The Essence of Christianity

What is the essence of being a follower of Christ? What does it really mean to be a Christian? Do you know?

By asking, I’m not asking about your theological beliefs. The process of becoming a Christian is spelled out clearly in Scripture. We are saved by grace through faith. But you can’t tell that by looking at anyone. You don’t wear your faith like a button on your lapel. So what actions or attitudes express the essence of a follower of Christ?

Here are some possibilities: I used to think it was being a church-goer. People who went to church Sunday mornings must be Christians, why else would they go? Yet, is that true? Billy Graham has claimed that as many as 80% of the people sitting in church on a Sunday are not born again. Maybe they come out of duty, or to ease their guilty conscience. Maybe it’s curiosity, or so people will think they are moral. So church attendance isn’t enough

Well, maybe what makes a Christian is being an officer in a church. But, No! I’ve noticed that, too often, especially in little churches, the major qualification is longevity, or sometimes personal wealth or influence. The position is too often used as a platform for personal power instead of a platform for service.

Well, then, maybe it’s personal piety. I remember that sometime about the time I was turning into a teenager, the Sunday School teachers stopped telling Bible stories and started teaching morals. Living the Christian life was stressed, and you did that by following all the rules taught to the tune of a little ditty:
“We don’t drink and we don’t chew,
And we don’t run with girls what do.”
I grew up in a really conservative church, so I remember Sunday School teachers who would say things like, “Dancing stimulates the lust of the flesh.” And we wouldn’t want our flesh stimulated

Or they’d say things like, “How would like the Lord to return and catch you in a theater?” That was scary, since my parents took me to see Disney movies like Old Yeller and Swiss Family Robinson, and it always made me nervous. Not so much nervous about being caught, as nervous about missing the rest of the movie.

I’ve heard pastors even preach you shouldn’t go to a theater to watch a Billy Graham film (Now, it would be a Kendrick film like Courageous or Fireproof) because you’d be supporting a theater that showed R-rated films on other nights.

Now, certainly, we should seriously be concerned about our behavior. There are movies and types of dancing Christians shouldn’t be involved in. And there are lots of substances a Christian shouldn’t ingest or smoke. Yet, there are many people who do none of the so-called questionable things, yet they are far from Christian. Muslims, after all, don’t drink and they exhibit the extreme in modesty.

If living by a set of rules was the extent of it, the Pharisees would have been the best of the best, but they received nothing but condemnation from Jesus because it was all external with them.

Well, what about correct doctrine? Maybe being a Christian is simply a matter of believing the “right stuff.” Yet, much of the church gives intellectual assent to right doctrine. Most liberal churches still have creeds and statements of faith that are right down the line. They revere them, but ignore them. But that isn’t the issue. James 2:19 says: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” If right doctrine was enough, Satan would be the best of us all. But it isn’t enough

What then is? What really is the essence of being a true Christian? The answer is surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ - total, unreserved surrender to the Lord Jesus. Luke 9:23 says, “Then He (Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. “