Historically, men and women have wrestled over their salvation. It was not cheap, it was not easy, it was wrestled over for years before it was affirmed. All of a sudden, that idea was erased and easy believeism replaced the painful work of self examination and wrestling with the cross of Christ. So no longer do you have to wrestle, you just have to walk down the aisle, shake the hand, say "I'd rather not go to hell please, I love Jesus" and the church will baptize you, put you on the roll, and the great news is perhaps when the evangelist comes again this time next year... you can get baptized again! This gave birth to this whole new crazy circumstance where a church may have a membership of 18,000 and an attendance of 1200. People are coming to Christ as an eternal fire insurance plan and nothing more. With so much watered down faith filling the church we need some clarity on the affirmation of our salvation. The four following questions are for self-examination to help bring about some clarity. If any of these questions raises a red flag in your faith then it needs to be dealt with and worked out with perhaps some fear and trembling.
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling." - Philippians 2:12
Red Flag Questions:
1. Do you habitually commit sin?
"Whoever has been born of God does not sin" - 1 John 3:9.
"Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" - Romans 6:1-2.
There is a huge difference between stumbling and practicing sin. Falling and stumbling into a sin and you planning for it are two totally different things. If you set yourself up for a sin then that is practicing sin. This is not referring to struggles of resistance. Everyone constantly struggles to resist temptation and sin, but the question is are you stuck in cycles of secret sin that you have kept quiet forever that own you? If so that is a huge red flag.
2. Do you seek to live a holy life by being obedient to God's Word?
"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" - 1 John 2:29.
"We know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments" - 1 John 2:3.
If you come across the scriptures, hear the scriptures proclaimed, read the scriptures unpacked over an area of your life and you acknowledge what the Bible says but decide you want nothing to do with it, decide you will not submit to it, or walk away from it then that is a giant red flag. If you know the commandments of God but you just do not care then that is a huge red flag.
3. Do you love others?
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God for God is love" - 1 John 4:7-8.
"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren" - 1 John 3:14.
Those that have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, those that are truly in Him are not self-absorbed, narcissistic, me-monsters. If your wife, children, workers, neighbors, and everyone on the planet exists to make your life better for you that's a red flag.
4. Do you have any affection for God or are your affections on the things of this world?
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" - 1 John 2:15
"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit" - Romans 8:5
Do you see God as majestic and worthy of worship? When you think about the cross and you think about your sin, are you aware of the things of God? This is not referring to just some warm, fuzzy emotion you feel during some song in church. Is there any affection during those times in your walk that seem so dry and dull? For the redeemed, even in this spiritual desert there is an awareness of the greatness and grandness of God. There is an acknowledgement that we are not where we want to be but that God is doing something in this and we might not be happy about it but there is still an acknowledgement of the majesty of God in the spiritual desert. This is deep affection and awareness of the things of God. If there is no appetite for the things of God that is a giant red flag.
-TEvans
PS - I got this message from a Matt Chandler sermon that I recently listened to. Do you guys think this message is too aggressive for e-Outreach or should we use it?
10 comments:
it was my understanding that e-outreach was meant to be a way to share what Jesus is doing in our life. The first email sent out said we would not preach to everybody....this would undoubtedly come across that way. If we are changing our stance then maybe. Just my opinion. I know that there are at least a few non-believers on the list.
That's fine with me. I understand our understanding so that is why I asked the panel before breaking the rules on this one.
-TEvans
That said, what God is doing in our lives should include gentle reminders of where we are going astray. I come at this from the perspective of being a believer, and feel that it is more a cross-check for believers than impacting non-believers.
While it reigns a slight bit on the "preachy" side, we have a responsibilities as men of God to hold others accountable, and in fact to want to be held accountable. That is, in part, what this post did for me. So bravo.
Just my opinion. Just keep writing, because your blog is a great addition to my daily reading!
You guys are quite right that this particular message is for believer's only and would simply fall on deaf ears otherwise. We'll just limit this message to the blog but feel free to share this one with any believers that you may feel could benefit because I know this message displayed power in my own personal life.
- TEvans
Do you guys think this message is too aggressive for e-Outreach or should we use it? I think this question is answered in the first paragraph...
Historically, men and women have wrestled over their salvation. It was not cheap, it was not easy, it was wrestled over for years before it was affirmed. All of a sudden, that idea was erased and easy believeism replaced the painful work of self examination and wrestling with the cross of Christ.
Here's my two cents...What's our ultimate mission?? To advance the gospel of Christ, worship Him, and Glorify His Name...right?? I don't see how this would interfere with that mission...I believe it accelerates it by exposing a false/fake/easy beliveism gospel.
We can't be afraid to step on a few non-believer's feet with this type of message. Here's the startling truth...there are people reading these emails that THINK they are christians and really aren't.
If we are afraid to send this type of message for the sake of a few non-believers we may in turn be allowing more non-believers who think they are cool to continue living an illusion.
Of course I'm a team player...so I'll go along with the group consensus. However, I would support sending this message.
PS-I think Matt Chandler is the best pastor in America...period...with Piper a very close second.
My understanding was that the Outreach was for non-believers and fence shakers. I think it would be wise to continue to develop the foundation of the Outreach with life examples. After we have gone on for awhile we can invite them to another room (e-fellowship blog) for some hot rocks. I say keep the Outreach mellow and let it continue to melt off the plastic covering of the non-believers hearts. Glad you seeked council Terry.
Nolan, our feelings are mutual on this matter and that is why I wanted to ask everyone on the committee what they thought. I too, can't help but wonder how many people that receive the emails weekly are trapped in the easy believeism of their time because I myself was caught in that snare for a significant amount of time. That being said, I respect everyone's opinion on this matter and the vote is in that we will not send this out to the e-Outreach contact list. God bless you all and thanks for sharing your thoughts.
-TEvans
just to be clear...i wasn't saying we should be timid in our beliefs or messages we send. But, our original statement to our e-outreach list was that we were not going to preach. That is all i'm saying. I love the idea of sending a link to our blog so that people could dive in deeper.
BUT....I did love that message by the way.
Terry I think we just need to be careful. E-Outreach was created to spread the gospel and have it all point toward scripture... Not our own words. I love yur fire and I'm taking anything away from it. I'm all for fire! But we said we wouldn't so lets stick to it. James 5:12
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