WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?

JOHN 17:6-8

PART II

MARCH 9, 1997

 

We've been considering the whole question of what is a Christian.  That name or designation, Christian, is perhaps the most misunderstood and confused term we have in our language.  Yet when you go back to its first usage, you find a band of believers, saved out of the world, living in the city of Antioch.  The people around them were either out-right pagans or deluded religionists.  This group of disciples stood out like a bright star against a pitch black sky.  Luke tells us that "the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26).

 

It is vital for us to see that he calls them disciples, for that allows us to identify what kind of person he was talking about when he referred to a Christian.  A disciple was not a casual, fair weather follower of Jesus.  He was not someone who merely made a profession of Christ without giving evidence of a genuine conversion.  He was someone whose whole being had been transformed by the power of the gospel.  His whole life was centered in Jesus Christ and that relationship to Him.  He followed Christ and His teaching.  It was this kind of person in Antioch that was first called a Christian.

 

How far removed we are from those humble beginnings!  Now the idea of Christian is casually used for entire nations.  It is used for various businesses and products.  It refers to all sorts of religious groups that do not give any credence to the fundamentals of the Christian faith.  So, we must go back to God's Word and attempt to recover the biblical teaching on what it is to be a Christian.  Even Christians can sometime be confused on precisely what a Christian really is.  They can become so numbed by the world and the shallowness of teaching that they fail to grasp the reality of who they are in Christ and how they are to live before Him.

 

So we approach this whole idea of being Christians with reverence and deepest seriousness.  We've noted that Christians have had the character of God revealed to them in a strong, powerful, and irresistible way.  They have come to see who this great God of the Bible really is and how He has manifested Himself fully to us in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work.  So, Christians have had a revelation of God that has humbled them and exposed their own hearts, while at the same time cast them upon the mercy and grace of God in Christ.

 

We've also seen that Christians are chosen by God before the foundation of the world, that God Himself has laid special claim to them as His own.  This act of choosing is for God's own glory and honor as the Sovereign of the universe.  It keeps us dependent upon Him and delivers us from a careless attitude toward the whole work of salvation.  We have assurance in this work of His choosing because the Holy Spirit continually affirms it by witnessing with our spirits that we are children of God.

 

What is a Christian?  There is much more that we must see.  A Christian is unlike anyone else in the world.  Jesus Christ explains this within His High Priestly prayer to the Father.  Again, I will use a key word and a statement to explain what a Christian really is.  

 

3.  UNDERSTANDING:  Someone who has grasped with the mind the truths of the gospel.  

 

A Christian is not someone who just happens to have a good feeling about the gospel so he decides to jump on board.  Oh no!  He is one who has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It has affected his mind.  Though he may not understand everything about it, he has grasped it to a sufficient degree that he repents of his sin and embraces Jesus Christ by faith.  Notice what the Lord prayed, "For the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me."  

 

You will notice that there are several terms used that will verify that the mind must be used to understand some definite truths or propositions in order to have eternal life.  He states that the Father had given Him some "words."  John the Baptist testified concerning Christ, "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God" (John 3:34).  All that Jesus spoke He received from the Father.  On another occasion, Jesus was addressing a group who professed to be disciples, but who would abandon Him.  He told them, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life" (John 6:63).  He was showing the distinction of a self-made religion and a Spirit-endowed life.  These false followers were of the flesh; they had not received the words of Jesus Christ unto life.  But for those who hear the words of Christ and believe, those words become life.  As Peter said on that same occasion, "You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

 

Let me emphasize that these "words" are stated propositionally.  These are truths that you can write down or read or state in plain language.  There is no secret code to His words.  There is no mystical condition in which you must enter as if in a trance to understand them.  The gospel is stated as facts or truths that are clearly recorded in the Bible.  You are not getting 'a word from God' when you receive the gospel.  You are getting the Word of God, that which has been handed down to us through the apostles and prophets of old, recorded in the 66 books of the Bible.  It is that word which explains the whole redemptive plan of God for sinners.

 

But a lot of people hear the "words" of the gospel.  So why do all not believe?  You will notice that Jesus said that He gave the words to those the Father had given Him and "they received them," but He does not stop, "and truly understood that I came forth from Thee," and He continues, "and they believed that Thou didst send Me."  There is a marvelous work taking place in Jesus speaking the words of eternal life.  First, those whom the Father has given Him will receive the words of the gospel.  That is, they will take these words into their minds as truth.  While many hear these words, they receive them.  They do not fancy it as mere speculation.  They do not "try" these words, like the signs that tell you to "Try Jesus."  No, they receive them.  Those words become life to them, because those words have been delivered to their minds to set them free.

 

He goes on.  They also truly understand the words of the gospel.  To understand the gospel means that it becomes light to you.  It is something that now claims you and for which you exercise faith.  You must exercise your mental faculties in order to be saved.  Let me underscore this for you.  The gospel first affects your mind and then your heart.  You may have heard the gospel a thousand times when suddenly it truly makes sense to you.  You find that you cannot turn away from it; you don't want to turn away from it.  Your mind and thoughts are filled with wonder at the truth that God has sent His Son to redeem you from the curse of sin and to give you eternal life.  It is the most incredible thing you've ever heard!  

 

This message of life goes to work in your mind.  It is a living word (Heb. 4:12-13), that takes root in your mind and begins to permeate your whole being.  Paul expressed it well to the church at Thessalonica, "And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message [note the reception of it], you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe" (I Thessalonians 2:13).  Yes, this gospel, stated propositionally, goes to work on you.  It accomplishes a saving, eternal, life-changing work "in you who believe."

 

So, what is a Christian?  He is someone who has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and grasped its saving message by faith.  To him, there is nothing more precious than the gospel of Christ.  He loves the truth of what Christ has done for him.  He never tires of hearing it.  It stirs his heart.  It humbles him.  It lifts his soul in worship.  

 

My brethren, this is such an important area for us to see.  Our day has had a proliferation of people who are 'walking down the aisle' or making decisions, but have never understood the gospel; they never grasped its essential truths with the mind.  So, they go through life with a false assurance of salvation and are numbed to the truth of the gospel.  They've 'made a decision' but they have not believed the gospel of Christ.  How can you believe something if you have not understood it, at least in its simplicity?  Please understand me:  I'm not suggesting that a person has to know every detail of the message of the gospel before he can be saved.  But I am stressing that he has to have at least a basic grasp of its essential elements.  I would summarize these as follows:

God is a holy God who has given us a divine standard of the Law.

 

Man has failed to keep the divine Law because of his nature and choice as a sinner, so that he is consequently under the judgment of God.

 

God became a Man, Jesus Christ, so that He might meet the demands of the Law on our behalf--to become our righteousness--and to bear the guilt and penalty of our sin before God on the cross.

 

Jesus Christ died on our behalf, bearing our sin and shame before God's justice, and rising from the dead to show that He has justified us and has given us life.

 

We must repent of our sins and turn to God in faith, trusting Jesus Christ and His saving work as our very own, receiving Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King.


Have you grasped with your mind the truths of the gospel?  Have you believed these truths to the saving of your soul?

 

4.  SATISFACTION:  Someone who has found the deepest satisfaction in Jesus Christ and His finished work.

 

I have heard some people make the statement, "I tried Christianity and it just didn't work."  Then they quickly push aside your exhortations from the Word of God.  I have no qualms at all in saying that those individuals who make such a statement have never been saved.  They have never received, understood, and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For if they had, then they would find in Jesus Christ the most profound satisfaction and delight that is possible in these frail, human lives.

 

Jesus prayed, "Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee."  Jesus is referring to the disciples having come to a point of deepest satisfaction in Jesus Christ.  They heard the teaching of Christ, but so did others.  They saw the works of Christ, but so did others.  Now they received and believed Christ Himself, so that Jesus could describe their profound satisfaction.

 

The word that is used for "they have come to know," is actually only one word in the Greek.  It expresses the fact that they have come to a particular, climactic point in their lives in which this revelation concerning Christ became reality to them.  It was at the point of the exercise of faith in response to the grace given by God in Christ that "they have come to know."  The idea expressed in this verb (perfect tense) is that the knowledge at which they arrived will stay with them forever.  It was a knowledge that changed them.  But what kind of knowledge does He speak of?

 

Jesus said that they have come to know "that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee."  Everything that Jesus is, everything that Jesus does, everything that Jesus possesses comes from the Father.  This points to the being of Christ and the redemptive work of Christ.  The disciples came to the point of seeing this so that they met the ultimate satisfaction of life:  knowing Jesus Christ.

 

I would submit to you that a Christian is someone whose mind, heart, and soul has come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ so that nothing else can satisfy the depths of desires as Jesus.  Let me explain it like this.  Let's suppose a man is lost in the desert without water.  He begins to wander and stumble through the sand, trying to find his way out.  Before long he is really not too concerned about getting out of the desert.  He is only concerned to find water.  Every step is a search for water.  Every gaze of his eye searches for the moisture that will invigorate his life.  Someone could stop him and ask if he was interested in having plenty of money and he would quickly decline.  Someone else could offer him fame and reputation, but that would hold no allurement for him.  Someone else could entice him with pleasure but he wants none of it.  The only thing he wants is water.  Nothing else can satisfy him.  Nothing else has his affections.

 

A Christian is like this man.  The only Person who can satisfy the craving of his soul is Jesus Christ.  All those other things may offer temporary enticement, but there is no satisfaction in them, no delight in them.  His longing, his heart-cry is for Jesus Christ.  

 

You ask Paul what satisfies Him and he replies, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to his death" (Phil. 3:10).  And how about John, what satisfies him?  "What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (I John 1:3).  Does Peter have anything to add about his satisfaction in life?  "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (II Pet. 1:3).

 

Would these men have traded the knowledge of Jesus Christ for all the treasures of the world?  Not on your life!  They found their satisfaction in Jesus Christ and the great sufficiency of His work.  Can you say the same?  Are there other things that have you heart and affections?  What is a Christian?  A Christian is someone who has found the deepest satisfaction in Jesus Christ and His finished work.

 

5.  TRUST:  Someone who has believed with the heart Jesus Christ and all His substitutionary work.

 

We use the terms faith, trust, believe over and over in the Christian vocabulary.  But I'm afraid that sometime we merely assume that we have believed in Christ to the saving of our souls.  My brethren, believing in Christ is not the same as merely acknowledging Him or praying a prayer to Him.  It is an abandonment of yourself unto Jesus Christ.  It is a relinquishing of all self-trust for righteousness and casting yourself upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ on your behalf.  

 

Jesus prayed, "...and they believed that Thou didst send Me."  If the Father had not sent His Son, then we would be left without hope before a holy God.  We would have to cling to the broken threads of our self righteousness and find that they are worth nothing before the judgment bar of the Almighty.  If the Father had not sent the Son then we would have no salvation, we could not cling to a burnt animal sacrifice or trust in a priest before an altar.  Nothing but the righteousness of Jesus Christ could satisfy the demands of God for us!

 

The disciples believed that the Father sent the Son; that the Son accomplished the work of redemption; and that through the Son alone they could be justified before God.  Have you believed as they did?  

 

Let me explain saving faith, believing with the heart, with three simple terms.  First, it is a renunciation of oneself and of any claim to personal righteousness.  There are those who say they are coming to Christ but they still cling to their own merits or their religious practices to justify them before God.  Faith demands that you come to the cross naked of any claim to merit before God.  It demands that you "deny yourself" (Luke 9:23), because you are your biggest enemy when it comes to trusting Christ alone.

 

Second, it is a reliance upon Jesus Christ and His work in the cross and in the resurrection.  He becomes your only hope, your only security before God.  You look to Him as God's Son, perfect in righteousness, satisfying in justice at the cross, victorious over death in the resurrection.  He is your sin-bearer.  He is your justifier.  He is your life.

 

Third, it is a receiving of Jesus Christ as your Prophet, Priest, and King.  As your Prophet, He has revealed God to you and all His demands.  He has given you the only words of life.  As your Priest, he has mediated for you before God through the sacrifice of His own blood as the satisfaction of God's righteousness.  As your King, He reigns over you with absolute authority and you give yourself to Him in unquestioned obedience.

 

The Apostle Paul wrote, "For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness" (Rom. 10:10a).  Have you renounced yourself, relied upon Christ, and received Him as your Prophet, Priest, and King?  What is a Christian?  He is someone who has believed with the heart Jesus Christ and all His work to save sinners.  

 

6.  OBEDIENCE:  Someone who has kept the saving word.

 

It is a popular notion that you can be a Christian without concern for obedience.  I believe our text dispels this false idea!  "...And they have kept Thy word," Jesus could claim of His disciples.  There is a much needed truth for us to see in this verse.

 

Consider the sort of men Jesus was referring to when He offered these words.  They were full of weaknesses; some struggling with doubts, others with tempers, others with pride.  They were failures as in the case of Peter denying the Lord and the rest of the disciples abandoning Him in His hour of crisis.  We do not have a group that was perfect in their obedience or flawless in their characters.  We have sinful men.  Yet our Lord who is a merciful and faithful high priest said of them, "And they have kept Thy word."

 

So, what does He mean by this statement?  Obviously, it does not mean perfect obedience, for John tells us, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (I John 1:8).  Mind you, God's intention is for us to not sin.  Again, I quote John, "My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin."  But our God knows our weakness and frailty, so John adds, "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (I John 2:1).  As long as we are in these bodies of clay, we will sin.  But, we are to be characterized as those who have kept the Word of our Lord.

 

What Jesus referred to by the obedience He asserts is that the attitude of our hearts is one of obedience.  The aim of our lives is obedience to the Word of God.  The practice or habit of our lives is obedience.  Yes, we fail to obey.  We sin against the Lord..., and I would add, with sorrow and regret.  But the whole direction of our lives is moving toward obeying Jesus Christ in all His demands upon us.  That is a Christian.  He is not saved because he obeys.  He obeys because he is saved.

 

You cannot think of this word, "kept," without acknowledging it as obedience.  The Greek brings out a distinction that the obedience referred to is the controlling action and attitude of the believer's life [perfect tense verb].  The weakness of evangelical Christianity in our day is that we have to create new categories for those who want to claim to be Christians but not live obedient lives.  We call them "carnal Christians," a distinction that Paul never intended as a new category for Christians when he rebuked the church at Corinth for their sinfulness and immaturity.  We've taken that one passage (I Cor. 3) and created a whole theology of carnality, giving unregenerate sinners a chance to call themselves Christians without living like it.  It does not even take a church historian to testify of the enormous damage this has caused the church in the 20th century.

 

This was James' whole argument about faith in the second chapter of his epistle.  Faith cannot be evidenced without works--or shall we say, obedience.  True faith will result in a change in a person's disposition and actions.  The man who can claim to be a Christian yet live in habitual sin without any regret or sense of desiring repentance is not a Christian man.  He is masquerading as a Christian.  Will we still sin as Christians?  Yes, indeed we will.  But we are never satisfied with sinning.  It does not bring us delight and pleasure as a Christian.  It grieves us.  It breaks our heart that we dare to trespass the commands of our Redeemer.  Our real heart-desire is to walk daily in obedience to the word of Christ.

 

What is a Christian?  He is someone who has been so changed in nature and heart that his desire now is to walk in obedience to his Lord, to keep the word of Christ.

 

7.  DISTINCTION:  Someone for whom the world no longer has claim.

 

Several times in John 17, Jesus refers to believers as coming "out of the world."  In verse six He prays, "I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world."  The emphasis is that there was a point in time where every believer was still in his sin and still hopelessly trapped in the world.  Remember that the "world" refers to a whole system of thinking, a philosophy of life that is contrary to God and His will.  It is not neutral toward God, but antagonistic toward Him.  That is the reality of our sinful natures.  They are at enmity with God and literally rebelling against Him.  Some are more outwardly demonstrative in their rebellion than others, nevertheless, every person born into the world lives under the warped attitude of hostility toward God.

 

But God through Christ snatches us from "out of the world."  We are rescued from the system of enmity with God, so that Jesus could later pray, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (v. 16).  The world can no longer claim ownership nor authority over the Christian.  He does not belong to the world.  Yes, he lives in it (v. 11, 15), but he is no longer under its sway.

 

I have been reading a fascinating book by Alexander Smellie, Men of the Covenant, which describes the Scottish Covenanters of the 17th century.  During the reign of Charles II, these men who sought to order their society according to a theocratic government were violently opposed.  King Charles appointed, for the most part, Anglican archbishops and governmental officials who had no true spirituality but only a love for the world (Archbishop Leighton being an exception).  These Covenanters were expelled from their pulpits and driven from populated areas.  They were forbidden to preach in the open air or to hold religious meetings in people's homes.  Citizens were also forbidden by the threat of enormous fines to listen to any of the Covenanters preach.  Many lost all of their worldly possessions, some even family fortunes, because they so loved the Lord and His preached Word that they attended these illegal services of worship.  Many of the Covenanters were hanged and dismembered for speaking against sin or honoring the Word of the Lord.  Why did they not just give in and blend into the worldly mentality of their king?  Because the world had no more claim to them.  They were citizens of another world (Phil. 3:20).  They bore up under persecution, threats, and loss because they had been claimed by Another King, Jesus Christ the Lord!  Their hope was in Christ and His promises.  

 

What is a Christian?  He is someone for whom the world no longer has claim.  He has been claimed by King Jesus.  He lives as a citizen of another kingdom.  He is distinct from the world about him who denies God, profanes His name, and rebels against His authority.

 

Conclusion

 

In light of the words of Jesus Christ, can you honestly say that you are a Christian?  There is no more important question for any of us this day.  Eternity stands before us.  And a glorious hope in Christ awaits all who truly repents and believes in Him.

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