The Focus of Christianity

For the last few months in our Tuesday Night Bible Study group we have been studying the foundations of Christianity. Our purpose is to seek out the truth of what it means to be a Christian and to see if we can discover how the church has come so far afield from where God intended it to be.

We understand that the focus of Christianity is neither the church nor any creed. It is neither man nor his sin. It is not about what we believe or how we behave. All of these things are important elements in the understanding of Christianity, but none of these things are the focus of Christianity.

The primary focus of Christianity is not... 

• Being or becoming a better person or citizen

• Becoming all you can be in life
• Improving your marriage
• Raising the best children you can raise
• Never being homeless or jobless or free of persecution or discrimination
• Receiving the fruit of the Spirit
• Getting out of hell and into heaven

Surely all of these things are benefits and blessings of Christianity, but none of these things – which are the gifts of Christianity – are the focus of Christianity.

The focus of Christianity is found in the first syllable – the first six letters of the word – that is, Christ.

For too long the world has made Christianity out to be just another religious choice in a potpourri of religious choices. Indeed, many people today will admit that the reason they claim to be Christians is because they studied the major religions of the world and found Christianity to be the one that most satisfied their needs and expectations.

Others claim to be Christians because they were born into a family where Christianity was the religion of their tradition. The children continued in the footsteps of their parents, assuming that, because their parents were Christians and because they belonged to the church, they were also Christians.

Let us be reminded that God does not have any grandchildren – only children. Every child born in this world is born into sin and has inherited the sinful nature of Adam and requires a Savior – Jesus Christ – to be reconciled to God the Father.

That is why it is so imperative that Christian men understand what Paul wrote in…

Eph. 6:4 Fathers (notice that it does not say mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins, but Fathers) do not provoke your children to anger, but (Fathers) bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Some claim to be Christians because they fear hell and believe that becoming a Christian will deliver them from the penalty of sin. They do not necessarily make a commitment to Christ, but they join, attend, and support the church and believe the things of the Bible. In fact, many of them can argue things of the Bible with great passion, yet make little to no application of those same biblical principles in their everyday, walking around life.

There may be other reasons that people call themselves Christians, but the Bible makes it clear that the only people who are truly Christians are those…

• Who have been called by God the Father to salvation (John 6.44, 65)

• Who have been born again by the word of God and the will of the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1.23; John 3.5)

• Who have repented from sin (Acts 3.19)

• Who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts (Rom. 8.9)

• Who have confessed Christ as Lord (Rom. 10.9)

When our focus is on any other person or place or doctrine or blessing above the person of Christ, then our belief system is only a good religion and ceases to be worthy of being called Christianity.

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