What is a Christian? 1 Thessolians 1/4-10 1) A Christian is someone who has been chosen by God. “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” (v.4). The key phrase is “he has chosen you.” That speaks of the sovereign grace of God in salvation. Did you know God chose you to be saved? If he had not chosen you, you would never have been saved at all. Sometimes we speak of “finding” the Lord, but if he had not found us first, we would never have found him at all. Salvation begins with God, not with us. He chooses us and then we believe. In putting the matter that way, I simply mean to declare that salvation is all by grace, all of God, all the time. A Christian, then, is person who has been called and chosen by God himself. Being a Christian is not a work of merit or a personal accomplishment but an act of God’s free grace. 2) A Christian is someone who responds to the gospel message. “Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction“ (v. 5). Here we come to the other side of the coin. God’s election becomes effective in us through the preaching of the gospel. When the Word is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, it produces deep conviction in the hearts of the hearers. Even when we have done our best as preachers, it will count for nothing without the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the hearers. That’s why “full conviction” matters so much. It means people are so deeply convicted of their sin and their need for a Savior that they run to the cross and embrace Jesus as their only hope of heaven. So we must preach and we must pray and then we must depend on the Lord to give people the grace to respond with saving faith. This explains a mystery many of us have wondered about. Why is it that two people can listen to the same message and respond in utterly different ways? Why will one brother follow Jesus while another completely rejects the gospel? Why does one person believe and the other say, “I want nothing to do with Jesus? The answer must be that one person had an open heart while another person had a hard heart in terms of the gospel. Without the “full conviction” that the message must be believed, no one will ever become a Christian. A Christian, then, is someone who having been called and chosen by God responds to the gospel message and is saved. 3) A Christian is someone who regards Christ as infinitely more valuable than earthly suffering. “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (v. 6). This third characteristic may surprise some people because it speaks of how the Thessalonians responded to the gospel message. In their particular situation, coming to Christ from a background of idol worship, they faced enormous cultural pressure. No doubt some faced opposition from family members who thought they were nuts to believe in Jesus. In those early days of the Christian movement, it wasn’t popular to be a “Christ-follower.” Notice the little phrase “in spite of severe suffering.” The word literally means to be “pressed to the limit.” It has the idea of being under the thumb of another person, feeling the pressure pushing you down. To receive the Word with joy has the idea of opening your home and heart to another person. In this case it means that the Thessalonians were so glad to be saved they couldn’t be stopped, not even by persecution. We see this often on the mission field. I have seen it in Haiti and Israel and India and in Russia. In those places where being a Christian really costs something I have seen much deeper joy than I see in RSA churches. Here we tend to take our blessings for granted. There every day is gift from God and every Sunday is an oasis in the desert of suffering. Jesus never invites us to receive him on a trial basis, although some try to do just that. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die.” True conversion means that you continue to follow Christ even when the going gets rough. Three Christian workers were brutally murdered in eastern Turkey by a group of young men who were part of an Islamist movement. (Read more about it here and here.) One was a German missionary, one was a Turkish pastor, and the other was a local believer. They were murdered at a Bible publishing house in Matatya, a Turkish province 300 miles northeast of Antioch where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). The young men were supposed to meet the three Christians for a Bible study. But they had come for a completely different purpose. After torturing the three men, they apparently took pictures of their evil work on their cell phones. The funeral for Pastor Necati turned into a triumphant moment as believers gathered to bury one of their own: Necati’s funeral was a beautiful event. Like a glimpse of heaven, hundreds of Turkish Christians and missionaries came to show their love for Christ, and their honor for this man chosen to die for Christ. Necati’s wife Shemsa told the world, “His death was full of meaning, because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ… Necati was a gift from God. I feel honored that he was in my life; I feel crowned with honor. I want to be worthy of that honor.” What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who joyfully chooses to follow Christ no matter the cost. Our Turkish brothers and sisters understand this better than we do. 4) A Christian is someone whose life has been genuinely changed by Jesus Christ. “You became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything” (vv. 7-8). The word “example” is the Greek word tupos, which refers to the impression left by a piece of metal when pressed into clay. Here is a great secret of evangelism. The best way to win others is by the example of your own changed life. Remember what Jesus said to the formerly demonized man who wanted to accompany him on his travels, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (Mark 5:19). We all know that a satisfied customer is always the best advertisement for any product. The best place for you to make an impact for Christ is right where you are. You don’t have to go overseas to be a missionary. You can start by living for Christ and showing others the difference he makes on a daily basis. The word translated “sounded forth” means to strike the cymbal. As the Thessalonians shared Christ, the message reverberated throughout the entire region. In the words of one commentator, “The Thessalonians sounded ‘Reveille’ and the whole province woke up.” Here, then, is the evidence of true Christianity clearly explained. First you receive God’s Word gladly, then you live it on a daily basis. As you do, the message of the gospel reverberates in every direction. And those around you begin to sit up and take notice. The wife of one of the three Turkish martyrs was asked during a television interview how she felt about the young men who had killed her husband. She did not want revenge, she told reporters. “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do,” she said, echoing the words of Christ on the cross (Luke 23:34). One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.” A Christian is a person whose changed life changes others because of a commitment to be like Jesus and to follow him wherever he heads. 5) A Christian is someone who has gone “all in” on Jesus. “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (vv. 9-10). Note the key verbs in these two verses: You turned. You serve. You wait. The whole Christian life can be found in those six words. You turned from the old life. You now serve the living God. You wait for Jesus to return from heaven. These three phrases give us the three tenses of the Christian life. Praise God!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 04:43:45 +0000
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