there was no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friend, which is what He did for us (John 15:13). And God the Father gave us grace to be forgiven when we didn’t deserve it.

Righteousness can only come through Christ

God wants us to walk in righteousness, but He knows we have no righteousness without Christ living in us. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, He gives us His righteousness (Rom. 5:17).

We cannot do the right thing without Christ giving us His Spirit to lead us and convict us of our sin, so we can repent and turn from it. If we try to stop sinning ourselves we will always fail. We can never be good enough on our own. Grace was given to us to be able to walk in this Christian life. Jesus said, we can do nothing without Him, He is the way, the truth and the life to us (John 15:5; 14:6).

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Cor. 5:17

Today is the day to be free from the old person and life of struggle with sin, to finally be free and let Jesus be your life and love of your life. Dedicate your life to Christ and this church will be a place of worship and hope to the dying in the world. You will be a vessel for God’s glory. Nothing in the world can save you or heal you or provide for you the way Jesus did on the cross. His love for you is more than you can ever imagine.