Kingdom Priority (1)

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5.1, 2

Why are you a Christian?
In the middle of the last century British philosopher Bertrand Russell, stung by the rebuke of Christians in New York State, penned an apologia pro vita sua which he entitled, Why I Am Not a Christian. In this book he laid out a raft of explanations concerning why he did not find the claims of Christ and the Gospel to be persuasive.

No one need wonder why Bertrand Russell was not a Christian; he explained it all very clearly.

But what about this: What if someone were to ask you why you are a Christian? Not so much why you became a Christian, or even how, but what it means to you to be a Christian – that is, why you continue to be a Christian? What your Christian life is all about? What’s the reason or the substance of this religion thing? What’s your priority in life?

What would you say? Would you say that you are a Christian because being forgiven gives you peace? Or allows you to believe that you’ll go to heaven when you die?

OK, fine, but what about life? What does being a Christian mean for your life each day? Do you just go about reminding yourself that you’re saved and if you should die tonight you’ll go to heaven? What about all the messy, crazy, varied, daily details of your life? Why are you a Christian, and what does that mean for the life you lead? What are you hoping to achieve or to get out of this?

Where we stand
Perhaps we should consult the Apostle Paul concerning the question of where we stand and why God has seen fit to bring us by grace through faith into eternal life in Christ.

Paul says we have been justified by and before God; He has declared us “not guilty” of sin because our sins have been rolled onto His Son, and we have believed that He bore the penalty for them in our place. We are justified before God in thinking that we have access to Him now because of our faith in Jesus Christ.

This condition of being justified before God creates in us a huge sense of relief – peace. We don’t have to worry about ultimate condemnation and eternal punishment. Because of what Jesus has done in fulfilling all the righteousness of God and bearing all His wrath, and because, by God’s grace, we have believed in Him as Savior and Lord, we are no longer condemned (Rom. 8.1), and “we have obtained access by faith” into this grace in which we stand – the presence and favor of the eternal God!

This peace brings with it great joy. Nothing can separate us from the love God has shown us in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8.38, 39), and so, whatever happens to us in this life, for us to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1.21). Justification! Forgiveness! Peace! Joy! This is what it means to be a Christian! This is why Christians are so eager to make known the Good News of Jesus and His Kingdom to everyone they know.

Yes, but why?
But suppose that doesn’t satisfy our enquirer. Suppose he tells us that he feels just fine about his status in God’s eyes, if, indeed there is a God. And he isn’t troubled by guilt or shame. He has a good life, a peaceable life, and plenty of things and friends to make him happy. Are we Christians because we don’t have any of these things, and we need something else to make us happy and at peace? Is Christianity a religion for losers? Why are you a Christian? What are you hoping for in your faith?

Put another way, the question is this: What is the end of grace? What priority does grace establish in us that nothing else can? Why does God extend grace to us, and why do we continue in it? Why does He justify, forgive, and save us through Jesus Christ? Is it just so we can know peace and joy and the hope of heaven when we die? Is His way of bringing peace and joy to humankind just one of many ways?

Or is there something more important, more ultimate, and more lasting involved in God’s extending His grace to undeserving creatures such as we?

There is. And in this series we’re going to explore what Paul means when he says that God has called us, not merely to His Kingdom, but also to His glory (1 Thess. 2.12). The grace we have received, enabling us to believe in Jesus Christ and to make the Kingdom turn, brings with it the byproduct of assurance of salvation and a peace that passes understanding. But the grace in which we stand is unto something much greater, something much more amazing and tangible: the hope of glory!

We stand in the hope of the glory of God. We are Christians for the glory of God! And therefore, if we are to be as adept at living and explaining our life in the faith as Bertrand Russell was in explaining his life without it, we’d better make sure we have a good understanding – and plausible experience – of what it means to have received grace and to hope in the glory of God.

Next steps: What do you understand by the glory of God? Ask some Christian friends. What does it mean to “hope” in the glory of God? For what? When? How can we know when we’ve attained the glory of God? Ask a church leader to help you begin thinking through these question as we begin this series.

T. M. Moore

Additional Resources

This week’s study, Kingdom Priority, is the fourth of an eight-part series on The Kingdom Turn, and is available as a free download. T. M. has written two books to complement this eight-part series. You can order The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here, and The Gospel of the Kingdom by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.