Now That I'm a Christian E-Book

C. Michael Patton

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 206

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

How do we help our friends who have just become Christians or are young in the faith? In this concise and accessible book, Mike Patton unpacks the basics of the Christian faith, helping new believers think rightly about God and live fully for God as they begin their new life in Christ. In ten easy-to-read chapters, Patton introduces readers to the foundational teachings and life-giving practices of Christianity—from the doctrine of the Trinity to reading and understanding the Bible. Designed for individual use or small group discussion, this handbook on the Christian faith has the potential to become the go-to guide for new believers wanting to follow Jesus with their heads and their hands.

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“I wish this book was out when I first became a Christian! What we believe really matters, and this book covers many basic and necessary beliefs of the Christian faith in an easy-to-read format. It’s like sitting in a theology class, but one that brings life and you can understand what the teacher is teaching. There has been no more urgent time in history for us to be reading and learning the basic beliefs of the Christian faith. I encourage all Christians, especially those new to the faith, to not miss the joy and wonder of learning what is written in this book.”

Dan Kimball, Mission and Leadership Staff, Vintage Faith Church; author, They Like Jesus but Not the Church

“As a pastor I’m often confronted by new Christians with questions such as: “How do I get started? What should I read? How do I grow spiritually? Although I haven’t had good answers in the past, I do now. I’m sending them to Michael Patton’s excellent book. This is a gem! Eminently readable and experientially relevant, this is a book that addresses with brutal but always loving honesty the most pressing theological issues a new believer faces. In fact, you who are a bit older in the faith can also benefit from Michael’s insights. Highly recommended for Christians of all ages!”

Sam Storms, Senior Pastor, Bridgeway Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

“If you want to grow in your faith as a new Christian, or if you just need to get back to the long-neglected basics, Michael Patton will prove to be a wise guide. Now That I’m a Christian is not only practical and easy to follow; it is biblically balanced and theologically informed. What a ready resource to help churches, campus ministries, and individual spiritual mentors to train new believers in the faith!”

Paul Copan, Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University; author, Loving Wisdom: Christian Philosophy of Religion

“Rolled into this one volume is a guide to both right belief and right practice. Believers need a solid foundation that maps out the essentials for the Christian faith, as well as how to grow stronger and deeper in that faith. This work addresses both. Written in an introductory manner that is well-informed, witty, and fast-paced, readers will feel at home in the text even if they have not studied these things before. I recommend it with pleasure.”

Gary R. Habermas, Distinguished Research Professor & Chair, Philosophy Dept, Liberty University

Now That I’m a Christian: What It Means to Follow Jesus

Copyright © 2014 by C. Michael Patton

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Faceout Studio

First printing 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AT are the author’s translation.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-3804-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-3807-0 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-3806-3 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-3805-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Patton, C. Michael, 1972–

Now that I’m a Christian : what it means to follow Jesus / C. Michael Patton.

1 online resource.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-4335-3806-3 (pdf) – ISBN 978-1-4335-3805-6 (mobi) – ISBN 978-1-4335-3807-0 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-4335-3804-9

1. Theology, Doctrinal—Popular works. 2. Christian life. I. Title.

BT77.P345

230—dc23

2013030312

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Contents

Introduction

1  Bible

2  Man

3  God

4  Christ

5  Faith

6  Prayer

7  Study

8  Church

9  Suffering

10  Mission

Conclusion

Introduction

I can’t wait to tell you about your new faith. I can’t wait to tell you about Jesus, the Bible, prayer, and all the wonderful things we are going to cover in this book. You are a disciple of Christ, and I intend to give you a solid start that will ground you in the most important issues that have defined Christianity for the last two thousand years. You are a Christian. Welcome to the family.

What does it mean to be a disciple? That term may be foreign to you. But don’t worry. You don’t have to grow a beard or put on a robe. You may have heard of the twelve disciples of Christ. Well, being a disciple of Christ—being a Christian—is like that. To be a disciple means being a student of someone. But it is much more than that. In the time of Christ, when people were disciples of someone else, they placed themselves completely under that person’s authority in both education and lifestyle. Their goal was to become exactly like their mentor. This is how the disciples were with Christ. They left everything and followed him. They went everywhere he went, did everything he did, and believed everything he believed (at least, they tried!). And, over two thousand years later, we have this same privilege. We, too, become disciples of Christ the moment we trust in him. I can’t wait to take your hand on this journey.

You might be thinking, can a book make me a disciple of Jesus? It would be naive to believe such a thought. Discipleship cannot be carried to completion through a book. Is it a waste of my time, therefore, to write a book such as this? No. You should read this book. I think you will soon find out why.

Jesus commanded all who would follow him to take up their cross and follow him. Discipleship is not something you do on the side. It is not a part-time job. It affects and infects every part of your being, everything that you do, and everything that you are. It is really difficult to be a Christian without being a disciple. Why would you want to be? When you bow the knee to Christ, you declare him to be God and Lord of the universe. This does not mean that you are always a good disciple or that you do everything right. This does not mean that we don’t fall on our face over and over. I certainly do. It means that we are on a path following the eternal God. And this path beckons us to pick ourselves up every time we fall.

Christ told his disciples to “go therefore and make disciples . . . teaching them to observe” everything he had commanded (Matt. 28:19–20). This command has become so famous, it is better known today as “The Great Commission.” We will talk a lot about the Great Commission in the last chapter. But know this: Christ’s command to follow him is more than a command; it is a wonderful privilege. It is a great privilege.

My aim is to point you in the right direction for a lifetime of following Christ. My prayer is for you to spend the rest of your life growing in your discipleship of Christ. When you attempt to do this on your own, however, Christ-following can be a dangerous and often confusing road. You can easily get sidetracked and lost. I will give you a basic road map that you can look back to time and time again to help find your way and reinvigorate your faith when it wanes.

NEED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

It’s popular today to think that learning about God will stifle our passion for God. I’ve even heard people say, “I’d rather be led instead of read.” While I understand what such people are concerned about, we need to be careful. Anyone passionate in any subject will seek to learn more and more about the subject. People who are passionate about wine become students of wine. They learn about the art of wine making, differing varieties in differing climates, soil nutrients, fermentation, barreling, pairing, and proper tasting techniques. They love the taste, but the taste is greatly enhanced by their knowledge. People who are passionate about NASCAR become students of NASCAR. They learn the history of certain racetracks, they will tell you about some of the great drivers from the past, and they’ll gain knowledge about fuel conservation during a race, driver and fan safety, getting the most out of the tires, and driver g-forces. And don’t get me started on football fans. You get the picture.

If you have trusted in Christ, your eternal destiny has been altered by a Savior who lived, died, and rose in your place. He invites you to trade your heavy burden in exchange for his light yoke. Your God is with you every day and is leading you safely to your eternal home. Yet so many people will go months, years, or even a lifetime without taking the initiative to grow as a learner.

LAYOUT OF THE BOOK

This book provides you with the foundations for discipleship. The first half of the book will focus on orthodoxy. The second half will cover orthopraxy.

For those who might suffer from terminology anxiety, orthodoxy simply means “straight teaching” or “worship.” People go to the orthodontist to get their teeth straightened. Orthodoxy is meant to straighten your doctrine! You can’t act upon what you don’t know. All of our obedience is based on a correct understanding of who God is and what he has done for us. Getting this foundation down will drive you, with great excitement, to the path of discipleship. You will say to yourself, “If Jesus has really done all of this for me, I can’t wait to join him and become a colaborer for the truth he has revealed.” It’s like if you were to discover the cure for cancer. Wouldn’t you tell everyone you know? The knowledge is foundational. But the response is what changes the world. You have discovered the cure for souls. You have discovered the love of God. It is much greater than the cure for cancer, and the disease that people are infected with, as we will see, is much more dangerous than cancer. Orthodoxy provides a foundation and a motivation for all that we do for God.

If you have been around churches, Christians, or religious conversations, the word orthodoxy might scare you. After all, which Christian orthodoxy are we talking about? Yours? Baptist’s? Catholic’s? Presbyterian’s? Eastern Orthodox’s? When I say orthodoxy, I am talking about “that which has been believed always, everywhere, and by all.” This is called the Vincentian Canon, named for fifth-century writer St. Vincent of Lérins. It expresses the need for unity in doctrine. While there have indeed been many issues that Christians have disagreed about over the years, there are many more that have united us. For example, in chapter 3 we will talk about the need to believe in the Trinity, as expressed in this book. Christians of all times and of all places have agreed about the doctrine of the Trinity. It is an essential of orthodoxy. We will examine five such essential beliefs about which there is virtually no debate among Protestants. However, when you get to the chapters on authority, man, and faith, you will see that there are a few issues that distinguish Protestants from Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. However, even with these topics, there is significant general agreement. For example, Protestants argue that justification is by faith alone (sola fide). Roman Catholics, on the other hand, do not believe that justification is by faith alone. Nevertheless, they would emphasize the absolute essentiality of faith and agree with my definition of what Christian faith is (more on this in chap. 5).

While orthodoxy refers to having correct thought or right beliefs, orthopraxy refers to right practice. In the second half of the book, we are going to discuss five practices that all Christians of all time have agreed about. From prayer to outreach, Christianity has been united in believing that these disciplines are essential for Christian discipleship.

Here are the topics that will be covered in each chapter:

Orthodoxy

BibleManGodChristFaith

Orthopraxy

PrayerStudyChurchSufferingMission

Lord, I pray that these next ten chapters will deepen your servants’ love and knowledge of you. You beckon us to grow in you as we live this life in the world you’ve created. May we be teachable and delight in the process of learning more about you so we can live more passionately and accurately for you.

1

Bible

When I was a kid, I would manipulate my parents. I would ask my mom if I could go over to my friend Wayne’s house, only to be told that it was too late at night or that the family had other plans. Upon receiving the answer I did not want from Mom, I would seek the authority of Dad. “Dad, can I go over to Wayne’s house?” “Sure,” would come the response. Now my desire was covered. I could go over to Wayne’s house with a clear conscience. Though two major authorities (Mom and Dad) clashed in my life, I felt free to obey the one whose answer I liked best.

As you can imagine, that kind of result did not happen often. In fact, the manipulation eventually came to a screeching halt. Problem: Mom and Dad talked! After a while, my dad’s answers to such questions became depressingly rote: “Go ask your mom,” or “What does your mom say?” Dad would not play the game. He would always punt to Mom. The authority became united with no conflicts. In essence, with this type of stuff, Mom was the final and only infallible authority!

Your Christian life is not so different. When we first become Christians, the biggest question is, now what? What should I expect? Where should I go? Who do I ask? What should I believe? What do I do? Who do I trust? Who has the final say? We look for sources of authority to guide and direct our lives, and we have all kinds of options (Moms and Dads, if you will). And you know what? These options will not always agree. So where do you go for authority in your Christian walk?

THE BIBLE

The first authority in our lives is the Bible. In Protestant circles we use the fancy Latin phrase sola Scriptura. The doctrine of sola Scriptura means that the Bible is the final and only infallible source of authority for our faith. We might say the Bible is the “ultimate authority” or the “eternal trump card” (for those who like to play cards). We will talk more about sola Scriptura shortly, but hang with me as I tell you a bit about the Bible.

The Bible is a collection of sixty-six ancient books. I am not sure that “books” is the best way to put it, but it will do for now. The Bible is made up of history, poetry, personal letters, community letters, genealogies (that sometimes seem endless!), short pithy statements of good advice, eternal laws, temporal laws, and biography. The oldest books of the Bible date from around 1,500 years before Christ. The last book dates to the end of the first century. No books have been added to the Bible since its completion, and Christians don’t expect to ever have anything else added to it.

The books that make up the Christian Bible are called the canon of Scripture. (Scripture and Bible are often used interchangeably. They mean the same thing.) Protestant Christians hold to a sixty-six book canon (Catholics add a few to the Old Testament, called the Deuterocanonical books or the Apocrypha). The Bible is divided into two testaments or covenants. The first testament is called the Old Testament. It deals with the general history of man, his creation by God, his fall into sin, and God’s promise to fix what man, through sin, broke (we will talk more about that in the next chapter). The primary focus of the Old Testament is the nation of Israel. God gave the nation of Israel a promise through the father of the nation, Abraham. God said that, in his old age, Abraham would have a son, and one of his descendants would become a great blessing to the whole world. We later come to know this great blessing as the Messiah or Redeemer (i.e., the one who will fix everything). Though the Israelites did not know exactlywhat to look for, they waited anxiously for this Messiah. The second testament is called the New Testament. While the Old Testament covers thousands of years, the New Testament puts on the brakes and covers about seventy-five to one hundred years. Its primary focus is on the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. This Messiah is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. How did God fix everything? Through sending his Son, God in the flesh, to take the punishment for the sins of God’s people on a wooden cross. The New Testament is an account of this sacrifice and the implications that it should have on our lives.

Deep breath.

While the Bible is a story about what we are to believe concerning God, the fall, and the salvation of man, it is also a kind of instruction book on how to live. By both direct command and example, it teaches us what God’s will is for our lives. The Bible is called “God’s Word.” This means that when it speaks, God speaks. We call this inspiration. While God is very involved in all of history (as we will see) and we should expect his movements through experiences in our lives, we should not expect to actually hear his literal voice or see his literal face. He speaks to us through his Word, the Bible.

Notice what Paul says concerning the Bible:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16–17)

The Bible equips us for every good work, not just some good works. It is given to make you a competent disciple. The Greek word for inspired literally means “God breathed.” Can you believe that? The Bible is the breath of God! Every word in the Scriptures is exactly what God wanted to write. However, God used over forty men from all walks of life—from fishermen to kings—to write his Word, and he did not sacrifice their personality or circumstances in the least. This is one of the great mysteries of Scripture.

Peter puts it this way: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). In other words, as these men wrote the Scriptures, they were carried along by the Spirit as a boat is carried along by the wind. God used man by moving through their thoughts and words.

We will return to the authority of Scripture in a moment. But before we do, we need to look at four other sources that God uses to communicate truth.

REASON

God wants us to use our minds—and to use them well.

Let me get a little technical: Reason is the human capacity and inclination toward rational, logical, and analytical thought. For example, if I met a gentleman walking on crutches and wearing a hat that said “Ski Aspen,” I would probably draw the following conclusions. First, I would think that his leg was broken. Second, I would think he broke his leg while skiing. I would not need to have read a book to draw such conclusions. And I would not need to be really smart to do so. I would simply employ the rational way of thinking that we are all born with. If someone has a cast on his leg, this normally means his leg is broken. If his leg is broken, there is a cause for its breaking (i.e., it did not break on its own). This is not rocket science.

In the Christian life, God has given you the ability to think, reason, and draw conclusions. Your abilities in this area are by no means perfect, but they are abilities nonetheless. God created you with a mind to think for a reason. He wants you to be reasonable! Reason or rationality is another authority in your life and a valid source for information about God. It is not a Christian virtue to go around believing things that don’t make sense. You are not supposed to check your brains at the door once you become a Christian. God expects you to think and to think well.

Here’s another illustration. When the Israelites were worshiping gods that they made out of the wood from trees, using half the wood for idols and the other half for their fire, God chastises them for their irrationality. Translation: they were not thinking well.

No one considers [stops to think], nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” (Isa. 44:19)

It was irrational for the Israelites to worship blocks of wood, and God calls them on this. God wants and expects you to use your brain.

But reason is not perfect. It can go bad. We can misuse it or misinterpret the data. More often than not, we lack data because we don’t have access to all the information and make assumptions. For example, I think I could reasonably conclude that the gentleman in the cast broke his leg while skiing. But what if I was missing some information or misinterpreting what I saw? What if the leg was not broken? What if it was a torn ACL from a car accident? What if the hat was the man’s brother’s, and he had not been to Aspen at all? All of these things are possible and demonstrate the limits of reason. Only those with allthe information are able to draw perfectly sound conclusions. And people, being limited, don’t normally have all the information.

The Bible, on the other hand, being the Word of God, is never lacking in perspective. Everything it speaks about, it does so with complete truthfulness and accuracy.

EXPERIENCE

God wants to meet you in your experience. As a disciple, you can see God’s hand in the agency of life. But be careful!

The best way to explain experience is to describe it as information that comes through direct encounter, participation, or observation. As a Christian, you should expect to encounter God in your life. While the Bible plainly says that you will not see him with your eyes (1 Pet. 1:8), this does not mean that he is not active. Every day you are to pray for direction and guidance. You might pray for “open doors” and “closed doors.” For example, the Bible may tell you nothing beyond general stewardship principles about whether to take this job or that, or to buy this house or that, but you don’t want to discount God’s desire to guide you through such endeavors. God will open doors through your experience, and he will close doors through your experience.

I am married with four kids. Before my wife and I met many years ago, I was not looking through the Bible to find out what the name of Michael Patton’s wife would be. Nevertheless, I did pray that God would prepare a wife for me and that he would guide me to her through the mundane travels of life. Now that I am married, I am fully confident that God did guide me. Through subtle but definite movements, God will often guide and direct your life through experience.

Remember, God is a God of history. He did not finish writing the Bible and go AWOL. When the last book of the Bible was complete, God did not turn into a cheerleader on the sidelines of history. He is stillinvolved. You should expect that he hears your prayers and moves in time, accomplishing his will through you.