1 week ago
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
What happens to 66% of 645ers?
There is a statistic that's shocking and heart wrenching. Do you remember seeing it up on the screen on last Sunday night?
Here it is - 66% of Young Adults walk away from Jesus by age 30. Not shocked? Think about it - if it's true then of the 150 645ers almost 100 will no longer being following Jesus by age 30! It's so confronting that you have to ask - can a Christian really fall away? What about the Bible telling us we've been chosen and predestined by God to be his children? I remember sitting in the Yr12 Bible Study at St Alban's Lindfield with 13 other people i thought were Christians. Within a year of leaving school all but 2 (me and Sarah) we're no longer calling themselves Christians. It's awful to think about. So what do we say about all this?
When we read Hebrews 10 we get a pretty clear picture in verses 26-27. Only fearful judgement awaits those who turn away from Jesus. But what about the wonderful passages of reassurance like Romans 8 (nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ)? We could make the more important passage and say that trumps Hebrews 10. So don't worry what happens God will never really let go of you in the end. But why not make Hebrews 10 the more important passage - God lets you into his kingdom but it's up to you to hang on tight. But that's no way to read the Bible - cut paste, pick and choose the bits you like. No we have to say Romans 8 and Hebrews 10 are both true.
But where does that leave us? Can a Christian fall away? That would seem to make sense of our experience of seeing people we shared Bible study with, people we called Brothers and Sisters disappear from Christian things. But it just doesn't sit with Romans 8:28-30 - God predestined us to be like Jesus. Just as he predestined so he also called, justified and glorified. There's no doubt or uncertainty about the Christian future there. There's no sense of our salvation depending on whether we hang on tight enough. In addition if we say a Christian can fall away we dismiss God's election and predestination. Can we really say that God chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-6) but then it depends on us whether we make it into heaven? Romans 8:31-39 reassures us that God, who gave up his only Son for us, will not let go of us now (see also John 6:38-40). So we have to say that Christians don't fall away - otherwise salvation depends upon us. Then it's not really Grace alone but grace and us together.
The problem for us is that we just don't know whether someone is really a Christian. So we see someone 'fall away' and we say 'see a Christian can fall away' but the reality (only known to them and God) was that they never were a follower of Jesus. Given enough time you can fake a lot of things. People can look, talk, walk, model the Christian life but in fact never had put their trust in Jesus' death for them. Or perhaps they weren't intentionally faking - they were self deluded. Perhaps it was just the thing they did with their friends, or the intellectual stimulation and recognition of being a leader or something else that wasn't about clinging to the cross of Jesus. So sometime down the track they give up and stop calling themselves a Christian. Now i know this sounds like a easy simple smooth answer. But it's actually a really helpful way to work through all the mess & confusion around this question.
God gives us the warning and encouragement that real faith perseveres to the end.
See Hebrews 10:26-39. The warning is to avoid deliberate stubborn sin, repent and hold onto the promises of God. Real genuine Christian faith hears that and repents. Sometimes you see people who claim they're a Christian and talk the jargon but there a big areas of their life where God is not welcome. They hear the warnings of the Bible to repent, they hear the advice of their Christian friends but they just keep on doing what they like - that's stubborn deliberate willful sin. By contrast, real Christian faith struggles with sin, repents, grows, changes over time. Real faith believes God's promises and trusts him all things. Real Christian faith sticks it out learning to rejoice, give thanks, and serve in all situations.
I've tried to be definite and clear on all this but at the same time, it's a big messy painful issue. Please keep your thoughts coming on this. And most all let's encourage each other to keep on following Jesus, persevering until the end.
James Lewis
Here it is - 66% of Young Adults walk away from Jesus by age 30. Not shocked? Think about it - if it's true then of the 150 645ers almost 100 will no longer being following Jesus by age 30! It's so confronting that you have to ask - can a Christian really fall away? What about the Bible telling us we've been chosen and predestined by God to be his children? I remember sitting in the Yr12 Bible Study at St Alban's Lindfield with 13 other people i thought were Christians. Within a year of leaving school all but 2 (me and Sarah) we're no longer calling themselves Christians. It's awful to think about. So what do we say about all this?
When we read Hebrews 10 we get a pretty clear picture in verses 26-27. Only fearful judgement awaits those who turn away from Jesus. But what about the wonderful passages of reassurance like Romans 8 (nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ)? We could make the more important passage and say that trumps Hebrews 10. So don't worry what happens God will never really let go of you in the end. But why not make Hebrews 10 the more important passage - God lets you into his kingdom but it's up to you to hang on tight. But that's no way to read the Bible - cut paste, pick and choose the bits you like. No we have to say Romans 8 and Hebrews 10 are both true.
But where does that leave us? Can a Christian fall away? That would seem to make sense of our experience of seeing people we shared Bible study with, people we called Brothers and Sisters disappear from Christian things. But it just doesn't sit with Romans 8:28-30 - God predestined us to be like Jesus. Just as he predestined so he also called, justified and glorified. There's no doubt or uncertainty about the Christian future there. There's no sense of our salvation depending on whether we hang on tight enough. In addition if we say a Christian can fall away we dismiss God's election and predestination. Can we really say that God chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-6) but then it depends on us whether we make it into heaven? Romans 8:31-39 reassures us that God, who gave up his only Son for us, will not let go of us now (see also John 6:38-40). So we have to say that Christians don't fall away - otherwise salvation depends upon us. Then it's not really Grace alone but grace and us together.
The problem for us is that we just don't know whether someone is really a Christian. So we see someone 'fall away' and we say 'see a Christian can fall away' but the reality (only known to them and God) was that they never were a follower of Jesus. Given enough time you can fake a lot of things. People can look, talk, walk, model the Christian life but in fact never had put their trust in Jesus' death for them. Or perhaps they weren't intentionally faking - they were self deluded. Perhaps it was just the thing they did with their friends, or the intellectual stimulation and recognition of being a leader or something else that wasn't about clinging to the cross of Jesus. So sometime down the track they give up and stop calling themselves a Christian. Now i know this sounds like a easy simple smooth answer. But it's actually a really helpful way to work through all the mess & confusion around this question.
God gives us the warning and encouragement that real faith perseveres to the end.
See Hebrews 10:26-39. The warning is to avoid deliberate stubborn sin, repent and hold onto the promises of God. Real genuine Christian faith hears that and repents. Sometimes you see people who claim they're a Christian and talk the jargon but there a big areas of their life where God is not welcome. They hear the warnings of the Bible to repent, they hear the advice of their Christian friends but they just keep on doing what they like - that's stubborn deliberate willful sin. By contrast, real Christian faith struggles with sin, repents, grows, changes over time. Real faith believes God's promises and trusts him all things. Real Christian faith sticks it out learning to rejoice, give thanks, and serve in all situations.
I've tried to be definite and clear on all this but at the same time, it's a big messy painful issue. Please keep your thoughts coming on this. And most all let's encourage each other to keep on following Jesus, persevering until the end.
James Lewis
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Being saved and tested on judgement day
The passage from Sunday night (1 Corinthians 3) has raised some interesting discussion around what happens on judgement day. So one 645er asks "1 Corinthians 3:15 says 'he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through flames'. Does this imply that in spite of being 'worldly' or only building with 'hay', these people will still be saved purely on the foundation of Jesus? If so, what does the 'testing' achieve?"
It's a good question, making us grapple with the text. Verse 15 is very clear the person who has built badly on the foundation of Jesus Christ 'will be saved'. We are saved because of Jesus not anything we have done. Remember 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, we are in Christ because of what God has done for us. Christ is our wisdom - bringing us righteousness, holiness and redemption. So we boast not in ourselves but in God.
The testing is not about whether we're saved or not. The testing is of how we lived our Christian life. We can fool ourselves and other people that we're serious about Jesus and we love our brothers and sisters. A church can look polished, spectacular and sharp. But the day of judgement will reveal whether our lives, whether our church has really lived cross shaped life. This is the difference between building a church with wood, straw and hay or building with gold, silver and costly stones. Have we lived cross shaped lives and built a cross shaped church?
The day of judgement will test which one it is, like fire will test a building. The testing is not about whether we get into heaven but it's the exposure, revealing and disclosure of what you/we actually did with the opportunities God gave us. If we have built a church full of people living cross shaped lives then like gold, silver and costly stones it will survive - we will 'receive a reward'. My understanding is that this is referring to the joy of seeing all those people we prayed for, served, encouraged in Christ standing there with us praising God. It's the joy of seeing that everything we did for Jesus and for his people really was worth it. In fact it was worth more than anything in the world. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20. We hear God say 'Well done good and faithful servant'.
The other outcome of the testing is that we did the Christian life and built a church that was full of people who weren't actually followers of Jesus. Sure they might have used the jargon and hung around Christian things but they weren't actually followers of Jesus. So they don't make it into heaven. So we suffer 'loss'. We see everything we thought we'd built for the kingdom disappear. We're saved but with the picture of one dashing through flames to safety. My understanding is that the loss is getting an awful horrific reality check that we wasted the opportunities God gave us. We may even have been part of people turning away from the offer of salvation because we allowed hypocrisy, laziness, ungodliness to define and shape our church.
So the testing of 1 Corinthians 3:15 is not about salvation it's about seeing what our Christian life together produced - lives captured for Jesus or lives lived for the world.
James Lewis
It's a good question, making us grapple with the text. Verse 15 is very clear the person who has built badly on the foundation of Jesus Christ 'will be saved'. We are saved because of Jesus not anything we have done. Remember 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, we are in Christ because of what God has done for us. Christ is our wisdom - bringing us righteousness, holiness and redemption. So we boast not in ourselves but in God.
The testing is not about whether we're saved or not. The testing is of how we lived our Christian life. We can fool ourselves and other people that we're serious about Jesus and we love our brothers and sisters. A church can look polished, spectacular and sharp. But the day of judgement will reveal whether our lives, whether our church has really lived cross shaped life. This is the difference between building a church with wood, straw and hay or building with gold, silver and costly stones. Have we lived cross shaped lives and built a cross shaped church?
The day of judgement will test which one it is, like fire will test a building. The testing is not about whether we get into heaven but it's the exposure, revealing and disclosure of what you/we actually did with the opportunities God gave us. If we have built a church full of people living cross shaped lives then like gold, silver and costly stones it will survive - we will 'receive a reward'. My understanding is that this is referring to the joy of seeing all those people we prayed for, served, encouraged in Christ standing there with us praising God. It's the joy of seeing that everything we did for Jesus and for his people really was worth it. In fact it was worth more than anything in the world. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20. We hear God say 'Well done good and faithful servant'.
The other outcome of the testing is that we did the Christian life and built a church that was full of people who weren't actually followers of Jesus. Sure they might have used the jargon and hung around Christian things but they weren't actually followers of Jesus. So they don't make it into heaven. So we suffer 'loss'. We see everything we thought we'd built for the kingdom disappear. We're saved but with the picture of one dashing through flames to safety. My understanding is that the loss is getting an awful horrific reality check that we wasted the opportunities God gave us. We may even have been part of people turning away from the offer of salvation because we allowed hypocrisy, laziness, ungodliness to define and shape our church.
So the testing of 1 Corinthians 3:15 is not about salvation it's about seeing what our Christian life together produced - lives captured for Jesus or lives lived for the world.
James Lewis
The Spirit and becoming a Christian
Ever wonder why your friends and work mates just don't get what the big deal is with Jesus and why you'd live your life to please him? 1 Corinthians 2:14 makes it clear that it's because they don't have the Spirit of God. It is only by God's Spirit that we are able to understand God's wisdom in a foolish cross and grasp the good things He has prepared for us in Christ (see vs9-12). So that raises the question of how can someone become a Christian without the Spirit of God? The answer is they can't. This is grace alone - God alone saves us. We are unwilling and unable to repent and believe the good news of Jesus without him intervening in our lives. In 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10 Paul reminds the Thessalonian Christians of their experience of 'turning from idols to the living and true God'. This happened because they were 'chosen by God' (v4). Paul knew this was the case because when they heard the gospel they didn't just hear words about God but they heard the Word and the voice of God. Why? Because the Gospel Word came with the power of the Holy Spirit (see v5). We see it again when we compare John 3:5 'you cannot be born again without the Spirit of God' with 1Peter 1:23 'born again...through the living and enduring Word of God'. So when someone becomes a Christian it's because they've understood, seen, grasped that Jesus is the only King and Saviour of the world. This is how we continue in the Christian life being reassured, comforted, rebuked, shaped, trained by God's Word in the power of his Spirit.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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