Why Baptists Believe What Baptists Believe - Part 25

Why Baptists Believe What Baptists Believe

Part 25

WHY BAPTISTS BELIEVE WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE, PART 25

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, PART 2

Big question – But how do I know for sure that I am God’s child? Some people really struggle with their salvation. If you are one of those, I have a great verse for you:

“The Spirit [Holy Spirit] Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

[Question 5]

How do I know I am God’s child? It isn’t that I get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I know that I am God’s child because… the Holy Spirit tells me. So, what has the Holy Spirit been telling you?

It’s important that I know I am a Christian, but it’s also important that those around me know that I am a Christian. Consider this verse:

“By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

[Question 6]

How do the people know that I am a follower of Christ? They will know I am a Christian by my love for others, yes, other believers, but also my family and people in general.

Now, did you realize that when you got saved, God called you into the ministry? He did. He gave you a ministry! Let’s look at that.

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

[Question 7]

As believers we have been given the ministry of what? Reconciliation. To “reconcile” means to restore one to fellowship. Because God has restored us (who were formerly enemies of God) to fellowship with Him, we are to tell others this good news. That way they too will be able to have the same relationship with God that we enjoy.

So then, obviously we tell unbelievers about Christ so that they can come to faith in Him and be saved. But we also help our struggling brothers and sisters in Christ so that their relationship with our Lord will grow stronger and deeper.

“Therefore [because we have been reconciled], we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

[Question 8]

Not only are we ministers but, according to this passage, we are to be Ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is a person who lives in a foreign country and represents his or her nation in that place. This means that we, who are citizens of Heaven, represent our Lord Jesus Christ here on earth, in this world. We are not to be monks who isolate ourselves in a monastery. We are to be IN the world, but we are “no longer part of the world” (John 15:19 NLT). We are to be out and about among the people ministering to them for Christ.

God reconciles us. He restores our relationship with Him by not counting our sins against us. Thank you, Jesus! Because we have been reconciled to God, we can in turn forgive those who wrong us. We are God's ambassadors, His official representatives, on foreign soil. This world we live in is not our home. As His ambassadors we have been commissioned to take God's message of love, of reconciliation, to those in this lost world. We are to represent and boldly proclaim His truth.

The Christian life can be challenging and exciting. But everyone’s journey is different.