Over the past few years, I've continually noticed a few things that just simply don't jive with scriptural Christianity. These are things that sound good but you won't find in the scriptures. Here are a few of them I've thrown together.:
The Absurdity of Saying “You Were Made For a Relationship With God”.
Listen to examples of “witnessing” and you'll hear something like this: “You were made to have a relationship with God”. Well, I know what they mean, but here's why it isn't really helpful (or even scriptural) to say this to a sinner. It's because most anyone who believes in God will talk like they already have a relationship with God. You'll hear things like “The man upstairs takes care of me”, or “God and I have an arrangement”. These are false securities. And just telling people they need a “relationship with God” might give them a warm fuzzy but it isn't going to impact them; they think they already have one – "so what?"
But in a sense, they are all correct. For all people do have a relationship with God. No doubt whatsoever. The difference is whether it is a saving one or it is a damning one. Either God is your Father through faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, or He is your judge.
The Absurdity of “Accepting Christ As Savior”
Oh? And where in the scriptures do we read that? It's kind of like “Ask Jesus into your heart”. Neither are found in the Bible.
On the other hand, the scriptures do stress confessing Christ as Lord (“the God Who Rules”, or “Master”). For example, see Romans 10:9-10. “If you confess with your mouth 'Jesus Is Lord'”, which refers to a lifestyle, not a one-time verbal confession. A life being transformed.
And this is consistent with what Jesus drew people to when He took on human flesh and walked this earth. He continually turned people away who weren't willing to accept Him on His terms. He told the rich man to sell all he had and give the money to the poor. The man wasn't willing to do that. And he walked away sad. You can't serve two masters. And he decided material things were his master.
Accept Christ as Savior? Well it's true that Jesus Christ Is the Savior. But I'm not concerned so much with that as Him being my Lord. The former can be claimed easily and falsely. The latter will show itself in my life.
Is salvation an event? Yes! It's not a process; sanctification is a process. But it begins with confessing Christ as Lord as a life pattern. And frankly, instead of saying "I accepted Christ", I'd prefer to say with Paul in Ephesians 1:6 that I am "...accepted in the Beloved."
The Absurdity of Telling the Lost “They Need to Know God”
Bet that got your attention! This one always reminds me of the song by D.C. Talk “Hey You, I'm into Jesus”. I'm more concerned that Jesus is into me! See 1 John 2:4 where God's Word says “The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
That is not a person who knows God. In the historical context of 1 John, that is an unbeliever!
While it is true that we want to “know God” (have an intimate knowledge of Him), as Paul said in Philippians 3, I'm more concerned with knowing that He knows me! See Matthew 7:21. If you go to the White House and say to the guard “I know the President” I doubt you'll get in. But if the President tells them (confesses you before them) he knows you, you'll get in. So, I don't care if “I'm into Jesus” (which sounds trite, like “I'm into stamps” or “I'm into sports cars”), I want to know that He is into me! And that isn't trite.
The larger problem, however, is that the sinner doesn't need to “know God”, he needs to be reconciled to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And finally of course, the more currently devised...
“We Need to Revise our Vocabulary to Fit the Times.”
This is followed by “People don't understand the terminology” and is complete hogwash.
If you work with the unsaved, eventually you'll hear people joking about the need to “repent” from drinking, or some other vice. “If I don't change my ways...” So let's cut the nonsense about sinners “not knowing the terminology”. According to whom? I'm not that old and even I know better than to believe that.
Now, it may be that we need to clarify things. I'm not against explaining things. I've done it myself. But we shouldn't go out of our way to circumnavigate Biblical vocabulary. I've heard enough testimonies where ex-druggies and murderers have come to Christ and they have no problems using the very words we say they don't understand.
The real issue, I'm convinced, is that we are embarrassed by those terms. We don't want to be seen as “religious”. We want to save face. We want to be a-c-c-e-p-t-e-d.
News flash. 2 Timothy 2:12 says “...those who live Godly lives will suffer persecution”. In John 15:19, Jesus said that the world will hate us. Now of course that doesn't mean that we should go out of our way to give reasons to hate us. But there is something wrong if we are seeking to be at peace with the world and to have seamless interactions with those in it.
So we may as well lay it out straight with them. That isn't popular in our “seeker sensitive”, “Purpose Driven” days. We want to make friends with the world in the name of “relevance”. Jesus said it doesn't work that way. We shouldn't try to adjust our message to help us fit in a world that Jesus said we won't fit in.
Let God Work! And let Him work in His way! How dare us think we can improve on what God has given us!
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