[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], July 2020]
If I’m saved by grace and not by works, can I get away with doing nothing? Once I’m baptised is that it – my free pass to an eternity in heaven?
Perhaps this highlights the biggest difference between being a Christian and being a follower of Jesus.
Martin Luther, the very famous 16th century German priest, wrote “Love God and sin boldly”. This was based on his rediscovery of the fact that we are not saved by what we do. No, instead we’re saved by grace, by the gift of God of Jesus dying on the cross for us. We cannot earn our way into heaven. We can’t pay for our salvation. It’s only through our faith in Jesus Christ that he says ‘sin boldly’ because he believed that there’s nothing that we can do that will lose us that salvation; there’s nothing that will remove the power of the cross as demonstrated in Jesus Christ.
[01:05] That’s great, but there’s also a real danger in that we can believe that somehow because we’ve made a profession of faith, that because we have met the minimum requirements of getting into heaven and that’s enough to save us. Perhaps we can be guilty of being a card carrying Christian. You know, if someone knocks on your door and says “Do you know Jesus?” you say “Don’t worry, I’m fine”. You get out your wallet, you get out the card that says “Look, I was baptized in 1952” or “Don’t worry, I’ve been going to church every Sunday for the last 20 years” or “I’m okay, thank you. I’m English and I was baptized into the Church of England. Therefore I am safe and secure”. It’s almost as if being a Christian can be ‘What’s the least I can do to make sure I have my place in heaven?’
[02:08] James the brother of Jesus was perhaps responding to this idea when he wrote his letter to the early church and he said these words in James chapter 2 verse 14
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds. Can such faith save them?”
In other words, has your faith got any power and can it really save you if it’s not demonstrated in what you do and how you live your life? In fact, he goes on to say in verse 24 “faith without deeds is dead”. In other words, it has no power, it has no substance, it is dead and it cannot give you life.
[03:07] There’s a huge difference between being a Christian and being a follower of Jesus Christ. Being a Christian is a label; it seems to suggest that you’ve met the minimum requirements to be part of an exclusive group, a bit like National Trust membership. You know, I pay my annual subscription and it gives me access to all those properties. Perhaps you feel ‘what I’ve done is all I need to do. I’ve paid my subscription and therefore I’ve got access to heaven’ but being a follower of Jesus Christ is not a label. It suggests a way of living, a way of life. It’s saying ‘Jesus is my example, Jesus is the one I am following, Jesus is the one I’m trying to be like and Jesus is the one who’s in charge of my life’.
[04:04] When Jesus was talking about following him he said “Either you are in or you’re out, either you’re a follower of me or you’re not, either you are for me or you are against me” There’s no sitting on the fence, there’s no indecision -“Well, I’m like, yeah, a follower of Jesus Christ but…”, there’s none of that half-heartedness. In fact, when John recorded the words of Jesus to the church in Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3, Jesus said
“look, you’re not one thing or the other, you’re not hot and you’re not cold, you’re lukewarm and I’m going to spit you out”
which is actually a polite translation of what Jesus said because Jesus said “I’m going to vomit you out”.
[04:51] There is no such thing as a lukewarm follower of Jesus Christ, there is no such thing as a Christian who does the minimum because, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are all in. Jesus is the one in charge of your life and he is the one that you are trying to be like. Faith without actions is not faith at all.
[1] YouTube link: Am I A Christian? Part 2
Bible references: Matthew 25
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
