Several years ago my wife, Luaine, and I went on a cemetery tour in Scott County, Arkansas, where four families came together to produce the BlackwelI line. Luaine has put together quite a genealogical record of her family and we were there looking for some burial sites of her ancestors, and to get as much information as we could.
As we looked up records at the courthouse, and trampled across farm fields to get to burial sites, I was struck by the fact that Luaine’s father, Harold, didn’t have any choice about being born into the Blackwell family.
He made a wonderful choice when he asked Elizabeth McCall to marry him. But my wife, Luaine, didn’t have any choice about being born into that union. The fact is, we don’t get to pick our families, do we?
I also thought about unequal life is. Thousands of children are born every day who will never know their father or have a family legacy or birthright. Some people are born into impoverished ghettos where they grow up with almost no opportunity to escape the downward spiral of despair.
Others are born to privileges of status and wealth, with outstanding opportunities for education, prosperity and success. When you read the history of England’s kings and queens, they were born to privilege—a birthright that dramatically separated them from the common people. Yet, whether rich or poor people have no choice in choosing their family
We Christians have a special birthright. But what is a Christian? Is a Christian a good person; someone who does kind things for others? Is a Christian an American—someone born in this “Christian” country? Is Christian a political term—like being a Republican?
The word “Christian” only appears 3 times in the New Testament. In Acts 11:26 believers “were called Christians first at Antioch.” Then in Acts 26:28 King Agrippa responded to Paul’s witness, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” Finally, in 1 Peter 4:16 Peter tells believers, “…if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
Unfortunately the term Christian has been pulled and stretched to include much more than it really is. Many people misunderstand and misuse the name of Christian. Thousands, if not millions of people consider themselves Christians who have only a vague idea of what it means.
Others think all civilized people are Christians, and that uncivilized people are not. Some assume that if you are not Jewish, you are a Christian. Through the centuries terrible and unnecessary wars have been fought in the name of Christianity, though they have little to do with true Christianity.
The Encarta Dictionary defines a Christian as a believer in Jesus Christ, somebody who believes that Jesus Christ was sent to the world by God to save humanity and who tries to follow his teachings and example.
That’s not too shabby of a description, though it leaves out a bunch of things like the cross, the resurrection, repentance and confession, and, of course, who Jesus is.
When were believers first called Christian? Acts 11:26 answers that: The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. That was 1900 years ago in Antioch of Syria. But it wasn’t meant as a compliment! It was spoken with a sneer: “Oh, you’re one of those, a Christian, a Christ-man.”
Actually, “Christian” is the combination of two words: Christ and man. Simply, a Christian is a Christ-man or a Christ-woman. So those who ridiculed were actually right. A Christian is the combination of Christ and a person. But what makes a person a Christ-man or Christ-woman? What is our birthright?
John 1:12-13 gives us the answer: Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John claims that those who do not believe in Jesus are not children of God.
(v. 13, children born not of natural descent; or a husband’s will). All men and women are children of God in the sense that they owe to Him their creation and preservation of their lives. But that doesn’t make them a Christ-man or woman. It just means we are all part of the human race.
There is a church in northern California that has portraits of famous people hanging in its vestibule. There’s a portrait of Socrates, another of Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Ghandi and Jesus. In beautiful gold letters over these portraits are these words: “We are all the children of God.”
People pass these portraits every day and marvel at the universal brotherhood of humankind. There’s just one problem: the universal brotherhood of humankind is an inclusive, benevolent, politically correct loving lie.
The quote in gold letters even comes from the Bible—but it is incomplete. Gal. 3:26 (KJV), “You are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.” Verse 13a makes it clear that one does not become a Christian through natural birth. A person is not a Christian because mom and dad are. Mom and dad may push us in the right direction, but natural birth cannot make any one a Christian.
Thousands of people imagine themselves Christians because they attempt to keep the golden rule or because they lead moral lives, or because they think if they just balance the scales of good works in their favor they are a Christian.
But John clearly says that salvation does not come through “human decision” or effort. (v. 13b nor of human decision). You cannot make yourself a Christian. You cannot act like a Christian and then think that makes you a Christian.
It comes entirely from God. You have to enter into the relationship which God offers. You can’t enter into a relationship with God by your own will and power.
Remember the English kings? A commoner could never approach the king and say, “I want to be your friend.” On the other hand, the king could go to a commoner with the offer of friendship, which could be accepted or rejected. So it is with God. He offers us the right to become His children, but we don’t have to accept it.
Furthermore, no church ordinance or sacrament, however significant it is, can forgive sin or save us. And the idea that a religious leader can make you a Christian by some religious act is absolutely contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
John makes it very clear that we must be born of God. (v. 13c, but born of God.) This removes the church and human decisions and efforts from the equation.
One night a man named Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions. Jesus told him, John 3:3, “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again,” Nicodemus didn’t understand. He thought Jesus was talking about a second physical birth.
That wasn’t what Jesus meant at all. He said that a spiritual birth is required to become a Christian. It’s an analogy. Just as the physical birth is necessary to become part of the human race, a spiritual birth is required to become part of God’s family. And the choice is personal. Only you can decide.
God chose to see our helplessness and He chose to do something about it. Jesus came to become the sacrifice for our sins, to remove our condemnation and to satisfy the demands of God’s justice.
But He leaves the choice to us to become a Christ-man or woman. Look again at John 1:12. To all who received Him, to all who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
“To all who received Him…” To every person who acknowledged and welcomed Jesus. “To all who believed in His name…”
There were many who believed superficially in Jesus when they saw His miracles, but they did not believe in Him as the Son of God. As long as He met their expectations they followed Him.
To believe in Jesus means to believe what the Bible says about Him—who He is, and what He accomplished for you when He died on the cross and was raised again to life. Believing this you welcome Him into your life as your Savior. That’s when you are born into the King of king’s family.
The ultimate privilege God offers to every person is the privilege of His godly birthright by being born again into His family.
With His birthright and all its privileges, the most exciting thing is that we all are born into God’s family with equal status, position, and potential. In other words there is no pecking order wealth or education or position. All believers are privileged equally.
Our birthright includes the cancellation of God’s condemnation. It includes the assured and protected gift of an everlasting future in glory.
Add to that list the forgiveness of our sins, receiving the precious gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives and all that He does for us, like convicting us, and helping us understand the Bible as it relates to our lives, and comforting us, and providing God’s gracious grace to us, and putting us into a loving church family.
Our birthright includes the great privilege of prayer through Jesus Christ. Regardless of who we were born to or the circumstances of our birth, we can come with absolute confidence to the throne of God and find His grace in any time of need.
Our birthright also includes the high honor of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is why we always say that Christianity is not another religion, it is a personal relationship with Christ. And He has promised to never leave nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).
Through Christ we are assured that our every need is already taken care of, and that Christ, himself, is preparing an eternal home for us in heaven. It is a privilege to be born again into such a wonderful legacy.
In Jesus we see the very mind of God, and the love of God for each of us. We respond to His love by loving Him in return through our daily lives, secure in the knowledge that our birthright is eternally secure, kept in heaven for us and every Christian by God Himself.