Why Become a Christian?

 

     Every fourth Sunday our church hosts what we refer to as "Friendship Sunday."  Our intention is to provide a service where those unfamiliar with the church may hear a simple presentation of the gospel.  This sermon is an example of those messages.

John 10:10

Why anyone would become a Christian?

Pollster George Barna says you may no longer assume your neighbors will claim Christianity as their default religion.  Maybe you’ve seen the bumper sticker that says, “Love is My Religion.”  Christianity has become just an option, like one of the flavors at Graters.

Why would anyone become a Christian?  Is it because being a Christian makes you so popular?

I can’t remember a time when announcing yourself as a Christian invites more criticism.  I can’t remember a time in my life when certain newsmakers have been more willing to brand Christians as fools or losers, at best, or dangerous fanatics, at worst. 

There may have been a time when being a Christian would have made you popular but I think that time is past.  In one of his mysteries, Ian Rankin introduces a new character, Detective Constable Goodyear.  Goodyear is a rarity in the Edinburgh CID:  He is a Christian.  When he is introduced to Detective Inspector Rebus, Rankin’s hero, the cynical DI says, “So, you’re the Bible thumper.”  Although he’s probably aware that a detective constable is the lowest form of life in the CID, Goodyear musters the courage to respond, “Sir, I’ve never thumped a Bible in my life.”  But it remains clear that the young detective’s colleagues think of his faith as a liability, not an asset.

Being a Christian doesn’t win popularity contests.

Why would anyone become a Christian?  Is it because being a Christian allows you to escape problems?

We’re going through some tough times right now.  It’s not quite like the Depression but it’s no picnic either.  Christians are losing their jobs.  Christians are seeing their retirement funds dwindle.  Christians are taking brown bag lunches rather than eating at restaurants.

No, becoming a Christian will not allow you to escape problems.

Why would anyone become a Christian?  Is it because being a Christian allows you to hang out with church people?

Remember these words:

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.

That’s the Cheers theme.  It speaks about our isolation and our desire to be more than a cog in the machine.  It is a vision of fellowship.   But the words are about a bar, not a church.

Still, some think fellowship is the church’s big selling point.

There is something to be said about Christian fellowship.  When the church is what it should be men and women from all backgrounds become a part of this fellowship, this family of faith.  It can be a beautiful thing.

I value Christian fellowship but I know there are some Christians you would just as soon not have next to you on a trans-Atlantic flight.  Remember how Groucho Marx received a letter inviting him to become the member of some club in Hollywood.  He declined the invitation, saying, “I could never be part of a club that would have someone like me as a member.”  Some of those who have made it into the church are still pretty rough around the edges.

Someone once said, “the church is the only organization in the world for which the singular qualification for membership is being unqualified for membership.”  I like that.  But it’s a reminder that if you’re looking for some place where you’ll never be offended or annoyed, the church might not be it.

The truth is there are many places where you can get together with likable people and pursue common interests.  Most of these places will never ask you to sit for twenty to thirty minutes while someone offers observations on a 2000-year-old Book.  Most of these places will never ask you to take your turn in the nursery.  Most of these places will not ask you to roll out of bed on a Sunday morning when you’d really rather sleep.

The yearning to be “where everybody knows your name” runs deep in us.  I think the church offers that.  But if that’s all the church offers, we have some stiff competition.

Why would anyone become a Christian?  Is it because being a Christian is easy?

William Willimon once said that when you join the Rotary you get a handshake and a pin.  But when you join the church, they half-drown you and then tell you to pick up a cross.

Peter, James, and John were some of Jesus’ best-known followers.  Before their encounter with Jesus they had been fishermen.  Then, one day Jesus came to them and said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  So, they left their nets, the business they had known their entire lives, and followed Jesus.

Years later, after traveling countless miles to share the gospel, after imprisonments, after persecution for their faith, I can imagine Peter saying something like this, “I’d do it all again, but to tell the truth, fishing for fish was easier.”

Oh, yeah, being a Christian is easy.

Why would anyone become a Christian?  Might it be because Christianity gives us a remarkable freedom?

Paul wanted to  help the Christians at Galatia better understand the purpose of Jesus’ ministry.  Those Christians had been toying with the notion that you couldn’t be a Christian unless you narrowed the parameter of your life.  Specifically, you would have to be circumcised and take on a much restricted diet and lifestyle.  Paul countered this by saying; “Christ has set us free to live a free life.” 

On the whole, Christians of varied cultures and backgrounds have had tremendous latitude in manifesting their commitment in their everyday lives.

While there have been small groups that have been confused about the matter, no one has ever said all Christians must dress one way, eat one diet, or pursue the same careers.  You can’t pick out the Christians in a crowd.

More important, you can’t identify Christians by their politics or their perspective on matters like the economy or immigration.  When Paul wrote the Ephesians, he reminded them of their past and then gave them an important instruction, “Once you lived in the dark, but now the Lord has filled you with light. Live as children who have light.  Light produces everything that is good, that has God’s approval, and that is true. Determine which things please the Lord.”

That last phrase—Determine which things please the Lord—seems to assume that Christians will be free to apply their minds to the problems of their day and conclude for themselves what the best solution might be.

This is why we have Christians on the right and on the left of the political spectrum.  Why we have Christians who would close all the border stations and throw open the doors of the nation, why we have Christians who would have us build fences and walls to regulate who might come into the nation.  Why we have Christians who believe the earth is just over 10,000 years old, why we have Christians who believe the earth is somewhere around 15 billion years old.

Yes, Christians have remarkable freedom.  There is no factory that stamps out Christians like cookies.  Still, that freedom in and of itself doesn’t explain why so many become Christians.  Many in the west have full freedom of opinion with no spiritual commitment.

Why would anyone become a Christian?  Could it be because becoming a Christian links you to Jesus in a marvelous way?

That would be my guess.

There is something remarkable about Jesus.  Often, those who have nothing good to say about the church admire Jesus.  Don’t get me wrong, recent years have seen critics trying to discredit Jesus.  But they’re relatively few in number.  I suspect there are many agnostics who would say to those who malign Jesus, “Have you lost your mind?”

Listen to what men and women across the ages have said about this Jesus.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I founded empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force.  Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)

 In Jesus we have . . . the holiest man who ever lived, and yet it was the prostitutes and lepers and thieves who adored him, and the religious who hated his guts.

Rebecca Manley Pippert

Jesus Christ is the Completer

    of unfinished people

    with unfinished work

    in unfinished times.

Lona M. Fowler

Jesus Christ served others first; he spoke to those to whom no one spoke; he dined with the lowest members of society; he touched the untouchable. He had no throne, no crown, no bevy of servants or armored guards. A borrowed manger and a borrowed tomb framed his earthly life.

Charles Colson (1931–2012)

The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise.

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215)

The teaching of Jesus Christ does not appear at first to be what it is. At first it appears to be beautiful and pious and lukewarm; but before long it becomes a ripping and tearing torpedo which splits to atoms every preconceived notion a man ever had.

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

 To the dead he sayeth: Arise!

To the living: Follow me!

And that voice still soundeth on

From the centuries that are gone,

To the centuries that shall be!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

 

Read through the gospels—those memoirs of Jesus’ closest followers.  They aren’t biographies as you may think of them.  They’re like testimonials of individuals changed by Jesus.  The gospels tell record what impressed the writers most about Jesus.  But all four gospels lead us to some similar conclusions.

Jesus taught as no one ever taught.  Jesus loved the loveless.  Jesus embraced the outcast.  Jesus showed mercy to those who expected only judgment.  Jesus brought healing to a wounded world.  Jesus promised to transform those who followed him.  Jesus lived selflessly in a selfish world.  Jesus proved his love on the cross.  Jesus defeated death.  Jesus isn’t finished with us.

Of course, you’ll also find Jesus saying some remarkable things about himself. 

One such incident took place the night before the crucifixion.

Philip, a disciple who wasn’t particularly quick on the uptake said to Jesus, “Show us the Father and it will be enough.”

I don’t think there was any guile or false humility in Philip’s statement.  It was probably a statement of genuine religious longing. 

Jesus becomes so direct at this point.

Jesus replied, "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him?

Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.

Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.

Jesus gets right to the point, “He who has seen the Father has seen me.”  There had been so may hints, so many clues, in all Jesus said and did;   they should have guessed but didn’t.  If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. 

And when you become a Christian, you are linked to this Jesus in a remarkable way.  All that he has to offer is yours.  You will discover what his followers across the ages have discovered:

 Jesus is the Way…to life, a life he describes as abundant. It is a life one translation says is “real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”  What are the dimensions of that life?

Jesus is the Way…to peace.

Jesus is the Way…to hope.

Jesus is the Way…to truth.

Jesus is the Way…to purpose.

Jesus is the Way…to God.

Jesus is the Way…Who wants to be known.

So, if anyone should ask you, why would anyone become a Christian?  The answer is Jesus.