Christianity – A Religion?
No, it is not. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. It is not churchianity. It is a newness of life in Christ Jesus. Christianity is not just being moral; but simply it is a life that has Christ. Christianity is not just professing of Christ but a possessing Christ. Christianity is not one of the ways to heaven; it is the only way to heaven. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life no one goes to the Father except by me (John 14:6).
Who Then Is A Christian?
A Christian is one who knows God and Christ. And this is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). A Christian is not one who knows about God and about Christ theologically, but is one who has a personal, vital relationship with God and with Christ.
One might have read severally about a hero and may know many things about him, but may not know him personally. It is possible to read or hear much about God without knowing Him. A Christian is one who is married to Christ. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law of the body of Christ, that you should be married to another even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God (Rom. 7:4). This is illustrated in the marriage of two people. They are not married until they receive each other as husband and wife. The officiating minister says to the man, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? He answers, I do. They receive each other as husband and wife from that moment. They might have been in love before this time and studying one another. But now, in the marriage, they prove their true love for each other hence forth.
How Do We Possess Christ?
If a Christian is one who has Christ, how does a person get Him? Christ is the greatest gift of God to mankind especially to all who will receive Him.
But as many as received Him were given the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name – (John 1:12).
The sinner must recognize his lost condition, he must believe the gospel that Jesus Christ died for his sins, that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day. When by faith the sinner invites and receives the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart, he is born into the family of God. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me – (Rev. 3:20). For it shall come to pass whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved – (Rom 10:13).
When two people are married they entered into a new relationship. They have new obligations and new responsibilities. They cannot continue to live as in the past. The husband has an obligation to love his wife and to provide for her. The wife has an obligation to love her husband and to make a home for him. This is Christianity and not religion.
My friend, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, behold old things are passed away, all things become new – (II Cor. 5:17). So in the Christian life, Jesus is a person that saves and not a religion. Jesus shall ye call his name for he shall save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).
Dearly beloved, you will now see that you need to be saved from sin, Satan, suffering and from death. All your religious activities may be good, but they cannot save, it has no redemptive power. What is the essence of a religion that can not deliver from criminality, immorality, and all kinds of evil deeds? Do we think that the Supreme, Holy and righteous God would accept the unrepentant, wicked and ungodly in His kingdom? God forbid. The Lord is not sending us to Christianize the world as a means of religion but to preach the gospel of the Word to the world for them to believe and be saved.
God has overlooked the time of ignorance, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He had appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). The call for any form of regeneration starts from repentance.