Author’s note: I am not being facetious.
This week’s article comes after much reflecting about salvation since my parents died. My father died in 1996 and my mother died in 2017. I look back with wonder how I could not understand in more clear terms how to bring up the subject of salvation better than I did – although I did. I may write more about those experiences later.
This week I am motivated to write a few general thoughts because a brother-in-Christ’s mother is suffering from cancer.
This article is written for a Christian who in today’s confused culture may have concerns about a family member who is a professed Christian. You may still be called to bring up the subject of the Gospel and the Truth as explained in Holy Scripture.
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I have been considering how to help your loved ones, the one who believe themselves to be a Christian, are in fact born-again. In this culture, the term “born-again” has received a lot of stigma. The world has been hard at work in order to achieve this, putting up barriers to the Gospel.
Is your Christian family member on the true and narrow path to salvation? You as a born-again believer may have to work on DESENSITIZING YOURSELF for the work ahead.
Some of the hardest people to witness to are your own friends and family. It’s as though you care for them so much, you become afraid of saying anything for fear of jeopardizing their path to salvation, or is it just too embarrassing or confusing for you to speak about saving faith? This can be compounded if your family or friend has been derailed in a non-Biblical congregation where an all inclusive attitude takes priority over instruction in Biblical truth.
While each person does deserve some sensitivity, with the correct intent inspired by regular exposure to Biblical truth, your sincere evangelical effort in faithful obedience will be blessed by God.
It often seems, that God only requires that a person of faith take simple of step. Small but clear steps of faith. Our efforts are often in concert with others in God’s sovereign plan.
We can make it too hard
Trying to be perfect – This can be one of the road blocks to being obedient to the nudging of the Holy Spirit. Our egos often get in the way. Let’s see how different characters interplay in the conversion of a famous warrior.
One great example of how self-pride is an obstacle to obedience comes from the story of Naaman, the great commander of the Syrian army (an enemy of Israel during the Divided Kingdom Period) who was a Gentile and yet a man of faith in the God of Israel. He sought out the prophet Elisha to be healed from his leprosy.
We catch his story at the key moment when the commander’s humility is tested in 2 KINGS 5:9-14:
9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ 12 Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
We see how the mighty Commander, who was not stranger to great feats and acts of valor, how he was insulted by such an seemingly aloof and unremarkable instruction, conveyed from Elisha through Elisha’s servant, for the commander to go dip himself seven times in the local river and be healed. No hype, No drama, No ceremony or fanfare. Just a simple instruction.
Yet his loyal servants advised him wisely to follow the simple instructions.
The point I am trying to make is: Are you able to connect the Gospel message to your long time church attending family member and leave the transformation to God? Will you, in love and faith, allow God to bless your efforts with His unseen work on your loved one’s heart?
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Be open to opportunities to Pray
There are things you can do besides being silent. You can pray for your family member, and be alert for opportunities to pray WITH your family member as words spoken in prayer to God tend to be more open and uninhibited in your expressing the truth before holy God.
What do you pray about, what do you talk about, what do you ask?
I found these 5 questions worth considering, you may have your own list, to offer some objectivity and for checking ones theology based on Biblical Truth:
- Why is a “Christian” and Christian? This as a pivotal question which will shed the light on whether a person truly understands what constitutes a Christian, which can be awfully convoluted from years of sitting in a pew once a week without personal learning from Scripture. If their answer is vague or has nothing to to with a personal acceptance of the Lordship and the Savior Jesus Christ and how He died for each of our sins, your family member will need some help clarifying this Truth.
- Are we only saved by the Grace of God? Why? This is a very supportable biblical view. It does not matter how many works anyone has done, those do not protect one from being judged by the Law. God must punish sin. Justice will prevail over the most heinous to the smallest infraction.
- Is it possible to be good without a Savior? This is a variation on the previous question and further highlights the perspective of oneself compared to God’s majesty, holiness and righteousness. We are all condemned, everyone, without exception. From the worst criminal you can think of, the the most saintly person you’ve ever known, we are all condemned by the moral Law. God is Holy and Just and most people cannot conceptualize or begin to understand the spiritual divide separating a Holy Creator God and a sinful human being.
- What is the purpose of God’s Law? As in previous questions, this further focuses on our unworthiness, our sinfulness, and why we need to rely on God’s mercy rather than our works to be reconciled to God. Understanding the moral Law is critical in an attitude of repentance. In Creation, God spoke the physical laws into existence, He also established the moral Laws which are immutable. If you do not know what the moral Law is, one can start with the Ten Commandments* and study the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus, among other things, shines the light on the prideful barriers of self-righteousness. When one becomes Saved, however, the Law takes on a different light as King David wrote in Psalm 119 with repeated praise for the righteous guidance offered by God’s Law. Here is but a small sample:
- 166 Lord, I hope for Your salvation,
And I do Your commandments.
167 My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my ways are before You.
- 166 Lord, I hope for Your salvation,
- Is Jesus Christ the exclusive way to reconciliation with God? (The narrow gate) There are many passages to support this, here are just two passages proclaiming the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as God’s sovereign means through whom people can be reconciled to God:
JOHN 3:35-36 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
JOHN 4:23-26 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
In my questions above, I’ve tended to focus on the need to help people understand the need for a Savior. If people do not understand their own need, their faith will be weak. It was certainly the case with me.
Continue to study and apply the Scripture in effort to battle the world’s efforts to keep you from faithful obedience in love for God. His people, the Church, are commissioned to spread the Gospel message. God chooses to work through your relationships. Therefore…
Be alert for the “open” door
-from Colossians 4:2-6
2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
*Long story short, The Ten Commandments form the backbone of the Moral Law. It’s helpful to know that the 4th Commandment, to Keep the Sabbath is symbolic and has a different meaning in light of the New Covenant, the revealing of the Messiah and the Gospel.
CKY
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