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July 29, 2024

Tips For the Christian Life

Dr. Jason Neill

Scripture reading: Psalm 119; Proverbs 1-2

You believed in Jesus alone for everlasting life. To say it another way, you trusted in Christ alone as your only way to Heaven. Now what? I grew up going to church and trusted in Christ at the age of nine; however, I had no clue what to do next. I felt ignorant as to how to “do” the Christian life. Seeing that others may have felt like me, I thought it may be helpful to provide some tips on how to “get going” in the Christian life. So, if you are a new Christian or have been one for a long time you may find these helpful.

Tip #1: Purchase a Bible in a translation you will read. I would recommend any of the following translations: The New King James Version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard (NASB), and Christian Standard Bible (CSB). Without getting into too much detail, the reason we have so many translations is because the translators (Bible translations are generally carried out by a team of scholars) take one of two approaches:

Formal equivalence advocates for a literal rendering of the original text as possible. This is a “word for word” approach. They seek to choose an English word which corresponds to the Hebrew equivalent (the Old Testament was written in Hebrew & Aramaic) and Greek equivalent (the New Testament was written in Greek). Translations that take this approach are as follows: NKJV, ESV, and NASB.

Dynamic equivalence advocates for a more readable translation by taking a “thought for thought” approach. The NIV and CSB fall somewhere between the formal and dynamic equivalence.

Tip #2: Choose a book of scripture to read, then read one chapter per day. So as not to get blogged down, I would recommend starting with a shorter book like Philippians (it only has four chapters). Another book I would recommend is the Gospel of John (it has 21 chapters). In the case of Philippians, read one chapter a day. When you finish the book, start over with chapter one. You’ll spend an entire month reading through one book. I suggest alternating between the New Testament and the Old Testament. For instance, spend one month reading Philippians or the Gospel of John then next month pick a book from the Old Testament to read (I would recommend the Book of Proverbs - - it has 31 chapters and can be read in one month).    

Tip #3: Pray before reading your Bible. Ask God to help you understand what you read, after all He is the author. Some parts may be difficult to understand; however, understanding the Bible is hard work. It is worth it, but it is hard work. Read Proverbs 2:1-5. Solomon compares finding wisdom to digging for silver or buried treasure. If I told you I buried 1 million dollars in your backyard, would you ignore me and go about your regular routine? I don’t think so. My guess is that you would drop whatever you were doing, grab a shovel, and start digging. Considering the payoff, you wouldn’t mind the effort (e.g., digging in your backyard) it would take. The same can be said regarding reading your Bible. See 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 regarding the Spirit’s job to illuminate the truth of the Bible.

Tip #4: Share your faith with others. One of the first lessons Jesus taught his disciples, after they believed in Him for everlasting life, was to share their faith with others (see Matthew 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11). There are three essential elements (sin, substitution, & faith) that must be mentioned when we share our faith.

Number one, we are all sinners (see Romans 3:23) and deserve death and to be separated from God forever (see Romans 6:23). We are imperfect and cannot attain God’s standard of perfection no matter how hard we try.

Number two, Christ died in our place as our substitute (see Romans 5:8). There was no way we could come to God, so He came to us. Christ died the death we deserve, died in our place, and provided a way for us to have a relationship with God. Three days after His death, He rose from the dead to validate his offer of everlasting life. His rising from the dead proved He could offer everlasting life to anyone who believes in Him for it.

Number three, we must believe (e.g., place our faith in Christ; “trust” is a synonym for believe) in Jesus for everlasting life (see John 3:16). Just as we would trust a chair to hold us through no efforts of our own, we must trust in Christ alone for everlasting life through no efforts of our own (e.g., doing good works, attending church, giving money to the poor, etc.). Sin, substitution, and faith are the three essential components of the good news.

Tip #5: Get involved in a Bible-believing church. Growing up, one of my favorite shows to watch was the Lone Ranger. It was a western tv show about a lone Texas ranger who went around helping the less fortunate. He would beat up the bad guys, tie them up, and wait for local law enforcement to take them away to justice. Local law enforcement would thank the Lone Ranger for his help, he would hop on his white horse (named Silver), and the episode would always end the same way. Someone standing by watching the Lone Ranger ride off into the sun set would inevitably ask, “who was that masked man?” Unlike the Lone Ranger, Christians are meant for community. In fact, we cannot properly grow as believers if we are not connected to other believers. It is within a local body of believers (e.g., the church), that we exercise the “one another” passages (e.g., be devoted to one another, accept one another, care for one another, be kind to one another, etc.), exercise our spiritual gifts, and serve our Lord together.

It may be helpful to take some time and review the “one another” passages in the New Testament: see Romans 12:5, 10, 16; 13:8; 15:5, 7, 14; 16:16; 1 Corinthians 11:33; 12:25; 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; Galatians 5:13; 6:2; Ephesians 4:2, 32; 5:21; Philippians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:9, 18; 5:11, 14, 26; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; James 5:16; 1 Peter 4:9; 1 John 1:7