Isn't it easy to forget how Jesus told us that when we get saved we are to live a new lifestyle and He told us what that lifestyle should be like.
Some Christians tell new believers that once you are saved then a brand new power will instantly change your life and if it doesn't then you may not have gotten saved! What a horrible misconception of what salvation is!
Sin is the default action of all mankind.
Regardless if you just were born again today or have been faithfully serving God for 50 years, your sin nature is still there! The change of your lifestyle is the deliberate action of a process that choses to follow God and His principles or to allow your sin nature to control you daily.
Evangelism must be, in similar ways a deliberate action of a process that choses to teach others to follow God. It must be far beyond our nature. Our nature is to help only when we obtain a pay-off for ourselves. Evangelism that is truly based on God's principles must be something driven from our new nature in Christ. It must be something we do because we know it is from God and directed by God! We must learn strategic Evangelism principles to lead people to God! Join me in this!
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The Lord led me to this because I have been feeling weary in my ministry. Just became pastor of a church 6 months ago and trying to figure out why I haven't been "feeling it" that is a sense of motivation and satisfaction. But you know, as I read here in your blog, because sin is my default, I won't always feel motivated or get goose-bumps when I am working in my ministry because I am forcing my flesh to do something it doesn't want to do. Sorry, got long-winded. God bless you. Keep posting. ck out my blog when you can http://reverendevans.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI think you've misunderstood key theological terms with this entry.
ReplyDeleteSalvation was accomplished for all men at the Cross. To believe otherwise is to rob the cross of its power. Salvation is a done deal, accomplished for you, me, and every other Christian for all time at one precise moment: the debt is paid and that's all she wrote.
However, sanctification is the life-long process of God adjusting your attitude. Once we're adopted as sons of God through the preaching of the word (evangelism), we then begin that process of sanctification where we are conformed to the image of Christ. That's the part of the process that is participative in nature, and it is here that people fail, and (more disturbingly) ministers fail to preach.
Other than the confusion in terminology, this is a great entry. Sin is default. It is part of our flesh. Our lower nature, espoused in the flesh, is what we more often yield to because it usually fills more immediate needs. But God is calling us to be better than our lower natures, to feed the higher (spiritual) nature. Made in the image of God, all humans are aware of this nature on some level. Once we pledge our lives to Christ, by the power of the Spirit we become more attuned to this nature. We are basically re-made a new creation in Christ, and better able to feed this higher nature. We are freed of the shackles of sin and it has no more power of us.
But many retreat to the lower nature because it feels better. And the biggest churches are the biggest churches because they fail to challenge Christians to continuously seek God through fulfilling the higher nature and throw off the shackles of the lower nature. They are the pastors described in 1 Timothy 4:3-4.
Your post is a sober reminder of our culture becoming one of Sunday Christians, who behave as they please Monday through Saturday and feel justified because they come to church on Sunday. We need more evangelists who think like you do, and pastors willing to preach it!