What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?

Let’s look at MVPC’s mission statement: “To know Christ and make Him known.” As a church, we seek to know Christ. To be a Christian means that you seek to know Christ, that you profess Jesus Christ as your Savior. Let’s examine that more fully now.

In the beginning…

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit. That evening, the three astronauts aboard, Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon as seen from Apollo 8. From outer space the planet earth looks like a lavish Christmas tree ornament suspended without string in a vast indigo field. Stunning, and beyond comparison with any of the planets in our solar system. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis. They weren’t concerned about political correctness. They weren’t worried about possibly offending anyone. Even though they were literally in the midst of one of the greatest technological achievements in history, they were not embarrassed.

William Anders began with these words: "For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you." Then he began reading from Genesis 1:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Jim Lovell then continued:

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Finally, Frank Borman finished the reading:

And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear’: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

From the beginning…

But the Astronauts of Apollo 8 eventually had to come back to earth. And when they did they re-entered the earth’s dense and fetid atmosphere. From the very beginning, when the first human beings first began to measure it, they noticed something about this planet. It wasn’t just a few people who noticed it. Everybody noticed it. When they learned how to write, they tried to picture it in their poetry. It is considered the essential element in great storytelling. What is it?

Genesis 3 provides its quintessential plot:

The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ’You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (Genesis 3:2-5).

We still fall for that temptation…to become like God. And it has wreaked havoc on the earth. From the personal level to the interpersonal level. From brother to brother, as in the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4, to the whole human family “doing only what is right in their own eyes,” in the story of Noah (Genesis 6-9), to the place where the very structures man creates, as symbolized by the Tower of Babel in Genesis 10, are somehow, but inexorably imbued with what the Bible will eventually call it: sin!

Sin is…

The word “sin” has become almost a caricature of itself. People use it with a sly little wink or even a smirk. But it’s actually not funny. And it’s not just a religious construct. Of all the things revealed in the Bible the concept of sin is not something we needed to have revealed to us. We know about it naturally. We feel it personally. We see it experientially.

Sin is…You, You, You!

Take a look at the word “sin.”

At the center of every one of sin’s manifestations is the letter “I.”

A big “I.” The big “I.” “You shall be as gods” is the temptation for which all we Adams and Eves have fallen. “You shall be your own god,” says the serpent. “You will be the center,” responds our own heart. “It will be all about you. You will know more than anyone. You will be able to declare that God is dead, and in His place reign yourself.”

Sin is serious stuff

It’s made for quite a world hasn’t it? All bad? Thoroughly evil? No, of course not. I think of modern medicine. I think of the hosts of philanthropists who give generously to make people’s lives better. But the stubbornness of this middle letter in the word sin doesn’t go away easily. It creeps back into our hearts and shows itself as pride. It shows its gargoyle-like face in gossip, social exclusion, and when our guards are down or we’ve run out of patience, it shows itself in astonishingly hurtful ways. Sin is serious stuff! Realizing that sin is serious shouldn’t be that difficult. Admitting it is much more difficult. It’s relatively easy to sing with Bob Dylan, “When will they ever learn?” It’s another thing, and much more difficult to sing, “When will I ever learn?”

Which is why Jesus came as a baby

Which is why Jesus came from heaven on Christmas Eve as the Savior. The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10). The angel also said, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." You will find….a baby! The Messiah, the King, the Savior of the world, a baby? This baby in the manger?

Christ the Savior foretold

Six hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold His birth: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). And God’s people would have heard this description: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Christ the Savior fulfilled

How the Savior, this child, would actually save was and still is beyond imagination. Consider these two passages, one from Isaiah’s prophecies and the other from Matthew’s description of its fulfillment:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him (Matthew 27:27-31).

A few years after these things took place John wrote, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world (John 3:17). And in Romans 5:8-9 we read,

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Jesus the Savior

It’s tempting to think of Jesus the Savior from outer space. As an idea it satisfies the highest aspirations of the mind. As a necessity, it meets the most apparent needs of the world. But seeing Jesus as Savior from space is not what God intended. And it won’t have much or any affect on you, or through you to this broken world, until you, like the shepherds, come adore on bended knee.

Because, in God’s plan, Jesus is saving the world one person at a time. Don’t look for mass movements or mega trends. The first place to look is at the big “I” in the center of that word sin. And say, if I’m ever going to be saved from the effects of the stubborn, persistent “I,” always tripping me up in the center of my life, I’m going to need a Savior who will save me from that “I.” I need a Savior who will save me from my preoccupation with myself. I need a Savior who by His presence and power within me can, little by little, as I allow Him, overcome that “I” in the middle of that word.

Receiving Jesus as your Savior is essentially taking two steps. Step #1 is admitting the persistent “I” in the center of my life. Step #2 is inviting Jesus to replace that “I” with the “O” – the SON. You do that by faith in a simple but profound and life-transforming prayer, like the words of the Christmas Carol, “O come to my heart, Lord Jesus. There is room in my heart for You!”

Jesus, my Savior

Look again at SIN with that middle letter circled.

The circle surrounding “I” now stands for something. First of all it stands for zero. Zero is a symbol of my ego moving toward nothing. That circle around the “I” also stands for the letter “O.” With that letter “O” you now have the word “SON.” It is the Son of God that overcomes the “I” in the center of what the Bible calls Sin. That’s what it means to know Jesus as my Savior. The “I” is being replaced by the “O.” But it also looks like a battle between the “I” and the “O.” Which one will it be for me?

Good News and Bad News

In light of this, I have some good news and some bad news. First the bad news: that “I” is very stubborn. That “I” can be very obnoxious, not only to you but to others. That “I” is too powerful, too good at being “I.” You won’t overcome that “I” on your own! The Christian life is a life-long journey that begins with inviting Jesus into your life as Savior, and then wrestling with the “I” and the “O,” until the “O” begins to win. The apostle Paul expresses this relationship between the “I” and the “O” in his own life in Romans 7:21-25, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Jesus. He’s the Messiah. He’s the King. Most importantly, and most personally, He’s the Savior this world needs. He’s the Savior you need! He’s the Savior my own “I” needs. And, thank God, praise God, He’s the Savior we can receive: “For God so loved the world, that He gave is only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

From a sermon by Pastor Jim Rueb, “Christ: Foretold and Fulfilled, Jesus the Savior,” December 16, 2007.