Becoming a Christian

[Deborah_]

Acts 26:17,18

Here we have a concise summary of Paul’s mission, straight from the mouth of Jesus: “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

This tells us what is actually going on when someone becomes a Christian.

It’s basically a change of allegiance. As you are probably aware, there are two opposing kingdoms in the universe: the power of Satan (which is darkness) and the power of God (which is light), and every person in the world is in either the one kingdom or the other. Now Satan has a strong grip on his domain and doesn’t want to give up any of his subjects. So evangelism is part of the spiritual battle that we are fighting against the forces of evil. That’s why we find it so difficult to evangelise! Warfare is dangerous, it’s hard, it demands sacrifices. Most normal people - and especially me - would much rather opt out and live a peaceful, easy life. And evangelism often feels like an uphill struggle. Every conversion is a small victory - which is why baptisms are such a cause for celebration.

Now why is Satan’s kingdom called the power of darkness? Because, as Paul says in II Corinthians, “he has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel.” (II Corinthians 4:4) In other words, unbelievers aren’t being deliberately awkward or stubborn; they simply can’t see or understand the truth. They are blind because, spiritually speaking, they have grown up in the dark. And they like living in the darkness; it feels normal to them, it feels comfortable. We have to shine like lights into their darkness (Philippians 2:15,16), showing them that there is an alternative. And we do this by demonstrating in what we say and in what we do that Jesus is our Lord. By living differently, living under His Lordship. For when you move from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God, and start calling Jesus ‘Lord’, there are certain inevitable consequences.

The first one mentioned in this verse is forgiveness of sins. What Jesus seems to be saying is that we receive forgiveness from Him simply as a result of putting ourselves under His authority. Do we have to pray a special prayer to ask God to forgive our sins? That’s what we usually encourage someone to do if they say they want to become a Christian, but although it may be helpful I don’t think it’s essential. What is absolutely essential is to let Jesus take charge of your life. Then we get forgiven, whether we specifically ask or not. If, as Paul says in Romans, you “declare with your mouth that ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in you heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) If Jesus is your Lord, then you are ‘sanctified by faith’.

The second consequence is membership of God’s Church - and by that I don’t mean having your name on the electoral roll, I mean being part of the family of God, a brother or sister of everyone else who is sanctified by faith in Jesus. We don’t just enter into new life, we also join a new community – the company of Jesus’ people, a foretaste of God’s Kingdom on earth.

 

[mjrhealth]

Amen

 

[Webers_Home]

-
†. John 4:10-15 . . Jesus said to her: If you knew the gift of God, and who it
is who says to you "Give me a drink" you would have asked him, and he
would have given you living water.

. . . She said to him: Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is
deep; where then do you get that living water? You are not greater than our
father Jacob, are you, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his
sons, and his cattle?

. . . Jesus answered and said to her: Everyone who drinks of this water shall
thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of
water springing up to eternal life.

So, in order to get the ball rolling: one must first have some understanding
of the "gift of God".

†. John 3:14-17 . . As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in him have
eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The incident to which Christ referred is located at Num 21:5-9. Long story
short: Yhvh's people became weary of eating manna all the time at every
meal. But instead of courteously, and diplomatically, petitioning their divine
benefactor for a different diet, they became hostile and confrontational;
angrily demanding tastier food.

In response to their insolence, and their ingratitude for His providence; Yhvh
sent a swarm of deadly poisonous vipers among them; which began striking
people; and every strike was 100% fatal, no exceptions. Then the people
came to their senses and asked Moses to intercede. In reply; The Lord
instructed Moses to fashion an image of the vipers and hoist it up on a pole
in plain view so that everyone dying from venom could look to the image for
relief.

The key issue here is that the image was the only God-given remedy for the
people's bites-- not sacrifices and offerings, not tithing, not church
attendance, not scapulars, not confession, not holy days of obligation, not
the Sabbath, not the golden rule, not charity, not Bible study and/or Sunday
school, not self denial, not vows of poverty, not the Ten Commandments,
not one's religion of choice, no; not even prayers. The image was it.

In other words then: Christ's crucifixion is the only God-given escape from
the wrath of God; and when people accept it, then according to John 5:24
they qualify for a transfer from death into life; and the only thing left to do
is speak up and tell Christ they want in.

†. Rev 22:17 . .The Spirit and the bride say: Come. Let each one who hears
them say: Come. Let the thirsty ones come-- anyone who wants to. Let
them come and drink the water of life without charge.

FYI: copied and pasted from cfbac.org/popular.htm

==========================================