Are You A Christian?

I wonder if …….

One thing you will find in life is that you will be constantly wondering about people  you meet.  Are they a Christian?  Think about the people in your life.  Are they a Christian?  Did they tell you so?  What makes you think so?  Words are cheap, actions easy to fake – at least for a short period of time - like long enough to get married to you and then you find out that you made a BIG mistake (yup, it happens and has to many of my friends!).

Okay, so how are you, during your life, going to spot a fake Christian?  Well, there are four things you can look for:

• No desire to read the Bible
• No desire for Christian fellowship
• No awareness of sin
• No desire for service

 Just so you know, if ANY one of these items is true in the life of a professing believer – guess what they are not!  Sorry.

Possibly outside of being concerned whether or not your future spouse is a Christian or not – someone else’s standing in Christ is not much of your concern. 

Because:

Who prepares the lost to hear the truth?

Who witnesses to the lost?

 How?

 Who confirms the truth and brings the lost to repentance?

Okay, so I think I have made the point as to where you fit into the lives of a non-believer here.  And outreach is not the point here – inner-reach is the point of this lesson.  What is inner-reach?  Well, this is your ability to look at yourself and decide whether or not you really are Christian….

“What?”, you say! 

Can you think you are a Christian and then not really be one?  Can you live your life as a Christian and find yourself not in Heaven when you die?  Sadly, the answer to both of these questions is, yes.  Jesus tells us two things:  there are those whom are lukewarm to His Word and He will spew them out of His mouth; and in the last days the deceptions will be so convincing that even the true Christians will find themselves mislead – were it possible.

But, how do we know if you fall into either of these categories?  Believe it or not, the answer is actually the same to each situation – you have to appraise yourself and your walk with Jesus.  If your appraisal is anything like mine – you will still wonder if you are Christian decades later …. sigh….

Many people are not sure of their salvation since they lack sufficient information on the subject – one of the strongest arguments for you being in a discipleship program there is.

If you were to take Buddha from Buddhism or Mohammed from Islam, it would be no disaster to either religion.  But, if you are to take Jesus from Christianity – you are left with nothing since Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus.

Your commitment to Jesus must consist of three things: 

• Your intellect
• Your emotions
• Your free will

 Intellect:

Christianity is not a blind leap of faith.  Rather, it is built upon centuries of history, science and life examples.  Give me three examples just off the top of

your head: ________________ __________________ ________________________

We must accept what is presented in the Bible as fact, either by faith or by having proven to ourselves the truth of the Holy Word.  Hence, we have the intellectual quality of salvation preparing us for the ‘Great Commission’.  Because we KNOW of the Bible’s truths and know we must do as we are commanded (see Matthew 28:19-20).

Emotions:

The emotional part of your commitment to Christ is very important, as with the wrong emphasis, you will lead a very confused and defeated life as a Christian.  It must be understood that when you accept Jesus as your savior, your emotions must not be the basis of your commitment or conversion.  I’ve seen people crying and I have seen people not bat an eye lash when they were making the decision to repent.  They are both saved – because neither one was making a decision based upon how bad they felt at the time, were under emotional stress from a slick pastor’s message or just wanted to identify with Christians.  (Yup, I have seen all three of these!)

Rather, our thinking believer knew (accepted as fact) Jesus’ resurrection and believed by faith that they are saved.

But, remember emotions play a big part in our lives once we start to live our lives as a Christian.  God created us as emotional beings, emotions ruled our lives as non Christians and emotions help to direct us in God’s path as we walk ‘the walk’.

To know we are Christian, four things must be evident to ourselves:

• A hunger for God’s Word in our lives
• A strong desire for Christian fellowship
• The Holy Spirit’s conviction for our sin
• Acting up on our Gifts of the Spirit and Fruits of the Spirit

You can not lie to yourself – you know exactly what you are really like on the inside and what motivates you.

Remember, we must live by faith – which does involve our emotions – while not seeking an emotional experience and calling this any basis for our salvation.

Free will:

It is your right as a human to reject anything you do not want in your life.  Granted, there are consequences for every decision you make or do not make in your life.  A wrong choice and you could find yourself crippled, dead, hated by all of your friends or suddenly with an unexpected family.  The choice is always yours – as are the consequences.

So, it is your decision to accept Jesus or not.  He will not force himself on you.  His ultimate plan is for you to be His – but hey, you can always lead a miserable life and become His on your deathbed.  Your loss, His gain – assuming you should live so long….

Once we have turned our lives over to Jesus, we must allow Him to lead, direct and mold us into the person He wants and needs us to be, always trusting Him through all of the tests and trials that He wills, to make us pure – as gold tried by fire.

Remember to accept Jesus by faith is enough – once.  You do not have to constantly ask for His forgiveness, but to praise Him all the more when we fail because of that forgiveness.  He assures us in the Word that once we are His we will always be His.  He will never leave us or desert us.  We are the only ones who can block Him out (and He will always be there waiting for us to come back to Him) and when we do – we ask Him for His forgiveness for having stumbled again and thank Him for that same forgiveness.