The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Why Are You A Christian? (EP 26)

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

In this episode, Bryce challenges people on why they believe what they believe.

What's going on, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryson today. Really excited for this episode. I think I'm just going to jump into it. But I just want to ask why you're a Christian. I want to dive into why you are a Christian, what Christianity is, and if we're actually living out the gospel,

because I think a lot of people have Christianity and what it means to be a Christian skewed. And so if we're not living it right, then either one or two things, our Christian faith is going to be a little bit more difficult to walk out because we're making it harder on ourselves and it should be. Or number two, it's just that we've just got it all wrong. But before we get into it, I do want to share a testimony because we want to start sharing testimonies to encourage you guys and encourage you guys to share your faith. So when I first moved out to L.A., I was praying for the sick and praying and asking God to heal people. And I would pray for tens, if not 100 people a day.

And no one was getting healed. I would show the gospel with them and pray for them, just for God to show up to show them that he loves them. And nothing happened. But I never stopped. I just kept praying and praying and praying. And finally one day I was at a restaurant talking to this atheist. and he was really angry. And I said, man, if God heals your leg, you got to give your life to Jesus.

And he said, all right. And he had a torn ACL, completely torn in half. He had surgery the next day. I pray for his ACL, nothing happens. He cusses me out. We leave the restaurant and everything's cool. Next day, I get an Instagram DM from this guy. He goes, dude, I'm freaking out.

I woke up, walked downstairs, ate breakfast, and I realized I walked downstairs. I got no pain in my leg. I'm freaking out. And I was like, all right, bro. He's like, I don't think I need surgery anymore. So when he goes to the hospital instead of getting surgery, He goes, guys, my knee's perfectly fine. And they go, no, you need surgery.

You're crazy. You know, it's normal to not have pain in your knee. And he goes, no, I need you guys to scan my knee. I need you to scan it. They give him an MRI. His ACL is completely reattached. They have no idea how it happened. He gives us life to Jesus, gets born again, and is living for Jesus.

It was so powerful how God showed up. So just to encourage you guys. Pray for the sick. Lay your hands on sick. Let the gospel be your leading leg. But ask for the Holy Spirit to reveal himself to people. Pray for the sick. And do it.

Encourage people. Like call people higher. Call people to the Christian. Christian life. But that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about what it means to be a Christian and live the Christian life because I think we've got it all wrong. You know, why are you a Christian? You know, if you ask people why they're a Christian, you're going to hear the same thing. It's going to be well for my well-being. I want to be, you know, have good health. I want to have a good life. I want to have a good family. I want to have protection. I want to be

blessed, man. I want blessings from God. So I believe in Jesus because I want to be blessed. Or the most common one you hear is because I want to go to heaven. And that's where we get it wrong. is because we're not selling people fire insurance. We don't want people to believe in Jesus because they get a get-out-of-health-free card. We're not selling people this thing as an, oh, if you believe in Jesus, you'll get to heaven. If you don't, you're going to hell, which is true.

But when I look at the Gospels and when I look at just the Bible in general, actually, like death wasn't intended for man. When you look in the beginning in Genesis, God created man, and he doesn't say, yeah, you're surely die. He says, if you eat the tree of knowledge of fruit and good and evil, then you'll surely die. He doesn't say your death is just a natural thing.

He actually created man to be eternal and in relationship with him, but death became in a thing because sin separated from him for all of sin. And because all of sin, death is a real thing. And so death entered into the picture when man fell because of free will. And now death is a real thing because we've sin. So sin separates us from God and because the fruit of sin is death. So we don't believe in Jesus because we want to get out of hell. We believe in Jesus because we get reunited into relationship with him.

That's what being a Christian is. Being a Christian isn't believing in Jesus because we get to go to heaven and escape. Hell, believing in Jesus is getting reunited with the eternal one. That's what it is. And so are you a Christian for his glory, for his great name to allow God to manifest through him? Or are you a Christian just to get your needs met? You know what the most common thing you'll probably hear in a church service is? It's the music gets right.

the synthesizers going in the pastor's coming up to transition he goes god is here to meet your needs that is the biggest lie i've ever heard of my life you probably hear you've probably heard that in church before but that's not true because a lot of our needs are actually just wants that we think our needs and if our needs were always met god's not here to get your needs that's how you get the holy spirit to leave a meeting immediately is if you tell people that god's here to get your needs because if you tell people that god's here to meet your needs the holy spirit might as well run out of that meeting because then you're going to mistake people because people are going to be showing up to church to get their needs met not to know him more intimately because that's the whole reason

to be a Christian is to know Jesus intimately, know him personally, and allow him to manifest through you. The redemption of the cross isn't our needs being met and our physical things being redeemed. The redemption of the cross is us redeeming relationship with him that was separated by sin. sin separates us from a relationship with him so the cross and the blood of jesus the death and resurrection like yes heaven is in the package but heaven isn't the goal relationship with jesus is the goal and we can have a taste of heaven now so that when we meet people that don't know him we're not selling them a get out of hell free card when people meet us they get a taste of heaven now and can experience him now when they meet us. I want to point us to a few scriptures. Psalm 25, 13 through 14, specifically

verse 14 says, the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant. So the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and a fear of the Lord isn't like you're terrified of God. A fear of the Lord is like, God, you know greater than I am. So I'm going to listen to you because you know what's better for my life than I know what's better for my life. because when we come to a repentance moment, we say, God, I'm tired of living for myself because my way is not it. So I need to live for you.

So a fear of the Lord is saying, God, you know what's best for my life. I need to live for you. Then if you jump over to chapter 31, verse 19, it says, oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who have feared you. Really powerful. Interesting how he says that.

It's not the friendship of the Lord is for those who say the sinner's prayer. It's the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. And those who fear him come to a repentance moment and say, God, I need to live for you and they live change. As you just heard in the last podcast, I want to live change. I want to live in a repentant heart in a state of humility. And when I live changed, I fear God and I want to know him more.

And as I fear God, my friendship is with him. And if you look at John 17, John 173, what does Jesus say? He says, let's go read it. Let's go read John 173. So we don't take anything out of context here. John 17 3, and this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So what is eternal life to know him? Eternal life isn't to get to heaven.

Eternal life is to know him. It's what Jesus says, which is really, really interesting. We want to let God manifest through us so that we can show people who he is. And what I'm pointing back earlier, you know, when you go to church and people say God's here to meet your needs, a lot of our needs are actually wants, and those wants become idolatries. And idolatry, a simple definition for idolatry is allowing something to matter more than what matters most. And so a lot of your needs are actually wants, and those wants become idolatry, and those things sit on the throne of your heart, and letting those things matter more than what matters most,

who is Jesus and knowing him intimately. We need to allow him to be the center of our heart and sit on the throne of our heart. because God will always take care of us in the natural. But if the natural is where we're thinking, then we've got it wrong. We want to think in relationship to him. And then you have this like survival mode. It's like people live for Jesus on survival mode.

It's, oh, I need to be a Christian because a little bit of Jesus is good for my kids. And I need him on Sundays. And then you always hear the thing where it's like, oh, my relationship with my girlfriend or my boyfriend or my marriage is struggling. So I'm going to pick up my Bible that I haven't read. in a few years and then you've got to go into the attic and look for it and blow the dust off and the only reason you're reading your Bible is because something in the natural is struggling. Or you say, oh, I mean, I just got laid off of work or I lost a friend or I did this, so I need to get back into church.

And it's almost like we hope God brings us back to level waters because we're sinking in the world rather than just allowing to live in unison with him. Because when we live in unison with him, we realize that the natural actually doesn't even matter. But the only thing that matters in the natural is inviting him into. it and allowing to live into relationship with him and becoming friendship with him. Because we live for God now because we were totally self-centered. We don't live for God because our life is falling apart and because we need things in the natural to be restored.

We need more money. We need a better job. We need our relationship and our marriage or our friendships or our dating life to be restored. No, we live for him because I was living totally self-centered in my way is not the highway, but his way is righteous and his way is right for me. And that's why I'm living for him. That's why we're a Christian. When you look at Matthew 25, Jesus gives a description.

here between the sheep and the goats, right? And then he says, he says, for I was naked and you clothed me, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. What you do to the least of these you do unto me. You know the difference between the goat and the sheep? Is because the sheep saw the need outside of themselves and the goats never did. The goats were prideful and didn't understand that the reason for living for him and for being a Christian is to show people an extension of heaven and let God manifest his glory through you so that when you encounter people and walk on people who don't know Jesus, they can taste and see him through the way you live and not just what you say. Just like the Pharisees, the Pharisees were like, oh, I'm righteous this, I'm righteous this,

I'm doing this and that. But Jesus actually says it's not about what you say, it's how you live it. And you can live it by just knowing him and allowing him to sit on the throne of your heart. The sheep saw the need outside of himself. The goats never did. Really, really interesting if you go read that passage. The goal isn't going to heaven, friends. It's being Christ-like.

it's allowing him to manifest through you. I'm tired of this false gospel that we're sharing with people. And it's almost like we're not even trying to. You know, it's what we've taught. It's like snuck in the deception. Like, oh, just tell people that if they pray the sinner's prayer, they'll get to heaven. The goat, it wasn't that, oh, the sheep said the sinner's prayer and the goats didn't in Matthew 25. It was that the sheep saw the need outside of themselves and the goats didn't.

So it's not saying the sinner's prayer. It's living a life changed. that's what it looks like we have eternal life because we're in redemption and united with the one who's eternal we have eternal life not because we said the sinner's prayer we have eternal life

because we have relationship with the one who is eternal and the one who is eternal can live inside of us and manifest himself through us if Jesus is the light and the light lives inside of us then our life becomes the light then everywhere we go we can be a walking breathing encounter of the internal one

so that people don't have to wait to get to heaven to be free. People can be free now. The redemption is redeeming the relationship we have with Jesus, who is the eternal one. Death wasn't in the picture like we said earlier. Relationship with Jesus was, relationship with God was. And then death entered into the picture because man fell and now sin is a reality because all have been born into it. And the fruit of sin is death. Eternal life isn't a destination, friends.

Eternal life is a restoration of a relationship with Jesus that was intended for man. Relationship with him was intended for Jesus. But real love isn't forcing everyone to believe in him. Real love is allowing people the option to have relationship with him. And so because of sin, sin separates us from that relationship with him. And now you have the option, guys. You have the option to be in relationship with him. Because if you live a life believing that the goal of Christianity is to get into heaven,

then it's never been relationship with Jesus, your relationship. If the goal for you has always been, if your idea of Christianity has always been to get to heaven, then Christianity has been a cage of religion and rules to you and not relationship with Jesus. If the goal of Christianity is to be in relationship with him, the redemption of the relationship that was intended for you, then it was never about rules or a to-do list.

It was about just loving him. And by loving him, you naturally manifest relationship through him. I'm just going to pray that if you've been trapped in this cage of religion or you've had this misunderstanding of Jesus and Christianity, I'm going to pray that God just softens your heart, gives you grace, gives you great for yourself, that you can actually live change and allow God to restore the idea of what it means to be a Christian. So God, I thank you for everyone watching and listening to this. God, I just pray that you will restore what it means to be a Christian to live for you and not live

for heaven. God, we don't want to live for a destination. We want to live for you now. And by living for you now, we can be an extension of your love for other people. So Jesus, we love you and I thank you and I just pray that you'll give these people grace. You'll give my friends grace God that in any way that they've misunderstood the gospel relationship with you, that you will just give them grace. God, we love them and we love you in Jesus name. Amen.

Guys, I love you. Thank you for listening to this. If you want to sew into our ministry and partner with us financially one time or monthly, go click the description in the YouTube video and you'll see ways to give there. Guys, I love you guys. See you guys next time.