When I Say “I Am A Christian”

Introduction

If only we could just snap our fingers and his image could be stamped deeply on our hearts. Certainly our goal is to have just that happen. By our understanding of his will and our pursuit of his things, to become more like him, to more closely resemble our Savior. And that’s what we want to promote in this place. And that’s what we want the preaching and teaching of God’s Word to promote in your heart and in your lives. And certainly to invoke God’s help as we pursue this great and awesome and lofty goal of being like him. Hopefully the lesson this morning will contribute to that.

Maybe this isn’t a positive thing, but sometimes I must confess that I get a little bit nauseated. When certain emails find their way into my inbox.

A little bit more of a dose of reality in this one. When I say I am a Christian, I’m not shouting, I am saved. I’m whispering, I get lost. That is why I chose this way. When I say I am a Christian, I don’t speak of this with pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need someone to be my guide. When I say I am a Christian, I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and pray for strength to carry on. When I say I am a Christian, I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed and cannot ever pay the debt. When I say I am a Christian, I’m not claiming to be perfect, my flaws are too visible, but God believes I’m worth it.

When I say I am a Christian, I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches, which is why I seek his name. When I say I am a Christian, I do not wish to judge, I have no authority. I only know I’m loved. Well, after reading that, does it give you the warm fuzzies? I don’t know. With most of this, I could concur and agree wholeheartedly, but I want to talk about this feel good approach to religion that seems to be appealing to some. Well, who doesn’t want to feel good? I mean, you don’t raise your hands and say, I want to feel absolutely miserable. I want to be miserable in my faith. And some are. And I’ll have more to say about that in a moment.

And certainly there are some wonderful and inspiring and stirring truths to this business of being a Christian. And one of those is that, and I keep hitting the button accidentally. One of those is that, yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, that’s a wonderful and inspiring truth. We love because God first loved us, and he demonstrated that love in sending his son to die for us. 1 John chapter 4, God is love. And that is definitely a wonderful and inspiring truth. And it is true that we do, as Christians, possess so much, and yet we deserve so little. We have received exceeding precious and magnificent promises. We have become partakers of the divine nature. Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. All things belong to you.

Paul tells the Corinthians, if you can say, I am a Christian, and heaven agrees with that assessment, then you possess everything that matters. All things belong to you. Paul tells the Corinthians, I deserve so little when you think about what that person said when I am a Christian talking about failures and struggles and difficulties and our need for God to fix our problems. We deserve so little and yet we possess so very much. And I’ve mentioned several times in Ephesians 1. I love that passage. As it speaks of our redemption and our salvation and says, He lavished upon us. We are those who are partakers in the unfathomable riches of Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 8. Who could seriously pout about their circumstances when you live like a king?

Do we look at it that way? In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, Christians are reminded you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. A people for God’s own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. How can you read 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 and not be stirred by the fact that again we deserve so little and yet we possess so much? How can we be all pouty all the time if we truly appreciate what it means to be the chosen race? Servants, yes, priests, but a royal priesthood. A people for God’s own possession. He has made us to be a kingdom and priests. According to Revelation chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, those who have been redeemed.

1 Timothy chapter 2. I love this text in 1 Timothy chapter 2. I want you to hold on to these thoughts here. 1 Timothy, or 2 Timothy chapter 2, rather, in verse 11, it is a trustworthy statement. You can trust this. You can go to the bank with this. It’s a trustworthy statement. Of course, that’s true of all scripture, but he is pointing to the significance of these thoughts. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. We live like kings. We have reigning in our future as God’s people, as we will reign with him. But I do want to caution you about the danger of feel good and simply having warm fuzzies. Because there are some people who possess a lot of warm fuzzies about their faith who are on the precipice of eternal disaster.

And that’s not a good thing. To think all is well with you spiritually when all isn’t. Then I think immediately of the layout of sins in Revelation chapter 3, who said, I am rich and increased with goods and have eaten of nothing. Everything is wonderful. And yet Jesus says, unless you repent, I’m going to spew you out of my mouth. See, they felt great about where they were. We’re Christians. This is great. But there are some things that they had missed about what it really means to be a Christian. And so when I read this little piece, when I say I am a Christian, what does that mean to you? Or what does that really mean? In actuality? And I thought about maybe we could do some things ourselves with that thought.

1. I Am Compelled to Overcome

When you say, I’m a Christian, what does that mean? Let me tell you what it means to me. Perhaps you see this as well. When I say I am a Christian, I am saying, I am compelled to overcome. Now that may not be the place that you would start. But when I think about what I’ve just read in 2 Timothy chapter 2, where it says, if we have died with him, what does that mean? If we have died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. What do those words died and endure mean? How do they relate to being a Christian? See, a lot of people, when they want to talk about Christian, all they want is warm fuzzy.

But when I look at the words died and endure, I’m not seeing warm fuzzy there. I’m seeing some very real challenges that have to be dealt with. When I say I am a Christian, where does all of this begin? We die with him at the very beginning, don’t we? When we’re buried with him in baptism and we rise to walk in newness of life. What is that death about? It’s saying goodbye to an old man of sin. Does that happen easily? Conveniently. Is that warm fuzzies all the way along the way? Who does that easily? That’s challenging. You have to say, no, you have to repent. And what does that involve? Well, that involves godly sorrow, right? Godly sorrow that produces repentance. And so you have to say, I’m going a different direction.

I’m done with that old way of life. You die to sin. And there’s death along the way. We read that in Corinthians, right? Paul saying, I die daily in 1 Corinthians 15, 31. Death works in us, but life in you, I know you remember that from chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians. Death, we are constantly being delivered over to death. It wasn’t just an initial death in our baptism into Christ, it’s ongoing death. Sacrifice. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I have been crucified with Christ. Paul says in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. Was that warm fuzzies all the time? For Paul? I don’t think there were a lot of warm fuzzies with persecution. Conflicts. Troubles, strife, division among brethren, or being submerged in an all-out war against temptation.

If being a Christian was just a breeze, and I want to tell you, when people say today, I’m a Christian, that’s what they’re thinking. It’s just easy shmeasy street because Jesus did all the work. If it was just a stroll and a walk in the park, why would Paul call this a fight? Fight? Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 12. The realities of living as a Christian. When I say I am a Christian, let me tell you, the realities of living as a Christian involve some words and some concepts that most people think are unpleasant. Work. That’s why I said, wouldn’t it be nice if you just snap your fingers and have the image of Christ developed in your heart?

Doesn’t just happen like that, does it? It involves work and diligence and self-denial and sacrifice, mourning, godly sorrow that produces repentance, rebukes, preach the word, rebuke. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter 4, sometimes we need rebuking. Rebuking? Discipline? Those are not the favorite words of Americans in the dictionary. But those things are involved in the pursuit of being a Christian. And sometimes just our involvement in a local church can involve some mess. The daily care and concern for all the churches that Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 28. We’re getting to that in our study. And we see what’s going on in Corinth and all of the animosity that’s been raised among the church there toward the Apostle Paul. There were any warm fuzzies over that.

So when I say I am a Christian, I want people to know right at the very beginning what that means is.

No matter what that means. I will take up my cross for as long as I must carry it in whatever shape and size it happens to come in, and I will tote it, and I will drag it, and I will wrestle with it as long as I need to reach the goal.

That’s the reality of living as a Christian. I don’t know what the nature of your hardships and obstacles will all be, but I know you’re going to have some. And in those moments, a lot of people start to think, this must not be the real thing. Surely Christianity is not this way. And these passages that speak, if we have died with him, we shall live with him. If we endure, we shall reign with him. What does endure mean? So I want to tell you when I say I am a Christian, what that is saying is I am compelled to overcome. And that’s the word in the book of Revelation, over and over and over again. Christianity involves overcoming. Now, that’s the dose of reality that deals with all the warm fuzzies.

2. I Have Received Grace That Exceeds My Sin

But yes, despite all of those things that I’ve just said about the hardships and trials and difficulties and the hard days that we have sometimes as Christians, I am compelled to overcome. But when I say I am a Christian, that is also tempered with these inspiring and wonderful truths. When I say I am a Christian, I am saying that I have received grace that exceeds my sin and my guilt. You see, grace is that great motivating factor as we read this morning in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 9. It was the motivating factor to give liberally, even though they were saying, I don’t really want to. I could spend this money on other things. Life is hard, it’s expensive. I could spend this money on some other things, and they had lost their fervor in this great work.

And he said, you stop thinking about Jesus and the grace that he has shown towards you. You’ve lost sight of this. I want to tell you, this is what tempers. This is the motivation to overcome despite any obstacle. True knowledge of all that God has done is the key to persevering. 1 Peter chapter 1. If people don’t persevere, if they don’t overcome, if they give up, they’re not appreciating what God has done. They’ve lost sight of it. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13. Look at this. I said it involves diligence. Peter agrees with me. That’s a good thing. Therefore, gird your minds for laziness. Is that what that says? Therefore, gird your minds for action. Sorry, I can’t get action out of Christianity. And if I do, it’s not real Christianity.

Gird your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This should be the thing that keeps me going in my cross bearing for Jesus and in my pursuit of holiness. You see, the problem with the warm fuzzies I talked about is that they often lack balance. It’s got to be balanced. Sure, we need to revel in the wondrous love and grace of God. Marvel at his, Stephen. Marvel at his magnanimous character. And the reason why I use the word magnanimous, it’s 11 letters, if you didn’t know.

A big God with big generosity deserves a big word. And that’s what magnanimous means. Extremely generous.

Exalt in that. Rejoice and be thrilled in him. Thanks be to God, as we’ll study, hopefully, Wednesday night. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 15. And maybe a major contributor to a lack of reverence for God and little interest in his service and worship and little desire for holiness is a lost sense of wonder and a lost sense of shame for our misdeeds. And that’s one thing I did like about that little poem that person wrote when I say I am a Christian. There was a lot of emphasis on my misdeeds and my need for what God has done. Let me tell you my favorite illustration for grace. What is grace? How does that work? We’ve talked about grace some lately.

But I didn’t tell you about my little illustration that I heard a long time ago, and I love it. I think it’s an excellent illustration. This is how grace works. Okay, there’s this little ant right here. Young people, it’s there, trust me. There’s this little ant. And we’re going to build a fire around this ant in a circle. That ant can’t go anywhere. That’s us in our sin. We’re trapped, we’re lost. That little ant can’t go anywhere. But I’m going to help that help that ant escape. And I take a stick about this long, about yay long, and I stick it down in the middle of the circle where that ant is. And what can that ant do? The ant can get on the stick and walk to safety out of the fire.

Oh, but you know what I’m going to do, right? As the ant is walking up the stick, I’m going to shake it. Well, that’d be cruel. Our God isn’t like that. That’s not the way grace works. But you know what? That aunt can say? Oh, the salvation of God, and just stay there in the circle.

They’re still lost. They’ve got to walk up the stick. And when they get to the end of the stick and they’ve been saved, they say, look what I did. I saved myself. No, you didn’t. You were dependent upon the grace provider all the way along. But you have to walk to receive the benefits of his grace. I think that’s a marvelous illustration of how the grace of God works in our lives. And so, because grace has been extended to us, and as we walk his path to safety and eternal security, we depend upon Jesus as our high priest and Savior. You see, all the way along the way. Despite these obstacles that are there in the devil’s onslaught of temptation, where he’s trying to destroy our souls and to damage the way we think in a way that is not holy and good.

I mean, we have help and assistance along this path. The grace provider says, I ever live to intercede for you. I live for this. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25. And he is able to save forever those who draw near to him. And so that’s really what we’re encouraging people to do on a weekly basis. You need to stay close to him. You need to draw near to him. We have drawn near to him today.

I had to write this down in my outline. Magnify, O magnify. Third verse. He will bring us to his wondrous glory, to perfect fellowship with him. We will see his wonder. We will see his beauty. Cry aloud with gladness. Our joy is in him. Boy, that’s a marvelous verse that we have some. I’ll tell you, when things get rough, and this is why I preach the Conquering King sermon wherever I go and finish my meetings with that sermon. Because I’ll tell you, when things get rough, you need to start thinking about something else besides your troubles. You need to be thinking about Jesus, the conquering king sitting there on that throne. He is my high priest. He wants me right now to depend on him. To say, Lord, I need you.

3. I Submit to Him as My King

I have no answers here. I’m hurting. I’m frustrated. I’m discouraged. I’m upset. I’m in pain. I need you to lead me and guide me. And save me. You see, all of this is tempered by these wonderful thoughts. But I’ll tell you what else that involves. Let me get back to our thought on point number one. Let’s not stray too far from that. When I say I am a Christian, that only is true if I submit to him as my king. And that means obedience. God has some very real expectations of us. He is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 9. Those who pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power are those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, all this works together. To be a Christian, we have to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord. Why do you call me Lord? And do not do the things that I say. But it all works together. Ira Lynn, who preaches in Lindale, Texas, said a while back, those who are trained in grace are driven into the approval and pleasure of their Savior, as Isaac Watts wrote. And this is one of the great lines in the hymns that we sing. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, and my all. Great line from Isaac Watts. I’m glad we sing that from time to time. Love so amazing and so divine demands my soul, my life, and my all. And that’s what we’re talking about.

4. Join Me in My Salvation and My Rejoicing

It’s not some kind of drudging obedience. Okay, he’s the king, I’m the servant, I’ll do what he says. That’s not the nature of this. We’re compelled by his love. We’re compelled by his grace. We’re compelled by the fact that he is our high priest who loves us and cares for us, and we can go to him with all of our problems and concerns. I’m going to submit to him, and he has the answers for how to live. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Finally, when I say I am a Christian, I ask you to join me in my salvation and my rejoicing. These blessings being what they are, despite the challenges that I have to endure, these blessings being what they are, I don’t want to hoard all these for myself.

I want you to have them too. We’ve all had that experience of going on the road as my family was last week. But, you know, I know a lot about the churches in that part of the world. And so I went to a group in Texarkana that I knew something about and knew the preacher, and we went to a group in Conway, Arkansas that I’d held a meeting for them before. And so I knew what we were getting into. But sometimes you’re out on a trip somewhere and you worship with you don’t really know too much about this group. And we’ve all had this experience. We go in there and perhaps the people aren’t very friendly. Everything’s a little dull. People don’t smile too much. You ever had an impression like that among the Lord’s people?

You’ve ever been to a place where it was just, wow. That wasn’t too uplifting. What kind of an advertisement is that for Christianity? If there’s no joy in what we’re doing here, if there’s no smiling and friendliness and cheerfulness, oh, I realize you deal with some pain. I know some of you deal with some pain on a regular basis. I understand that. But if there is no joy and excitement and enthusiasm over what we’re doing here, what do you think that says to people who come in here? I don’t want that. They don’t have anything that I want. And it’s not just what we do in here, it’s how we approach living. The way we function out there. Does it say to other people? You know, that’s unusual.

That person seems to like life. They have something. Yeah, I know there’s some struggles. But Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. There’s a time for mourning. But we need not stay there too long. Because we have every reason to rejoice. And we’re not going to get people to buy into Christianity if they don’t see the difference that it’s made in our lives. We exalt. Run that reference this afternoon. How many times Paul uses the word exalt? What is that? That is excitement and triumph. The Olympics are going on. There’s going to be some people exalt in victory. Maybe not Michael Phelps, but there’s going to be some people exalting in victory. Like he did four years ago. But they don’t have anything on us.

They’ve worked for this. There’s been some discipline. There have been some hard days they didn’t want to go into the pool or run or whatever it is that they’re doing. They’re going to exalt in triumph, but it is nothing compared to what we have in Jesus Christ.

Don’t let the tough days cause you to forget the rejoice. And remember where Paul was when he wrote those words.

In prison. When he told those believers in Philippi to rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. I want you to, here’s what you got to do. You’ve got to think about what used to be, what now is, and what’s going to be. What used to be? I was in sin. But I was rescued. What now is? I am walking the highway of holiness. Boy, when we came out of Arkansas, I was never so glad to see an inner state in all my life. I at one point I said, I don’t need any more winding roads. Love inner states. Love them. We’re on the highway of holiness. Yeah, that means we have to conduct ourselves in a certain way, but it’s the super highway to bliss.

Conclusion

That’s where we are now. And we are clinging to hope. The answer for the soul. Don’t ever lose perspective. That’s what this lesson is about. Don’t ever lose perspective as a Christian. Well, let’s wrap all of this up this morning. What is our business as God’s people? Remember when Paul was talking to Agrippa? I know you know these things, he says. This has not been done in a corner. This hasn’t escaped your notice.

And Agrippa says, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. I’ve said many times, I don’t know how sincere he was when he said that. We have a song based on that, almost persuaded, almost but lost. You’ve got to be more than almost persuaded. What did Paul say? He said, I would to God that you would become altogether such as I am. Except for these chains. Are you an advertisement for Christianity like that? That you would to God that people would be all together as you are because of what you know that you possess in Jesus Christ. We are about the business of persuading souls to become Christians in every sense of that word. And that begins with dying with him so that you may live with him.

Do you need to make that choice and that decision today? We seem to encourage that response. Won’t you come while we stand and sing together?