RSS
7 comments
Are you a Christian?
Does your life show it?
Last night God spoke loud and clear.
In case you weren’t there at SEED last night, we listened to an mp3 message given to 5000 youth at a conference by a missionary named Paul Washer. I encourage you to listen to this message: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=52906154239.
UPDATE: You can also watch the video here - http://www.recoverthegospel.com/?page_id=49 (Thanks for the link, Brian).
The message we heard is an open and strong rebuke to North American ‘Christianity’. … you were saved because you repented of your sins and you believed. And not only did you do that in the past, you continue to do it even until now...I’m sure I’m like the many who listened and couldn’t help but feel, in some way, cut to the heart by the truth that was preached. It is a tragedy that among the parts of the world most blessed by God, Christianity in North America is among the most godless; continuously loving the things that God hates.
A professor of mine once described Christians living in their culture as fish living in a fishtank. If you asked a fish, “What does it feel like to be wet?"… what would it say? The point is that we are influenced by this world in many ways that we don’t even have a clue about. For some people, culture has so saturated their lives that they listen to and watch and do the same sinful and wicked things that the world does and don’t even flinch, they don’t even feel a thing… they don’t even notice the kind of water they’re swimming in.
It disturbs me to see the kind of godless junk that a godless culture can not only tolerate, but also in some form integrate with the Church for which Christ suffered and died to make her “holy and blameless” (Eph 5:27).
Where is our concern for holiness?
Where is our love for the Word and hatred for the things of this world?
Often the great concerns for Christians in churches today involve worldliness and not godliness. Most of what we believe to be true is dictated to us by our culture and not by the Bible. I only know this to be true because we are all susceptible to this, even myself.
Brothers and sisters, WHEN WILL THE NORTH AMERICAN CHURCH WAKE UP AND GET SERIOUS AND FALL DOWN ON OUR FACES AND PRAY AND WEEP BEFORE GOD FOR THE STATE OF OUR CHURCHES? WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR US AS YOUNG PEOPLE TO STAY FOCUSED ON HOLINESS… TO FIX OUR EYES ON CHRIST?
Perhaps the questions we all need to ask ourselves are ”Am I really saved? Am I really a Christian? How do I know?”
As Paul Washer said in the message… “… you weren’t saved by a magic formula or some words you repeated after someone else… you were saved because you repented of your sins and you believed. And not only did you do that in the past, you continue to do it even until now...” A distinguishing mark of a true believer is a hatred for sin, and a love for the things of God which is constantly being revealed by the things that the believer does.
What is the state of our Christianity today? Paul Washer paints this grim picture of the Christian youth culture: “… most of our Christianity is based on clichés we read on the back of Christian t-shirts. Most of our Christianity comes from songwriters and not the Bible. Most of what we believe to be true is dictated to us by our culture and not by the Bible.” Do we realize that we have this famine of the Word or are we just ignoring it and feeding off the garbage of this world?
Jesus says in Matthew 7:16-20: By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
This passage is key. If we understand what this passage means, it says good fruit is the mark of a true believer. It does not say that saying a prayer and repenting once in your life is what makes you a true believer. But it does say that your life will speak, and will point out whether you are a true believer or not.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
2 Corinthians 13:5
My fear is for that one person who has gone to a Christian, Bible-believing church their whole life and thinks that they are saved… only to be met in eternity with Christ’s words, “Depart from me! I never knew you.”
Are you in the faith?
Whoever you are who may happen to read this, for the sake of your soul, I plead, make sure you are in faith. If you don’t know how to make sure, speak to someone: your parents, your pastor, or if you need to… speak to me or one of us who are managing this site. And if you find you’re not in the faith, settle things with God right now. Your eternity depends on it.
Sep 18, 2006 @ 5:34 pm
Paul Washer’s words were a definite wake-up call for self-examination and confession to God. Washer is absolutely right in saying that our Christian lives should be lived in continuous and consistent repentance for our sins.
I think that Washer’s convicting message of living the “authentic” Christian life is a tremendous challenge; especially since we are all surrounded by the things of this world that could easily tempt or influence us. Satan is always at work, and we need to prepare ourselves against his attacks.
I myself once thought that going to church every Sunday morning, attending youth conferences, wearing those cool and colourful “WWJD” bracelets, singing Chris Tomlin songs (and clapping), and participating in other church activities could save me; or rather, “increase my chances” of being saved. I sincerely believed Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead, but never bothered to open up my bible to learn more about my Saviour because I thought I didn’t have to. I believed that being a “good girl” was “good enough.” Sadly, this was far from the truth. Works with either good or bad intentions cannot save us (Eph 2:8-9). The more I learn about God, the more I want to do things for Him with a willingheart and not a hesitant one with other motives.
It is my prayer that we will not cling to the ideologies and beliefs of today’s culture which is so immersed in godlessness, but that we will know, abide, and live by God’s Word to lead us on the path of righteousness. I also pray that Jesus won’t be an “accessory” (as Paul Washer stated) that we choose to wear whenever we feel like it. It is also my prayer that our Christianity won’t be confined to the safe, four walls of our church, but that we will be lights of this world and living testimonies of God’s goodness and unfailing love.
Sep 22, 2006 @ 4:03 pm
well, i can’t top ate ren’s comment up there ... all i can say is that the message was so convicting and true to life… and a challenge to us all.
Sep 22, 2006 @ 10:26 pm
Don’t worry about the length Becky… whatever you wrote is what God impressed on your heart about the message :)
I couldn’t have put it better myself, the message was ”true to life” for sure, it woke us all up.
Jan 2, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
I am thoroughly impressed at the things that you are looking at in the SEED group. From the pictures your group looks fairly young.
Paul Washer’s message is awesome. Here is one place you can watch the video if you want to:
http://www.recoverthegospel.com/?page_id=49
John Piper has a great sermon on the pragmatic church of today compared to the puritans of old. In it he says “We Americans are pragmatists to the max. We want results. And we want them yesterday. We want them simply. We want them without too much pondering and too much pain. And in the church, we have developed all kinds of Christ-coated remedies that are shallow and short-lived. We are not, by and large, the deeply grounded saints that some of our forefathers were.
J. I. Packer compares the old English Puritans who lived and suffered from 1550 to 1700 with the Redwoods of California. They were giants whose roots were incredibly deep in the Bible, and whose branches reached to the heavens, and whose trunks were so strong and durable they could endure forest fires that scar them but don’t kill them. But then Packer looks out over the pragmatic American landscape of our quick fixes for life’s problems and our impatience with depth and complexity and pain, and says, “Affluence seems for the past generation to have been making dwarfs and deadheads of us all.”
Here’s the difference between the pragmatists and the Puritans: pragmatists do not have the patience to sink the roots of hospitality and brotherly kindness and authentic love in the deep rock of Romans 6-8. We want to jump straight from justification to the practical application of chapter 12. Just give us a list. Tell us what to do. Fix the problem at the immediate surface level, so it goes away. But the Puritans were different. They looked at the book of Romans and saw that life is built another way. Being a sage, being a Redwood, being unshakable in storm and useful in times of indescribable suffering – that does not come quickly or easily. Romans is not two chapters long. It is 16 chapters long. It does not skip from chapter 5 to 12. It leads us down deep into the roots of godliness, so that when we come up, we are not people with lists, but people with unshakable life and strength and holiness and wisdom and love.”
He was applying this to the context of studying Romans but the point I want to share is make sure every third book you read is outside of your century. A great start would be William Wilberforce’s Practical Christianity. An incredible read! Get into the Puritans they are a wealth of Christian wisdom.
Apr 28, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
Oh! Great job!
Very good and actual post.
Thx, your blog in my RSS reader now
Archives
