What does it mean to be a Christian?
While many denominations will argue over the essential question of what it means to be a Christian, the Bible is not all that complicated when it comes to the crux of this matter. First let me say that I consider myself about 80% Catholic when it comes to Christian influences, but I belong to a non-denominational charismatic church. This will give you some background for what I may, or may not say for whatever that's worth.
When I use the expression "accepting Christ" I use it to describe the act of faith that produces an actual inward experience of conversion. Jesus told Nicodemus that an individual had to be "born again," and so we have this popular Christian expression. Some folks don't like the expression, since it is occasionally used in a derogatory fashion by ignorant individuals, but Jesus coined the phrase whether we like it or not. Jesus tells Nicodemus in the 3rd chapter of John's Gospel that this is a spiritual event, and it is like the wind, which produces visible results, although you can't actually see the essence of the wind. So it is with the Spirit. Paul used that phrase I mentioned previously "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" and I understand this process to be a very tangible inward experience.
What does it take to accept Christ, or to become a new creation as Paul mentions?
I. We must believe that we do indeed need salvation from our sins, and from our own wretched selfishness.
II. In accordance with Romans 10:8-10 (Douay Version)"But what saith the scripture? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart. This is the word of faith, which we preach. For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. " Paul says you have heard the word regarding Christ, and the faith is already within you. The Apostle then declares in simplicity if you make an open confession of belief in Jesus Christ with your mouth, and you believe in your heart that God the Father did indeed raise this same Jesus from the dead as the scriptures declare, then you will experience this salvation. Now I should clarify that this is not just an intellectual acceptance of some dogma, or creed, but it is a movement of faith. It is sad that many thousands of people recite the glorious Creed every day just as so many words in the air. The Creed has no value whatsoever unless the individual reciting it actually comes to the place that they lay hold of those statements with actual faith.
III. Bear with me Ross, since you are apparently have some connection to Catholicism; I don't want to be misunderstood. Martin Luther is in my mind a tragic hero of sorts in the history of Christianity. Catholics typically frown at the mention of Luther, and I can understand why, as the wound that was created in the Church because of Luther is still an open wound to this day. Nonetheless Luther had a revelation that needed to be brought forth, since the centuries of ritualistic approach to God had made the Truth difficult for the common man to discern. The Spirit of God opened Luther's eyes to the Apostle Paul's teaching concerning justification by faith, and the Church was simply not ready to deal with this doctrine. As clear as I have ever seen any doctrine in the Bible, I can see that Saint Paul does indeed teach that a man is "justified by faith," upon his acceptance of Christ. Paul doesn't teach that works have no place in Christianity as some would suppose, but he does teach that a man is justified before God on the basis of faith alone at that given moment that he believes and confesses Christ. What is justification? Once again Saint Paul "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2nd Corinthians 5:21. The Apostle teaches that Jesus was offered on our behalf, and was made in some incomprehensible way to be sin, so that we could be declared righteous before the Most Holy Judge of Heaven and Earth. The Apostle John says "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1st John 2:1,2.
God the Father has ordained that we should be declared "not guilty" even though we were guilty, and He can do this with justice since Jesus chose to bear the judgment we deserved. We are now justified because we believe that this sacrifice of Jesus was more than enough to meet the demands of justice before the Father. I believe I am justified right now at this time in my life, by faith in His atoning work! Not because I have done some good deed, or gave all my belongings to the poor, although these things are good, but they still will not merit salvation, or justification. If I can merit justification on my own, the "Christ died in vain." I believe that to accept Christ is to accept the forgiveness of God, and to believe that you stand before Him clean, and righteous. Not because you have any inherited goodness, but only because Jesus has suffered unjustly.
IV. Having said these things, I would like to make it clear that I certainly believe that salvation is in essence a two-fold experience. I believe that you are justified by faith, and saved when you take the steps mentioned earlier. After this the individual finds their self faced with living in a dark and corrupt world, and the demands of the Gospel call us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling," and I see this as a life long process. We should as the Catholic guitarist John Michael Talbot put it "work with human effort, responding to God's grace." We are called to do the works of Christ, and this is something that we must take upon our shoulders every day.
The following is just a prayer that you might want to look at Ross, and perhaps you will feel comfortable praying such in faith.
Holy Father I confess my sins in your sight.
In truth I have sinned against you and all men, in my thoughts, and in my words.
In the deeds that I have done, and in what I have failed to do.
I renounce these sins and I ask that you would wash me in the blood of Christ that I may be whiter than snow.
Cleanse me, and I shall be clean.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are God manifest in human flesh for my salvation and the salvation of all who will call upon your name.
Come into my life, into my heart, be my Saviour and my Lord.
I confess with my mouth that God our father has raised you from the dead, and You are alive in your Holy Church and within me!
I believe that your sacrifice Lord is more than enough to save me.
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
Come and fill my heart with your comfort and your burning Truth.
Open my eyes that I may see the Truth of the Living Word.
Fill me with Your Holy Presence and I shall be sustained.
I really believe Ross, that if you will pray such with a sincere heart and faith, for that matter if anyone who reads this will pray such they will be saved. Some times I ramble on a long time trying to get to the simplicity of something, but this prayer is in truth the essence of what it takes to be saved. I should add that (and I don't want this be viewed as an afterthought) I believe that everyone that accepts Christ into their heart in faith, that they should be baptized publicly. If an individual has been baptized as an infant, this is something that they have to make a judgment call about on their own.
When I use the expression "accepting Christ" I use it to describe the act of faith that produces an actual inward experience of conversion. Jesus told Nicodemus that an individual had to be "born again," and so we have this popular Christian expression. Some folks don't like the expression, since it is occasionally used in a derogatory fashion by ignorant individuals, but Jesus coined the phrase whether we like it or not. Jesus tells Nicodemus in the 3rd chapter of John's Gospel that this is a spiritual event, and it is like the wind, which produces visible results, although you can't actually see the essence of the wind. So it is with the Spirit. Paul used that phrase I mentioned previously "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" and I understand this process to be a very tangible inward experience.
What does it take to accept Christ, or to become a new creation as Paul mentions?
I. We must believe that we do indeed need salvation from our sins, and from our own wretched selfishness.
II. In accordance with Romans 10:8-10 (Douay Version)"But what saith the scripture? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart. This is the word of faith, which we preach. For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. " Paul says you have heard the word regarding Christ, and the faith is already within you. The Apostle then declares in simplicity if you make an open confession of belief in Jesus Christ with your mouth, and you believe in your heart that God the Father did indeed raise this same Jesus from the dead as the scriptures declare, then you will experience this salvation. Now I should clarify that this is not just an intellectual acceptance of some dogma, or creed, but it is a movement of faith. It is sad that many thousands of people recite the glorious Creed every day just as so many words in the air. The Creed has no value whatsoever unless the individual reciting it actually comes to the place that they lay hold of those statements with actual faith.
III. Bear with me Ross, since you are apparently have some connection to Catholicism; I don't want to be misunderstood. Martin Luther is in my mind a tragic hero of sorts in the history of Christianity. Catholics typically frown at the mention of Luther, and I can understand why, as the wound that was created in the Church because of Luther is still an open wound to this day. Nonetheless Luther had a revelation that needed to be brought forth, since the centuries of ritualistic approach to God had made the Truth difficult for the common man to discern. The Spirit of God opened Luther's eyes to the Apostle Paul's teaching concerning justification by faith, and the Church was simply not ready to deal with this doctrine. As clear as I have ever seen any doctrine in the Bible, I can see that Saint Paul does indeed teach that a man is "justified by faith," upon his acceptance of Christ. Paul doesn't teach that works have no place in Christianity as some would suppose, but he does teach that a man is justified before God on the basis of faith alone at that given moment that he believes and confesses Christ. What is justification? Once again Saint Paul "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2nd Corinthians 5:21. The Apostle teaches that Jesus was offered on our behalf, and was made in some incomprehensible way to be sin, so that we could be declared righteous before the Most Holy Judge of Heaven and Earth. The Apostle John says "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1st John 2:1,2.
God the Father has ordained that we should be declared "not guilty" even though we were guilty, and He can do this with justice since Jesus chose to bear the judgment we deserved. We are now justified because we believe that this sacrifice of Jesus was more than enough to meet the demands of justice before the Father. I believe I am justified right now at this time in my life, by faith in His atoning work! Not because I have done some good deed, or gave all my belongings to the poor, although these things are good, but they still will not merit salvation, or justification. If I can merit justification on my own, the "Christ died in vain." I believe that to accept Christ is to accept the forgiveness of God, and to believe that you stand before Him clean, and righteous. Not because you have any inherited goodness, but only because Jesus has suffered unjustly.
IV. Having said these things, I would like to make it clear that I certainly believe that salvation is in essence a two-fold experience. I believe that you are justified by faith, and saved when you take the steps mentioned earlier. After this the individual finds their self faced with living in a dark and corrupt world, and the demands of the Gospel call us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling," and I see this as a life long process. We should as the Catholic guitarist John Michael Talbot put it "work with human effort, responding to God's grace." We are called to do the works of Christ, and this is something that we must take upon our shoulders every day.
The following is just a prayer that you might want to look at Ross, and perhaps you will feel comfortable praying such in faith.
Holy Father I confess my sins in your sight.
In truth I have sinned against you and all men, in my thoughts, and in my words.
In the deeds that I have done, and in what I have failed to do.
I renounce these sins and I ask that you would wash me in the blood of Christ that I may be whiter than snow.
Cleanse me, and I shall be clean.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are God manifest in human flesh for my salvation and the salvation of all who will call upon your name.
Come into my life, into my heart, be my Saviour and my Lord.
I confess with my mouth that God our father has raised you from the dead, and You are alive in your Holy Church and within me!
I believe that your sacrifice Lord is more than enough to save me.
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
Come and fill my heart with your comfort and your burning Truth.
Open my eyes that I may see the Truth of the Living Word.
Fill me with Your Holy Presence and I shall be sustained.
I really believe Ross, that if you will pray such with a sincere heart and faith, for that matter if anyone who reads this will pray such they will be saved. Some times I ramble on a long time trying to get to the simplicity of something, but this prayer is in truth the essence of what it takes to be saved. I should add that (and I don't want this be viewed as an afterthought) I believe that everyone that accepts Christ into their heart in faith, that they should be baptized publicly. If an individual has been baptized as an infant, this is something that they have to make a judgment call about on their own.