Christianity: The foundation and first principles (part 1)
Recently I have been mentoring a young minister here in the Nashville area. He is a very earnest young man in his early 20s who has a great burden not only for the lost but also for those who have already come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. In other words, God is developing in him a true pastor’s heart for the growth and well-being of those believers entrusted to his pastoral watch care.
During our most recent time together, this young man asked me, “What is the most important thing I can tell someone?” I immediately thought, “What a great question!” To answer that question you have to immediately go back to basics or first principles.
The most important truth you can tell anyone is that God, the Creator of the universe, loves each one of them and has a wonderful plan for each of their lives.
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Every human being is on a search for meaning and significance in this life. What more important thing can you tell anyone than the fact that God never created a nobody; that everybody is a somebody to God?
In Psalm 139 God revealed to David,
For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].
Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:15-16, (Amplified Bible).
And God tells His great prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew and approved of you [as My chosen instrument] and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you, and I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer. 1:5, Amplified Bible).
And in the New Testament God tells us that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered…you are far more valuable than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7, Amplified Bible)
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, Paul tells the born-again followers of Jesus in Ephesus, “For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them—living the good life (which He prepared ahead of time)that we should walk in them—living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live” (Eph. 2:10, Amplified Bible).
The Christmas season is an excellent time to focus on the first principles of the Christian faith, which begin by declaring that each human being is created by God (you may have been a surprise to your parents, but you were not a surprise to God). Every human being is someone God deemed worthy to have His only Son come and die a cross kind of death to redeem them for the life and destiny God planned for them (Jn. 3:16).
How do we connect with God’s plan and purpose for our individual lives? First, we must accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Then, indwelt by the Holy Spirit (as believers, our bodies are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.):
“Do you not know that your body is the temple—the very sanctuary—of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, whom you have received [as a Gift] from God?” (I Cor. 6:19).
Having received the Holy Spirit at conversion each believer can discover God’s unique will for his or her life by making the decision to present their lives as a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). When you do this, you discover by the “renewing of your mind” that "God’s will is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2).
And it all commenced with that first Christmas when God sent His Son to deliver us from the captivity of our sins.
As the Apostle Paul explains in the incomparable language of the second chapter of his epistle to the church at Philippi:
Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus—Let Him be your example in humility—
Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God {possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God}, did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained;
But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity] so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born as a human being.
And after He had appeared in human form He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the [the] cross.
Therefore [because] He stooped so low, God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:5-10, Amplified Bible).
As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, let us always remember that the shadow of the cross always loomed over the manger. Our Savior came to sacrifice Himself voluntarily in order to rescue each one of us from our sinful selves “and to thus allow each of us to fulfill our divinely appointed destiny and purpose.”
Dr. Richard Land, BA (Princeton, magna cum laude); D.Phil. (Oxford); Th.M (New Orleans Seminary). Dr. Land served as President of Southern Evangelical Seminary from July 2013 until July 2021. Upon his retirement, he was honored as President Emeritus and he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Theology & Ethics. Dr. Land previously served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (1988-2013) where he was also honored as President Emeritus upon his retirement. Dr. Land has also served as an Executive Editor and columnist for The Christian Post since 2011.
Dr. Land explores many timely and critical topics in his daily radio feature, “Bringing Every Thought Captive,” and in his weekly column for CP.
