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Over the next few blog posts, we are going to talk about things that don't make a person a Christian.
To some people these will be painfully obvious. To others - I'm sad to say - there will be a sense of, "Yeah, that's true...glad I'm not one of 'those people' who think that" when in reality that person is exactly who I am speaking about. But there will also be - I hope - people who read the posts and think deeply. I have faith that the Holy Spirit can work even through the blogosphere and lovingly challenge people to think about if they are truly in a relationship with Jesus.
So why make these kinds of posts?
Because the Bible tells us to examine ourselves.
Here are two quick examples. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says it in a pretty straight-forward way: "Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." Paul wanted people to think and know if they were truly Christian. Here's another one and perhaps the scariest passage in all the Bible. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus tells us that there will be people who thought, on the basis of the religious things they did (like prophesying, casting out demons, and performing miracles) that they were in. But to some of these people Jesus will say, "Depart from Me. I never knew you." It goes without saying - no one wants to be on that side of the conversation with Jesus.
Testing ourselves. Examining ourselves to see if we are truly followers of Christ is a good and vital thing to do. Now let's get to the title of this blog.
Believing in Jesus does not make you a Christian. It might be ONE of the signs that you are a Christian, but belief in Jesus alone doesn't make a person - to use the biblical language - "born again" (John 3). And how do I know this? James 2:19 tells it to us clearly when he says this:
You believe that there is one God? Good.
Even the demons believe that - and shudder.
And I love the way James describes the response of the demons - they shudder. It's as if he is saying, "At least they respond and act out in SOME WAY. At least they SHOW that their belief in God makes some difference in how they live - even if it's shuddering at their future destruction."
And we know this to be true just by looking at the stats from Barna (click HERE for some of their research). Even though atheism has risen significantly in the past few decades, still the vast majority of people in America say they believe in God.
But self-identification doesn't equal 'therefore it is true.'
As much as people might want to press at the notion of truth to mold it into whatever seems right to the individual, me simply stating something about how I view myself doesn't make it true. I can tell you until I am blue in the face that I am an astronaut, but I am not, no matter how much I say it.
So saying I believe in God doesn't make me a Christian just like saying I'm an astronaut means my life story is the basis for the movie Interstellar.
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"But Tim" some might protest "It's one thing to say, 'I believe in God' and it's totally different when I a person says he believes in Jesus." I agree that it MAY be different, but it doesn't mean that person is a Christian. Consider what Jesus says in Luke 9:59-62. Jesus gives two examples of people who don't just SAY they believe but they are even willing to GO with Him, to truly follow Him...just after they take care of a few things. I mean come on, Jesus - they just have to tie up a few loose ends - they MUST be a great picture of what it means to believe in You and follow You.
Jesus response is plain: You must be all in. Our belief in Him must change how we live. If I say I believe in Him but it doesn't change me, then I believe in the concept of Him, but I don't trust Him to lead me as my Great Shepherd. I can believe that a bridge can hold my car, but if I am unwilling to drive across it my belief is not impacting my actions, and so one can fairly ask me, "Do you really even believe that the bridge will work?"
What does saving faith look like?
That's coming down the line.
If you believe in Jesus you MAY be a Christian. But maybe not.
For now let's be clear - believing in Jesus doesn't make you a Christian.
-tC
