by Jeff Witty 01.07.04
Those who claim to follow Christ ought to actually walk with him. That implies some sort of forward movement. In the Gospels, Jesus took his disciples all over the place, and not just for their overall cardiovascular health and emotional well-being. It has been said, and is worth repeating, "You cannot stay where you are and go with God." God is constantly on the move and calls his people, the church, to be the same. In the church, every member is a minister, and every minister has a ministry.
But Jesus never pressures anyone, never guilt-trips anyone, and never pulls the old "Christian duty" song and dance to get them to do anything. In fact, when it came to his followers, he even offered them opportunities to leave if things were getting to difficult for them or if the concerns of their life didn't allow them to truly follow him [eg., Mat 8; John 6]. However, the ones who did not leave or sit on the sidelines became the ones who really got to know him and the ones he trusted to found his church after his resurrection. In God's Kingdom there are only participants, no spectators. In the church, however, this is often not the case. Jesus, on several occasions [e.g., Mat 13,21,25; Luke 13], explained to his disciples about his Kingdom. In each of these cases, he paints a word-picture of ineffective people loitering around the church. You might argue that these verses are being taken out of context, and I agree that the immediate context is primarily a salvation issue, but I must then ask, "What is salvation?" In short, salvation is not simply a change of position in regards to God, a one-time deal to get to your tuchas out of hell. Salvation is the birth of new life, entry into a new Kingdom, where God is the chief authority, where his agenda is the only acceptable agenda. You put on a new life, where you are a priest in total devotion to God and his body of believers. You finally have purpose and meaning in your life, something to fulfill--your Destiny. Not a ritual or obligation, but a true joy and a pure thrill. You cannot say, "Thank you, Lord, for the salvation...See ya at the pearly gates. Ciao, baby!" Let's take a different angle here: you just signed on with the Armed Forces. Your date for boot camp comes up and you show up on time. But then, once your get your stylish new camo fatigues, you set them on the shelf, walk up to the drill sergeant, thank him for the new clothes and proceed to tell him you'll see him after their return from battle in a few years. Doesn't make much sense, does it? In fact, it would seem preposterous to even conceive of someone doing that. Why, then, would it not seem even more outrageous to see such behaviour from those who receive the very death of Jesus and then take off down the happy bunny-trail to personal agendas? God has called each of us to a life serving in the field. There are no cush-cush government jobs is the Kingdom, no retirement dates, no pension plans, no stockpiles of vacation time, no weekend leave...Once you are a priest, you are a priest for life. It is not a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday deal. This is what it means to be saved, truly.** It is to be handed a new lease on life and then to go out and live it! You are welcome to come and have a seat with us, even if you want to do absolutely nothing with God for the remainder of your natural life. We'll be truly glad you've come and be happy to help you in any way that we can--and we'll never pressure you to contribute, not a single minute of your time or dollar of your finances. But it sure would be a sad thing for you to miss out on all the fun. Picture this: you have been waiting for your team to make it to the final game for 15 seasons, since you were just a young child and could first pronounce their team name. You have even purchased tickets for all five of your best friends--they cost a fortune but they are the best seats in the entire stadium. Everyone is packed in your SUV and raring to go. You even painted your SUV with team colours just for this game. As you drive up to the stadium, excitement is in the air. The roar of 80,000 fans pours out of the open roof. You've been listening to the pregame show all the way there and it is going to be, unquestionably, the game of a lifetime. Air Force jets scream by on a ceremonial low-pass overhead, the fireworks can be seen for miles in every direction...it's a madhouse! Even the President himself is there. Multiplied millions watch on TV worldwide. You drop your friends off at the gate and go to park the car. Amazingly, someone is pulling out of the very first spot near the main gate! How could this be?!? Your heart races as you screech your tires to get there before anyone notices it is open, securing parking so close to the gate that people would have paid a hundred and fifty extra dollars for it. You put the car in park, turn off the radio and lights, put on that funky team head-gear-thing that your spouse nearly died when you purchased and then..............you sit there. You sit there, nothing else. Just sit there. For 4 hours you simply sit in your vehicle and stare off into the night. You watch as tens of thousands pass through the gates, not 25 feet from where you sit. You can hear the raging crowd, smell the savoury concessions, feel the excitement and the thunderclap under your feet when the teams score and the crowd erupts like an 8.4 on the Richter scale. You squeeze up to the top of your seat, but the scoreboard is just out of sight. There is nothing keeping you in the car, but you just sit---a truly odd place for someone in the home team's starting line-up... So, yes, you are welcome not to join in the excitement. We will love and accept you just the same. And no one will break your car window to drag you out onto the field. But what a pity. You were destined to be great. God has said, "I have prepared great works for you in advance and I have designed you to accomplish them, and not to fail" (Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, 2:10).
___________________________
Note: **Since many I know are, theologically speaking, somewhat conservative Baptist-ish, I should make a very brief note here about the rampant abuse of the phrase "Eternal Security". In Christ, our salvation is sure, to be sure, but it is no license for laziness...or sloth (thought I'd throw that good King James word in there for effect). If you are saying with your words, "Yes, I am saved," yet with your actions are saying, "God who?", I'd urge you not to expect to be in the right line on the last day. Perhaps a revisit to Matthew 25:31-46 should clear up any misconceptions for you. The hour is late; there is no time for games. If your life is still all about you, then, technically (and practically, for that matter) speaking, you’re not saved. But there is this hope for all of us: we can be saved. Even if we have been trying to pull one over on God himself, he waits like the father of the disobedient runaway son, ever eyeing the horizon for our return, arms wide open, banquet table stacked to the nines.
But Jesus never pressures anyone, never guilt-trips anyone, and never pulls the old "Christian duty" song and dance to get them to do anything. In fact, when it came to his followers, he even offered them opportunities to leave if things were getting to difficult for them or if the concerns of their life didn't allow them to truly follow him [eg., Mat 8; John 6]. However, the ones who did not leave or sit on the sidelines became the ones who really got to know him and the ones he trusted to found his church after his resurrection. In God's Kingdom there are only participants, no spectators. In the church, however, this is often not the case. Jesus, on several occasions [e.g., Mat 13,21,25; Luke 13], explained to his disciples about his Kingdom. In each of these cases, he paints a word-picture of ineffective people loitering around the church. You might argue that these verses are being taken out of context, and I agree that the immediate context is primarily a salvation issue, but I must then ask, "What is salvation?" In short, salvation is not simply a change of position in regards to God, a one-time deal to get to your tuchas out of hell. Salvation is the birth of new life, entry into a new Kingdom, where God is the chief authority, where his agenda is the only acceptable agenda. You put on a new life, where you are a priest in total devotion to God and his body of believers. You finally have purpose and meaning in your life, something to fulfill--your Destiny. Not a ritual or obligation, but a true joy and a pure thrill. You cannot say, "Thank you, Lord, for the salvation...See ya at the pearly gates. Ciao, baby!" Let's take a different angle here: you just signed on with the Armed Forces. Your date for boot camp comes up and you show up on time. But then, once your get your stylish new camo fatigues, you set them on the shelf, walk up to the drill sergeant, thank him for the new clothes and proceed to tell him you'll see him after their return from battle in a few years. Doesn't make much sense, does it? In fact, it would seem preposterous to even conceive of someone doing that. Why, then, would it not seem even more outrageous to see such behaviour from those who receive the very death of Jesus and then take off down the happy bunny-trail to personal agendas? God has called each of us to a life serving in the field. There are no cush-cush government jobs is the Kingdom, no retirement dates, no pension plans, no stockpiles of vacation time, no weekend leave...Once you are a priest, you are a priest for life. It is not a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday deal. This is what it means to be saved, truly.** It is to be handed a new lease on life and then to go out and live it! You are welcome to come and have a seat with us, even if you want to do absolutely nothing with God for the remainder of your natural life. We'll be truly glad you've come and be happy to help you in any way that we can--and we'll never pressure you to contribute, not a single minute of your time or dollar of your finances. But it sure would be a sad thing for you to miss out on all the fun. Picture this: you have been waiting for your team to make it to the final game for 15 seasons, since you were just a young child and could first pronounce their team name. You have even purchased tickets for all five of your best friends--they cost a fortune but they are the best seats in the entire stadium. Everyone is packed in your SUV and raring to go. You even painted your SUV with team colours just for this game. As you drive up to the stadium, excitement is in the air. The roar of 80,000 fans pours out of the open roof. You've been listening to the pregame show all the way there and it is going to be, unquestionably, the game of a lifetime. Air Force jets scream by on a ceremonial low-pass overhead, the fireworks can be seen for miles in every direction...it's a madhouse! Even the President himself is there. Multiplied millions watch on TV worldwide. You drop your friends off at the gate and go to park the car. Amazingly, someone is pulling out of the very first spot near the main gate! How could this be?!? Your heart races as you screech your tires to get there before anyone notices it is open, securing parking so close to the gate that people would have paid a hundred and fifty extra dollars for it. You put the car in park, turn off the radio and lights, put on that funky team head-gear-thing that your spouse nearly died when you purchased and then..............you sit there. You sit there, nothing else. Just sit there. For 4 hours you simply sit in your vehicle and stare off into the night. You watch as tens of thousands pass through the gates, not 25 feet from where you sit. You can hear the raging crowd, smell the savoury concessions, feel the excitement and the thunderclap under your feet when the teams score and the crowd erupts like an 8.4 on the Richter scale. You squeeze up to the top of your seat, but the scoreboard is just out of sight. There is nothing keeping you in the car, but you just sit---a truly odd place for someone in the home team's starting line-up... So, yes, you are welcome not to join in the excitement. We will love and accept you just the same. And no one will break your car window to drag you out onto the field. But what a pity. You were destined to be great. God has said, "I have prepared great works for you in advance and I have designed you to accomplish them, and not to fail" (Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, 2:10).
___________________________
Note: **Since many I know are, theologically speaking, somewhat conservative Baptist-ish, I should make a very brief note here about the rampant abuse of the phrase "Eternal Security". In Christ, our salvation is sure, to be sure, but it is no license for laziness...or sloth (thought I'd throw that good King James word in there for effect). If you are saying with your words, "Yes, I am saved," yet with your actions are saying, "God who?", I'd urge you not to expect to be in the right line on the last day. Perhaps a revisit to Matthew 25:31-46 should clear up any misconceptions for you. The hour is late; there is no time for games. If your life is still all about you, then, technically (and practically, for that matter) speaking, you’re not saved. But there is this hope for all of us: we can be saved. Even if we have been trying to pull one over on God himself, he waits like the father of the disobedient runaway son, ever eyeing the horizon for our return, arms wide open, banquet table stacked to the nines.
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