Emails to a Christian (3)

Hi Mark,

I’m happy to hear you’re going to church and enjoying it. It really does make a difference in our walk with Jesus to be walking it with others. We weren’t made to do this (mainly) alone, but with the Spirit of God primarily and then with fellow believers.

In your previous email you listed five or six questions about church. I’m only going to give answers to two of them. This isn’t because I don’t think the other questions are worth answering; it’s because I think it would be better for you to speak to your pastor and maybe others in your church about them. I’m happy to have the conversations and I hope they continue but, just so we’re both on the same page, you have a pastor and he’s not me. This doesn’t mean we can’t talk; it just means there are some things you’ll be better off speaking to your pastor about. When those things come up—as they did in your previous email—I’ll make sure you know. And, I think over time as your relationship with him grows, you’ll start to know on your own those things you’re better off speaking with him about.

That being said, you did ask a couple questions that I’d be happy to address. The first was: Are Christians supposed to go to church?
Yes, Christians are supposed to go to church, if by “supposed to” you mean it being the assumed and natural thing for them to do. If someone said I’m a Christian, I just don’t go to church, that would be like someone saying I’m a part of my family but I don’t know them nor do I spend any time with them. That person may indeed be a member of their family, but they sure don’t act like it. It’s a similar thing with church. If you’re a part of the Jesus family and the Jesus family gets together on a regular basis, why wouldn’t you be a part of that? To be clear, you can’t find a verse in the New Testament stating plainly that to be a Christian means you must attend church every Sunday. What you will find are verses throughout the New Testament that point to the habit of Christians gathering together on a weekly basis. I’ll leave it to you to find those places. So, what it seems to me is that this practice of “attending church” is not so much prescribed as in you must; instead, it seems to be described as in you will.

Your second question was: Does it matter what day I go to church?
There’s a historical way to answer that question and a practical way to answer it. The historical first. There are several places in the New Testament when the phrase “the Lord’s day” is mentioned and a couple of those are connected to the day when Christians come together. Where does this come from? It comes from the day Jesus rose from the dead, which was a Sunday—“the Lord’s day.” And, it seems that Christians (including Jews who believed in Jesus) started to gather on “the Lord’s day” to mark and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This day—Sunday—then became their natural day to meet. Now, when Paul was writing to Christians in Rome he got to a section of his letter when he addressed a misunderstanding of what days are important and what days aren’t. He said this: “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord.” (Romans 14:5-6a, NIV) Applying Paul’s point to your question I think we could say something like there’s no reason for division over what day of the week a church service is held. For some, they want to stay connected with the historical practice of the early Christians and so they choose Sunday. Others, out of habit and more recent tradition also choose Sunday. And still others, because of practical reasons (of which there could be many) choose another day of the week. The point—if I might put it like this—is not to focus on the day you gather with the body of Christ, but that you gather.

Grace and peace to you and your church family!

Emails to a Christian (2)

Hey Mark,

I didn’t expect to hear back from you so quickly, but I’m glad I did.

Your follow-up questions about your salvation are good on a couple of levels. One, they’re good because they’re where you’re at right now. I think it’s best to deal with the questions you have no matter what they are. I don’t see the point in being disappointed or nervous because of particular questions. If you have a question or a bunch of questions—whatever it or they may be—let’s look at them. On another level, they’re good because the questions (and, hopefully, the answers) are deeply theological and biblical. They really get near the heart—if not the heart—of what this whole life with Jesus is about.

Just to put us both on the same page, let me restate your questions here. You wrote, “I don’t really know how to take what you’ve told me about my salvation. You said that God has saved me and will keep me saved. What does this mean for how I’m supposed to live my life going forward? I’m sure you’re not saying I can do whatever I want because God’s just going to keep me saved. But, honestly I’m not exactly sure. Aren’t I supposed to be living a different life now?”

It seems as though you’re caught a little off-guard by the fact that I quoted a piece of Scripture in order to assure you that if God has saved you, he will keep you saved. Your questions made me think you had expected me to give you a list of things to do and not do. Thankfully (and I hope you can share with me in my thankfulness) that is not the biblical picture of what’s commonly called eternal security—the biblical doctrine of knowing that you are secure in your salvation because God is in control of it.

If you remember back to my first email, I said something in passing about your salvation and the fact that God had done something to you and for you. I really believe this to be case. Salvation is less about what you’ve done and more about what God has done, is doing, and will do. Now, this doesn’t mean you are free from responsibility. You are really, truly responsible. This is why your questions on how your life should now be lived are so on point. Your expectation is that there should be a change in how you live. I’m happy to tell you, your expectation is correct. 

 The Bible actually has a lot to say about this, but let’s briefly look at two places where the Bible makes it clear that we should expect and work toward a difference in our lives.

1. Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:1-2, NIV)

   Notice the few things I bolded and underlined above. The Apostle Paul wrote that to a church as a reminder of what they had already heard and believed, and he makes the point that they have a responsibility. He tells them that they have received what he gave them and they have taken their stand. Both of these statements point to the truth that they are doing something with the message they heard. He also tells them that they are saved if they hold firmly to what Paul preached to them.
   
   So, in their case (and yours in relation to your questions) they are saved if they take up their responsibility and hold on to the truth.
   

2. “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1 John 2:18-19, NIV)

   Few places in Scripture address your questions more directly than this section of 1 John. The Apostle John says several important things in this section of his letter. He’s talking about a group of people who were with us—meaning that they were in the church living (for some time) as actual Christians. Unfortunately, however, John says that they did not really belong to the church. And John knows this to be true because they left. If they really did belong to the group they would have remained, but their going showed that they didn’t really belong.
   
   So, John is saying that this smaller group within the larger group of Christians were living contrary to what they professed to believe but, eventually, consistency proved true—their lives aligned with their lack of belief and they left.

What should we take from these two short passages of Scripture? I think at least two things. The first is that both Paul and John believe there to be real human responsibility, as far as it goes, with salvation and the assurance of it. The second thing they do is maybe easier seen by considering the following question: Does human responsibility, especially in regards to eternal security, do something or prove something? As of right now, I’m convinced that our lives prove our salvation with God, rather than keep us saved.

Considering, again, what John wrote in 1 John, I think it’s clear to see that the people who left the group proved that they were never really of the group, because John said if they did belong they would have remained. Now, the experience of the people leaving the group was probably not one of proving anything, but of acting out their will in the moment—they didn’t want to belong with them any longer.

However true that may be, when John looks at the situation, he says they left because they were never really a part of the group in the first place. In other words, it’s not as if were true believers for 5 years and then switched to being an unbelievers again; instead, their “conversion” was never really authentic in the first place. What does this mean for you and I?

It means we have a responsibility to live out the conviction within each of us. Your testimony right now is one of belief in Jesus. How do you know you’ll be a believer tomorrow? Trust God and believe tomorrow. It may sound too simple, but there really isn’t some magic formula to this thing. Live as though you really are a believer and let your life prove to be true tomorrow what you know to be true right now.

Grace and peace to you,

Kevin

Emails to a Christian (1)

Hi Mark,

It was great to get your email today!

Even though we haven’t talked for a while, I’d been praying for you—as I know others have as well. That’s why it was so great to get your email saying that you’ve come to believe in Jesus. I’m grateful to God for what he’s done to you and for you and I pray that he would continue to have mercy on you as you grow in your love for and understanding of him and find your way in his kingdom. I’m happy you emailed me, and I hope we can continue this conversation!

In your email you said a couple things that stuck out to me. The first was when you said, “The whole thing was a little strange. It’s like I went from not believing in the truthfulness of Jesus and then a second later my whole mind (even maybe my heart) changed about him. I think I can even say I started to love him for what he did for me. I can’t believe someone I’ve never met would die for me!”

I’ve got to say, that’s a wonderful description of what happens to someone who’s had the experience you had of being born again. I know you haven’t spent much time (at least much serious time) in the Bible, which is why what you said stuck out to so much. You described in your own words what the Bible says happened to you.

A lot of the time our felt experience is something a little off from what actually happened. It’s similar to someone talking about his or her experience of being on a roller coaster. A weird example, I know, just roll with me for a minute. They may describe the experience of being out of control and dangerous when in reality even though they weren’t in control there was total control within the ride itself. And even though they may describe it as being dangerous, the ride restrictions don’t even stop little children from getting on the ride, so it couldn’t have been that dangerous. The same thing applies to those who are born again.

They may describe it as looking at the evidence, weighing the options, and making their own solo decision to believe. What they’ve left out is what God had been doing throughout that entire process. Even before the process they described.They don’t describe how God had opened their eyes and changed their heart so that they would believe in Jesus, because they didn’t directly have that experience. The experience you described of not believing one second and then feeling as though your mind (or even your heart) changed is exactly the behind the scenes action that the Bible describes. I praise God that the way you describe your experience is so true to the testimony of Scripture.

The second thing you said that stuck out to me was actually a series of statements. You said, “How can I be sure this belief won’t disappear as quickly as it came? One second I didn’t believe and the next I did. What about when I go to sleep tonight? How do I know I’ll still believe in Jesus when I wake up?”

Your questions are common. I don’t point to their commonality to diminish them, but to solidify them as important. As you speak with others about their experience (both new and seasoned Christians) you’ll hear these same kinds of questions. I’ll do what I can here to give you my take on them.

In your statements you asked, as far as I can tell, one main question: How can I be secure in my new faith? I’ve been convinced that the answer to that question lies not in looking to us, but in looking to God. To put it bluntly, if it were up to you or me to make sure we believe tomorrow, we wouldn’t. It’s as simple as that. You and I don’t have what it takes to keep our faith on our own.

This is not a shot at people; it’s just the truth. The wonderful thing is that even though we can’t keep our faith, there is one who can—God. He’s the one who saved you and he’s the one who will keep you. How can you go to bed tonight knowing you’ll believe tomorrow? Because God does not save people just to lose them later on. In fact, there’s a better way to put that. Jesus himself said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). This is Jesus’ way of saying that if he (i.e. God) has saved you, he will keep you saved. So, you can take a deep breath and trust him. He found you, he saved you, and he will keep you.

I’m really happy to be speaking with you again. It had been way too long!

I hope to hear from you again!

Your new brother in Christ,

Kevin