So You Want to be a Christian?
A sermon on Matthew 4: 12-20 by Dr. Dwight A. Moody
Earle Street Baptist Church, Greenville SC, November 9, 2025
In a few moments, we are going to sing a hymn. It is an old African American spiritual. You will not need a book. The verses are similar and simple. I want to be a Christian in my heart. I want to be more loving in my heart. I want to be more holy in my heart. I want to be like Jesus in my heart.”
That phrase “in my heart” is a way of saying, “Deep in my soul, in my inner being, in myself, I desire to be a Christian and live like Jesus.” It means, From deep within me, it is my intent to follow Jesus and, in this sense, to be a Christian.”
I hope that is your desire today. I hope it is purpose of everything you hear and see and feel today: to cultivate that inner desire to be a Christian. I know there is much on your mind today. Maybe your health, maybe your job, maybe your marriage; maybe the country, or the shutdown. I know there are many things. But today, for this hour or two, I pray that something, or everything, draws your attention to this desire: to be a Christian and live like Jesus.
At the end of this worship, this sermon, this teaching, we will sing this wonderful song, gifted to us by enslaved people many years ago. If they could compose and sing this song in the midst of slavery, surely we can lift our voices and turn our hearts toward Jesus and say today, “I want to be a Christian.”
I.
What can help us today is this prayer that Jesus gave us to pray, and believe, and live. I have appreciated so much pastor Gary’s preaching and teaching on this text, these 62 words. This is a prayer Jesus gave us to pray. He could have given us any number of prayers. He could have given us the prayer of St. Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love….” That is a great prayer. He could have given us the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” That is a great prayer. It has been the salvation of many persons. Jesus could have given us the prayer of Jabez! Remember that prayer? It arose out of obscurity to be a thing for a few years. It was everywhere … except on the lips of Jesus!
But Jesus gave us this prayer. It is one thing Christians everywhere have in common. Amid all the diversity in the Christian community, worldwide, there are three things, maybe four, that we have in common. What would you say? Our confession, “Jesus is Lord.” Our Bible. Our ceremony—the Lord’s Supper, we call it. And the Prayer. Today, on this Lord’s Day, a billion people are praying this prayer. It may be the most common way we say to each other and to the world, “In my heart, on my lips, and in my life, I want to be a Christian.”
A few years ago, while living in Lexington, Kentucky, I drove to the church nearest us, the St. Andrews, Antiochian Orthodox Church. The Antiochian Church is a branch of the Orthodox Church, like Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox or even Ukrainian Orthodox. It was not a large congregation, maybe one hundred people. In their tradition, the people stand throughout the service. Maybe that is why is has not caught on in the United States. Music is acapella and led by a choir at the back of the sanctuary. The ministers wore robes and stood to the side. At one point there was a procession. And during one long period, the ministers led in a series of readings and prayers … in a language I could not understand. It was a long segment and all foreign to me. Then, without changing languages, I heard the familiar cadence of … “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth and it is in heaven.” It sent a chill through my body, an electric current, I might say, a recognition of a shared source of inspiration and direction. It was their prayer, my prayer, your prayer, our prayer. The prayer Jesus gave us to pray.
II.
I want to present it to you today as the best way to be a Christian. You want to be a Christian today? Pray this prayer. You want to live like Christian? Live this prayer. You want to confess your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior? Believe this prayer. This is what Jesus gave to you and me to help us follow him, love our neighbor, and serve the world.
There are many versions of Christianity today. We differ on what to wear, what to confess, even how to sing: organ and choir, praise band and chorus, acapella, or shaped note singing. We differ on architecture, organization, and even how to vote or whether to serve in the military or what to do about immigration. In the midst of this confusion, I offer you the Prayer as a guide to living:
- seek the will of God, in heaven, on earth, and in your life today;
- trust God to supply your needs and allow God to use you to supply the needs of others;
- confess your sins and forgive those who offend you;
- resist evil wherever it is (inside of you, in your family or neighborhood, even in the great social systems in which we live), and finally
- celebrate with joy and hope the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom, his rule, and his glory.
You do those five things day by day, week by week and you will be living as a Christian.
III.
The Prayer offers us a way to live but also a way to express what we believe. That is, this prayer functions as a sort of confession of faith. There are many ways to make what Paul the Apostle calls “the good confession.” Bob Dylan was baptized in 1979. Shortly after, he wrote of his conversion in the song “Every Grain of Sand: “In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need.”
In the year 325, leaders of the Christian movement gathered in Nicaea and adopted a statement of faith. It is called The Nicene Creed. It is recited in many churches today and every Sunday. Maybe you recognize the language: “We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen….”
Is that familiar to any of you? It takes 227 words, compared to the 62 words of the Prayer. Maybe you prefer this confession:
I believe in God in heaven. I believe God has a purpose for all things. I believe God supplies my needs. I believe God hears my confession and forgives my sin. I believe God empowers me to resist evil. I believe God reigns in power and glory.
Six statements. 47 words. Straight from the prayer.
You may be confused about what to believe and what to confess. Catholics want us to believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary. Orthodox want us to believe in a male only clergy. Pentecostals want us to believe speaking in tongues is key to spirituality. Amish want us to believe in living separate from the broader human community. Baptists want us to believe immersion is the only acceptable form of baptism. Presbyterians want us to believe everything is predestined. And many Christians believe that everybody else is going to hell!
Many people are turned off by much of this. And many of these people share their ideas on TikTok. Do you watch TikTok? Anybody here have a TikTok account? I do! I tell you this: there are hundreds, even thousands of TikTokers who make videos about why they are leaving the Christian faith. It is not because of the Prayer! It is because of control, and narrowness, and doctrinal conformity, and blanket condemnation of deviation. It is in response to such realities, Jesus offers this prayer, this confession of faith. You want to be a Christian? Believe this prayer: I believe in God in heaven. I believe God has a purpose for all things. I believe God supplies my needs. I believe God hears my confession and forgives my sin. I believe God empowers me to resist evil. I believe God reigns in power and glory.
And we add: in the sweet and strong name of Jesus our Savior.
IV.
You want to be a Christian. Live this prayer. Believe this prayer. And yes, Pray this prayer.
Some years ago, as I was driving from Chicago back to Louisville, Kentucky, I tuned into a famous radio program called Unshackled! It is a radio drama from the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. That night, they dramatized the testimony of a man riding on a train trying to escape Germany during the closing days of World War II. He was desperate to get out before the Russian army took over, closing in from the east. Chaos was the condition everywhere and the future was uncertain. This man had been active in the underground pushing back against the Nazi regime. He was a marked man, and he knew it. He was desperate to escape. Incognito was at the core of his plan. He said, “In my desperation, I started to pray. I prayed the only prayer I knew. I had learned it somewhere, somehow, but not at home because we were not a religious family. I prayed slowly, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name…. I sat on my bench seat on that crowded train all night and prayed. I did not kneel, I did not bow my head or close my eyes. Over and over, I prayed that prayer. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. I knew nothing about God and nothing about Jesus. I had never prayed in my life. I was calling out to the God I hoped was there. Give me this day my daily bread and forgive my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me. Deliver me from this evil. That night on that train fleeing war torn Germany, God heard my prayer. From that night to this day, I have lived for Christ. Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.
I do not know that man’s name, but it could be yours. You are here today, in a sanctuary pew or on your living room couch, but you also might be fleeing something: a danger that threatens your sense of well-being, a doubt that disturbs you faith, a decision that promises to upend your life. Something is closing in on you and you are afraid.
Here is the word of God for you today. Pray this prayer. Believe this prayer. Live this prayer. Jesus gave it to you for this very moment. You want to be a Christian? Pray this prayer. You want to make the good confession as a follower of Jesus? Believe this prayer. You want to follow Jesus in life and death, today and tomorrow, live this prayer. These 62 words offer you a prayer to pray, a confession to make, and a way to live. This is God’s gracious gift to you today.
It is the way God has given you today in response to your desire: “I want to be a Christian, in my heart, in my head, in my life.”
