What is a Christian?

To begin to answer this question we first of all need to dispel some popular misunderstandings of what makes a person a Christian.

• Being born in the United Kingdom doesn’t make you a Christian – neither does being born in an aircraft hangar makes you an aeroplane!

• Doing charitable work, good deeds doesn’t make you a Christian - It is good to help one another but that doesn’t make you a Christian.

• Going to church every week doesn’t make you a Christian – I go to the Supermarket every week but it doesn’t mean I’m a tin of baked beans!

• Believing in God doesn’t make you a Christian – many say they believe in God but their belief doesn’t affect the way they live their lives.

So then if none of these thing makes a person a Christian what does?

The Christian faith is not about blindly obeying a set or rules and regulations, but about living out our lives in a relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ.

But how do we enter into a relationship with Him?

First of all we need to acknowledge our sinfulness before God. This is difficult for us to do because deep down we all think that we are basically good people and that as long as we try to do our best then that will be good enough. But God in the Bible tells us what He requires of us:

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48.

You see the pass mark to get us into a right relationship with God and therefore be assured of heaven when we die is 100%, and yet none of us would claim to be perfect would we? Even if we get 99% we have still failed, no matter how good we might think we are, we are not good enough, we have missed the target and therefore we all come under the judgement of God.

“For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23

The Good News (The Christian Gospel) is that in Jesus Christ God has given us the opportunity to enter into a relationship with him here and now that will continue beyond the grave.

The Bible tells us that

“God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” Romans 5:8.

The Bible teaches us that God entered into the world in the form of a little baby named Jesus. This is what Christians celebrate at Christmas, God coming to dwell amongst men. Jesus grew up to be a man like any other man except that he was without sin, he was the perfect man

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one (Jesus Christ) who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” Hebrew 4:15

The result of our sinfulness is death. Death in this context means more than just the physical death that awaits all of us, death here also means estrangement and separation from God now in this present life and in the life to come.

“The wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23

So much for the bad news, here comes the Good News.

Yet why did Jesus, who is God in the flesh, come to live a perfect life on the earth as a man and to suffer a most cruel and painful death? The Bible tells us that He came to die upon a cross and take our punishment upon his shoulders, so that we might never have to know the punishment of God but that we might receive his forgiveness and love.

“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.” Isaiah 53:5