One Thing “Christians” Need to Stop Saying
One of my favorite questions I get to ask people as a Church Planter/Pastor is how they came to faith in Christ. Many of these stories are so encouraging and I love to see the excitement of believers as they recount how they were once dead in their sin but God called them to new life through the good news of the Gospel. These stories are true miracles of redemption and they often tell how they were an enemy of God and they realized how destructive it was when the Spirit opened their eyes to the reality of their sin and to the grace and mercy of God through Christ.
However there are times when I ask this question and I get a response that troubles me. The person will make a statement something like this. “Well I have always been a Christian.” This is often along with telling of their Christian home and parents and along with church attendance. Don’t hear what I am not saying here, believing parents that put Christ first in the home and church participation are something that I always encourage but that does not make one a Christian. I can understand the origin of this statement and that the person is getting at but we need to be careful in making statements like this and here are a few thoughts on the topic.
To say that you have always been a Christian is just not true and is a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Gospel. The Bible tells us that we were enemies of God because of our sin (Romans 5:10, Romans 3:23, 1 Peter 2:10) and were separated from Christ (Ephesians 2:10). When we look at what the Bible tells us about our condition we clearly see that no one has been a Christian all their life. There is always a time when we were separated from Jesus. A time that we, because of our sin nature, were at odds with God. But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sin made us alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).
To say that one has always been a Christian also lends to easy believeism. What I mean by that is it tends to dumb down or minimize the Gospel. In order for someone to come to faith two realizations have to happen by the power of the Holy Spirit. The first is a person has to see and realize their hopeless and destructive nature because of sin. In other words they have to see that they are sinful and wretched and hopeless because of their sin and what they rightly deserve is God’s eternal wrath. The Holy Spirit is what does this through conviction (John 16:8).
The second is the Holy Spirit also reveals the grace and mercy of God through Christ. The Holy Spirit enables us to see that we have a hope not gained by our own doing but through the complete and fulfilled work of Jesus on the Cross. When someone realizes their hopelessness in and of themselves and then see their only certain hope in Jesus is when true faith is evident. It is not our works that reconciles us back to God, but the finished work of Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9).
I don’t believe a person can truly begin to grasp the magnitude of God’s grace through Christ until they begin to grasp the depth of their depravity. When we say we have always been a Christian we minimize our sin and minimize the great work Jesus has done on our behalf.
My encouragement to believers in sharing their faith is to share their past. Talk of their rebellion of God before knowing Jesus and the penalty that they deserved. But also talk of the unfathomable grace and mercy God gives through Jesus. Remember and tell of what God has saved you from and cherish and tell of what God has saved you to.
To say that one has always been a Christian also lends to easy believeism. What I mean by that is it tends to dumb down or minimize the Gospel. In order for someone to come to faith two realizations have to happen by the power of the Holy Spirit. The first is a person has to see and realize their hopeless and destructive nature because of sin. In other words they have to see that they are sinful and wretched and hopeless because of their sin and what they rightly deserve is God’s eternal wrath. The Holy Spirit is what does this through conviction (John 16:8).
The second is the Holy Spirit also reveals the grace and mercy of God through Christ. The Holy Spirit enables us to see that we have a hope not gained by our own doing but through the complete and fulfilled work of Jesus on the Cross. When someone realizes their hopelessness in and of themselves and then see their only certain hope in Jesus is when true faith is evident. It is not our works that reconciles us back to God, but the finished work of Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9).
I don’t believe a person can truly begin to grasp the magnitude of God’s grace through Christ until they begin to grasp the depth of their depravity. When we say we have always been a Christian we minimize our sin and minimize the great work Jesus has done on our behalf.
My encouragement to believers in sharing their faith is to share their past. Talk of their rebellion of God before knowing Jesus and the penalty that they deserved. But also talk of the unfathomable grace and mercy God gives through Jesus. Remember and tell of what God has saved you from and cherish and tell of what God has saved you to.
