Taking New Steps

If you have raised a child, have siblings or have been around children, chances are that you have witnessed a child taking its first steps. How exciting it truly is. Usually, a child's first steps are taken by someone coaxing the child over and over until they are walking on their own. The writer of Hebrews deals with Christians that are "Babes", "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." (Hebrews 5:12-13) He tells them to, "...move on to maturity..." (Hebrews 6:1) The Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth the same howbeit in different words, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11)

There comes a time in a believers life where they need to step out and walk by faith in the things of God. Simply put, Paul is comparing infancy with that of manhood in the sense of when we advance in years, we lay aside many of the views, feelings, and plans which we had in childhood, for the true values of life which we now esteem important due to maturing into adulthood. It's not forgetting the foundational things as one grows into maturity, but understanding that there is much, much more. In the same way, new believers see the world from a different perspective than older believers, or do they? 

One of the things that I remember in my own life when I first received Christ, which I see in some new believers today, although not as often, is their zeal to tell others of their new life in Christ. Although new believers do not have a grasp on foundational Christian doctrines or how to live by faith, they tend not to have inhibitions when it comes to telling others about their new life in Christ. But after some time passes the zeal to witness Christ seems to die out. You would think that the opposite would happen as they grow their faith through the Word of God. But Christian researcher have found that nearly seventy percent of people attending a church daily have not witnessed Christ in over a year or more, although most say that they pray for the lost. Another statistic reveals that nearly fifty percent of Christians who regularly attend a church have never invited a non-believer to church.

What has happened to the last command that the Lord has given to all believers, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20) "And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18) "Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)       

Whether you believe in the doctrine of election or not (the belief that God has elected only certain people for salvation and others not) it is still our (every believer) responsibility to preach the gospel to every creature. Born again believers cannot blame the state of the country on politicians, lobbyist, and other non-believers. They are only doing the deeds of their father the devil in the same way that you and I did before we were saved. Remember, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  The following are quotes from several saints since the Protestant Reformation, "the gospel is good news, only if it reaches a person before they die", "Lost people matter to God our Father, so they should matter to us His children", "Believers often talk of the Lord's second coming, when most of the world has not heard of His first" "God save us from living in comfort while sinners are sinking into hell", "Christ died for all men not just the ones you know and like", "It is better to have people hate you with the knowledge that you tried to save them, than to love you and perish in hell never telling them the good news", "Where passion for God is weak, zeal for the lost will be weak." These are but food for thought. Hopefully, they will provoke us into action. 

Unfortunately, many church leaders today have adjusted the "Great Commission" because they themselves do not witness Christ beyond a classroom or a pulpit. They rarely train the saints in evangelism mostly because they themselves are not passionate about winning the lost for Christ. They have determined that Jesus' words to, "Go make disciples" is out dated for the church today, so to justify this, they have determined that the church service should be short and adjusted to make it "comfortable" for those who may visit, in hopes that the visitor is unsaved. We call it "seeker sensitive church". Isn't interesting that the Bible tells us, "...There is none who seeks after God." (Romans 3:11) Why is this? Jesus tells us, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him..." (John 6:44) Based on scripture we must consider that we should not expect anyone showing up at a church service who is lost, by luck, chance or coincidence. However, if someone does show up who is lost, even if they were invited by a believer, they are not seeking on their own, it is the Father who is drawing them. If the Father is drawing them, then it should stand to reason that the length of the service should have no bearing whatsoever upon this person as to whether they "had a good time" or not. Why? Because we are talking about a spiritual encounter with God that He has set up to save them and transform their life, not a good time that pleases only the flesh. 

Most certainly we want to see visitors stay beyond one or two visits. Let's keep in mind, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased" (1 Corinthians 12:18) not us. For most unbelievers, they probably have no concept of what a church service consists of. But shouldn't we be creating an atmosphere, especially through praise and worship, no matter how long it takes to bring God's presence? Isn't it God's presence that will have people say "God is here?" Then how do we expect such a thing to happen if we put a time restraint upon God? Frankly, it won't happen. Churches who have this worldly mind set towards the lost actually do them a disservice by keeping God on a leash, so to speak, and not letting Him have His way in a church service because He is only given a certain amount of time to show up. You  may want to read the last chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and the entire Book of Acts. This is God's Word and work through the church that brought unprecedented success for nearly three hundred years. 

The difference is, they obeyed the command of the Lord to "Go make Disciples" which transforms lives, without reducing it to "come to us, we promise we won't take much of your time, but we will help you feel good about yourself so that you will come back." In other words, congregations who do this, although not in word, see God's Word as having no effect today. They also miss the main purpose of the church, "...that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light", (1 Peter 2:9) the praise and worship of the Most High God. The early church understood this, "praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47) Please stop and meditate on this verse of scripture. This has nothing to do with mans worldly ways to grow a congregation but fully upon God. It is the responsibility of every believer to be witnesses for Christ and let God do His work through us His way. This takes faith not formulas.  

The point is, let us step out of the fort (church building) and be the salt and light that you truly are. The Bible tells us, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27). No one knows the day or time that they leave this life for the next, so let us all make evangelism a life priority, making it difficult for any one to go to hell by telling them the Good News of Jesus Christ. Let's witness Christ and bring the new believers into a church service where there is no time limit so they can have and encounter with God. Let's praise Him until the Holy Spirit moves us to worship and worship until His glory (presence) falls. This is what will transform lives, not comfortable services with time restraints that only cater to the flesh. Sure, the seeker sensitive way of church may grow large congregations, but what's the point if the glory of God is not present, "Then she named the child Ichabod, the glory has departed from Israel." (1 Samuel 4:21) All people want to experience God, including the lost. It is the scheme of Satan to have us think that somehow we have a better plan than God. So let's get out of churchianity and get back to Christianity so the Lord can "transform us (those just saved also) into His image from glory to glory." (2 Corinthians 3:18) Amen?