Overlooking Christ's Charge
Our Fighting Directly Harms The Kingdom
By Todd Uebele
"16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -- Matthew 28:16-20
"15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other." -- John 15:15-17
hrist Jesus, our Lord and Savior gave two commands that are greatly preached on, but largely ignored. Ironically enough, you can boil down Christianity into these two things. Still, they are seldom put into practice. Christ's commands have taken a back seat to our own internal squabbling. Just about any fighting over doctrine is enough to turn people off to Christianity, but there are a few things, a few topics, if you will, where our arguing directly keeps people away from the kingdom. I would like to talk about two such topics today. The first is when salvation is actually bestowed on an individual, and the second is the security of a believer in Christ. Please understand I will be presenting both sides for discussion's sake. I know each of you will disagree with one of the sides from each topic. That is ok, and the main point I would like you all to walk away with is not who is right, but how our fighting on these topics in particular is responsible for lost souls failing to come into the fold.
The EXACT Moment of Salvation
The first issue I would like to discuss is the argument over exactly at what point salvation occurs. It may seem silly to some, but there are those who literally consider this a matter of (spiritual) life and death. One the one side you have those who believe that in order to become a Christian, one must be baptized. This is known as baptismal regeneration. That is, the act of baptism is what saves a person. One must be fully immersed in water, not one hair or fingertip left untouched by water. Some will go one step further and teach that unless an individual knows the exact and proper reasons for being baptized at the moment they are dunked then the baptism "didn't count," and the person is still lost.
Some people take this topic so seriously they would rather a person stay lost than have to work with a Christian who feels differently than they do. I promise I am not kidding. A few years ago, such a debate arose on a forum I used to participate in. The debate was about this very topic. One the one side some individuals claimed that being baptized (that is, fully immersed in water) was a requirement of salvation. That is, an individual remained in a "lost" state even after confessing Christ as savior and putting there hope and trust in Him. On the other side of the debate were individuals who claimed that all you needed was Jesus. They believed baptism was a command and a requirement, but that salvation was bestowed after confessing your faith and putting your trust in Christ.
Both sides had plenty of scriptures to back up their positions, both sides were fervent in their beliefs and both sides were unchanging in their beliefs. Essentially, both would agree that Christians needed to be baptized, but what they disagreed on was whether a person was saved when he gave His life to Christ or when he came out of the water. That is, will an individual be saved before or after he gets wet? After a few days of back and forth, one individual asked the following question:
If there was an individual who was lost and you were teamed up with [an individual who disagrees with you] to go witness to this person, would you:
a) Put aside your differences and agree that all are things and individual must do to follow Christ's commands
b) Argue in front of the individual thus preventing his salvation that day, possibly ever
Being the intrepid person I am, I chose option c, "show up an hour earlier and convince the individual I am correct." That answer, while humorous on the surface shows the underlying problem: the pride we have in thinking we are always correct. I can honestly say that when I had to give a serious answer, I did choose "a," but there were some who not only chose "b" they absolutely refused to participate in any sort of witnessing or evangelism with any of us who disagree with them!!
Some people would rather the lost stay lost then even deal with those who differ in dogma. Worse yet, unless they could deliver their own brand of Christianity, they would rather do nothing. Tell me, how do these attitudes help the Kingdom of Christ?
A Believer's Security
Another area where disagreement directly hurts the kingdom is eternal security. On the one side you have those who believe in Once Saved Always Saved. This comes straight from Calvinism. A full Calvinist believes that God's elect are predestined and will go to Heaven no matter what. Along those lines, they believe perseverance of the saints. That is, nothing can take away one's salvation, nor can one "lose" it. On the other side is what I like to call "yo-yo theology." That is, a person is constantly losing and regaining his salvation. Every time somebody sin's they revert back to a "lost" state, and once they seek forgiveness they are then saved, again. If a Christians sins and dies before asking forgiveness he is lost forever.
Both sides have a good amount of scriptural support and both sides make a good argument, so who's right? I think rather than ask "who's right?" the better question is, "Who cares?" Now, I understand that at this point a good number of you are ready to hit your 'reply' button and straighten me out, but please, before you try to straighten me out, please hear me out.
What we have are two different explanations for what is actually the same event: A person starts out lost (as do we all) and then gets "saved." He confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, gets baptized, and even becomes active in the church. Some time later, that person leaves the church and decides they want nothing more to do with Christians or Christ, or even our Father in Heaven. The OSAS camp will say that individual was never actually saved to begin with. He may have "gone through the motions," but in his heart he were never truly saved. The Yo-Yo camp will say the person was saved, but then fell from grace. That is, the individual has now lost his or salvation.
No matter what the explanation, the fact is an individual is now in a lost state. Frankly, it does not matter whether he "lost" his salvation or never had it to begin with; he is in fact, lost. Rather than argue about what was in his heart all this time, shouldn't we instead concentrate on bringing him back into the Body of Christ? Regardless of what was in his heart, he was involved in the church, and then he left. Instead of fighting over whether he was truly committed to Christ, or just going through the motions, should not try and get him back into the fold?
But the scriptures!!! The bible says...
Yes, there are plenty of scriptures that talk about being eternally secure or falling from grace, but if we truly want to see what God's Word says about this situation, let's look at the parable of the prodigal son. Even better, let's look at the ending: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). Notice how the father saw the boy when "he was still a long way off." How else would the father have noticed him unless he was out there looking!
Yes, the boy's father was looking out for him, and when he saw him, the bible says he ran, yes, he ran out to meet him! The father so long for his son he was actively looking for his return, and so excited when he spied him in the distance that he ran out to meet him! Talk about love!
We all have a Father in Heaven who has that great love for us. When we leave, whether it be 'backsliding,' or leaving the church all together, our Father is actively looking for us. He longs for us to be with Him. That's why He sent Jesus to die for us in the first place! If our Father longs for us to be with him so much, that He sent His only Son to die in our place, should we not do our best to help those who leave the church, "come to their senses" (15:17) as the prodigal son did and lead them back home? How it must pain both our Father and our Savior too see their children leave the flock, only to be abandoned as we fight and argue about whether their hearts were truly with Him in the first place! I say we stop the fighting. I say, who cares? Only God truly knows what lies in a man's heart, let's not fight about something we cannot see so directly. Instead, let's work together at bring this person, these people, back into the fold. Let's go out there, seek them, try to get them to come to their senses, and lead them home.
'Cause Love's replaced by judgment
Encouragement by shame
We have all forgotten
The power of Your name
Blinded by our pride
Not a single day goes by
As we fight each other
That our savior does not cry
Father, bring us to the day when judgment is replaced by your love, when shame is replaced by encouragement and edification, when we forget our pride and remember the power of your Holy Name. Father, bring us to the day when we can stop fighting each other, when we can work together for your Kingdom, when we can lead people into the flock. Father, this I pray, like your one and only son. Father, take your people and make us on.
