Christian = Disciple

Here is a struggle I have.  When I say I'm a Christian, does it ring true in my life?  When people look at me is the light of Christ radiating from my being.  I love how my husband describes my earthly father's faith, he says you can just smell Christ on him.  I wonder if that is true in my own life?  Part of this frustration comes from looking back to my past.  I said I was a Christian for many years because I went to church, directed children's church choir, went to Sunday School, I was even 'confirmed'.  Now I question what that confirmation test actually meant.  (I think I missed 23 questions on the test and yet the church still confirmed me as a 'solid believer'.)  As I've grown in my faith the past few years I have come to realize I was not a Christian.  It was a sad realization to come to but so true.  In a recent sermon, my husband preached from Ezra 7 and 1 Peter 2 (if you would like to read more about how these 2 particular passages relate here's a link to our church blog).  The purpose of mentioning his sermon was one point that struck me: being a Christian is being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  A disciple is not a higher up, better, or more knowledgable Christian, a disciple is a Christian.  First Peter chapter 2 helps us see this:

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Christians are the "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession," we are called "out of darkness into his marvelous light".  These are powerful words and truths of our faith.  When taking on the title of 'Christian', we need to think about the weight that comes with the word.  We are saved from our sinful nature and saved to an eternal existence in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are God's people, saved by his grace but that's not where we stop.  Let's look at Ezra 7:10 to see where we go from here:

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Ezra's desire should be our desire as Christians: to study, know and teach the word of God.  We are not excused from studying our Bible, going to church, praying, or encouraging others in Christ because we are not that 'type of Christian'. There is no other type.  When we take on the title of Christian our desires should change to want more of Christ and to tell others about him.  We can follow Christ's example in discipling fellow Christians by coming together to study His word, to pray for one another, to hold each other accountable, and to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11).

Praise God who called us out of darkness and into his mavelous light!

Where to find the Gospel

If someone were to ask me, "How would you articulate the Gospel?" I admit I would struggle for a moment.  To fully and correctly explain the gospel we really need to start in Genesis and explain to Revelation.  Sixty-six books of the Bible.  But thankfully certain books and certain apostles clearly define the gospel.  Paul is very good at this, he's the author of the 2 places I would turn to to give a shortened explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The first place I would turn to is Ephesians. Ephesians is my favorite book of the Bible, as I explained in my first blog post ever.  Chapter 1 of Ephesians explains our purpose. I posted on this purpose in "To the praise of his glorious grace".  Chapter 2, verses 1-10 give a description of the gospel that helped me to understand why I was so lost for so long and that it's the grace of God that saves.  I have yet to post on the rest of Ephesians but the 6 chapters do an excellent job of explaining the gospel.

The second place I would turn is another book written by Paul, 2 Corinthians 4: 1-6, which states:

1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

I'm currently studying 2 Corinthians with my adult discipleship group.  One lesson we discussed focused on this passage.  This was a blessing for me to reread after having a conversation with one of my youth girls about how to explain the gospel and where to go to defend our explanation. 

Here we see that God's word is truth, we are not to change or distort what God has written as truth.  This truth is open for those who turn to the Bible to see the truth.  Those who do not believe and are perishing are blinded by, "the god of this world" who is Satan.  We know that Satan's primary goal is to divide the church of Christ's followers and to pull us away from Christ.  Satan is what keeps us from Christ.  But those who are in Christ deny themselves and joyfully serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is God who changes our hearts as verse 6 states.  He shines the "knowledge of the glory of the God in the face of Jesus Christ", our faith comes from knowing the glory of God and that knowledge comes from knowing Jesus Christ, who is "the propitiation of our sins", as stated in 1 John 2:2.   

This isn't the end of the gospel story, but its a start.  What scriptures would you turn to in order to express your understanding of the gospel?

I praise God for his written word, which isn't simply a book of rules and regulations to follow but a true story of a man who left his throne in the heavenly realms to come into a world of hatred in order to save those whom he loved from eternal punishment by dying on a cross and rising from the dead.