July 13, 1997; No. 2845
There are many questions in life of which ignorance or indifference is neither tragic nor fatal. There are perhaps many listening to the broadcast today who will both live and die absolutely ignorant of Einstein's theory of relativity. And that is not necessarily tragic or fatal. Children may be listening today. And you may be ignorant and even indifferent as to how a computer actually works. All you know is that when you click the mouse you get what you want. There are many things of which sheer ignorance and even indifference is not tragic and fatal.
But there is one question concerning which ignorance or indifference is both tragic and fatal. Tragic and fatal now and eternally. That question is this: What is a Christian? Or, more fully, What must I know, old or young, and what must I experience to be equipped to live, to be prepared to die, and to be ready to go to judgment with peace and confidence?
The biblical answer to that question is crucial for you personally, and crucial concerning the witness of Christ that you are to give in your life. Whatever you may be ignorant of, of this you may not be ignorant: What is a Christian? What must I know and experience to live as I ought, to die in comfort, and to go to the judgment of God in peace?
What is a Christian? You must be ready to give a simple, accurate, biblical answer to that question. You must be able to give an answer to the question, What is a Christian? because you are one and know the answer personally.
There is much fuzzy and confused thinking on what a Christian is. Let us spend a moment to sweep away some of that.
Most would answer the question, What is a Christian? this way. Anyone who is not a Muslim, Jew, atheist, etc. If you do not fit into one of the categories of other religions, then you must be a Christian. There are others who answer the question this way: A Christian is someone who has been christened, had a priest or minister rub a little water over his forehead and mumble some religious mumbo-jumbo over him, and then, at the age of 14, he got confirmed and in some way or another he is associated today with a church (whether he goes to church or not, that really does not matter). But that is what it means to be a Christian. There are still others who answer the question this way: To be a Christian means to be gentle, kind, considerate, to make an honest effort to live by the golden rule and do the good things. That constitutes a Christian. Still, for others, they would answer the question this way: A person is a Christian if he has had some type of religious crisis in some way connected to Jesus Christ, which in some way or another has helped that person to feel good about himself and to get his act together and to become successful in his life, marriage, or business. That is a Christian.
If you were to ask people, that is, conduct a survey among people, I am sure you would get answers which would somehow fit into those four different categories which I just mentioned. But none of them have any foundation in the Word of God. None of them have the correct answer.
What is a Christian? A Christian is a person who has faced the problem of his sins, by grace, and has found the answer to that problem in Jesus Christ. A Christian is someone who belongs to Jesus Christ by a true and living faith. The name "Christian" is taken from the name "Christ." That is why the Bible says that the name "Christian" is a worthy name, because it is taken after the name "Christ." A Christian is one who bears the name of Christ. The name means that I am associated with, I belong to, Jesus Christ by faith. I am united to Him by a bond of faith so that I am His and He is mine. We are united by a work of God which is called faith, which is a living, spiritual bond between Christ and me whereby all the blessings of Christ become mine, and Christ Himself is mine, and I am united to Him forever.
That is comforting. It is comforting because that is the answer to my problem of sin. There is, as we read in Romans 8:1, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. A Christian, who has been made one with Christ by God, has no condemnation. His sins have been forgiven.
You see, biblical Christianity is a religion for sinners. A Christian rejoices in belonging to Christ because that alone satisfies completely for his greatest need: the forgiveness of his sins. Christianity is not for those who are strong of themselves. It is not for the wise and eloquent and noble, for those who are self-sufficient of themselves. We read in I Corinthians 1:26, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world …; the weak … and the base things … the despised things … the things that are not." Christians as those who have been brought personally to face the problem of sin and have found no solution in themselves, and have found in themselves only more sin, but now, by the grace of God, find the answer in Jesus Christ. Being united to Christ they find that the burden of their sin has been lifted, the guilty conscience has been removed, the load of failures has been taken away, forgiven in Jesus Christ.
What is a Christian? A Christian is one who belongs to Christ and knows that Christ is the One who has answered for all of my sins. That is a Christian.
But a Christian is more. A Christian is also one who has been restored to the office of servant of the Lord. The name "Christ" means, literally, "Anointed." When Jesus bears the name "Christ," that represents the title or office that God gave Him. God anointed Him, that is, God chose Him and then God qualified Him (made Him able to do what God chose Him to do) by giving Him the Holy Spirit. A Christian, now, is one who shares in the anointing of Christ and is made to be the servant of the Lord. Christ's task was to redeem us, to do the work and the will of God.
A Christian is one who shares in that anointing. A Christian is one whom God has ordained, whom God has chosen. A Christian is one whom God qualifies, makes able, by the Holy Spirit. And God has chosen and qualified the Christian to be the servant of God. As Christ, Jesus was chosen of God to do God's work, yes. Now, a Christian who bears His name is also chosen of God to do the will and work of God on earth. John 15:16, "Ye have not chosen me," said Jesus, "but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…."
Christ was anointed, that is, Jesus, as the Christ, was qualified by the Holy Spirit to do the work of God. So also a Christian is one who is anointed of God so that by the Holy Spirit in him he is able to do the will of God in his life. I John 2:27, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you…." As Christians, then, we are ordained or picked of God and qualified by God, enabled by God, to do our duty, our holy duty, which is to serve the living God. We read in I Peter 2:9, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Every Christian is called to serve God, to serve God with his mouth, to serve God with his heart, and to serve God with his hand.
You see, the Christian life comes with a mandate. It comes with a command from Him who has made us a Christian. A Christian is not simply someone who has a title over his head but actually has no calling or something to do. But every Christian, male or female, old or young, married or unmarried, has a calling. Not simply ministers and elders and deacons. Not simply Christian school teachers. But a Christian is one who has been called of God to serve God with his mouth, heart, and hand.
Now, it is true that Christ has given to His church special offices of service. We read in Ephesians 4:11 that Christ has given to His church pastors. He has given to the church pastors for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. The idea is that Christ has given pastors, elders, and deacons for the completing of the saints, so that the saints can minister among themselves and build up the body which is the church. The church is not to be compared to an airplane, so that the pilot and co-pilot and the stewards run the plane and everyone else sits back and does nothing. The church is not the minister in the pilot's seat and the elders around him navigating and being co-pilots; the deacons serving as stewards up and down the aisles; and then the passengers leaning back until they get to heaven. No. A Christian has a calling. You have been equipped by God to serve God in your life, to confess the name of God, to present your entire life in service of God, to reign with Christ over your sins, and to fight your sin. A Christian life is filled with activity and with duty and with calling. Not only a minister, but you as a Christian have a calling to speak the Word of God. You cannot take the excuse and say, "Well, I am not a minister. How can I explain the Bible." That is your calling. You must study the Word of God yourself. And you must encourage others to do the same. You must be ready always to speak that word of God, and eager to speak it. It is not only an elder who has a calling to love and defend the church of God on earth and to seek her good. You have that calling as a Christian. You have been called of God to dedicate yourself unto that which is precious to Him, His church. It is not only a deacon who has the calling to show forth mercy and do good to those who have not. You, as a Christian, have that calling. God says to us: Ye are my witnesses!
Now, of course, we cannot do this on our own. We cannot do this of our own strength. We cannot do this unless we first receive, by grace, Jesus Christ. The Christian understands that of himself he cannot do anything of his own power. But the Christian also believes and understands that in Jesus Christ he is able to do all things. He is able to do what God calls him to do: to serve God in his life.
Exactly what is a Christian supposed to do? There is much debate that has swirled around that question. Those who are not Christians are always ready to tell us what a Christian is supposed to be doing. But the answer of the Bible is very plain: a Christian is to walk as Christ. He is to reflect Christ. I John 2:6, "He that saith he abideth in him (in Christ) ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." More and more the Christian must be like Christ - like Christ in his thinking, in his attitudes, in his wanting, in his speaking, in his doing, in all of his life. And specifically? It means that you must be a prophet, a priest, and a king. What was Christ's calling? As the Christ, the Bible teaches us, He was called to be the prophet of God to reveal God; He was called to be the priest to dedicate Himself unto God and to bring a sacrifice for our sins; and he was called to be the king to fight against our sins and gain the victory for us. What is the calling, then, of a Christian who bears Christ's name? His calling is this: he is to be a prophet to confess God's name; he is to be a priest to sacrifice himself in thanksgiving to God, serving Him in all of his life and coming to Him in prayer; and he is to be a king, to fight against his sin and to reign with Jesus Christ.
You must serve God, then, with your mouth in all that you say, and by the thoughts that come first before your words. You must serve God with your mouth. You must serve God from your heart in your desires, your goals, your direction of life. You must serve God with your hand, in what you actually do. This is an all-embracing, all-encompassing calling. It is extensive and exhaustive. And it is not quickly done. We do not find certain situations where we can take off our prophet's robe and say, "Well, it is not important for me now to know or to speak the word of God." There are not times when we can leave our priestly garments behind us and say, "Well, I will not dedicate myself in service to God in this activity, but I will join the world." There are not times when we can take the kingly crown from our heads and say, "Well, I am tired of fighting against sin, my own sin. And I am just going to relax now." No, we are called, as Christians, to be the prophets, the priests, and the kings of God.
You have not fulfilled your prophetic office when you have made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. You have not fulfilled your priestly office when you have put your offering into the collection plate on Sunday and you can say to your officebearers, "I have paid my share of the church expenses." You have not finished your kingly office when you say, "Well, I have struggled a little bit against my sins in this past week. Now I am going to take some time off." All the time, wherever you are, you are to be a prophet, a priest, and a king of God - on the playground, in the neighborhood, in your office, in the communion of saints, at your family table, at your workplace, in your recreation.
And women as well as men. The Bible teaches that women are not to hold the office in the church of Jesus Christ, that is, the office of pastor, elder, and deacon. The Bible is very plain on that. In I Timothy 2 and again in I Corinthians 15, the Bible speaks very plainly that women are not permitted to serve in those offices. But does that mean that a woman Christian has no calling? Of course not. Men, as well as women, are to pour out their entire life in their place to serve the Lord God. And that means that our calling must come out in all that we do. You are a king, you are a prophet, you are a priest. That is a Christian. There is nobility, there is dignity, there is majesty to that name. All that you think, all that you are, must be entirely in the service of God.
Is that why you are called a Christian? Are you called a Christian because in Jesus Christ you have found the answer to your sins? Are you called a Christian because in Jesus Christ you have been constituted the servant of God? Are you called a Christian because it is your inmost delight and your heart thrills to serve the living God with your mouth, your heart, and your hand? Then you bear that worthy name not in vain. Then your calling always is that that worthy name of Christian may never be blasphemed on your account, but may ever be praised by your deeds, by your words, and by your entire life.
May God so give you grace to be a Christian.
Let us pray.
Our Father we thank Thee for Thy holy Word. We pray that Thou wilt open it to our understanding. And we pray that others may see that we are indeed Christians who serve the Lord God with our mouth, heart, and hand. In His name do we pray, Amen.