When I was growing up here in England, if you weren’t a Muslim, Jew or an atheist, then it was assumed that you were a Christian. If you weren’t Roman Catholic you were automatically considered to be CofE (Church of England) unless stated otherwise! The truth is, no one is automatically a Christian. Nationality, parentage or attendance of a Christian church doesn’t qualify someone to be called a Christian.
Listening attentively
One becomes a Christian when a) God gives us an opportunity to hear enough about Jesus to realise that he is both inviting and summoning us to be his followers and b) we accept his call. For many, what they hear will go in one ear and out of the other but some others will want to know more. These men and women will have many questions. Some may raise questions of objection in order that they might hold back from commitment. Others will seek answers in order to overcome honest doubt. Having questions and wanting to know more is good so long as we don’t end up for ever wanting to know about Christianity but never stepping into it personally.
Jesus tells would-be followers to count the cost of becoming a Christian, not in order to dissuade them but so that they understand from the start that being a disciple of Jesus is no light thing. It certainly isn’t an insurance policy against the sufferings and evils that affect all of us.
Faith in Jesus is valued in heaven
When we first entrust ourselves to Jesus, we are expressing our belief that he is someone special, someone uniquely appointed by God. We can be confident that our faith is valued in heaven above, to the extent that Jesus assures us, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’
Yes, the Spirit of both God and Jesus come to live within the heart of the Christian. From this point on, the Christian can anticipate receiving answers to questions he hadn’t even thought to ask!
We are now in the autumn term of education and many Christian churches are currently offering midweek courses about exploring Christianity. Why not see about finding one?
Many in our land have been experiencing drought this summer. I believe many more are continuing to experience spiritual drought and here’s why.
When in conversation I mention God, the other person often moves into self-justifying mode! Introducing the notion of God seems to bring with it a sense that we need to justify ourselves. This is, I suggest, borne out of the religious idea that we must earn God’s favour or, at the very least, have a reasonable defence as to why we aren’t managing what we think he requires of us.
This way of thinking is common and is called “works righteousness”, whereby we think we need to be earning brownie points if we are to secure God’s final favour.
Wages or Gift?
When we work, we earn wages. The one for whom we have worked is obligated to pay us and, until they do, they are in our debt. When we think we can earn God’s favour, we actually demean him; after all, how could God our Creator ever be in our debt? No, if we are to receive his favour it must be as a gift and God does offer this; it’s a gift which makes our efforts to earn his favour unnecessary.
What is that gift and how may we receive it? God gave his son, Jesus; he is the gift that does away with our religious self-efforts. He does this by paying off those debts that separate us from God.
The Place of faith
Before going further, we need to realise that a personal Christian faith is important. This faith, or trust, is not a religious work in itself but simply the means of receiving that which God offers to us.
Imagine you are in a desert literally dying of thirst and then you are made aware that there is a spring of water just behind that large boulder 50 feet ahead. Those last dozen or so steps won’t themselves re-hydrate you but they are the means of getting that life-giving water into you. That is precisely how it is with Christian faith: it is the means of receiving God’s good favour described by Jesus as living water. He says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink”. Whoever believes in me… streams of living water will flow from within him." It is our standing and identifying with Jesus through faith that gives God pleasure.
Since David Cameron resigned in 2016, we’ve had six prime ministers. Now that we have Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, do you feel a sense of optimism or have you lost faith in government?
Writing in the second half of the 19th century, Liverpool’s Bishop J.C. Ryle told voters, ‘We must each do our duty conscientiously, and learn to expect little from any political party. If those we support succeed, we must not think that all they do will be right. If those we oppose succeed, we must not think that all they do will be wrong. To expect little from any earthly ruler is one great secret of contentment.’
A Christian’s responsibility
Christian teaching instructs believers to pray for, ‘all kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour.’
In the middle of the first century, the message of the death of Jesus and his rising to life soon spread right across the Mediterranean. The followers of ‘the Way’, i.e. Christians, had little interest in trying to change the governing political authority, namely Rome. Neither did they wish to exercise any violence against some Jewish groups, which vehemently opposed them and their teaching. The Christians simply wanted to speak about Jesus and what his life, death and resurrection meant for all people: Jews, Gentiles, slave, free, rich, poor, men and women, whether powerful or of little influence.
A Ruler par excellence
In those days, one Jew named Paul, who’d converted, becoming a follower of Jesus, spoke to people in Athens at what was the equivalent of Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner. He said that he recognised their understandable ignorance about the true God, his ways and the ultimate plan for a Ruler who would surpass all earthly governance: A King who would wisely administer justice and mercy, right all wrongs and so silence all critics.
He said, ‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.’
Whilst we await this Ruler par excellence, that is Jesus, I thank God that we don’t live in a land of anarchy or under a dictatorship.