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About This Product
An excellent introduction to the Christian life, written for young people.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. What Is a Christian?
3. Does God Really Care About Me?
4. Christian Worship
5. Doctrine: Is It Important?
6. Christian Fellowship
7. Servants
8. Personal Relationships
9. Christian and the World, The
10. Hope and Trials
11. Glossary
Introduction
This book is addressed to Christians; it is addressed to those who can confidentially say that Jesus Christ is both their Savior and Lord. For some, salvation came early in life, and for others, much later. Regardless as to when we were saved, at some point we have probably asked the question: What does it mean to be a Christian? What is God’s plan for me? Or maybe even: Is God really that interested in me?
As we look around us in Christendom, it is easy to get confused. There are those who preach a social gospel, where the highest calling of the Christian is to help the disadvantaged. Others follow a so-called prosperity gospel, believing that earthly riches are the evidence of faithful service. Perhaps less so today, but certainly in the past, men and women have locked themselves away in a quest for holiness through self-denial and austerity. Is this what God wants from me? Clearly, there is a very broad spectrum of walks that fall within the sphere of the Christian profession. I have no desire to condemn others, but rather, to exercise both the writer and reader alike as to practical Christian conduct according to Biblical principles.
When the Apostle John wrote his three letters (First, Second, and Third John), there was already much confusion in Christendom. People were searching for new light and had come up with some sophisticated and novel ideas—unfortunately, they were quite false. In meeting that challenge, John pointed his readers back to that which was from the beginning, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the One of whom he could say: “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). Similarly, we must also go back to that which was given at the beginning.
In answering the questions under consideration, we must let Scripture speak to our conscience—even when we don’t like what it has to say. We cannot, and must not, let our ideas be formed by what we see in Christendom around us. “Everyone was doing it” will, quite simply, be an insufficient answer when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10).
In some ways the answer to the question, What does it mean to be a Christian? is very simple: “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). On the other hand, the consequences are far reaching, addressing itself to every aspect of our life. In no way do I desire to trivialize an honest query. We also need to be careful not to create a formula. There is nothing more human than to desire a list of criteria to strive for; it gives us something to measure ourselves by, and having achieved a degree of success we can then boast in our superiority. As we look into this subject there will be topics that we may find uninteresting; other subjects will be more captivating. Naturally speaking, we like things that occupy me with me. Tell me to “Set [my] affection on things above” (Col. 3:2) and my inclination is to say: That’s too spiritual; give me something practical to do. If we really want to know what it means to be a Christian, if we really want to grow spiritually, then we must look to Christ no matter how little it makes of me.
As Christians of the modern era we like to be spoon fed. This is not a new problem. The Apostle Paul wrote: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe” (Heb. 5:12-13). Nonetheless, in this age of mobile computing, visual media, and instant gratification, we have become especially lazy. Do we really want to spend the rest of our lives crying for our next meal? At some point we must grow up; we need to recognize that continually asking for our wants to be met, whether in natural things or spiritual, is immature.
For a subject that touches upon every aspect of life, one cannot expect all to be covered in a book such as this. Ultimately, we must blow the dust off our Bibles and read and mediate upon it for ourselves. In fact, no matter what I write, the Word of God is our first source and final authority. Compare everything diligently against the Word of God. Look up every verse and read the context. “They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).