The Three Steps to Becoming a Christian (John 1 & Matt 10,11)

Evangelism
  • The purpose of this talk is to equip believers to explain the message,
  • and to guide those who are seeking along a clear Biblical pathway that is concise, yet complete.

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Goal

  • To equip all of us to explain the Gospel to anyone who is interested

1 Peter 3

  1. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
    But do this with gentleness and respect,

The Big Picture: God’s ultimate purpose

  1. There is a cosmic struggle between God and the forces of evil
  2. The Battle
  3. God’s Battle Plan: law and love
    • United with Christ—New Creation now!
  4. We are all caught up in this
  1. There is a cosmic struggle between God and the forces of evil
  2. The Battle
    • What right does God have to fight evil? —He is the creator and so he has a right to tell people not to do evil
    • God’s enemies challenge this and say “God has no right to demand my allegiance”
    • So the battle is mainly fought in the area of belief and allegiance
  3. God’s Battle Plan
    • Make the issues increasingly clear
      • His law provoked rebellion
      • His love and goodness provoke it even more, and force people into a decision
    —New Creation now! (previous sermon in this series, 2 weeks ago)
  4. We are all caught up in this
    • There is no way that we can be neutral
    • You either give him allegiance or you agree with the forces of evil that he has no rights
  • in a nutshell:

What do we tell people to do?

  1. Repent (turn from the old life)
  2. Believe (trust God for a new life)
    • Acknowledge God’s kingship
    • ask forgiveness for not doing this in the past
    • ask for this gift of new life
  • What exactly do you have to understand & believe?
    • What do you need to know?
    • Is there a minimum ??

Three things to Understand and Believe:

  1. Who God is
  2. What God offers in Jesus
  3. How God wants us to respond —and do it, by trusting him!

1. Who God is

Attributes
(which we do not share)

  • Eternal (no beginning an no end)
  • All powerful (no limit)
  • Created all things
  • Knows everything (yes, everything)
  • Not limited in space (everywhere at once)

Character (ways that he wants us to be like him)

  • Perfectly just and fair
  • loving and kind
  • merciful
  • unselfish
  • hates evil, cruelty, injustice etc.

So to become a Christian, you have to know something of what God is like

2. What God offers in Jesus

  • Where can I find this compact Gospel message in the Bible?
    • The Bible tells it through stories, not simply by listing facts
    • E.g. “God is faithful to us, even when we are a mess” or the life of Abraham
  • But there are some more compact presentations, and the Gospel of John is good for this.
  • Now we come to the first of our Scripture passages:

John 1:1–17

  1. In the beginning was the Word,
    and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  2. He was in the beginning with God.
  3. All things were made through him,
    and without him was not any thing made that was made.
     
  4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
  5. The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness has not overcome it.
    …
  6. The true light, which enlightens everyone,
    was coming into the world.
  7. He was in the world,
    and the world was made through him,
    yet the world did not know him.
  8. He came to his own,
    and his own people did not receive him.
  9. But to all who did receive him,
    who believed in his name,
    he gave the right to become children of God,
  10. who were born, not of blood nor of the will
    of the flesh nor of the will of man,
    but born of God.
    …
  11. For the law was given through Moses;
    grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

AMF

  • What does God offer?
  • Simply, he offers us Jesus himself
  • Here is a description of him:

Matthew 12:15–23

  1. Now when Jesus learned of this, he went away from there. Great crowds followed him, and he healed them all.
  2. But he sternly warned them not to make him known.
  3. This fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet:
  4. “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, in whom I take great delight.
    I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
  5. He will not quarrel or cry out,
    nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
  6. He will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick,
    until he brings justice to victory.
  7. And in his name the nations will hope.”
  8. Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see.
  9. All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?”

What God offers in Jesus

  1. to forgive us for everything
    • But not just “a way of getting out of punishment”
  2. to love us gently, but passionately
    • That he will actually come and live in us through the Holy Spirit
  3. To give us power and strength over evil
  4. To bring us into a new community of people filled with his love
  5. To give us a plan and a purpose in life as we help him battle against evil
  • B. Not alone, companionship
  • C. To do “heart surgery” on us so that we will naturally want to do good things and not bad
  • Here is another description of what he offers, and it leads into what he requires

Matthew 10:29–39

  1. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
  2. Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.
  3. So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
  4. “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
  5. But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.

3. How God wants us to respond

  • Now this passage takes us into answering our last question:

Matthew 10:29–39 cont’d

  1. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
  2. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
  3. and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
  4. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
  5. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
  6. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it.

The passage stresses three things:

  1. Acknowledging Jesus—we publicly declare we are following him
  2. Put Jesus before everything
  3. To “take up your cross”, in other words, to follow his example of selfless love, even if it means suffering
  • What does Jesus want us to give up?
    • Living in independence from him
    • Our own way of solving our problems
    • Living for our own goals
    • Things in our lifestyle that offend him
  1. Baptism is a very important part of this
    • Jesus says it again in:

Matthew 16:24–26

  1. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
  2. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
  3. For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

How Do We Respond?

  1. essential to
    • recognize your need
    • helplessness
  2. Rest in Jesus

Matthew 23:4
The Pharisees:

  1. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

Matthew 11:28–30

  1. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
  2. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
  3. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”
  • Come to Jesus, trust him, rest
    • Nothing you can do— “Roll on Jesus”
    • Surrender and let him take on all your problems
    • Throwing yourself into his arms
  • to completely trust Jesus to care and provide for you
  • illustration
    • a small country under attack, appealing to a much larger country for help
    • not help, but giving over control

You can say something like:

  • “Please forgive me God for living my life as if I didn’t belong to you”
  • “Please give me your amazing gift of new life in Jesus”
  • “I want to follow Jesus for the rest of my life”

5. How Do We Know it has Happened?

  • How do we know that Jesus has forgiven us and come into our lives?
  • The gift of the Spirit—who assures us (after we have publicly acknowledged him in baptism)
  • Evidence of Jesus living in us
    • love for other Christians—wanting to be with them
    • hunger to learn more of him
    • desire to pray and talk to God