What It Means To Be A Christian

What it means to be a Christian.

John 10:27, 28
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me and I
give unto them eternal life and they will never perish. Neither will any
man pluck them out of my hand."

This verse tells us some wonderful things of what it means to be a
Christian. First it tells of the privileges we have; second the
responsibilities that accompany these privileges, third, the security
that we enjoy, and finally, the reward that awaits those who are
faithful.

If you have never become a follower of Jesus, none of these apply to
you. So to begin let me share with you how you can become one of
Christ's followers. First you must come face-to-face with that which
would prevent you from becoming His follower. There is the problem that
we have with sin. Sin is something we would rather not talk about but
with the help of the Holy Spirit you can have the courage to face and
the strength to turn away from it. If you ignore it or excuse it you
will remain separated from the love of God, and your life will remain
hopeless and without meaning.

It is not difficult to become a Christian. John 1: 12, says "that as
many as received him to them He gave the authority to become a child of
God, even to them who believe on His Name." Another verse that
describes how you can become a Christian is found in Romans10:13.
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." That means to cry out to Him and the promise is that He will
save you. These are good verses because they point out the need to have
a starting point. How else can you be sure that you have eternal life
unless you can recall some starting point in your Christian commitment?

When you receive Christ you will experience a joy and peace which comes
from knowing that your sins are pardoned and removed from you forever.
Psalm 103 tells us that "He has not dealt with us after our sins nor
rewarded us according to our iniquity. For as the heaven is high above
the earth. So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as
the east is from the west, so far has He removed our iniquities from
us." Peace and joy come from realizing God's great love toward
us. That is the beginning point of discovering the privileges of being
one of Christ's Sheep.

I. The Privilege that We Have

A. We are His sheep.

We are called His sheep because the relationship of the Christian to
Christ is compared to the sheep and the shepherd. We become His sheep
through the choice we make to follow Him. Because of this we are his
chosen ones and enjoy certain privileges. We enjoy His protection, His
guidance, His provision for our needs and most of all, His continual
presence even amid difficult circumstances.

B. We hear His voice.

How do we hear the voice of the shepherd? The sheep hear and recognize
His voice because they spend time with Him and can tell the true
shepherd from the false. The way the Christian hears God's voice is
first, through spending time in reading and understanding God's
word. A second way that God speaks to us is through circumstances. These
circumstances are always in harmony with the clear teaching of God's
word. We measure truth by God's word and our circumstances must not
contradict scripture. A third way we hear the voice of God is through
the faithful preaching and teaching of God's word. Preachers are
God's instruments to declare His truth. The more time we spend in
understanding God's word, the greater will be our ability to hear
Him Speak.

C. He knows us.

Do you ever think, because there are so many other Christians in the
world, who do more significant things than you, that God doesn't
want you to bother Him? Jesus said to His disciples that even the hairs
of their head are numbered. We are told also that He calls all of His
sheep by name. It is hard for us to imagine a great and powerful God who
is also personal. When we call on Him in prayer our Shepherd takes the
time to listen and to answer according to our need. That is why we
cannot help to praise Him, because He knows our innermost heart and
responds when we need Him most.

II. The Responsibilities That Accompany Privilege.

The responsibilities are mentioned by the Words "They follow
me." Some people think that following Jesus means that they believe
His teachings. Others think that following Jesus means to have some once
for all experience of salvation without having to do anything about my
present behavior. First following Jesus means that we have taken the
time to count the cost of following Him and regardless of whatever may
happen I am committed to being faithful even if it means death. You may
wonder why I use the word "Faithful" so often. It is because it
is not stressed enough in explaining true commitment to be His follower.
It means seeing what He wants me to see, hearing what He wants me to
hear, speaking what He wants me to speak, and behaving the way that He
wants me to live. The three would be follower turned back from following
Christ because to follow Him would crimp their lifestyles. The
responsibility of being a follower of Jesus is a serious one. It should
be entered with the purpose of being faithful until He returns .Being a
follower of Christ is not a one-time commitment, but a daily exercise in
faithfulness.

III. The Security That We Enjoy

The promise to His sheep is that they will have Eternal Life and shall
never perish. This promise is significant because it speaks of something
that will never change. It also speaks of a quality of life that takes
place once that commitment to follow Him begins. When we become His
sheep a new nature occurs. Truth begins to transform the way we think
and our hunger for God begins to grow. God's promise is "They
shall never perish". That means that they are not in danger of
becoming lost again. John 5:24 further confirms this by stating that
they shall not come into condemnation but are passed from death unto
life.

IV. The Reward That Awaits Us.

No Man shall pluck them out of my hand. In the presence of God we are
protected. In Revelation chapter 21 and 22 we see the many benefits
pertaining to the reward of Following Jesus. The words,
"no-more" describe that which we worry about here that will not
be in Heaven. .No more temple, no more death, no more sorrow, no more
crying, no more separation, no more pain, no more sin, no more night, no
more sun, and no more time. That which we hold to be so precious here
will be no more in Heaven, the reward of the Faithful.

In light of all that we have said, we would like to give you the
opportunity to be numbered with Christ's followers. There has to be
a beginning time in following Christ and becoming His sheep. The choice
to follow Christ is the beginning of a life filled with Joy and purpose
for living.

Here is a prayer that you can pray in order to make this commitment.

"Lord Jesus, I recognize the emptiness of my life without you, and
the sin in my life that has kept me from being what you created me to
be. Having understood what it means to be your follower, I ask you to
cleanse me from sin and make me your child. I claim your promise that if
I receive you by invitation into my life I shall be your child. Make me
your child today but most of all help me to remain faithful to you. In
Jesus name I pray.