“The Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” [Acts 11:26]
Jesus didn’t die to give you a religion! He died to give you a relationship with God! The Abba father!
True Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! Dwelling in His word and Living in His word. The Vine and the Branches!
Many people view Christianity as attending church, performing rituals, and/or not committing certain sins. That is not Christianity. True Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Accepting Jesus as your personal Savior means placing your own personal faith, the central place of all your deeds and trust in Him. No one is saved by the faith of others. No one is forgiven by doing certain deeds. The only way to be saved is to personally accept Jesus as your Savior, trusting in His death as the payment for your sins and His resurrection as your guarantee of eternal life [1 John 3:16].
Christianity – Jesus will be the in the center of your life! Your New Identity!
Religion can be very different than having a Relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Religions are man-made, and are based on trying to get to God through rules and regulations and works. Man-made religions all are based on people’s efforts at reaching God and being made right with Him through their own efforts. God’s plan for man’s salvation and for being right with Him is told throughout the Bible, in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
God’s plan is not based on people’s efforts and good works, but is based on His amazing Love and amazing Grace for us; His plan involved His precious Son Jesus paying the price and cost for our sins on the cross. You need to put ALL of your trust and faith in Jesus and in what He did for us on the cross, and not in any religion or in your own efforts. Simply put all of your trust and faith in Jesus, and accept His gift of salvation and eternal life, and experience the joy of having a right RELATIONSHIP of love with God.
[John 14:6] “I (Jesus) am the way, the truth, and the life. No one may come to the Father except through me” “For by grace are you saved, through faith; and this not of your own, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship that God has established with His children.
“Religion is Man’s way to reach God; but God’s way to reach man is Jesus.”
THE ONLY WAY to reach God is JESUS - by believing and receiving Him as your PERSONNEL SAVIOR
…Real Christianity centers on Jesus’ righteousness – what he has done and how good he is. ..
All the other religions essentially say, “This is what you have to do to be in the right standing with God.”
Jesus comes to earth and says, “This is what I’ve freely done for you to put you in right standing with God.”
You see Christianity isn’t good advice, it’s good news. It’s not declaring what we must do but declaring what’s been done. When people go into religion, they are being tied to rules, laws and traditions. But when people follow Jesus they are having their chains removed. Religion binds you down. Jesus sets you free. You see, Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous. He came to save the broken.
In Christianity, God is the aggressor and man is the beneficiary [Rom 8:3]The Bible states clearly that there is nothing man can do to make himself right with God [Isaiah 53:6, 64:6, Rom 3:23,6:23]According to Christianity, God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves [Col 2:13, 2 Cor 5:21].Our sin separates us from His presence, and sin must be punished[Rom 6:23,Mat 10:28,23:33] We know that, because God loves us, He took our punishment upon Himself. And what we must do is accept God’s gift of salvation through faith [Eph 2:8-9,2Cor 5:21]. Grace is God’s blessing on the undeserving. The grace-based relationship between God and man is the foundation of Christianity and the antithesis of religion.
Established religion was one of the staunchest opponents of Jesus during His earthly ministry. When God gave His Law to the Israelites, His desire was that they “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”[Deut 6:5, Matt 22:37] .“Love” speaks of relationship. Obedience to all the other commands had to stem from a love for God. We are able to love Him “because He first loved us”(1Johnn4:19). However, by Jesus’ time, the Jewish leaders had made a religion out of God’s desire to live in a love relationship with them(1 Timothy 1:8,Rom 7:12).Over the years, they had perverted God’s Law into a works-based religion that alienated people from Him(Math 23:13-15, Luke 11:42). Then they added many of their own rules to make it even more cumbersome (Isaiah 29:13, Mat 15:9). They prided themselves on their ability to keep the Law—at least outwardly—and lorded their authority over the common people who could never keep such strenuous rules. The Pharisees, as adept as they were at rule-keeping, failed to recognize God Himself when He was standing right in front of them. (John 8:19) “You do not know me or my Father,” They had chosen religion over relationship.
Certainly holiness and obedience to Scripture are important, but they are evidences of a transformed heart, not a means to attain it. Holiness and obedience is a fruit of great relationship with Jesus, In Christianity all the good works and holiness is a fruit. The root is always the Vine! God desires that we be holy as He is holy (1Pet 1:16). He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge of Him (2 Pet 3:18)). But we do these things because we are His children and want to be like Him, not in order to earn His love.
Again Christianity is not about signing up for a religion! Christianity is about being born into the family of God (John 3:3). It is a relationship. Just as an adopted child has no power to create an adoption, we have no power to join the family of God by our own efforts. We can only accept His invitation to know Him as Father through adoption[Eph 1:5, Rom 8:15] .When we join His family through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside our hearts(1 Cor 6:19,2 Cor 1:21-22). He then empowers us to live like children of the King. He does not ask us to try to attain holiness by our own strength, as religion does. He asks that our old self be crucified with Him so that His power can live through us (Gal 2:20, Rom 6:6). God wants us to know Him, to draw near to Him, to pray to Him, and love Him above everything. That is not religion; that is a relationship. A powerful hope and great peace in Jesus.
We have learned that when God ushered in the new covenant of grace, He sent His beloved Son Jesus and not a new set of commandments. Christianity is not a formula. God did not look down on us, see us in our sins and throw us an instruction manual. No. God so loved the world that He gave us a person—His Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord being with you is all that you need in this life, because the Lord Himself is the One who blesses you with righteousness, holiness, success, victory, favor, provision, healing, wisdom and much more!
Summary!
The awareness of all what God has done for you and living the new life what God has made available to you through Jesus Christ is the true Christian life. The laws are written in your heart! The circumcision is done on your spirit! The Holy Spirit dwells in your heart and guide you the way to walk. It’s a close relationship with God! Where you call Him Abba father and you will be His beloved child!
A new awareness! A Rebirth! A new life, A new experience, A new freedom, A new Liberty!
Christianity! Christ is in you! & you are in Christ!
Now you decide ! Religion or Jesus!
