You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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We asked last week, how do I follow a Jesus whose followers do so much evil?
And we saw that the Bible's not surprised by the sin of God's people when we don't live like Jesus.
Nor does it leave our evil unaddressed. It's not a small thing.
But Jesus provides a unique hope for all who are guilty of evil.
In fact, He has promised to right all of the wrongs that we perpetrate.
Today, we're going to look at another question that many ask.
It's, can I be a Christian even though I'm not a fill-in-the-blank?
There may be lots of different ways that you might fill in that blank.
But the idea this morning is to see what's actually at the heart of Christianity.
The identity of a Christian.
It may surprise you a little bit.
We're going to look at this through a story in Acts chapter 16.
You may want to go ahead and turn there as I'm going to read it for us in a couple of minutes.
But first, I want us to pray and ask for God's help as we look at His Word.
Father, would You work this morning by Your Spirit?
Would You give us ears to hear even the struggles in our own hearts?
Ears to hear our neighbors who are asking and wondering about You.
Most importantly, Father, give us ears to hear right now Your voice.
In Your Word, by Your Spirit, might we hear You and be different forever because of it.
We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
Kids, can I have your attention for a second?
I want to play a little game as we're getting started this morning.
It may not be as exciting as some games that you play, but it's a game, okay?
I mean, come on.
Here's how it works.
I'm going to tell you a word, and then you tell me what that word has to have in order to be that thing.
Okay?
It's a little bit confusing.
But when I say the word library, what does a library have to have to be a library?
Books!
Y'all are so good at this game.
That is awesome.
A library has to have books.
Here's a fancy word.
The sine qua non.
You got that?
It's very, no, it's not important that you remember that.
The sine qua non of a library is books.
The sine qua non means the thing without which the thing is not what it is.
What's right at the essence, at the heart of what something has to have.
So that's the game we're going to play.
Let's practice some more.
Salad has to have lettuce.
Yeah, there's a lot of other things.
Bread has to have...
Butter was a great answer.
I'm changing my answer, which was flour.
Butter is better.
Okay.
Good.
Let's get back on track.
A rainbow has to have...
Colors.
Yeah.
To have a rainbow.
We're going to give your parents a challenge.
Democracy.
What's the sine qua non of democracy?
Taxes.
I knew we shouldn't have played a game.
You might say elections or freedom or something like that.
How about pizza?
Cheese.
Yes.
I feel like there should also be tomato sauce, but some people make pizza without it.
But cheese.
Yes.
A fish.
You got to have water and gills to breathe.
Very good.
A teacher.
What does a teacher have to have?
A student.
A class in order to be a teacher.
Y'all are figuring this out.
I want to give you one more in honor of VBS.
Rain forest.
Rain.
Very good answer.
And forest.
Yes.
You need water and trees.
We've got plenty of both.
So you remember that this week.
It'll make you think of the sine qua non, I'm sure.
See, there may be a lot of other things that are often true of a salad or a library or a
rainforest.
But what is absolutely essential?
What does it have to have?
Okay, that's what we want to know this morning.
What is the sine qua non of a Christian?
See, getting confused here can be really misleading.
In the past few years in our country, as things have gotten more and more polarized, I think
many Christians have gotten confused themselves.
A few years ago, one pastor who most of you would recognize and respect said any real Christian
would vote for Trump.
At the same time, another beloved pastor in our tribe said,
if anyone voted for Trump, I question the sincerity of his Christianity.
Wow.
Is being a Republican or a Democrat or voting for a particular candidate essential to being
a Christian?
Another example, many people think that being a good person is the sine qua non of being a
Christian.
And that includes people on two different sides of this.
There are some who have ruled themselves out of being a Christian because they're not moral
enough.
How can I be a Christian when I've done the things that I've done?
I can't be a Christian, some would say.
And then on the other hand, you have some who, we talked about people like this last week
who are saying, actually, Christians aren't actually good people.
They're just judgmental enough to think that they are.
And so, how can I be a Christian if I'm not judgmental?
Ooh, I hope you can.
But specifically, in a recent Barna survey, respondents got to choose from a list of descriptors
that they thought fit Christianity.
And among young non-Christians, there was one box checked more than any other on the
list.
By 91% of those people looking at the list, they said what described Christians was anti-homosexual,
more than any other descriptor that they could see.
So, you even run into people who say, I can't be a Christian because I don't hate LGBTQ plus
people.
I hope we don't hate any people.
But is that the sine qua non of being a Christian?
Many apparently think so.
There's one more really significant way I've heard people fill in that blank.
I'm sure you've said others or you've heard others.
But can I be a Christian even though I'm not a person without doubts or questions?
See, their impression is that churches don't welcome doubts or questions.
Those are outside the Christian box.
In here, we just all know what we know and believe what we believe and we keep it in line.
And that is also one of the reasons that we are welcoming these hard questions this summer.
We don't want for that to be excluded.
So, we're going to come back to some of these issues briefly throughout the sermon.
But what is the sine qua non?
What is a Christian?
People answer that question a lot of different ways.
But I think the word gives it away and somebody over here already got the answer.
I heard it earlier.
It's Christ, right?
Without Jesus, you don't have Christianity or Christians.
Let's see what the Bible says about this.
Acts 16, it's telling the story of Paul and Silas.
The apostle Paul and his co-worker Silas who are traveling to share the good news of Jesus
and they've gone to the city of Philippi.
They have since been arrested, beaten, thrown in prison, put in really painful, uncomfortable stocks.
They're locked up in prison.
And yet, listen to how they respond to suffering.
Acts 16 at verse 25.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were, what do you think they were doing in prison?
Praying and singing hymns to God.
And the prisoners were listening to them.
And suddenly, there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken
and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened.
When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about
to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself for we are all here.
And the jailer called for lights and he rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
And then he brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Now just stop there for a minute.
Paul has this jailer right where he wants him, right?
This is one of those foxhole moments where your life is on the line.
He's going to make a bargain with God, right?
I'll do anything to be saved.
Rescue me.
What do you want me to do?
I mean, imagine you're Paul, right?
This is his big chance.
You know, what do you want me to do?
How about 20% of your next paycheck?
How about promise to do anything I want you to do?
Get me a private jet.
No.
Paul's going to say something else entirely.
Verse 31.
In response to his question, what must I do to be saved?
They said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
You and your household.
And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds.
And he was baptized at once.
He and all of his family.
Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them.
And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
Believed in God when he believed in the Lord Jesus.
That was it.
The sine qua non of a Christian is Jesus.
Paul keeps it pretty simple, doesn't he?
He says, you're saved by works.
Just not your own works.
You trust what Jesus has done.
After the simple, clear statement, it says,
Paul spoke the word of the Lord to the jailer and his household.
What do you think Paul said?
We don't know the exact words, but we do know some things about it.
We know that it couldn't have taken more than a couple of hours
because the earthquake happened around midnight.
They were baptized sometime that night.
There must have been so much theology that they still didn't know about
or certainly understand.
What else about the word of the Lord that Paul spoke to them?
The word of the Lord.
He's just identified the Lord as Jesus.
So we know Paul's talking to them about Jesus.
If you flip over to 1 Corinthians,
Paul tells you where he starts when he talks about Jesus.
What's most important?
Paul says,
I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received.
That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
That he was buried.
That he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Anything in there?
Those things of first importance that are commands
of things for us to do to get in?
Nope.
It's all about what Jesus has done, isn't it?
His death, his burial, his resurrection, his appearances.
So we trust him.
That's what Paul's saying.
This is what Jesus has done so that you can trust him.
See, a Christian is someone whose identity comes
not from what he has done for God,
but for what God has done for him.
Hallelujah.
We are who you say we are, God.
We are someone who's forgiven of all failings.
Even the very worst ones because of Jesus' sacrifice.
We're someone adopted into God's family as a son or a daughter,
as an heir of heaven.
We're someone indwelt by God's Spirit,
regardless of what we've done or will do.
So the jailer considered his life over, didn't he?
He was done.
He was at the very bottom,
as low as he'd ever been personally or professionally,
but he was not too far gone for God to save, was he?
Listen, I really don't want you to miss this.
If you're someone who came this morning
asking that question somewhere in your heart,
can I be a Christian even though I'm not a good person?
If you're feeling some version of that,
the answer is absolutely.
Absolutely.
Jesus is the good person.
Paul didn't ask the jailer here
how many times he'd been to church recently.
He didn't ask him how he behaved while in college.
He didn't ask him if he was a perfect parent.
No, he asked him to be willing to trust Jesus
as the good person for him.
You can do that today.
No matter how you've thought of yourself previously
or how you worried about yourself coming in,
there's Jesus for you.
And that simple clarity is vitally important
because in a day where we like to argue
and we have a tendency to divide
over every little disagreement,
we seem to have lost the art
of what I'll call theological triage.
Did you know, friends,
that the identity of the Savior
whose blood rescued us
and is pictured in the sacrament of baptism
is more important
than the amount of water used during the baptism?
It is.
I'm not saying it doesn't matter.
Both are valid discussions
and great conversations to have,
but some things are primary
while others are secondary.
That Jesus rose from the dead,
that he's coming again,
primary.
The exact timing of his return
and the scope of redemptive history
and all the things that are going to happen around it,
secondary.
See, historically,
following Paul's biblical example
of the things that are of first importance,
most heresies,
things that would take you outside
of Christianity,
are wrong beliefs
about the person
or work of Jesus.
That's at the heart of it.
When we fail
to triage those issues
and imply that all Christians
do the same things,
vote the same ways,
sing the same songs,
that makes you a Christian.
See, we understandably confuse
the simple and clear gospel message
and people get the wrong idea entirely.
John Calvin warns against this
when he writes about this passage in Acts.
He talks about us wandering from Christ,
this simplicity in regard to salvation,
to being a Christian.
He says when that happens,
things get complicated quickly
in any number of ways.
It leads to confusion, doesn't it?
Because I start to think
that every detail of God's word
is equally important
so you always worry
whether there's another theological nuance
you need to nail down
and you miss Jesus.
Southwood,
let's never allow an emphasis
on secondary issues
to cause our neighbors
to miss the primary person
at the heart of Christianity.
Okay?
Let's not do that.
It can lead to confusion in that way.
It can also lead to arrogance.
Right?
How would it lead to arrogance?
Well, when I start adding things
to the essence of Christianity
and I start to give myself credit
for being a Christian
because I've done some of these things,
no way!
May I never boast
except in Jesus and His cross.
It may not lead to arrogance.
It may start to lead you to doubt
concerning your own salvation.
Because see, if we're honest,
once I'm involved
in needing to do anything,
how can I ever be sure
I've done enough,
well enough,
to be saved?
And we miss Jesus
and His promises
to hold us
and keep us
and bring us home.
It's the very joy
and hope of the gospel.
We start to lose it.
So Christians
are those identified with Jesus.
They have a relationship with Him.
Paul says,
that relationship means
they believe in Him.
Jesus was clear
on this way
that the relationship
with Him works, right?
Faith in His works.
God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son
that whoever believes in Him
will not perish
but have eternal life,
John 3.
Jesus gets asked
in John 6,
what do we do
to do the works of God?
And what does He say?
Believe in the one
He has sent.
He does the works.
Remember?
Doubting Thomas
touches the resurrected Jesus
and believes
and we learn
that these things
were written
that we may believe
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God
and that by believing
we may have life
in His name.
That's the secret.
Life,
full life,
abundant life,
even everlasting life
is not something
we achieve
but something
we receive.
Faith, y'all,
is not performing
feats of strength
but trusting
the strong one.
your faith right now
as you sit there
is in the pew
to hold you,
right?
It's not in your ability
to sit well.
here Paul says
believing in Jesus,
trusting what we don't see.
It's this believing in
or the preposition here
is actually upon Jesus
and I think that's a really
helpful image
because it pictures
that resting,
that being held up
by Jesus
as we're trusting upon Him.
Elsewhere,
the Bible uses
a different preposition
believing in
or into
Jesus.
In other words,
as we trust Him
there's a union,
there's a relationship,
a connection
with Him
by faith
that the Bible says
is all we need.
Once we're connected
to Him
that's what we need.
It's at the very heart
of Christianity.
We believe
not in belief.
It's not faith in faith
or faith in whatever.
Just faith.
We believe in Jesus.
Now some people
who understand that
sometimes wonder,
can I be a Christian
with all my doubts?
A Christian is a person
of faith
who believes,
but some days
a passage
in the Bible
confuses me.
Some days
being made fun of
by my friends
makes me question
what I believe.
Some days
I think I believe
but I'm really not sure.
I'm actually confused.
Friends,
listen,
I want you to know this.
Christians wrestle
with doubts.
Pastors wrestle
with doubts.
Disciples of Jesus
wrestled with doubts.
And if you think
that disqualifies you
from being a Christian,
let me say to you
with all the sympathy
in the world,
it does not.
It does not
disqualify you.
In fact,
I would urge you
don't put yourself
back at the center
again.
You're not
the hero.
You don't have
to be
the strong one.
The key to faith
is not the strength
of the believer
but the strength
of its object.
That pew
you're sitting in
will hold you up
even if you're
not always
certain
that it will.
And likewise,
Jesus
will save you.
You can be
even more certain.
Even if you're
not always
feeling certain.
that he will.
But you believe
upon him.
British preacher
Charles Spurgeon
knew doubts
well.
And here was
his hope.
I love this picture.
It's a simple one.
He says,
often doubts
will prevail.
What a mercy
it is
that it is
not your
hold of Christ
that saves you
but his
hold of you.
What a sweet
fact
that it is
not how you
grasp his
hand
but his
grasp of
yours
that saves
you.
So what do
you do with
your doubts?
Will you take
them to Jesus
because he can
handle them?
You might ask
a parent
or a pastor
or a friend
your questions
about Jesus.
You might go
together to the
words of Jesus
to see what
he would say
but whatever
you feel
don't think
that it makes
you not
a Christian.
Jesus
makes you
a Christian.
You can trust
him.
Well there's
one last thing
here that Paul
includes at the
heart of
Christianity.
Believe in
the Lord
Jesus.
The Lord
means the
ruler.
the one
in charge.
The one
on the
throne.
The Jesus
we believe
in is not
one among
many.
He's not a
prophet of our
own imagination
that we get to
make up any
way we want
him to be.
He's the
Lord.
So if that's
the case
who gets
knocked off
the throne?
Well the
most obvious
answer here
for the
Philippian
jailer
was probably
Caesar.
He's likely
a former
Roman soldier
who would
have been
taught
Caesar
is
Lord.
The one
to whom
he swore
his
allegiance.
So part
of what Paul
is saying
to him
is that
no human
leader,
no ruler,
no political
figure
deserves the
kind of
allegiance
that you
now give
to Jesus.
That's some
theological
triage in
two little
words.
The Lord.
He is
the Lord.
Jesus is.
Jesus, by the
way, in case
you're confused,
never voted
Republican or
Democrat.
Did you know
that?
Never even
voted in an
election in the
United States
of America.
Shocking.
That is news
that you came
to receive
this morning.
Just
clarifying,
Jesus
is
Lord,
not a
position that's
up for
election.
Be careful
of making
any other
person or
group a
measuring stick
or a litmus
test of true
spirituality.
But I think
for many of
us,
believing in
the Lord
Jesus is
challenging
because it
takes me
off the
throne as
much as it
does Caesar
or Trump
or anyone
else.
Jesus
himself says,
if anyone
would come
after me,
let him
deny himself
and take up
his cross
daily and
follow me.
For whoever
would save
his life
will lose
it, but
whoever loses
his life for
my sake,
will save
it.
Now, this
is not a
gotcha.
This is not
the catch
where you
realize, oh,
it actually
is about
whether I
do enough
good things
and be
good enough.
No, being a
Christian is
all about
Jesus and
trusting him.
What Jesus
is saying
here is that
once we
do,
following
Jesus,
finding our
identity in
relationship with
him means
now we
start to
think about
how this
changes
everything.
He's
Lord, not
just over
one little
place, but
over
everything.
Let me
let some
of you
breathe.
Following
Jesus should
impact how
you vote.
it should.
As you
prayerfully
consider how
best to
honor Jesus
as Lord
right in the
time and
place where
he has placed
you, and as
you humbly
respect others
who reach
different conclusions
about how to
do that.
See, this is
actually really
hard, but if
I'm not on
the throne
anymore, I
submit to
Jesus in
everything.
Even my
passionate political
convictions.
Even the
things I'm sure
I've got right.
Even the
things that just
seem to make
sense to me.
I say, Jesus,
you're the
Lord.
What do you
want?
You show me
Jesus.
So yes,
this is the
life of
discipleship,
of walking
with Jesus.
It does
mean that
Jesus directs
everything,
including our
sexuality.
He directs it
all according
to his design.
And that
means that
he calls us
to repentance
over our
selfish
heterosexual
lusts,
over our
selfish
quick divorce
mentality,
selfish,
homosexual
behavior.
All of
them.
It also
means that
I seek to
treat people
in process
in any of
these struggles
and many
other struggles
the way the
Lord Jesus
would.
I'm supposed
to be treating
you the way
he would.
He shows us
and tells us
how we treat
people who are
wrestling and
struggling,
who are still
works in
process.
Jesus was
known as
the friend
of sinners,
wasn't he?
Even to the
consternation of
the religious
folks, he
ate and
drank with
those people
that they
avoided, not
because he
compromised the
truth, but
because he was
full of grace
and truth.
So one
example of
that, since
I mentioned
it earlier,
our reputation
about this,
this is not
all that could
be said in
this area, but
a start.
We hold to
clear biblical
teaching and
historic Christian
belief on
sexuality.
One man,
one woman,
within the
covenant of
marriage.
marriage, and
we ought to
live in such
a way that
we are known
as the friend
of sinners,
of heterosexual
adulterers, as
Jesus was, and
homosexual sinners
too, like our
Lord.
If you're
wondering, is
there a place
for you with
Jesus?
We're not
proud of our
sin, that's
not it, but
we are proud of
our Savior, and
He loves
sinners.
So if you're
wondering if
there's a place
for you, if
you love
criminals, if
you love
homosexuals, if
you love
addicts, is
there a place
with Jesus for
you?
Even in this
church, you
better believe
it.
Yes, there is,
because our
identity comes
not from any of
those things that
we do, but
from what Jesus
has done, and
who we are as
a result of
believing in
Him.
We go to His
Word, and we
ask our Lord to
direct our steps
in truth, to
direct our
relationships in
grace.
Jesus, would
you make us
known for
living, for
loving, like
you?
The sine qua non.
believe in the
Lord Jesus.
Now as we
come to His
table, what
is the sine qua
non for those
who would come
partake of this
table?
It's got to be
the same, doesn't
it?
Active belief in
the Lord Jesus.
Jesus.
So let me just
think with you
before we
celebrate the
Lord's Supper,
what does that
mean is not
required for
coming and
eating here?
Well, being a
member of
Southwood, not
required.
Being a
Presbyterian who
would do things
like have your
children baptized,
not required.
Having had a
good week where
you didn't blow
it in anything
you said or
looked at or
thought about or
did.
Even being
doubt free in
your confused
mind that seems
right now more
full of questions
than answers on
some things not
required.
So what is
required?
What would it
mean to say
actively believe in
the Lord Jesus?
That means that
you are placing
all of your
hope in Him
for the failure
of this week,
for the
questions in
your mind in
the midst of
your doubts,
that you're
trusting His
life and
death and
resurrection in
your place,
that you see
here His body
and blood
given for you
to make you
His even while
you're still in
process.
You're His.
and active
belief in the
Lord Jesus,
if He's your
Lord, that
means when He
shows you an
area where you're
disobeying Him,
that means that
you're willing to
be displaced
from the throne.
It means that
you're willing,
you're actually in
the process of
repenting and
turning back to
Him.
It doesn't mean
you're perfect,
it does mean
that you're not
on the throne.
Not anymore.
It means you've
been baptized to
declare that
publicly, like the
jailer and his
family, that
there's another
Lord and it's
not me.
It means that
you're now a
part of a
community that
works together to
hold one another
to that active
belief in Jesus,
like that little
church just
starting in
Philippi whose
only hope was
in the Lord
Jesus.
Like this little
church in
Huntsville whose
only hope is
in the Lord
Jesus and so
we, like them,
for now 2,000
years, come to
do what Jesus
has told us to
do in remembrance
of Him.
Hear it as He
invites you
Himself.
Was the night
He was betrayed
that Jesus took
bread and He
broke it and He
gave it to His
disciples as I
ministering in His
name give this
bread to you.
He said,
take and eat,
this is my body
given for you.
Do this in
remembrance of me.
And then in the
same way He took
the cup and said
this cup is the
new covenant in
my blood shed for
many for the
forgiveness of sins.
Drink from it all
of you.
And Paul explains to
us, now as often as
you eat this bread
and you drink this
cup, you proclaim
the Lord's death
until He comes.
You proclaim that
He's Lord and
that you're His.
Paul goes on to
say, examine
yourselves as you
come to this table
so that you don't
come here and eat
without seeing Jesus
and so that if you
do see and do
celebrate Jesus
here, you come
humbly and you
come hopefully
alongside the
other parts of
His body who
are humble and
hopeful with you.
Let's pray and
then we'll come
together.
Jesus, we are
humble because we
know nothing we
have done can
earn us a seat at
this table and
we're quite sure
that our record
would get us
chased off if
that's what it
were based on.
But we come so
hopeful because we
have a Savior.
One who comes
for sinners is a
friend of sinners,
rescues sinners
like us so that
we become children
of God.
And so we
joyfully receive
the gift of
Your presence and
the reminder of
Your love.
We ask this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
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