[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], July 2020]
Are you a Christian? Well that depends on what you think that means, because being a Christian means different things to different people, and unfortunately it hasn’t always got anything to do with Jesus Christ. So what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
I don’t know what images the word ‘Christian’ conjures up for you. Perhaps it’s about being a good person, doing the right thing. Maybe it’s about hate campaigning, placard carrying, Trump supporting. I’ve got some friends who live in a Muslim country and they avoid using the term to identify themselves as Christian because for many in the Muslim world, ‘Christianity’ is synonymous with Hollywood, with dubious morality, promiscuity and loose living.
[00:52] The title Christian is only used a couple of times in the Bible. It was first applied to follows of Jesus in a place called Antioch and they’re not sure whether it was a good title or whether it was a bit derogatory. It was a way of identifying a group of people who were making an enormous difference, who were standing out in the crowd and they wanted to separate them from the other Jewish sects from which Christianity was born.
[01:28] I think we need to be aware that just because someone calls themself a Christian doesn’t actually mean that they are a follower of Jesus Christ. There’s so many different ways in which that word, that phrase, that name, that title can be interpreted. Towards the end of Jesus’s famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’ Jesus says “look, people might say ‘Lord, lord, you know I did all these things in your name, I performed miracles, I did spiritual things’” and Jesus says to him “I never knew you“. Just because people identify themselves as a follower of Jesus Christ doesn’t make it so.
[02:27] How do we explain people who seem to do all the right things and yet Jesus says to them “I never knew you“? Perhaps the clue is given to us from some famous words that Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in a place called Corinth and it’s found in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but have not love I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal”
Paul is saying ‘Look, you can be doing all the right things, you could be doing amazing spiritual things and yet if it hasn’t got love at its foundation, at the heart of it as its guiding principle, as its driving force that actually is going to grate, it’s going to hurt people’s ears, it’s going to be a clanging cymbal’ and nobody likes a clanging cymbal.
[03:29] If you’re asking the question “Am I a follower of Jesus Christ, Am I a Christian?” then you need to really question your motives for what you do. It is not enough to do all the actions that you would equate with being a Christian – why do you do what you do? Maybe for you it’s about bringing meaning to your life, maybe it’s about finding purpose, it’s about having a reason for living, maybe it’s about fulfilment, maybe it’s more about what you get out of it than it is about serving others. Perhaps for you your faith, your attendance of church, your actions are more of a hobby than about a life change – a heart change.
[04:25] What are your actions driven by – personal gain, self-fulfilment, accolades? A true follower of Jesus Christ is guided by the Holy Spirit, driven by love and a desire to serve the needs of others. In fact, Jesus said these words to his disciples “By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” so if you asking that question “Am I a Christian?” well, I’ll ask you the question “What is driving your actions?”
[1] YouTube link: Am I a Christian?
Bible references: 1 Corinthians 13 v1, John 13 v35
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
