Am I Really a Christian? (Foreword by Kirk Cameron)
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Each chapter title begins with "You're not a Christian [if/when/just because you]…" As he surveys what it means to be Christian, McKinley offers criteria for evaluating one's standing before God. Readers are guided through a series of challenges to reflect, repent, remember, and report to another person. Am I Really a Christian? ends with chapters on salvation and the local church. This unique book is written for nominal or new Christians and can be used in personal or small-group study.
Mike McKinley
Mike McKinley (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church in Sterling, Virginia. He is the author of a number of books, including Am I Really a Christian? and Church Planting Is for Wimps. He and his wife, Karen, have five children and live in Northern Virginia.
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Reviews for Am I Really a Christian? (Foreword by Kirk Cameron)
4 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very challanging. I definetly recommend it. Totally worth reading it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God knows his own. Just saying we’re a Christian doesn’t make it so. God sees “us clearly, we don’t see ourselves clearly.” I loved to Willy Wonka and how God makes it clear what we have to do to be a Christian. There are no “hidden clauses.” He uses many analogies. “Our life is destroyed by sin, not damaged by it. He used a rotted closet to represent our sinful lives. We can’t patch it up. Christ must replace every bit of the rot with his love and grace,( see page 35). Just “liking” Jesus doesn’t make us a Christian.Being a Christian means “changing teams and having new allegiances”, (page 60). I loved the analogy that many people think of forgiveness like a vaccination you get once that protects you against hell’s fires, while you continue to do what you want to do!” (page 79)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Review of Am I Really a Christian? by Mike McKinleyIf you don’t want to be a Christian this book is not for you. Put it down. If you believe you are a Christian and are satisfied with your grasp of the doctrine of salvation, the role of faith in salvation, personal assurance of salvation and the manner in which your life lines up with your belief system, this book has nothing to offer you. Walk away. There is danger, however, in thinking you are past the point of need for self-examination or for peer-accountability regarding the direction of your life. Since your eternal destination hangs in the balance, the subject matter should be worth your consideration. With these statements Mike McKinley, the pastor of a Baptist congregation, pinpoints the intended audience of Am I really a Christian: the most important question you’re not asking (Crossway, 2011). Christian jargon can bring more confusion than clarity. In the context of Am I really a Christian?, McKinley’s perspective of “born again” is one of regeneration. The regenerating love and mercy of God is the cause of salvation while the fruit of the believer’s life is the result or effect of salvation. Being a “Christian” goes beyond respect for Jesus to belief and faith in him. McKinley addresses the concept of faith as consisting of both objective content (doctrine) and a personal trust in Christ. McKinley also addresses the often tossed about “once saved, always saved” catch-phrase and the concept of “losing” salvation when a Christian doesn’t persevere in his faith. This is an area of dispute among Christian denominations. A genuine Christian, McKinley states, “perseveres in following Christ” (emphasis is the author’s). A onetime decision is important and it should be followed by a daily decision to follow Christ. Am I really a Christian? is scripture rich. McKinley relies heavily on passages of scripture and points readers to them by providing direct quotations within the text. Like John Piper’s Think: the life of the mind and the love of God (Crossway, 2010), McKinley compels readers to look past feelings and common Christian expressions to contemplate questions like the following: What do I believe? Do I agree? Does scripture bear out his arguments? How should I respond in light of these truths?McKinley’s message is to the church. He speaks as a fellow sojourner wanting to guide, encourage and strengthen the faith of believers. He takes care to reassure Christians with sensitive consciences. His pastoral gifting rings true. He is a builder and a gatherer. The author continually brings to the forefront the need for believers to be surrounded by brothers and sisters that can be trusted to come alongside to encourage and guide you as you walk out your faith. As the body of Christ, the goal should be self-evaluation in consultation with trusted mentors in order to seek and find evidence that the cause of our salvation (God’s regenerating love and mercy) has taken root and our lives are beginning to reveal the fruit (effect) of that salvation. To aid in this process, McKinley recommends the formation of year-long one-on-one mentoring relationships. The format for each chapter is text followed by a How to Respond section containing four points: reflect, repent, remember, and report. The book contains three appendices: Notes, containing sources for in-text references divided by chapter; Subject Index and Scripture Index. Am I Really a Christian? can be useful to individuals apart from a group environment. Its best and most complete use will come in the form of small groups of either new believers or those seeking membership within the body of a local congregation. A person’s willingness to engage in such a small group would be a good indicator to leadership of the individual’s desire to become a Christian and/or to participate in the life of that body. If you are willing to put quality time into self-evaluation in consultation with trusted friends at your local congregation, Am I Really a Christian? is worth your time and attention. NOTE: I requested and received a copy of this title via NetGalley.com but made no commitment to review it.
Book preview
Am I Really a Christian? (Foreword by Kirk Cameron) - Mike McKinley
Introduction:
Is This Book Mean Spirited?
Well, here we are, at the introduction. Congratulations to you on successfully navigating the table of contents and Library of Congress information and making it this far! At this point, it is customary to do some introducing, specifically of myself and this book. So let’s start there.
This is a book aimed at convincing you that you may not be a Christian. I want you to ask the question, Am I really a Christian?
because I’m convinced there are a lot of people in this world who think they are Christians but are not.
Hearing that, you might be tempted to ask, What kind of self-important jerk writes a book like this? Who delights in insulting and disillusioning people?
And, to be honest, I am a self-important jerk much of the time. You can ask my friends.
But if you will believe it, I am writing this book because I genuinely want to help. We who profess to be Christians in the world today have a serious problem. Many of us are confused about a matter that is larger than life and death, namely, whether everyone who claims to be a Christian really is.
Let me explain. A lot of subcultures and cliques are notoriously picky about who really belongs.
When I was younger, I used to hang out with punk rockers. In those circles we had endless debates about whether some person or some band was a real
punk. If you didn’t meet the right criteria or espouse a pure ideology, you were labeled a fake, a phony, a wannabe. In the world of punk rock orthodoxy, the worst thing that could happen to you was being branded a poseur. But who finally cares about the boundaries of punk rock, right? No one’s eternal destiny depends on whether the punk bona fides are in order or not.
Here’s another example. Spend a few days with me and you’ll discover I am a huge New York Yankees fan. I travel with my family to watch the team play; I watch most of their games on the television; I name my pets after the Yankees players; I am in a bad mood when the Yankees lose (which, fortunately, is not all that often).
Now let’s say that you claim to be a huge Yankees fan as well. Yet as we talk, it becomes clear that you have not been to a game in years. You don’t really know who is on the roster. You just check in around play-off time and ride the wave to World Series glory. Well, you would not qualify as a huge Yankees fan
in my book. I would consider you a casual fan and something of a front-runner.
But again, who really cares? People don’t live or die because they are not huge Yankees fans. In the final accounting, it is pretty meaningless. However, turn the topic to whether you are a Christian, and suddenly we have left the realm of the trivial and we are swimming in the deep end. Nothing less than the eternal fate of your soul is at stake.
Jesus taught that the world was divided into two groups of people who would experience two radically different fates in this life and in the next. Those who are his followers will receive abundant life now and eternal blessings in his presence (John 10:10; Matt. 25:34). Those who are not his followers will squander their time on earth and ultimately experience the just wrath of God against their sins for all eternity. Friend, you have a lot at stake in knowing whether you are genuinely a Christian.
Imagine for a minute that we’re all running in a race. According to the rules of this race, it doesn’t matter how we place, but it is absolutely critical that we finish. Not only that, our eternal destiny hangs on whether we finish this race. Finishing means eternal joy. Failing to finish, for whatever reason, means eternal suffering. This would be a pretty important race, would it not?
Now imagine that, looking along the racecourse, we see people dressed in running shorts and fancy sneakers, but for some reason they are sitting by the side of the road. Other people are crouched down, still as statues, tense, poised, and ready in the starting blocks. But they never move; they just stay there. Some people are wandering around in circles. Still others are running the wrong way.
Suppose then we stop to talk to these wayward runners and nonrunners. Quickly it becomes clear that they are convinced they’re running well. They say they’re looking forward to completing the race and receiving the substantial reward. They smile and talk dreamily about life beyond the finish line. The problem is, we know that they will never finish the race given their pace or direction.
Tell me: What would be the loving thing to do in that case? Would love motivate us to ignore their confusion? Would love motivate us to politely nod and say nothing? Of course not. Love would require us to warn them, to convince them, to plead with them to change their course.
That is the spirit in which I offer this book to you. I hope to serve you by helping you determine if you are running your race
in the right direction.
With that in mind, here are four points of clarification. First, I don’t think that I’m any better than you. I stand in the same place as you. I need to examine my life just as I’m asking you to examine yours.
Second, this book is intended for people who claim to be Christians or want to be Christians. If you know you are not a Christian (say, because you are a Muslim or an agnostic or anything else) you are welcome to keep reading, but you may find that other books will do a better job of speaking to your questions and issues.
Third, I don’t think that I’m an expert in these matters. You shouldn’t believe anything just because I say it. After all, I can barely balance my checkbook. Instead, my goal is to show you what the experts have said. I want to go to the Bible and see what Jesus and the authors of Scripture have said on the matter. I assume that because you think of yourself as a Christian, you are willing to do and believe and respond to whatever God’s Word says.
Fourth, I realize that a lot of people who are genuine Christians struggle with assurance. As a pastor, I often meet with brothers and sisters with sensitive consciences who feel every failure and struggle acutely. If that describes you, then you may want to enlist the help of some friends as you read through this book. Ask them not only to challenge you, but also to encourage you with God’s grace in your life. Or failing that, just skip ahead to chapter 8, which is described below.
Here is where we are going: In the first chapter, I want to look more closely at what Jesus and the apostle Paul said about the gravity of this matter. We’ll see that simply saying that you are a Christian doesn’t mean you really are one. In the second chapter, we will look at what the Bible says about what constitutes a genuine
Christian.
In chapters 3 through 7, we will look at passages in the Bible that give us some specific criteria for determining that we are not genuine Christians. In chapter 8, we will consider the matter of assurance. After spending so much time on criteria for determining if you are not a Christian, which is really the main purpose of this book, it does seem important to also spend a few moments considering how to know if you really are a Christian.
In chapter 9, we will conclude by looking at the role of the local church in helping you know whether you are a Christian. In fact, as you read through this book, I hope you do it together with members of your church. God has given us local churches so that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who know us well and can help us answer this most important question.
Becoming a Christian means admitting that you are a sinner, and admitting that you are sinner means admitting that you are prone to self-deceit. Gratefully, God has given us other Christians to help us see the things we cannot see about ourselves. Therefore, you might say that this isn’t a book for individual Christians. It is a book for Christians in churches. The Christian who thinks he can do the sort of self-examination we’re going to do in this book apart from other members in his or her local church is off to a bad start and may never find the answers he or she is looking for.
Well, that seems like enough of an introduction. I’m glad you have stuck around. Now let’s hear what Jesus says on the issue at hand.
1
You Are Not a Christian
Just Because You Say That You Are
MY E-MAIL IN-BOX is clogged with opportunities to become something.
Just this month, I have received messages from friends and spambots both offering me the chance to become:
someone’s friend on Facebook,
a member of Netflix,
a member of the Democratic Party,
part of a fantasy football league,
an ESPN.com insider,
part of an organization’s board of trustees,
the recipient of an ATM card from the Central Bank of Nigeria (preprogramed with $10 million on it!).
I probably will not take advantage of any of these opportunities. I am already an ESPN.com insider,
and I don’t have time to play fantasy football or be a trustee (though come to think of it, maybe I should follow up on the $10 million).
Still, consider what would happen if I were to avail myself of these kinds of offers: my relationship with those groups would become redefined, and I would clearly be a member. Not a lot of ambiguity here. Such group membership is a matter of self-selection: you either opt in
or you opt out.
Right now, both Netflix and I have a good grasp on the status of our relationship (or nonrelationship) because I have never opted in. But here’s the kicker: being a Christian is not exactly like that.
God Knows His Own
To be sure, there is great clarity on God’s side of the equation. He is not confused about who does and does not belong to him. In the Bible, we read that God has a definite record of those who will receive eternal life through Christ. When the seventy-two disciples return to Jesus, giddy from their recent ministry success, Jesus tells them, "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). Elsewhere, Jesus tells the disciples,
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me" (John 10:14). God knows who is truly a Christian and who is not.
That’s why the apostle Paul can speak of "Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life (Phil. 4:3). So, too, the apostle John, in his vision of the final judgment before the great white throne, refers to a
book of life" which contains all the names of those who are truly God’s people. Everyone whose name is not listed in this book will be thrown into the lake of fire, while everyone whose name does appear will gain entrance into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 20:15; 21:27). So God knows who belongs to him and who doesn’t. He’s not short on clarity.
Your Spiritual Shirt Is Inside Out
However, the same cannot be said about us. We don’t see ourselves that clearly. In fact, our self-awareness is often comically limited.
Have you ever realized that you have been walking around with toilet paper stuck to your shoe? Or with your shirt on backward? Or with a blob of ketchup on your cheek? I’ve done each of these at one time or another. When someone finally had mercy on me and pointed out the problem (Hey, moron, your shirt is on backward!
) I felt a small-to-moderate sense of embarrassment. I had been walking around assuming certain things about myself (suave, devastatingly handsome, capable of dressing myself properly), but in that moment I discovered that reality was otherwise (not cool at all). Everyone around me could see the truth about me clearly, but I was oblivious.
I remember one occasion in particular that God used to teach me about the sometimes gaping difference between self-perception and reality. I had just become an assistant pastor. I had had the opportunity to lead a Bible study of about two hundred people in our church. I enjoyed leading the discussion and answering questions. By all accounts the Bible study seemed to go pretty well.