Core - 2 (How to Be a Christian)

Core - 2

How to Be a Christian

Introduction

Everything in life can boil down to its core content. We intuitively understand that there is a core essence to all things. This is why we have the phrase that we use when we want to understand the basics of a message…”boil it down for me.” Recently some online folks decided to quite literally boil down Coco-Cola and Coke Zero to their basic essence, so that they could show the difference between the two. Here are the results.

[video clip of Coke boiling]

It is always helpful to know what is at the core of something. I grew up in a baseball family. My brother and I spent our free time playing the sport and we both played from age 4 up into college. My high school program was always a formidable contender for the state tournaments. Our Freshman season was spent focused on offense. Our Sophomore season was spent focused on defense. That way, by the time we made it to Varsity, we were well-rounded players.

I had a light-bulb moment during my sophomore year as we focused on defense. Nobody likes defense. Everybody likes to play offense. Glory is found at the plate, not catching fly balls. But Coach Hein helped us boil down baseball to its essence. What is baseball? It is a game of outs. Not a game of runs or hits, because only one can win a game. It’s a game of outs…first one to 27 wins. I have forever viewed the game differently.

TS - It is always helpful to know what is at the core of something. Our faith is no different. What does it mean to be a Christian? When you strip away all the moving parts and boil Christianity down to its core, what remains? Last week we started this series called Core with How to Become a Christian. Today we conclude the series with How to Be a Christian.

Jesus showed us the core of our faith when he taught what is known as the Great Commandment.

- 28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

At the core of Christianity, there is this dual focus…Love God and Love People. For our purposes today, we will boil down the faith of Christianity to these two ideas: Allegiance to Jesus and Alliance with Others. Let’s spend the rest of our time together looking at each of those.

ALLEGIANCE TO JESUS

This past May, fast-food giant Burger King launched an online ad campaign in Belgium in preparation for its new presence in the country. To get the promotion going, they set up a mock vote on their website [pic - bk website] allowing users to “vote” for their rightful king…their actual King Philippe, or Burger King. “Two Kings. One Crown. Who will rule?” [pic - two kings] If you chose to vote for King Philippe, it pops up a window that says, “Are you sure? He won’t make you fries.” Very clever.

Just one problem…the actual King of Belgium was not amused. The royal family reached out to Burger King to have the ad pulled, and it was. BK was right…there is only one crown, and it’s already being worn by the King.

From the very beginning moment of our faith, the church has grasped that the core of Christianity is this…there is only one King and his name is Jesus.

In , Jesus has already risen from the dead and meets personally with his closest followers. He gives them their instructions on taking the Gospel to the world, then he ascends into Heaven. In , about 50 days after that first Easter, about 120 Christians were meeting together during a Jewish festival known as Pentecost.

On that day the Holy Spirit falls from Heaven onto these believers. A large crowd has gathered around these Christians from all parts of the world. God enables these early Christian leaders to participate in a great miracle…they are divinely enabled to speak in languages they don’t personally know so they can share the Gospel with the international crowd that is present. Peter stands up to preach that day. Here is part of his sermon…

- 22 “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

Peter focuses on the work of Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection. He went to the cross and was killed, but God raised him from the dead. So this is the message of the Gospel…death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And because of this great work of Jesus on our behalf, Peter lands at his main point declaring the identity of Jesus:

- 36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

So because of the work of Jesus, he is declared to be Lord and Messiah. Lord means King. Messiah (Christ) refers back to his saving work, the promised deliverer for God’s people. So because of Jesus’ work on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, he is both Savior and King.

Therefore, the faith of Christianity completely revolves around Christ. He is the Savior. He is the Lord. So as we looked last week at How to Become a Christian, it makes perfect sense then that to become a Christian we believe the good news of Jesus. If Jesus is the Savior and the King, how could someone be saved if they didn’t believe that? It makes perfect sense that we repent of sins and turn to Jesus. He is the King. It makes sense we confess Jesus as Lord…because that’s what he is. There isn’t an option but to agree. It makes sense to be immersed into Christ, to unite our lives with Jesus…he is the Savior and King…what other option is there for salvation?

In his book titled The 100, astrophysicist Michael Hart asks a provocative question: Who are the 100 most influential people in history? Of all the human beings who have ever lived, who has had the deepest impact on our lives today? His list includes prominent historical figures like Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology. It also includes Louis Pasteur who ushered us into the realm of modern medicine. But the primary question remains…what did he do with Jesus?

Well, Jesus ranked a respectable #3 on the list. Hart ranked Jesus just behind Islam founder, Muhammed, and Sir Isaac Newton. Ironic side-note…Isaac Newton was a devout Christian and would be horrified to see he outranked Jesus.

This is the issue right here that every single person has to address: what do I do with Jesus? For the Christian, there isn’t a choice in the matter. Being a Christian simply means that Jesus gets ranked as #1. No debate, no resistance. He wins.

Peter will make this crystal clear later in Acts:

- 12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

Christianity is an allegiance to Jesus because he is Savior and Lord. Because of his sacrifice on the cross, forgiveness is found only in him. Because of his resurrection from the dead, eternal life is found only in him. And this allegiance has incredibly practical implications on our daily lives.

In his book, The Reason for God, Tim Keller writes of a woman at his church who had never heard the Gospel message before. She had only ever heard that God will only accept you if you are good enough. And she struggled with the concept of grace. Here is what she said:

“If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with "rights"—I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by grace—then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.”

This is where the allegiance to Jesus hits a rough patch. We like the Savior part of this…yes, Jesus loves us and has saved us! But we bristle sometimes at the Lord part. Because if Jesus is Lord, what does that make me?

Author Drew Dyck shares an interview he did with a young man who left Christianity to join the Wiccan religion. The man’s name is Morninghawk Apollo (it’s common for Wiccans to rename themselves…lost my respect right there Morninghawk). He said this:

"Ultimately why I left is that the Christian God demands that you submit to his will. In Wicca, it's just the other way around. Your will is paramount. We believe in gods and goddesses, but the deities we choose to serve are based on our wills."

Or maybe it’s better summed up by Comedian Louis C.K. “I have a lot of beliefs…And I live by none of them. That's just the way I am. They're just my beliefs. I just like believing them—I like that part. They're my little "believies." They make me feel good about who I am. But if they get in the way of a thing I want, I sure as heck just do what I want to do.”

If Jesus really is who he said he is, if Jesus really did give his life on the cross, if Jesus really did rise from the dead, if Jesus really is both Lord and Savior, then Jesus have every right to rule over every single aspect of my life.

- 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see

and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

Again, based on the work and identity of Jesus, he is first in everything. Or as the NIV puts it, “In everything he might have the supremacy.” Christianity is an allegiance to Jesus.

2. ALLIANCE WITH OTHERS

A landmark 72-year-long study conducted at Harvard tracked what really makes human beings happy. The study's longtime director, George Vaillant, when asked what has been learned, answered pointedly, "That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people."

In the last two decades, scientists have discovered that this truth is even wired into our brains. Researcher Daniel Goleman summarizes it this way: "The most fundamental revelation of the discipline of neurobiology is that we are wired to connect. Neuroscience has discovered that our brain's very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person."

God has wired us to connect. And since the beginning of the church, God’s people have understood this reality. In when Peter preaches his great sermon that launched the church, 3000 people respond and are baptized that day. So the NT church starts with a bang. Immediately they begin living out their Christian life. Here is what it looked like:

- 42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

Two of their immediate practices were designed to help them get to know Jesus better…devoted to apostle’s teaching (learning and growing) and prayer, but the other two seem opposite of that. They are completely relational. Fellowship and sharing meals together. So their faith was not only about getting to know Jesus better and growing in biblical knowledge. As important as that is, they included the relational side of the faith. Because it’s not either or, it’s both. Look at how this was lived out in Acts:

- 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

- 32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

How is it that they knew to do this right at the very beginning? Well, they hadn’t figured this out on their own. They got this directly from Jesus. On the night before the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter denied Jesus 3x. He was distraught and shaken that he would so quickly walk away from Jesus. So he goes back to fishing. But after Jesus rises from the dead, Jesus has this amazing restoration conversation with Peter. Do you love me?

Yes. 3x…same number as his denials. If you love me, then feed my sheep. So directly from Jesus…part of what it means to love him is to love his people. The faith of Christianity was never meant to lived out alone.

Tim Keller tells the story of early on in his ministry he was meeting with a teenage girl in his church. She was about 16 and was struggling with discouragement and depression. He met with her and tried to encourage her by reminding her that Jesus loves her. Here was her honest response:

"Yes, I know Jesus loves me, he saved me, he's going to take me to heaven—but what good is it when no boy at school will even look at me?”

She understood the love of Jesus from a distance. It was theoretical to her, a belief she was supposed to believe. But it meant nothing to her because she couldn’t feel love in a tangible way. We can relate to her. We can easily understand the love of Jesus very impersonally. It’s a belief, part of our faith. But it is our relationships with other people that help us feel that love tangibly.

This is why we continue to promote LifeGroups so often. Being in environments with other Christians helps us feel real love. Through genuine conversation, engaging bible study, prayer, hanging out, fun and laughter, the love of Jesus becomes more real to us as his love reaches us through them.

Eugene Peterson - "There can be no maturity in the spiritual life, no obedience in following Jesus, no wholeness in the Christian life, apart from an immersion in, and embrace of, community. I am not myself by myself.”

It’s not always easy to boil something down to its core essence. It is hard to strip away all the details, especially when they are important ones, to get to the core of something. Thankfully, the bible helps us do this with our faith. There are a lot of moving parts to Christianity. Worship, evangelism, mercy, serving, bible study, giving, growth, compassion, prayer, etc. But as Jesus was clear about, and as the NT church lived out, our faith comes down to this: We show allegiance to Jesus and form an alliance with others. Everything else is just details. This helps us not only determine the essential beliefs of the faith, it helps us know how to live.

Joni Eareckson Tada [pic] has long served as an inspiration to people who live with ongoing challenges. Due to a diving accident as a teenager, she has been living as a quadriplegic for over 50 years. She has reflected on this diving accident that changed her life. She says that when she was 14, she embraced Jesus as her Savior but confused the Christian life with the American dream.

“I was a Christian and would lose weight, get good grades, get voted captain of the hockey team, go to college, marry a wonderful man who made $250,000 a year, and we'd have 2.5 children. It was me focused: What can God do for me? I almost thought that I had done God a great big favor by accepting Jesus.”

But in April of 1967 she came home from a date on a Friday night and cried out to God…"Oh God … I'm staining your reputation by saying I'm a Christian, doing one thing Friday night and another Sunday morning. I'm a hypocrite …. I want you to change my life … Please do something in my life that will jerk it right side up because I'm making a mess of the Christian faith in my life and I don't want that. I want to glorify you.”

Three months later she had the diving accident that did exactly that. Immediately after her accident, in her anger and disappointment, she said to God, “You’ll never be trusted with another one of my prayers.” But after she struggled through her anguish and anger she said this: "I prayed one short prayer that changed my life: 'Oh God, if I can't die, show me how to live.' That was probably the most powerful prayer I had ever prayed.”

Isn’t that what we are after? Show me how to live. God, I want to get this right, to honor you, to live out my faith in the best way I know how. So God we show allegiance to Jesus and form an alliance with others. This is how you designed the faith to be lived out and we joyfully join in.

SONG - Invitation