As I look out over a congregation, any group that claims to be mostly made of up Believers, I am haunted by two things that always leave me wondering. You see, Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven there will be people who think they are saved, but are not. They have fruit, but it’s bad fruit. When judgement comes, they think they are in, but will hear “depart from me, I never knew you”. The second thing is a story I know from a very wise and Godly man. When he was younger, he entered the ministry and began to pastor. One evening he attended a revival meeting to support some of the work done in his community, and realized in the midst of the meeting, he didn’t personally know Jesus. He knew the answers, he had a lot of Bible knowledge, he pastored a church and had even shared with others how to become a believer, but he himself never had.
Makes me wonder, as I look over a group of people in a service, at a meeting, gathered together, how many of them think they are saved, but if they died right now would hear “depart from me”. I constantly have to check myself, to see how I am holding up. Do I know for certain that Jesus has saved me?
I think we hold part of the blame as Pastors and leaders. Something that I have come to believe and hold deeply is no one gets saved until they get lost. For someone to come to faith in Christ, they must be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. Their soul must see the depths of their own depravity and cry out to God “have mercy on me, a sinner”. It’s part of this realization that let me to Reformed Theology, but that’s a different blog (i’ll write it soon, save your bullets). Sometimes I fear we promise life and purpose and peace without talking about sin and it’s soul destroying realities. We neglect to make sure they understand what they are being saved FROM. If there is no repentance, no conviction of sin, I believe there is no salvation.
Along those same lines, I think we have let too many people become too complacent, thinking that church attendance is sufficient for salvation. The reality is a bunch of church attenders with no fruit in their lives. Peter speaks directly too that in 2 Peter chapter one. If we are not growing in faith, virtue, knowledge, self control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love, we are not saved.
The most simplistic way to put it, if someone is not capable of acting like a Christian, they are not. I wonder how often we make excuses for the Holy Spirit, when the real problem is, the Holy Spirit isn’t in that person. We watch people backslide, fall away, produce no fruit and do nothing but sit in a pew, and we make an excuse. Maybe we just need to face the reality that perhaps that person was never saved at all. Maybe it’s the members, maybe the deacons, maybe the pastors, maybe the leaders. . . maybe even the bloggers? What do you think?
We can never see the heart like God does. We can ‘inspect the fruit’ but that only shows how they’re growing. All we can do is keep preaching the gospel and let God work on them.
What to do? Some evangelists (and pastors) specialize in rebaptisms and getting church folks saved. There is always a market for this, but is it legitimate or not? My judgment is that it is mostly not. Some pastors, especially calvinists in my experience, have such a high threshold for salvation that it appears that the fewer the saved, the better. Some leaders (Ranier) attribute church problems to unsaved people in the churches. In some state conventions for some years as many as one fourth of baptisms are of folks who have been immersed before. Perhaps we should preach the Gospel… Read more »
You mean 4 people baptized 6 times each isn’t exponential church multiplication? That’s 24 baptisms for the ACP though! In response to the article, I am grateful that while it’s easy to question someone else’s salvation, even easier to question my own, that the grounds of my salvation are not in whether I feel it enough or have “enough faith” or am “100,000% sure in my heart of hearts”. I may be hanging by a thread at times, but that thread of faith is connected to Jesus, who isn’t letting go. The validity of faith is in the capacities of… Read more »
I just watched a video on the LifeWay site of Avery Willis’ last testimony. He was actually filming it in an area of the hospital, though you would not have known it if he didn’t say. I wish I had the link. It was from a promotion on the two pastor retreats that are coming up. Avery talks about how he came to see the important difference between being a nominal Christian and a disciple. It was very simple. It was very moving. Perhaps an easier question to answer (one that does not require knowing one’s heart) would be: does… Read more »
On the practice of rebaptism . . . I am very reluctant in these recent times to pursue rebaptism. I do it, but I really try to make sure the person understands what it means to be “crucified with Christ.”
I think we should do a much better job the first time around, and then follow-up the person with a well designed, well executed, mentor-driven, intentional discipleship process.
When someone comes forward during an invitation and says they want to be saved, what’s the procedure for assuring they are actually willing to do what it necessary? A few questions and then a prayer? And when someone comes to join from another Baptist church, what’s the procedure to discern their discipleship?
Generally whatever can be done in 2 or 3 choruses of the invitation hymn. So we can “present them” after the final chorus?
If the quality control of American industry was as good as it is in our churches, we wouldn’t have any industry here.
“pop, sh……” and the can of worms opens up… Whatever one thinks of altar calls (I think they can be done in a non-manipulative, non-sacramental, God-glorifying way, but I also think there are other valid types of response times in churches), there often does seem to be a rush to present good results that can hamper the counseling. It’s very distracting to try and talk about the most serious spiritual issue with someone at the front of a church while the music is blaring, the pastor is often still talking, and that dern address card needs to be filled out… Read more »
Bob, Of course if one accepts your straw man, any small wind can blow him over. Notice your words, “A few questions and a prayer?” First of all, exactly how many questions is one required to answer in order to be saved? Can they be True/False? Or, multiple choice? Or, short essay of 200 words? I don’t know how one would determine by Scripture more than the need for one: “Do you confess Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life?” Second, is prayer somehow to be scorned in regard to the counseling of one seeking Christ? Seems to me,… Read more »
I’ve been studying 1 John to preach on this very thing soon. The specific text I’m using is 1 John 3:24, which brings together the most addressed elements of John’s letter: keeping God’s commandments and having the Holy Spirit. But this letter was an assurance to people who were saved but whose faith was challenged by the false teachings of the gnostics. Today we have people whose teaching is similar to the gnostics in that the teaching is founded on some nebulous false spiritualism but denies the gospel. Today the certainty of our faith is challenged similarly to the way… Read more »
Good reminder, Jim.
1 John is a great place for new and struggling Christians to hang out. The danger in 1 John is in pointing its harder statements at our people and ignoring what was likely the background of the letter–namely John is writing to true believers, who have been shaken to the core after watching their friends and supposed “family” in Christ depart for some weird Gnostic-like heresy. Now they are being told by those who left that they are wrong, they still live in a culture that hates them, and they have to be wondering, “Are we the true Christians? How… Read more »