unless one is born again . . . (Jn 3:3)
Father, I praise you that in Christ you have made me new. By your grace, please set my eyes on your glory, your kingdom, and the work you have done through Jesus Christ.
I want to begin talking about the Christian life – what it is and how to live it. And right away, I need to say two things. The first is that the Christian life encompasses everything: your work, your money, your relationships, your family, your sex life, how you use your time, what you read or what you watch on TV, how you speak, how you think about government, education or your neighbor, what your purpose in life is, how you think about human nature or your own sin, where your hope comes from, who you trust, how your pray . . . You get the idea. Now obviously, when I talk about the Christian life, I can’t talk about everything all at once, so over time, I plan on talking about many different topics – one at a time. And when I am done, there will be many more topics that I will not have addressed. That’s just reality.
The second thing I need to say about the Christian life is that it flows out of Christians. I do not mean that all Christians always live the life they are supposed to live, nor do I mean that nonChristians never do nice things. I mean simply that a Christian life requires a Christian. If you understand what a Christian life is, this statement is a bit obvious, but many need the reminder, for too many people think that living a Christian life is merely a matter of how you live. Therefore, before we get into how you live, I want to focus on something far more important.
When a man or woman becomes a Christian, a new life begins. This is why we call conversion a new birth. But if you listen to many Christians talk, you would get the impression that conversion is the end of the road. We pray for God to save Ella, and when He does, we offer some thanks and move on, as if God is now finished with Ella. This thinking is grossly shallow and produces grossly shallow Christians.
We follow popular portrayals of Christianity instead of Biblical ones. We consider conversion to be a matter of saying some words and/or changing some ugly behavior – drinking or swearing or whatever. We do not consider conversion to be . . . well . . . a conversion. In the New Testament, a conversion is precisely what the word means. A convert was one person but is now a new person. Conversion is radical. It changes who you are. In the New Testament, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature (II Cor 5:17), his old self has been crucified and he has been given a new life in Christ (Rm 6:1-11, Gal 2:20, Col 3:1-4).
Conversion goes deeper than we think. It changes not just external words or deeds but cuts to the heart. It changes your very soul. Conversion makes a new man or a new woman. And when it does so, that man or woman begins a new life. Conversion does not change merely what you do. It changes who you are. And who you are is more important than what you do. God wants you, not just your works.
This is how Christianity operates. It does not focus on improving behavior. God wants to change your heart and soul and not just make you polite and nice. Christianity works from the inside out. God knows that when He changes you, your behavior will follow. When God gets the heart He gets everything, and God is quite insistent upon having everything.
We do not like this sort of talk. It is much easier to talk about social justice or sexual purity or reading the Bible. It is much easier to be a nice, kind person and claim that we are part of God’s kingdom simply because we are nice. That’s how most religions operate, and it is how much of the secular world thinks religion should operate. But it is not Christian. In addition, we don’t like to talk of God insisting upon having everything because then we are not the center of the universe; and if there is one thing we humans want, it is to be at the center of the universe.
Therefore, if anyone wishes to live the Christian life, he must not merely change his behavior. He must change his identity. The Christian life is not merely an old person doing new deeds. It is a new person. With a new heart. But you and I cannot change who we are any more than a sow can become a woman. In order for our identity to change, we need power from the outside. The Bible calls this power “grace.”
A Christian, thus, is someone whom God has changed. As we begin to talk about living a godly life, please understand that the foundation for such a life is a godly heart, and a godly heart does not exist until Christ changes it and dwells in it. You cannot have a Christian life without Christ.
For the Christian, this means that living a godly life is not a matter of gritting your teeth and grinding out good deeds. You know: “I will share my faith. I will stay away from sexual images. I will give more to the poor. This is because a Christian life is not primarily a matter of what you do. It certainly includes what you do, but it is so much more. It involves who you are.
Thus, for the Christian, the process of living the Christian life does not begin by focusing on being more patient or less angry. It begins by focusing on Christ. And being His. You cannot live a Christian life by focusing primarily on the life. Pursue patience and you will fail. Pursue a pure mind and you will fail. But pursue Christ and He makes you new. It is Christ who works patience and purity in you. But He doesn’t do this all at once. He does it through struggle, through forcing you to trust Him in the crucible of life. He wants you to see Him and to see who He has made you to be. If we do not believe who He is or who He has made us to be, then we will advance little in the Christian life. The real advances in the Christian life come by grace through Christ. And they come through our holding onto the person and work of Christ.
This holding onto Christ comes by faith. Therefore, the foundational work in a Christian life involves a real change in who we are. It involves Christ making us a new person. It then involves faith in the Savior who has made us new and faith in what He says about who we now are. We believe we are new or we don’t. If we don’t, then concerning this new life, we remain stuck in the garage. And you never get anywhere by staying in the garage.
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