Christianity in One Phrase

bible5

If you could describe Christianity in one phrase, what would you say? To be a Christian means ____________? How would you fill in the blank?

For the last few days we have been speaking on propitiation. We spoke to that this Sunday as well as we gathered under the tent. The fact that God Himself offered up a satisfactory offering due our sin on our behalf, therefore we who are believers don't have to worry or be anxious as to whether God is for us, no matter what we face because, unlike every other religion which demands that the sinner make the offering and hope to appease their god, in Christianity, our one true God has made the satisfactory and required offering on our behalf in the person of Jesus Christ.

Therefore through faith in Christ we have peace with God, and can have peace in whatever circumstance we face because thru faith in Christ we know that God is for us, not against us. That His promises are sure, His provision is certain, and that nothing can separate us from God. The result is peace.

But , this brings us back to the original question: Now what? What does it mean to be a Christian now that we have been reconciled to God thru faith in Christ and the satisfaction of His offering of Himself for our sin and have peace with God?

Do we just pray a prayer and move on with our lives? Does God's grace simply allow us to live as we want without consequence of our sin? Does God's grace stop there at the cross? Does our interaction with God cease there as well? As if God sets us free form sin and then sends us on our way to fend on our own? The prison doors are open, you have been set free, but you are on your own to provide and live?

This is where I want us to think about how we must see ourselves as believers. How we must answer the first question I posed. How it changes and effects everything and aspect of how we live and exist as believers, how we see ourselves. So here it is:

A Christian is someone who has God as their Father and lives to the glory of their Father.

See Galatians 3:26-29. You are sons (and daughters) of God THROUGH faith in Christ Jesus.

Sonship to God is not universal. He certainly created everyone, but sonship is not something everyone enjoys nor enters simply by being born or created by God. It is a supernatural gift through faith in Christ. The title of child of God does not become ours simply through being born, but only through being BORN AGAIN.

See John 1:12-13. As many as RECIEVED Him, to those who BELIEVED His name, he gave the right to be called children of God. Sonship is a gift. Sonship is of grace. Through faith in Christ. Born again.

This is where the picture and truth of adoption comes in. Through faith in the gospel, due propitiation, God adopts sinners, enemies, as His sons and daughters. See Gal. 4:4-5. See 1 John 3:1-2. New relationship. From enemies to sons.  

For now, we we will stop here, and close with this thought. And again I quote J.I. Packer here:

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much that person makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as His Father.

Ask yourself today: Does this thought of God as my father prompt my worship? What about my prayers? What about my whole outlook on life? Good and bad circumstances?

Until we rightly grasp the marvelous truth that through propitiation, through faith in the gospel, God has made a way for sinners to become sons and daughters, and until we live in light of this truth by faith every day and in every way, we won't fully understand nor experience what it means to be a Christian.

Our understanding of Christianity will not go farther than our understanding of our adoption, of our sonship. May we grow in this today. May we enjoy serving and being served by God through Christ today as sons and daughters, as opposed to slaves. May glorifying God be a joy more than simply a duty. May we live today as sons and daughters of God.

Believer - enjoy God as your Father today. Enjoy being a child of the One True King today. And may God get much glory through this.