Are you a Christian?

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The word Christian has lost its meaning nowadays. It has not lost its meaning among the
unbelievers alone but also believers. It's become a cliche and therefore if someone says so and so is a Christian, the first thought that drops into the minds of majority of unbelievers and some believers is church goers . Personally, I don't blame the unbelievers for this error because they've not believed in Christ and therefore might have not read the scriptures before (not saying all unbelievers are ignorant in scripture) but I blame the believers who do not still have a firm understanding of what the word means. Understanding the meaning of this word will . change the way we act as Christians.It can drive us to seek God to become who He wants us to be. *It can also encourage us to live in obedience to His word. I'm therefore going to expand the meaning of these three points I have drawn above. But before I start to make expositions from the scriptures to make it clear who a Christian is, I would like to give a biblical explanation from the scriptures of which I think is going to be of a great importance to us as we proceed.

Explanation

Christian is someone who believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for his or her salvation and as result have his or her life changed to serve as a witness to the world, the power in the gospel. This Christian has a radiant life that makes it clear to people the God whom he follows.

In case you think I made that up, let's see from the scripture the first time that the word was used.
And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. (Acts 11:26, NASB)
With that text drawn from the bible, let's observe then that

1. The Christians believed in the gospel.

This is the first thing that every Christian possesses- salvation. There's no Christian who has not received the gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is what gives someone the chance to be labeled as a christian. These people in Antioch had already believed in the gospel and were scattered because of the persecution. Though these people were under persecution, they did not stop spreading the gospel that had made them who they were but rather continued with the zeal Christ had put in them by the Holy Spirit. So it's not enough to say that these people only believed the gospel, but rather lived the gospel. This belief in the gospel of Jesus leads to my second point which says

2. Christians live a Christ-like life

As I have said earlier, Christians are not people who just have the name as a title on them but people who live a life that's worthy to be called Christian. Some people are labeled as Christians but have different lifestyles as compared to what the scriptures say about Christian living. In a picturesque description, it is like a salt in a container with the label sugar. How is someone going to know that there's salt in it? The immediate thought that comes into the mind of a normal person is that there's sugar in a sugar labeled container. I don't expect someone to come to my kitchen and use sugar to prepare a Ghanaian soup or use salt to prepare a tea. In the same way, it's unthinkable to expect a person labeled christian to live as an unbeliever.

3. Others saw this Christ-like features in them

There's a contemporary way of thinking among even so-called Christians which goes like this you don't know what's in my heart . It is unfathomable to me sometimes the confidence with which people say that. But biblical Christianity is not a life solely lived in the heart . It's alive lived from the heart. It's a life lived from the inside out. It's not a life lived in the closet. It's not lived in the bedroom. No. It's lived everywhere. Ah how unthinkable it is to divorce the heart from deeds. Jesus said
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." (Mark 7:21-23, NASB). It's therefore clear that who you are without is a reflection of who you are within. The Christian lives a Christ-like life because God has already changed the heart of stone to become a heart of flesh. That's who the Christian is. He's not like a chameleon who has multi colors that blend perfectly when the need arrives. No. The Christian is always a Christian. I don't know a fake Christian. It's either one is a Christian or not. Similarly there is no true Christian.

If you're not living a new life in Christ, then it might be that you're not a Christian at all. Or maybe you've being deceived by those who preach a type Christianity that's lived in the closet. Any of these requires repentance and belief. Ask the Lord to help your unbelief. And surrender your life for Him to change you from the inside out.

God bless you for following today's message