Are You Just Calling People to Join Your Church? Or Is Jesus Calling People to Himself Through Your Church?

 

Are You Just Calling People to Join Your Church? Or Is Jesus Calling People to Himself Through Your Church?

What is the overall historical pattern of how God calls and Jesus specifically call people to repent and be saved?

If you trace the Bible chronologically, you see something like this:

Period                   How God calls people                     Response called for

Adam & Eve        God’s command and presence     Obedience                                          (it’s about God).

Noah                     Warning of judgment                      Believe God-enter the ark             (It’s about faith).

Abraham              God’s promise                                   Faith                                                   (it’s about faith).

Israel                     Law, prophets, sacrifices                Repentance and obedience           (it’s about God).

Prophets               Warnings + promises                     Return to God                                    (it’s about God).

John the Baptist   Preaching repentance                    Repent                                               (it’s about Jesus).

Jesus                     Gospel, miracles, teaching             Repent and believe                         (it’s about Jesus).

Apostles               Gospel preaching                              Repent and believe in Christ       (it’s about Jesus).

The Church         Gospel proclaimed                            Repent, believe, follow Christ      (it’s about Jesus).

RECAP. The message was clear and clearly all about God, Jesus, The Gospel and the Cost: Obedience; believe God and enter the ark; have faith; repent of sin and obey; return to God; repent; repent and believe in Christ; repent, believe, follow Christ.

Furthermore, historically, the biblical call to salvation can be summarized in four movements:

1. God reveals Himself.
2. God confronts people with their sin and need.
3. God calls them to repent and believe.
4. God promises forgiveness and salvation to those who turn to Him in faith.

And there is a beautiful progression in Scripture from “Return to Me” in the prophets, to Jesus saying “Come to Me,” to the apostles proclaiming “Repent and believe in Jesus Christ.”

Conversely, the twenty-first century church in America increasingly uses 3-word slogans to express how God and Jesus call people to repent and be saved. These examples were taken from actual church websites sends a different message In the twenty-first century American church:

How The Church calls people                   Response called for

Come grow with us.                                     (i.e., it’s about us).

Discover Your Purpose.                               (i.e., it’s about you).

Serve, Grow, Go.                                             (it’s about membership numbers).

Love His Church, Love People.                  (it’s about us).

The Gospel through community.             (it’s about us).

Find Home-Find Family-Find Purpose. (it’s about your life now).

Connect. Grow Serve.                                  (it’s about us).

I do not mean to be critical or negative. I am “sounding the Shofar” for those who can hear. I am attempting to clarify the picture of the modern-day church.

The Church is called to lift up Jesus so all people will be drawn to Him. Then the Church will transform the culture. Instead, the Church is being transformed by the culture of this world. It is as if we are practicing a form of Godliness but denying its power.

Please hear what GotQuestions.Org has to say on this matter:

In 2 Timothy 3, the apostle Paul describes the nature of people in the last days. In his description, he warns of people who are characterized as “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (verse 5). Paul then issues this command: “Have nothing to do with such people.”

Paul often uses contrast to emphasize an attribute he wishes to highlight. In 2 Timothy 3:1–4, he gives Timothy a long list of sinful behaviors and attitudes that are contrary to God’s will. In verse 5 he tells Timothy to avoid those who state they are Christians with their mouths—they have a “form” of godliness—but who act as unbelievers—they deny the power of godliness.

Those who have a form of godliness are those who make an outward display of religion. They present themselves as godly, but it is all for show. There is no power behind their religion, as evidenced in the fact that their lives are unchanged. They speak of God and live in sin, and they are fine with that arrangement. As commentator Charles Ellicott wrote, “These, by claiming the title of Christians, wearing before men the uniform of Christ, but by their lives dishonoring His name, did the gravest injury to the holy Christian cause” (Ellicott’s Bible Commentary for English Readers, entry for 2 Timothy 3:5).

These false Christians (these “carnal Christians” as some might call them – which is so inaccurate as to be an impossibility, for a true Christian cannot be Christian and Carnal at the same time) are destructive. Paul warns that they are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:6–7, NKJV). He compares them to the wicked magicians who opposed Moses and warns that their folly and corrupt minds will be revealed to all eventually (verses 8–9).

The power of God, which should accompany the form of godliness, is shown through the Holy Spirit and results in the transformation of our lives. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer (1 Corinthians 6:19) and enables him to bear certain fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). These are the attributes of a true Christian, as opposed to Paul’s list of sins in 2 Timothy 3:1–4.

(NOTE: When a person enters a Church they have a reasonable right to expect to encounter loving people, expressing an overt joyfulness, at peace with one another, expressing kindness, goodness, gentleness, kindness and patience to one another.)

Paul’s exhortation to Timothy falls in line with James’ explanation of how to identify a true faith (James 2:14–26). True faith will be evidenced by good works, which will occur naturally. If a person says he is a Christian but shows no evidence in his life by bearing the fruit of the Spirit, we have to make a judgment about him and avoid that person. He may have a form of godliness, but he is denying God’s power by not letting himself be controlled by the Spirit. In fact, if his faith is not genuine, he cannot be controlled by God’s power, because the Holy Spirit does not dwell in him.

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The natural person may have a form of godliness, but he denies God’s power in the way he lives. Only faith in Jesus Christ can bring justification and the transformation he so desperately needs (Colossians 1:21–22; Romans 5:1–2).

Finally let me say that I believe a person should have the right to expect that when entering a Christian Evangelical or Protestant church they would be greeted by people who are loving, joyful, at peace with and good to one another, kind, gentle, patient, faithful and hospitable. Sadly however, the more common experience when entering a church, people can anything but welcomed and feel very alone in a crowd. And just why is that?

It is because a person is guided by how they think in their heart (that is, in their conscious and subconscious mind). And if you have been indoctrinated and believe it is all about you and your church you most likely will display a guarded disposition. For example:

If You Believe Your Calling is…                Your attitude and mindset might be…

Come grow with us.                                      (i.e., it’s about us).

Discover Your Purpose.                                (i.e., it’s about you).

Serve, Grow, Go.                                              (it’s about membership numbers).

Love His Church, Love People.                   (it’s about us).

The Gospel through community.              (it’s about us).

Find Home-Find Family-Find Purpose.  (it’s about your life now).

Connect. Grow Serve.                                   (it’s about us).

In short, you might be saying, “you can do it our way or you can hit the highway”

But if you believe:

Your Calling is…          Your Mission Is…      Your Message is…                      You attitude will be…

You are The Church   Gospel proclaimed   Repent, believe, follow Christ  (it’s about Jesus).

What’s the point?

1. It’s all about God and Jesus. It is all about what the Bible says about us, to us and for us. It is never about us.

2. Don’t be deceived. Your “real” belief system is revealed by your mission activity, your message, your attitude and your behavior.

3. When people come before you, do they encounter a loving person who is expressing an overt joyfulness, a peace with others, expressing kindness, goodness, gentleness, kindness and patience?)

Matthew 12:34 states, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” indicating that what is in your heart reflects your true thoughts and feelings. Additionally, Proverbs 27:19 says, “As in water face reflects face, so the heart reveals the man,” further emphasizing this connection.

Be part of God’s remnant. Do it His way. Really follow Him everywhere you go.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young