Posts tagged Christianity

This is more a musing than a serious post, but I am interested in your comments all the more.  As we are developing ourselves and deepening our expectation of what it means to be a Christian, I have found some shifts in the way I view fundamental issues.  I mentioned in this week’s conVerge group that I’m starting to see the world through the distinction of sinner/repentant one, instead of seeing the world as saved/unsaved.  What I mean is that when I imagine my audience when I write these posts, or when I speak to people in discipleship mode, I am finding myself wondering less and less if they’ve “prayed a prayer” and more and more about if their life shows the fruit of Christ or if their attitudes bespeak submission to God.  This has been very helpful because it becomes, dare I say it, easier to judge my audience.  I know that I hate having to hedge around sensitive issues, or mince my words to say something just right to meet some standard of religious-political correctness.  I hate having to tell people: “I know that you’re saved (or at least prayed a prayer), but you still need repentance and you need to submit to God’s will for you life.”  Now I can simply say: “Sinner, repent!”  Which one sounds closer to Scripture?  The problem for some will be that we start by calling people sinners, “christian”/churched and non-churched alike.  Instead of euphemistically addressing them as prospective Christians, we need to address them as sinners.  If their sin isn’t revealed by the Law, then they cannot understand their need and thus cannot receive redemption.  But more precisely, people need to hear that they’re sinning because this is the message of the Spirit who gives Life.  The Holy Spirit convicts us in our sin; we must speak the truth. [I edited my post here.  I had ended this paragraph by staying that if we preach cheap grace, then we make it hard for one to accept the more difficult gospel of Christ.  I don't think, however, that we can thwart God through bad theology.  Jesus WILL have his elect, and we cannot stop him.  However, we can enjoy the fruits of obedience and live in truth.]

The added benefit of this is that it colors my vision of spiritual reality so that God’s sovereignty is always visible.  When I think in terms of repentance instead of salvation, then I am aware of my need to constantly challenge myself with the impossible requirement of imitating Christ.  It’s not “I’m saved so let’s eat, drink, and be merry”, but it’s “I must repent because Christ’s love compels me.”  When we think of newcomers to conVerge, let’s call them “conVergins”, what is their need?  I am convicted and convinced that my need was seeing my sin as sin, and I think it is the same for them.  I titled this post “Works and Grace”, because the ability to see sin is a work of faith, which is from the Lord.  In faith we see God and hear the law proclaimed against us.  If not for faith, then the whole Gospel would be foolishness to us.  What I see in the lives of many LU students is that the Gospel is foolishness to them.  What does this mean?  Well, it means that their not sav…  STOP!

It means that they aren’t repentant.  I don’t really need to worry about their position, for that is in God’s hands.  I suppose it is possible that a person be saved but not yet have works as the fruit of that faith.  Not yet, but inevitable in time.  So in their immaturity, surely some LU students living as if there were no God are saved, but some just as surely are not.  The purpose of this post is to say:  For my work in the Kingdom, it doesn’t matter either way.  I shall call the unrepentant weak brother to the Cross of Christ just as I call the unrepentant unregenerate man to the Cross.  This is a relief and lessens some the the tension for me, especially when I think about speaking to large numbers of LU students.  What do you guys think?