Five Things Every Christian Should Know - Part 1

"Are we going to have to know this for the test?"

This is the one question everyone in my Jr. High, High School, and College classes wondered about but never had the courage to ask. There was always one guy though; he had the courage to ask the question.

I love that guy. He's my hero. That guy is like the class sacrificial lamb. He tips his hand right there in front of everyone so the rest of us don't have to.

Students don't really care about the subject matter. We could Google search the answer if the question kept us up at night, but it doesn't, so we won't. We just showed up at Jr. High because it would get us to High School. High School would get us to college. College would get us a piece of paper that would let us really do what we wanted to do. We didn't want the answers from the classes we took; we just wanted the piece of paper.

But nobody's willing to say that out loud. So, we sat there dutifully taking notes for the first couple of weeks until we figured out who "the guy" was. Once he was identified, the pens went away, and the baseball caps were pulled over our eyes. Don't bore us with the details; just tell us what's going to be on the test.

Whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, we can't be that haphazard with the Christian life. Life isn't about getting the piece of paper, it's about serving the Sovreign God of the Universe. And there's no "guy" asking the question for us. What exactly should we as Christians know to make it in the Christian life? I believe there are five things every Christian should know, and plan to spend the next couple of blogs talking through them. Some of them will be obvious, and some of them will probably surprise you. In each case, I'll try to do my best to describe exactly what it is the believer should know, and why they should know it.

First, a disclaimer: I didn't find these five things listed in Scripture, and I am not God. Therefore, my list isn't inspired. I don't intend to say that you're a bad Christian if you don't know #3 on my list, and certainly don't mean that you have to know all five of these things to go to heaven. Don't doubt your eternal security based on my list. These are simply the five things I believe every Christian should understand in order to faithfully live out the Great Commission, "Go and make disciples of all nations."

And oh yeah... this will be on the test.