Why I Am A Christian!

If you were to ask me earlier in my life why I am a Christian  I would have said:

“Well I took Jesus into my heart by praying the sinner’s prayer and thus accepted him as my Lord and Savior.”

This is exactly what I did as a ten year old in 1957 on commencement night of our Vacation Bible School. At the encouragement of my grandmother I stepped out of the pew and made my way down to the pastor and told him I wanted to accept Jesus as my Savior (I had been coached to say that by my grandmother).

This act of taking Jesus into one’s heart has become the gold standard of what it means to be a Christian for many today.

This is basic Christianity 101. It’s starter stuff. It all begins right here: Ask Jesus to come into your heart, say the sinner’s prayer, get baptized and the deal is sealed. Reservations for heaven are now made. You’re good to go.

Okay I really am not making light or poking fun of this understanding of what it means to be a Christian. It has worked for countless thousands of folks and it worked for me for most of my adult life. My experience was real even though I didn’t fully understand all the implications that it was to have on my life. I am thankful I had that experience and that I had a faithful grandmother who believed I needed Jesus in my heart.

I was taught that as my Savior Jesus promised me heaven when I died and as my Lord he expected me to live out my faith as best I would with the help of the Holy Spirit, although that part was not required to be a Christian.

Not a bad package deal is it? But something wasn’t quite right about it as I later discovered.

My perspective on why I am a Christian has dramatically changed as I have grown older and the big difference is a matter of focus—at least for me.

So if you were to ask me today why I am a Christian I might respond by saying:

“I am a Christian because I have made the decision to follow Jesus regardless of the costs.”

This answer is the result of my own recognition that Jesus never once instructed us to take him into our hearts. That’s not a Biblical understanding of what it means to be a Christian. 

Jesus's plan of salvation was described in two words: 

“Follow me.”

That’s pretty succinct wouldn’t you say?

No sinner’s prayer, no taking Jesus into my heart (I never quite knew what that meant anyway), but rather a conscious decision to follow Jesus out of the box. 

So how does one follow Jesus?

In the time that Jesus lived it was pretty cool to follow a Rabbi. To follow a Rabbi meant becoming his disciple or student. One learned everything the Rabbi taught and converted those teachings into a lifestyle. The Rabbi’s teachings became the foundation for the student’s core values.

Matthew concludes his Gospel with the words attributed to Jesus:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is Jesus’ call to salvation: 

“Become a disciple (lifelong student of Jesus), follow him through baptism (death to the old life and resurrection to a new life), and then make his teaching your life’s core values.”

I am a Christian not because I have recited some contrived sinner’s prayer (which is not even in the Bible), not because I invited Jesus into my heart (which is not a Biblical concept), and not because I have heaven locked up after I die (not in the Bible as well).

The point of the Christian life is not so much about life after death as much as it is about life before death.

I am a Christian because this life matters to me. I am a Christian because I am passionate about the life I am now living. I am a Christian because I take seriously the teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels and reflected in the other books of the New Testament.

So if you were to ask me why I am a Christian my answer would be different from what it was earlier in my life. I am a Christian because I have decided to follow Jesus and to make his teaching the foundation of my life’s core values.

I remember as a youngster being told that salvation was free. It didn’t cost anything to be saved. A simple prayer and voila you were in like flint. 

I now believe that that focus was mistaken: I didn’t get saved in order to go to heaven, I got saved in order to help bring God’s kingdom to earth now. Heaven will take care of itself although I now believe heaven is God’s restored creation and restored earth (Isaiah 11 and Revelation 21:1-4) and not some celestial place up there somewhere.

I never tell anyone who is contemplating becoming a Christian that salvation is easy or free. I would tell them that their decision to follow Jesus would be the most meaningful decision of their lives. It would be the best decision they would ever make. But it would be misleading and wrong to tell them it cost nothing.

I would warn them of the dangers, the risks involved, and how expensive it really is to follow Jesus. It requires death and resurrection in this life. It requires a total confession of Jesus as Lord (to the exclusion of all other lords including nationalism). It may even mean death or at least suffering. It requires a robust commitment to the teachings of Jesus. 

This is what it means to be a Christian today! 

This is how I would answer the question of why I am a Christian today.