What is a Christian?

To answer this question I’m going to borrow the illustration of ‘Coffee Pot Christians’ I first came across reading When the Spirit Comes by Colin Urquhart.

It both amused me and helped me figure out what it means to be a Christian. So I’m passing it on.

Coffee has moved on with its recent resurgence. Apart from all the Italian names – mocha, cappuccino, latte, expresso - and so on, the containers on offer today are many and varied – moka pots, French press, percolator, and filters.

The coffee pot used in the illustration, however, is a simple ceramic container that can hold maybe 4 cups and has a removable lid and a handle.

If the coffee pot represents a person, the contents are everything that makes up the individuality of that person, their resources. When shaken or tipped up, what is held inside comes out. But to make coffee first the lid has to be removed and water poured in. The lid represents everything that is a barrier between a person and God: anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, self-reliance, pride and so on. Sin is a much misunderstood and maligned word these days but the contents of our ‘lids’ do amount to what the bible calls ‘sin’ which ruins us and spoils our relationship with God.

Whilst the lid is in position God is external to you. You are living, to all intents and purposes, a life independent of God.

But Jesus showed us that God loves us ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…’ and wants to come in, to be poured in, but first the lid must be removed.

When Jesus hung on the cross the New Testament says He was the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. Even in the Old Testament, this sacrifice was described in the following verses:

‘Surely He has borne our griefs and carried out sorrows…he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities…the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all’. All our jealousies, pride, self-reliance, bitterness and so on, Jesus took on the cross to take away the barrier between us and God, to restore our relationship with God.

When Colin Urquhart used this illustration for those who wanted to remove their lids and let God in, he encouraged them to write a letter to Jesus confessing the things in them that made up their lid, then to thank God that Jesus has taken it away on the cross, and finally to ask God to pour Himself into them with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

‘you can no more become a Christian by going to church than become a burger by going to McDonalds’

When the apostle Paul wrote about the Holy Spirit he said this: ‘the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us’. If it is unforgiveness we have confessed, He comes with forgiveness; if it is bitterness, the love of God brings peace, if pride or fear, the Spirit brings faith in God.

This simple illustration worked for me: Church attendance, saying prayers, singing hymns, good works, being kind to our neighbours, baptism, taking communion, even believing in God…all these Christians may do, but these things do not make us Christians.

It’s easy to put the cart before the horse.

Someone once said ‘you can no more become a Christian by going to church than become a burger by going to McDonalds’.

Lastly, when the apostle Peter preached to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost (Acts chapters 1 and 2), they asked him what they should do. This is his answer:

Repent and let every one of you be baptised in the Name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’.

• The word ‘repent’, to use the coffee pot illustration, is to confess to God all that makes up the lid in our life and to recognise that Jesus took it all on the cross.

• Baptism in water follows on…it’s like having all those barriers washed away, like being cleansed of all that makes us feel unworthy of forgiveness.

• And, finally, the promise that God will come pouring in – the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s a gift, not something we earn by our religiosity or attempts to please God or efforts to live a moral or a good life.

I hope that helps. And makes sense.

If it makes sense to you and you want to become a Christian, why not do what Colin Urquhart told his listeners to do – write a letter to Jesus. Tell him about your lid that needs to be removed. See that when Jesus died on the cross, He took your lid. And ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be poured into your heart.

If you have a bible nearby maybe read the following verses: John 3v16, and John 14 v 16-20.



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