I write a lot about how to be a good Christian, but I don’t think that I’ve ever written anything about how to become a Christian. What lies at the beginning of this journey?
Beginning of Universe
The Bible says that ”in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God” (John 1:1). If you look at the world in general, what was in the beginning? How did the universe come to exist? In fact, everything did start with a word. Read Genesis 1 - it says that God created the earth with the power of His word. He spoke and everything He said came to be.
What was this Word and why does John start it with a capital letter? The end of verse 1 says, “and the Word was God”. Turns out, the Word - is one of the names of Jesus Chris. If you continue reading the Gospel of John you will see how beautifully the author describes Christ as the Word.
“He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:2-3)
The world that we know, the world that exists - the physical world started because of Jesus Christ. Life - our life, real life - is in Him. Jesus is the beginning of everything. Paul also says the same thing in Romans, “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom. 11:36).
This means that our Christianity also starts with Jesus. How does this happen? Even though all people are different and our lives differ a lot, there’s something similar in all our stories.
Believing in Jesus
At first, a person hears about Jesus. Some people are born and brought up in a Christian household and hear about God before they could understand it. Others live in a completely different environment and hear about Jesus from another source. I think that in the world (especially in civilized countries) the name of Christ is widely known. Everyone has heard a Bible story at least once, and many people have been to church. America is called a Christian country so I’m pretty sure that many people here believe that God exists and call themselves believers.
Is it enough to go to heaven - just to know that Christ exists? Unfortunately, it’s just one of the steps.
Believing in Jesus as God
When Jesus lived on earth, obviously, people didn’t have doubts about His existence. They followed Him, listened to Him, respected Him, and admired Him. But once Jesus asked His friends what people say about who He is, He received various responses. Some people saw Him as a prophet, some thought that He was a wise teacher, some considered Him a great and famous person… and these are not the only opinions. Throughout history this fact didn’t change: even other religions don’t deny Jesus’s existence, but people give Him different names and titles.
What answer did Jesus expect to hear?
“Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16)
A very important step to Christianity is believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Accepting His divine nature tells us a lot about ourselves too, but we’ll talk about it a little later.
Believing in Jesus as Savior
Why did Peter call Jesus a Christ? Have you ever wondered what this word means? First of all, it’s not a last name, despite a popular belief. Second of all, the word Christ is a translation of the word ”messiah” from ancient Greek which means “Anointed One”. Moreover, Messiah is someone who was promised by prophets to be sent by God to save the Israelites and then all humanity. There are a lot of prophecies about the messiah, and all of them came true in Jesus.
This means that Jesus‘s name tells us that He’s a Savior. Why do we need to be saved and from what? Again, let’s go back to the beginning of the world. A very important event happened there and we call it the Fall. Sin came into the lives of God’s creation, it poisoned the world and separated people from God. “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).
Since then all people on earth have a sinful nature, while God’s nature is holy. This draws a line between us, as wide as an abyss. Thankfully, there’s a bridge and its name is Jesus Christ. Being God, He came to earth as a human to be murdered and then come alive. It may sound complicated, but thanks to this death the Son of God took the punishment that people deserved for their sins. Thanks to His death we have a chance to be restored and reconcile with God.
All this is called the Gospel. Believing in the Gospel is one more step on the way to eternal life. Whether it’s the last one or not - we have yet to figure it out.
Being Born Again
In the Gospel of John, we can find a talk between Jesus and Nicodemus - a religious teacher of the law that knew a lot about God but little about the Gospel. In this talk, Jesus said that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The words about being “born again” confused Nicodemus since no one can be physically born for the second time. Jesus here was talking about being born spiritually.
Believing in all mentioned above - in Jesus as the Lord and Savior - and realizing our sinfulness leads us to action. When we call ourselves sinners, ask God to forgive our sins, and invite Jesus in our hearts, something happens. We call it being born again.
At this moment our spirit - an invisible and immortal part of our being, created by God - is being born. At this moment our connection with God is restored. At this moment we become His children!
Keeping with Repentance
Some denominations say that we also become holy and literally "invulnerable" to sin at this moment. This means that as soon as we’re born again we are guaranteed a place in heaven. If you think about it, this theory is unreasonable. The more you read the Bible, the more you see that it’s not enough to receive forgiveness, you also need to keep it.
Jesus said: "bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt. 3:8).
We need to prove our repentance by our actions, by our fruits. A born-again Christian acts in a certain way, and even though he doesn’t become sinless (because sinful nature doesn’t go anywhere), he stops living in sin. This is what Apostle Paul says: “We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:2)
If I needed to come up with two things that would include all biblical instructions about living a Christian life after being born again, this is what I would say.
Greatest Commandment
Jesus came up with the first thing when He was asked to name the main rule of the Christian life.
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:37-39)
All the laws and commandments can be summed up in two sentences. Love the Lord is the rule concerning our relationship with God. When people are born again, God calls them His children, and from this moment the adopted sons and daughters start building a relationship with their Father. This relationship results in prayer, reading the Bible, and growing spiritually.
Love your neighbor (or someone close to you) is a rule concerning our relationship with people around us. When Jesus comes to live in our hearts we start seeing people around us with new eyes. We learn how to build relationships based on love and respect, rather than sin and hatred. The result of this is going to church, participating in the life of the church, ministry, and better social interaction.
Of course, these commandments have a lot of details that people face further on their way. Achieving good results is a process, that only becomes perfect when you reach eternity.
Water Baptism
The second thing was mentioned by Apostle Peter during the first large-scale sermon after Jesus ascended to heaven. He said: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). According to his words, repentance should lead us to desire to receive water baptism. What does it mean?
This is what Evangelical Christian Faith Doctrine says:
"Water baptism is an outward act of obedience and faith, which is a symbol of the believer's identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection".
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we confess our faith in His death and resurrection and express it publicly through water baptism. The symbol of water baptism shows that when immersed in water a person “dies for sin” and “rises again for God”.
With our words and actions during water baptism, a person proves that he believes in Jesus’s divine nature, accepts Him as his Savior, and promises to serve Him pure and good consciousness. This also brings us back to the previous point and the fruit of repentance!
Holy Spirit
If you read the Bible verse that I quoted in the previous section you’ll see that it doesn’t end with water baptism. Peter says: “and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.
When Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection, He didn’t leave the people alone. In fifty days after His resurrection, the Holy Spirit came to earth and filled people with power to serve and preach the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is one of God’s persons who dwells on earth with us and lives in born-again Christians.
If you don’t go to church often, then probably you rarely hear about it, but in fact, the Holy Spirit is the main engine of its members. He gives us power and resources to fulfill our purpose and the Great Commission.
Great Commission
What kind of commission, you may ask? If you think about it, when you become a Christian it would be selfish to keep all the information and privileges to yourself. It would be wrong to leave the rest of the earth clueless about their sinfulness and a chance for salvation, right? Jesus also didn't "let things be" and give salvation to some people who find out about it. He "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth", this is what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:4. This is why we who believed and followed Him received an important assignment.
"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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20)
Now it's our job to give this knowledge to those who are still far from it. It's simple: when you learned it yourself - pass it to someone else! Jesus died for all and He accepts every one who believes. If you're His child - don't be silent but "pass the torch of salvation", so that when Jesus comes to take His church, there will be no people left!
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