Back to the Basics: Introduction

Being a follower of Jesus is not as easy as it used to be, and it doesn’t even resemble what it at one time was.  What began as the way of God-infused living has metamorphosed into an institutionalized system of belief entirely divorced from everyday life.  A god of ideas has replaced the God of creation.  A god of philosophy has replaced the God of life.

But I don’t want it to remain this way. Not for me.  Not for you.  Not for anyone.  I want Christianity to be the way of God-infused living once again.  I don’t want it to be about heaven and hell but, rather, about here and now.  Heaven and hell are important, but how does that feed the hungry?  Ideas are grand, but how do they clothe the naked?  Philosophy enlightens the mind, but how does that “look after orphans and widows in their distress?”

If Christianity is truly the “faith that the Lord has once for all entrusted to us, his people,” then it is a “once for all” faith.  It is a faith good enough for all men and women.  It is a “pure and undefiled religion.”  If it is not this way, if it changes with the wind, then we might as well simply join Oprah’s book club.

But if it is all of these things, then it is truly something to be highly esteemed.

But what makes Christianity a “once for all” faith?  What makes for the purest and most undefiled religion in the sight of God?

Some would limit it to a set of beliefs, others to merely a way to live a good life in a bad world.  I contend, though, that the Christian life is not limited to belief or life, but rather both.  It is both a way of believing and a way of living.  If Jesus was the God-Man, and if He showed us the way to God-infused living, then it can be nothing less than faith and life.

But what does this faith and God-infused living look like?  What are the basic components of the “faith that the Lord has once for all entrusted to us, his people?”  That is what we will be exploring in the next few weeks.  Prepare to have your entire life revolutionized.