STEP FOUR: BE ADDED TO A CHURCH Become part of Jesus' family.
These steps will be explained in the rest of this article and chapter 4.
STEP ONE: REPENT AND BELIEVE MAKE A CHOICE TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT JESUS AND LIVE FOR HIM.
This first step underpins all the others. The word "repent" is not often used today. There are four components to what it means: a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of behavior, and a change of direction.
Repentance means changing what you think about Jesus, and apologizing for ignoring Him, belittling Him, excluding Him, and not trusting Him. It is a radical change in perspective.
Repentance involves your heart being miraculously renewed so that you now love and value Jesus above everything else and are satisfied in Him. Repentance includes turning from your sins. However, Christianity is not primarily external behavior, but an internal conversion. The outer works flow from the inner work.
Repentance means reorienting your life around Jesus, and asking Him to rescue you and to be in charge from now on. It means changing from a life that is all about you, to a life that is all about Jesus.
Repentance is such a simple concept, yet it does demand that your whole life change direction. You stop going your own way, and turn around; you convert.
You must count the cost of such a decision. But the choice is between living your own way forever, apart from God and under His judgment, or following Jesus and enjoying His presence. Jesus warned us often that hell is a real place (e.g. Matthew 10:28). Why would anyone want to end up there? Sometimes repentance can be accompanied by strong emotions, but the key element is a sober decision to start on a lifetime of following Jesus:
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)
In some of the other messages recorded in Acts, hearers are urged to "believe" in place of the word "repent" (see Acts 15:7 and Acts 16:31). While repentance is about more than just agreeing with certain truths, it does begin with what we must believe:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
According to this verse there are three components to the decision to believe in and trust Jesus, which is at the heart of repentance:
The first is that you must openly say something, or "confess with your mouth."
The second, is what you must say: "Jesus is Lord."
The third, is what you must "believe in your heart": God has raised Jesus from the dead.
This is how to begin the Christian life. Without this response you will never be saved. With it, even if what the Bible calls "fruits in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:8) are not yet visible in your life, you can be sure that they will begin to appear.
Let's look at each of these components of our response to the gospel in more detail:
- "CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH"
Usually the best person to tell first will be another Christian.
The idea behind this phrase is similar to a marriage service, where a couple declares their commitment to a lifelong relationship with one another. Some people argue that marriage is an unnecessary piece of paper. But we are changeable beings, and in years to come it is helpful to have a memory of the day we acknowledged our love before other people. Also, something actually changes inside us when we openly make such a declaration.
In the same way, we must tell God, ourselves, and other people that we will now follow Jesus. This solidifies our commitment to a relationship with God and transforms us.
It is very possible to become a Christian right now in private. But you will need to tell somebody, and as soon as possible. Usually another Christian will be the best person to tell first.
Many new Christians feel so full of love for Jesus that they want everyone else to share in their newfound joy. Despite our enthusiasm and passion to tell others, there are times when you need to be wise about who you tell and how.
The biblical account of Esther is interesting in this regard. Esther was a Jew living in exile in a hostile country. When she was taken to the king's palace Mordecai wisely advised her not to tell anyone that she was a member of God's people (Esther 2:10). If she had, she might well have been instantly killed. At the right time, in the right way, when Esther admitted her identity to the king, it led to a miraculous rescue of her people from genocide (Esther 7:3-4 and 8:4-12).
It may help you to find a mature Christian to talk through the wisest steps for you to take as you begin to tell others about your new faith, especially if you are concerned about negative consequences. Pray that God will help you know who to tell, and when.
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