Why should anyone bother to be a Christian? This is one of those great questions that more and more people seem to be asking these days. And many ask it with a sincere conviction that as a believer you are probably not making the best use of your precious time and energy.
There are many excellent ways to explaining who Jesus Christ is and why we should follow him. One of the more popular ways of sharing Jesus seeks to "sell" the "practical benefits" of the Christian life. It appears that many people in our culture have picked up on the utilitarian thrust of this message and, after shopping around, have found other venders in the marketplace of ideas and emotions who can satisfy their wants in a more timely and cost effective manner. It makes a lot of sense that people would ask "why bother?" when they see being a part of church marketed in this way.
In a recent interview in Christianity Today entitled Tim Keller Reasons with America the senior pastor at New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church gives a far better reason to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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Q: You reject marketing apologetics like, "Christianity is better than the alternatives, so choose Christianity." Why?
Marketing is about felt needs. You find the need and then you say Christianity will meet that need. You have to adapt to people’s questions. And if people are asking a question, you want to show how Jesus is the answer. But at a certain point, you have to go past their question to the other things that Christianity says. Otherwise you’re just scratching where they itch. So marketing is showing how Christianity meets the need, and I think the gospel is showing how Christianity is the truth.
C. S. Lewis says somewhere not to believe in Christianity because it’s relevant or exciting or personally satisfying. Believe it because it’s true. And if it’s true, it eventually will be relevant, exciting, and personally satisfying. But there will be many times when it’s not relevant, exciting, and personally satisfying. To be a Christian is going to be very, very hard. So unless you come to it simply because it’s really the truth, you really won’t live the Christian life, and you won’t get to the excitement and to the relevance and all that other stuff.
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Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
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So what might all this stuff about having the right reasons for following Jesus mean for the people Peace Lutheran? Well, for one thing we need to keep first things first. And the first "first thing" to keep in mind is that what GOD has done in Christ, and in our live takes precedence over everything else. We need to be constantly reminded that the greatest blessing that comes from being a part of Peace is the privilege of being a part of a "household of faith" where God is working to give us the things of "first importance", namely the faithful preaching and teaching of "Christ crucified" and "raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised." (1 Galatians 6:10; Corinthians 1:22-24, 1 Corinthians 15:1-22).
It also means that we need to fight the temptation to practice fraudulent "bait and switch" techniques as we walk with the people in our area who are looking for "a better life now". We must, with God’s help, commit ourselves to always tell the TRUTH about Jesus Christ, and be brutally honest about the real cost of discipleship (Luke 14:26-35). When Jesus calls us to find rest in him he also tells us that we will find ourselves in a yoke, and although it is a light one, it is still a burden (Matthew 11:28-30). We need to be clear that every single follower of Jesus Christ will experience hard times because we are disciples, whether it is from the world, the devil, or the need to make sacrifices (1 Peter 5:6-11; Matthew 5:11-12, Matthew 10:17, Matthew 24:9; Luke 21:12; John 15:20; John 16:2; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 2:21-25). Of course we also have the privilege of making it clear that even with all the struggles, the Bible and generations of faithful Christians can testify that being a disciple is still "all joy" (James 1:2), or as the missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his diary: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose (Matthew 10:29-42).
Finally, I hope that every person who reads this post will be reminded that on the Cross, Christ’s blood set you free from bondage to the power of sin and death. This is the TRUTH that sets us free. The Cross sets us free to live a Christian life where we are able to relate to God and others (especially the poor, our enemies, and lost sinners) in way that truly glorifies God (Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 25:34-40). If you are a sinner like me, then I’m pretty sure that this Christian life will not deliver the kind of "personal fulfillment" that the selfish part of us always craves, but by God’s grace I am certain that together we will receive the kind of authentic peace and joy from God that is much better than the kind we naturally desire or deserve! (Mathew 19:28-30; Romans 5:7-8; 1 John 4:19; John 14:27-31, John 17:13-21, Hebrews 11).
