Paul, writing to Christians in Corinth after Jesus’ death and resurrection — 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17 — says this: ‘Those who become Christians become new persons. They're not the same any more, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun.‘
New life is exciting! When we had a new baby. It was so exciting getting to know this new person. New life is wonderful. Relationships are wonderful. And the most exciting relationship of all is our relationship with God.
What does it mean to be a Christian?’
Does it mean a 'nice person'? ‘Oh, they’re a Christian person.’ The simple truth is that you could be a very nice atheist!
What about if you are born in a country that is supposedly a Christian country, does that make you a Christian? No! Being born in a Christian country doesn't make you a Christian any more than being born in a McDonald's would make you a Big Mac burger.
A Christian is a Christ-ian – a follower of Christ; someone who has a relationship with God through Jesus.
Some would say, ‘Do you know, I can never remember a time that I wasn’t a Christian.’ Others would say, ‘Well, I think there was a time when I wasn’t a Christian, and I think I am a Christian now, but I couldn’t tell you exactly how it happened. It was a bit of a process.’
It doesn’t matter which of those categories you’re in; what matters is that you know that you are a Christian now.
It’s a bit like if you’re on a train going from one city to another. Some people will be awake at the moment the train crosses the border, they’ll see the signs, they’ll know the exact moment it happened. Other people will be snoring gently in the corner and the change won’t be so obvious! What matters is that you know that you’re at the right destination. And what matters is that you know that you’re a Christian now — and you can know that.
St John says about Jesus, ‘Yet to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.’ A child of God: the closest possible relationship with God.
God wants us to be sure of our relationship with him. Again, St John writes this:
‘I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.’
How can we know that? How can we know that we’re a Christian? How can we know that we
have eternal life?
Our confidence is based on three things – like the three legs of a tripod, and each of them are essential.
Each of these three legs represent members of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: the word of the father, the work of Jesus and the witness of the Holy Spirit.
The first is this: the Word of God, the word of the Father. Our confidence is based on this book, the promises in this book. And therefore it’s based on facts and not on feelings.
If you asked me how do I know I’m married, one answer I could give you is to show you our marriage certificate. This is evidence that we’re married.
And if you asked me how I know I'm a Christian, I would point to the Bible.
You see, our feelings are changeable. They go up and down — with the weather, with what we’ve had to eat the night before, or how well our favourite cricket or football team are doing (!), with how well life is going. And if our faith was dependent on how we felt, we would never be sure whether we are a Christian or not. But it’s not; it’s dependent on the promises of God.
In Revelation, chapter 3, verse 20. Jesus says this:
‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.’
Eating together, is a sign of friendship. He’s saying, in other words, ‘I want to come into your life and have a friendship with you.’ Jesus is not going to force his way into your life or my life. He’s not Rambo! He’s not going to kick the door in!
We have to ask him, and if we do, this is the promise: he says, ‘I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in.’ He doesn’t say, ‘I might come in’ — it’s a promise: ‘I will come in.’
Another promise of God is: I will be with you always. I will give you eternal life. In his word, the Father promises the most incredible things. We can trust those promises.
The second leg of the tripod is the work of Jesus. Our faith is based not on what we do, but on what Jesus has done for us.
Again, if you asked me how I know I’m married, I could show you the wedding certificate, but another thing I could do is point you to an event that took place in Kerala on 12th August 2006.
And if you asked me how I know I’m a Christian, I would point to an event in history: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s how we know that God loves us.
In Romans, chapter 6, verse 23, St Paul writes this:
‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord — or, as some versions put it, the free gift of God.’
We can’t believe free stuff, can we?: we always think there has to be a catch. But not with God’s gift. God’s gift is free. It’s free to us, but it cost Jesus everything.
So how do we receive this gift that God offers?
We receive it by repentance and faith. Repentance is turning away from sin, from going our own way, turning away from the stuff that messes up our lives.
God doesn’t ask us to leave things that are good for us behind, but the stuff that, whether we fully realise it or not, damages our lives. What we leave behind is nothing compared to what we receive, and it’s nothing compared to what Jesus gave up on the cross.
But what is faith? Faith is trust.
Everybody exercises faith. You’re putting your trust in chairs when you sit on them. When you sat down next to a stranger on the Metro, you are doing so believing that he is not a mad axe murderer!
Coming back to the marriage analogy, when two people get married they exercise faith. When you say, ‘I Do,’ you’re entrusting your life to another person.
Faith is not merely intellectual; it involves an active step of putting our trust in Jesus. That’s the second leg of the tripod.
The third leg of the tripod is the witness of the Holy Spirit.
So, the Word of God, the work of Jesus and thirdly, the witness of the Holy Spirit. It’s based on him and not on us.
If you asked me the question how do I know I’m married, I can point to a marriage certificate, I can point to an event that took place here, but the third thing that I can point to is five years of the experience of marriage. And if you asked me how I know I’m a Christian, I can point to this book, to an event that took place in history, but I can also point to personal experiences.
We looked at this verse where Jesus says:
’Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.’
It’s an extraordinary miracle, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus, can come into your life and my life.
What happens when he comes in? Well, he begins to transform us. And some of these things you can actually see objectively.
In Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22 Paul writes this: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.’
Sometimes people say, you know, ‘I’m a bit worried what would happen if I became a Christian.’ They say, ‘I don’t want to change. And if I did change, how would I change?’
Here’s the answer: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness — these are the characteristics that begin to develop in our lives. They sound pretty good, don’t they? Not that they happen overnight. Fruit takes time to grow. In my case, they’re taking a very long time!
But hopefully, as life goes on we do become more loving, more joyful, more kind, more patient.
Being a Christian is never going to be an easy thing. It’s hugely challenging, hugely exciting, but it’s not easy.
And then not only are there objective changes; there’s also a subjective experience. The Holy Spirit brings a deep, personal conviction that we are children of God. Paul writes in Romans 8, verse 16, that: ‘The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.’ And as children, we are loved, completely.
And as I go through life, I often feel a failure. I often feel I’ve messed up, ‘I’ve failed again!’ And at that moment, as we say sorry, you sense the Holy Spirit connect with your own spirit and say, ‘Don’t you realize that I love you even more than you love your own child? I love you because I love you.’
That's how we know that we’re in a relationship with God:
• We know it because of the promises of God — he will come in
• We know it because of the death of Jesus for us, what he did for us
• And we know it because the love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit
Why don't you pray and invite the Lord into your heart? He knocks and he waits for you to open. You have nothing to lose but all things to gain if you welcome Jesus into your life today.
God Bless You!
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