"For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:5, NIV).
"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? ..." (1 Cor. 4:7, NIV).
Today's evangelicals like to refer to "accepting Jesus" as if that's all there was to salvation, period. This is a misnomer and misleading, not to mention nonbiblical in terminology. We also hear many well-meaning evangelists talk of "making room in your heart for Jesus," "trying Jesus," or "making a decision for Jesus," but these statements can be quite misleading to the cause of lordship. The Bible refers to "receiving Christ as Lord" and we cannot receive a divided Lord or someone for who He is not--the Lord of lords and King of kings into our hearts.
We trust Him as Savior and submit to Him as Lord, that's where it's at. By divorcing faith from faithfulness we do detriment to the biblical evangel, which is our message to the world at large. However, there are many who preach "another Spirit," "another Jesus," or "another gospel" (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4) who are false teachers or wolves in sheep's clothing.
The gospel message is all about what God has done for us, not what we do for God! He paid the price for a debt we owed and couldn't pay! But the gift of salvation is free as a gift to be received by grace in faith. We don't earn it, cannot pay it back, and don't deserve it! Jesus is the one who accepts us the way we are and we must be willing to accept our brother the way he is, as a work in progress. But He doesn't let us stay that way but is always at work "within us to do and to will of His good pleasure" (cf. Phil. 2:13).
Since our salvation is so great a work, what shall happen if we neglect it (cf. Heb. 2:3)? We don't do Jesus any favor by becoming Christians, as if He needed us and couldn't get along without us, but we were chosen and predestined before the foundation of the world in an election to His glory (cf. Eph. 1:5,11), in His own way. When we humbly realize our unworthiness and that we were accepted by grace and didn't deserve it, how shall we not accept others with the same attitude of grace and welcome them into the fellowship?
Easy-believism is rampant in the church and that means that a full surrender of lordship isn't necessary for salvation, because it's seen as a work. Roman Catholicism sees our part as mere acquiescence or agreement with church dogma as saving faith. We cannot dichotomize our faith and say that we can have faith without lordship, for we must receive Him as Lord (cf. Col. 2:6). Another way of looking at this easy-believism is as "cheap grace" which justifies the sin, not the sinner!
Believers who want to justify their sin and live in sin as so-called "carnal Christians" are really not believers at all, for there is no such category of brethren. Christians can be carnal and out of fellowship, but not as a class, permanent state, or category of spirituality. All Christians yearn to obey the Lord and have the same love for the Lord, for if anyone loves not the Lord, let him be "anathema, Maranatha" (cf. 1 Cor. 16:22)!
The logical conclusion of believing we accept Christ is that God owes us a living or a blessing in this world, which is what "prosperity theology" espouses, and is erroneous, if not heretical and damnable. We are not here to cash in on God at some spiritual lottery, because God never promises us a "rose garden" or "bed of roses" but a life of trial and testing as life is a trust and commitment. Our home is not to be here and we are not to make ourselves too comfortable in this life, seeking our reward in this life. We seek a Celestial City! Some are indeed given their portion in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14) but we seek a heavenly city and a crown that cannot fade away or perish. God is not our "genie" or Santa Clause to grant our every desire and wish, but we are to learn to joy in doing His will and seeking His glory as our fulfillment, not an entitlement of material blessing.
When we believe we "accepted" Christ, it gives us an entitlement mentality that leads us to think we can cash in on our spiritual lottery ticket and that God owes us for us doing Him the favor of accepting Him, making it look like we did something for our salvation., and forgetting it was by grace alone. The essence of the Law is what we do for God or owe Him in obedience, the essence of the gospel is what He's done for us that we don't deserve.
In sum, we cannot say we accept Jesus for salvation, because that makes it look like we are doing God a favor when He is the one doing us a favor of accepting us and justifying us through faith all by grace, so we cannot boast--it sounds so condescending to say that we accepted Christ! Even our righteousness is not our gift to God, but His gift to us (cf. Isaiah 45:24)! In sum, it all sounds so superficial and trivializes our commitment. Soli Deo Gloria!
"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? ..." (1 Cor. 4:7, NIV).
Today's evangelicals like to refer to "accepting Jesus" as if that's all there was to salvation, period. This is a misnomer and misleading, not to mention nonbiblical in terminology. We also hear many well-meaning evangelists talk of "making room in your heart for Jesus," "trying Jesus," or "making a decision for Jesus," but these statements can be quite misleading to the cause of lordship. The Bible refers to "receiving Christ as Lord" and we cannot receive a divided Lord or someone for who He is not--the Lord of lords and King of kings into our hearts.
We trust Him as Savior and submit to Him as Lord, that's where it's at. By divorcing faith from faithfulness we do detriment to the biblical evangel, which is our message to the world at large. However, there are many who preach "another Spirit," "another Jesus," or "another gospel" (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4) who are false teachers or wolves in sheep's clothing.
The gospel message is all about what God has done for us, not what we do for God! He paid the price for a debt we owed and couldn't pay! But the gift of salvation is free as a gift to be received by grace in faith. We don't earn it, cannot pay it back, and don't deserve it! Jesus is the one who accepts us the way we are and we must be willing to accept our brother the way he is, as a work in progress. But He doesn't let us stay that way but is always at work "within us to do and to will of His good pleasure" (cf. Phil. 2:13).
Since our salvation is so great a work, what shall happen if we neglect it (cf. Heb. 2:3)? We don't do Jesus any favor by becoming Christians, as if He needed us and couldn't get along without us, but we were chosen and predestined before the foundation of the world in an election to His glory (cf. Eph. 1:5,11), in His own way. When we humbly realize our unworthiness and that we were accepted by grace and didn't deserve it, how shall we not accept others with the same attitude of grace and welcome them into the fellowship?
Easy-believism is rampant in the church and that means that a full surrender of lordship isn't necessary for salvation, because it's seen as a work. Roman Catholicism sees our part as mere acquiescence or agreement with church dogma as saving faith. We cannot dichotomize our faith and say that we can have faith without lordship, for we must receive Him as Lord (cf. Col. 2:6). Another way of looking at this easy-believism is as "cheap grace" which justifies the sin, not the sinner!
Believers who want to justify their sin and live in sin as so-called "carnal Christians" are really not believers at all, for there is no such category of brethren. Christians can be carnal and out of fellowship, but not as a class, permanent state, or category of spirituality. All Christians yearn to obey the Lord and have the same love for the Lord, for if anyone loves not the Lord, let him be "anathema, Maranatha" (cf. 1 Cor. 16:22)!
The logical conclusion of believing we accept Christ is that God owes us a living or a blessing in this world, which is what "prosperity theology" espouses, and is erroneous, if not heretical and damnable. We are not here to cash in on God at some spiritual lottery, because God never promises us a "rose garden" or "bed of roses" but a life of trial and testing as life is a trust and commitment. Our home is not to be here and we are not to make ourselves too comfortable in this life, seeking our reward in this life. We seek a Celestial City! Some are indeed given their portion in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14) but we seek a heavenly city and a crown that cannot fade away or perish. God is not our "genie" or Santa Clause to grant our every desire and wish, but we are to learn to joy in doing His will and seeking His glory as our fulfillment, not an entitlement of material blessing.
When we believe we "accepted" Christ, it gives us an entitlement mentality that leads us to think we can cash in on our spiritual lottery ticket and that God owes us for us doing Him the favor of accepting Him, making it look like we did something for our salvation., and forgetting it was by grace alone. The essence of the Law is what we do for God or owe Him in obedience, the essence of the gospel is what He's done for us that we don't deserve.
In sum, we cannot say we accept Jesus for salvation, because that makes it look like we are doing God a favor when He is the one doing us a favor of accepting us and justifying us through faith all by grace, so we cannot boast--it sounds so condescending to say that we accepted Christ! Even our righteousness is not our gift to God, but His gift to us (cf. Isaiah 45:24)! In sum, it all sounds so superficial and trivializes our commitment. Soli Deo Gloria!