True Christianity?

RevJP · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:57 am Post subject: True Christianity?

A ramble…

I’ve been thinking about Christianity, not the generic Christianity where every religion or denomination which claims some ‘belief’ in Christ or even in some cases a cursory acknowledgement of His existence, but the true Christianity. The Christianity which incorporates, nay, which is predicated upon faith in, belief and total reliance on Christ for our life and salvation.

Certainly we have doctrinal debates of all sorts, and there is nothing wrong with that for much of doctrine is an interpretation of scripture. What I do see often are those who say in so many words; ‘if you do not believe this particular way, you are not truly a Christian’. Let me make a statement like that here: If you do not understand, believe, and accept the Gospel of Christ, you are not truly a Christian.

What is the Gospel? Simply put, it is: Salvation by Grace through faith. The truth that justification and reconciliation with God is by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Anything more than that is secondary, that is not to say it is unimportant, but without the understanding and acceptance of the Gospel, the rest is irrelevant. Certainly there is more to the Gospel and being a Christian than salvation by Grace through faith, certainly there must be or there would not be all the different denominations, the plethora of debate over doctrine, the arguments and such. Certainly there must be… although there is not.

Jesus said; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by Me.” There is no other mode of salvation than Jesus called the Christ. Doctrinal debate discusses what Christ told us He was.

The way. Doctrines discuss ways – our ways, not God’s

The truth. Doctrines discuss truths – our truths, not God’s.

The life. Yes, doctrines discuss life, how to live life, how to enjoy life, how to respect life, etc. But the truth of the matter is: without faith in and reliance on Christ, there is no life. We are born spiritually dead and there is no life outside of Christ, spiritually.

We could break down the Gospel into its components and discuss each. We could talk about Grace, what it is and what it isn’t, but the only thing we need to really understand is that Grace is God’s unmerited favor upon us. It is His free gift, undeserved – mostly unappreciated, and often ignored. His Grace abounds such that He gave us His Son as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. He offered us the Law for a time, a covenant He made with man to allow man to try to earn his own salvation. Man failed and the law served one truly useful purpose – it showed us our inability to earn salvation, it demonstrated that it was impossible for man to justify himself.

Look at Jesus, His life, death and resurrection – what did that do for us? His life was a life without sin. Sinless and perfect in the eyes of God, He was the only one capable of standing in our stead as a sacrifice for our sin. His death, the payment for sin, was the ultimate payment, the perfect life sacrificed to make the ultimate payment and thus doing away with any further sacrifice from us, any further effort to wipe the stain of sin from our souls. His resurrection, the victory over death, the abolishment of our state of being. Not only did He pay the ultimate price for our sin, he conquered that final solution in a way which we would never be able to do. He demonstrated His power over the finality of death and thus made it possible for us to recover from our spiritual death and live a true live in the glory of God’s love.

Then there is faith. The only thing required of us is faith. Not just believing in God, or Jesus as the Son of God, but true faith. An adherence to, trust in, complete reliance on Jesus as our Savior and our Lord. Certainly we can debate about faith, where is comes from – God or of our own volition, but we cannot argue that faith is the key to our salvation. We cannot argue that and accept the truth of scripture.

We can also discuss evidence of faith – works. We are told in scripture that our faith is evidenced by works, and as men, we tend to want to corrupt the truth of the matter and place judgment on those who we feel do not evidence their ‘faith’ through works. We judge who is truly Christian and who isn’t based on what they do or do not do. A judgment we are admonished not to make for the condition of one’s heart and faith is the sole purview of God.

We can speak of the ‘sinner’s prayer’. Many have offered that it is unscriptural and that it does not provide salvation, some have offered that without it one cannot be saved. What is the truth?

Dear Lord, I know that I am a sinner. And I know that you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and that he rose from the dead in 3 days. I want Jesus to come into my heart and have all my sins forgiven. Please help me and guide me through my walk in the faith. For I ask all these things in the name of Jesus, Amen!

What does this prayer entail? Firstly, it is a willing admission to God that we are sinners. It acknowledges that God’s Grace provided a way to be justified through His grace. It entreats God to heal and forgive the dead spirit and broken soul and it willingly submits one to the Lordship of Christ and asks Him to guide our walk in the life He has provided.

Is this a magic prayer? Does the prayer save? Not at all, but it is an open and undeniable confession of what we accept to be true – a verbal contract if you will which allows one to become part of the new contract God has offered, the New Covenant. A contract of Grace and atonement not of ourselves but of Christ on our behalf.