The 3 C’s of a Christian

The Christian life should be marked by three C’s: content, character, and communication.

In this episode, Nathan discusses and explains the three C’s of the Christian life and why they are essential for the times in which we live.

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Every Christian should have three aspects in their lives: the content of God’s Word, the character of God’s life, and the communication of His Gospel.

1. The Content

As Christians, we must know God and His Word. Though this is ever-increasing in a believer’s life, here are a few key concepts that should be known in our lives:

• The Gospel … and the fact it is more than merely “salvation” (from hell) but it is also the power of God in our lives to live the Christian life (see Romans 1:16)
• The Bible is ONE book with ONE author with ONE focus
• How to live godly and righteously in these days (victory is possible)
• What is grace and why is it so essential to the Christian’s life?
• What is faith and why does God say that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6)?
• Who is our Triune God (His character, nature, and attributes)?
• What does authentic Christianity look like lived out in the life of a believer?
• The secret to the Christian life is CHRIST Himself
  • Ian Thomas – “God redeemed your soul that your body might be inhabited by Jesus Christ Himself, that the life He lived then might be lived now, [by Him in you] .… Can you imagine anything quite so thrilling as that?” ⁽¹⁾
  • 1 John 4:9 – By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

If you’d like to take some of these concepts deeper, I encourage you to listen to Eric Ludy’s sermon The Five Fingers.

In short, I encourage every Christian to know what the Christian life is, how to live it (through the grace and empowerment of Christ) … and then actually live it.

2. The Character

The Christian life isn’t something to be esteemed, it is something to be lived.

We were made to be image bearers of the Living God to our world (see Genesis 1:27) … but the only way to bear His life is to have His life, via the indwelling Holy Spirit, living and producing His life in and through us.

We should not merely esteem the power of the Gospel but actually experiencing it’s transforming power in our lives. The Gospel indeed has the power to change and transform everything … but are we allowing it to? Are we being more and more conformed to the image of Christ (see Romans 8:29)?

God has supplied everything we need for life and godliness (see 2 Peter 1:3–4 and 2 Corinthians 9:8) … so that we can be measured against the perfect standard of Jesus Christ and “grow up in all aspects into Him” (Ephesians 4:13, 15).

The life of Christ should be the character of our lives.

3. The Communication

Knowing and experiencing the truth of God in your life is important, but we were made as communication vessels that should declare the content and character to the world.

Paul calls us “ambassadors” of the Living God (see 2 Corinthians 5:20). And as he wrote in Romans 10:14–15, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!'”

What then is the focus of our preaching and communication?

Paul says our communication is Jesus Himself.

• 1 Corinthians 1:23 – but we preach Christ crucified …
• 2 Corinthians 4:5 – For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus.
• Colossians 1:25–28 – of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.

What about you?

• Do you know the content?
• Do you have the character?
• Are you proclaiming Jesus to the world?

FOOTNOTES

(1) Ian Thomas, sermon Grain of Wheat
Photo Credit: Joseph Gonzalez

Join the Conversation

Question: Do you have the content, character, and communication of a Christian? Which one do you need to grow in the. most? How can you take one step forward in that area this week?