Why Would Anyone want to be a Christian?

1 Timothy 1:15

“Here is a Trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -

Of whom I am the worst”

I used to believe I was an okay golfer.  I could really hit the ball. I wasn’t a bad putter.  My biggest problem was short shots on to the green.  I wasn’t good, I thought, but I wasn’t bad.  Then one day a friend invited me to play one of the courses the professionals play on.  It only took two holes before I came face to face with reality – I wasn’t an okay golfer.  I was a horrible golfer.

The same thing happens as people get closer to Jesus.  Most people like to think they aren’t that bad.  They look at what others do, and think “Well I am not as bad as him.  I must be okay.”  Then they meet Jesus and see the truth.  Pretty soon they start meeting every Sunday to confess their short- comings, their faults, their sins.  Think of the Apostle Paul.  Before becoming a believer Paul was pretty happy with Himself. “I was “a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; …as to righteousness under the law, blameless” But then he came to faith.   After that He wrote to the Corinthians, “I am least of all the Apostles….”    A few more years growing in the faith he writes to the Ephesians “I am the least of all the saints…”   Finally, in his letter to Timothy, close to the end of his life.  Now he is the “chiefest of the sinners.”  Notice he doesn’t write, I WAS the chief of sinners.”  He writes “I AM the chief of sinners.”  The same thing happens to Isaiah.  In the first five chapters of his book Isaiah is pointing the finger at everyone else.  Its all “Woe unto you…”  Then in chapter 6 he sees the Lord.  His tune changes.  Woe to you becomes “Woe to me, for I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips.   The closer you get to the Lord, the more aware of your own sinfulness.

It makes you wonder, why would anyone want to become a Christian?  I would invite you to step even closer to Jesus.  For God intends to show you more than the truth about yourself.  He wants you to see and confess that truth so that you can know, believe and confess this truth - “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”  The closer I get to Jesus the more amazed I am that He would put up with, even love a guy like me. Its similar to the experience I had of the Swiss Alps.  In October we flew over them.  Wow I thought.  Then in April we were in the Alps. Close up they became even more amazing.  The more closer you are to Jesus - not just looking thru an airplane window at Jesus but walking with him, spending time with Him… the more you begin to say, “Wow.  I am so amazed that in all Your holiness and beauty and purity You would put up with and love and forgive a guy like me”  Isn’t it amazing that God would so desire to spend eternity with people like us that He would give His own Son to suffer, to die and to rise again? 

Indeed the closer you get to Jesus the more thankful you become.  I love the story of the Rooster.  He got up every morning to crow.  When he did the sun would come up.  As the years went by the animals in the farmyard would come by thank him for bringing the sun up every day.  He got cocky.  One day He overslept and yet the sun came up any way.  The animals called him a fraud.  The rooster was embarrassed, disillusioned and depressed.  But then he found himself relieved. “Wow,” He thought, “I can sleep in.  It’s not me.  The world isn’t depending on me.”  There comes a point in a Christian’s life when you realize, “I am a sinner. It’s not me getting my act together that will save me. It’s not me trying harder. I could never try hard enough anyway.  It’s all Christ Jesus.  This is s trustworthy saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”  He came to die for me and rise again. He came to forgive all the sins that I did do, am doing or will do in the future.  I am thankful for him.  All I can do is say worthy is the Lamb… Hallelujah to the Lamb who was slain.”  Notice we don’t sing hallelume.  We sing hallelujah.  Praise to the Lord… to Yahweh.

Indeed the closer you get to Jesus the more you love him.  Do you remember the time when a prostitute came to Jesus to wash his feet with her tears?  The Pharisees grumbled. “If this man was really a prophet he would know what kind of woman this is…    Jesus tells them a story about two men who were in debt to the same creditor.  One owed 50 million and the other just 50 dollars.  The creditor forgives both of them.  Then Jesus asks, “Which one will love the creditor more?  Obviously, the one who was forgiven more will love more.  “You sit here at your table, Jesus says to them, “so self-righteous.  This sinner washes my feet but you didn’t… “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  The more I am aware of my sin the more I understand the magnitude of what of what it means that God gave His own Son… of what Jesus did for me on that cross…  The more you understand how much you have been forgiven, and loved, the more you love Jesus.

Why would anyone want to be a Christian?  That’s why!  Amen