HOW DID YOU COME TO JESUS?

In many Churches today, after the pastor preaches his sermon and prepares to dismiss the congregation, he may decide to close out with a benediction. The benediction is usually an invitation for someone to raise their hand or walk down to the front of the church if they want to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Many times the pastor has just finished a sermon on how to find self-worth or overcoming personal struggles in life. Soft music is normally playing during this time and emotions are high. Tears fill the eyes of people while their hands are raised in worship to the Lord. Depending on the size of the church & response to the benediction a crowd can form quickly in front of the church. In most cases, the pastor will have a select group of ministers at the front assigned to pray for those responding to his benediction. The appeal to come to Christ is normally presented as having a personal relationship with Him, or not struggling through this life all by yourself. Afterward, the pastor may ask the church to stretch their hands towards those individuals standing at the front & join him in praying for their new commitment to the Lord Jesus. He then welcomes them to the family of God and encourages them to find a good bible teaching church (preferably the one currently in attendance) so that they can grow spiritually in their Christian faith. The major problem I see with this type of presentation for a sinner coming to Jesus Christ is that it creates many false converts to the Christian faith. The reason why I came to this conclusion is that the following presentation of Christ I just outlined is void of the gospel. The gospel means “good news”. Which by default means there must be some bad news. So if we use the example of a person accepting Jesus Christ to overcome struggling through this life all by themselves, this would be the good news. The bad news in this scenario would be suffering from loneliness. Again, the problem with this is that it’s not the gospel. 

 So what is the gospel? To first understand the good news of the gospel, we must first understand the bad news. The old testament law (ten commandments) was given to Israel summoned by Moses in Deuteronomy 5:1-21 (see for reference) The law was a measuring stick and sin is anything that falls short of God’s perfect law. The problem is once you & I broke God’s law that automatically put separation between us & God. Which is sin and the punishment for sin is death. Another problem we face is that you & I can’t reconcile ourselves back to God because we are infected with a disease called sin. This means going to Heaven is off-limits to us until sin is removed or paid for. To back this up Romans 3:23 states “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” However, in God’s perfect love, wisdom & plan sent his one & only begotten son (Jesus Christ) to earth & He lived a perfect sinless life by living out the law of God (ten commandments) perfectly. And then offering his life as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of the world, so that you & I could be brought back into a right relationship with God. Romans 8:3-4 states “3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[a] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[b] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” You & I broke God's law & Jesus paid the fine.

I hear professing Christians all the time give testimonies about how they came into a saving knowledge of knowing the Lord. And most of the time I hear things like “I came to Jesus because I had a lack of peace in my life, or I came to Jesus because I was struggling with my self-identity, etc. But the missing piece I hear from the equation as a requirement to know Jesus is repentance. The problem I see is most benediction/alter calls are void of the true presentation of the gospel. The sinner is not made to see the weight of his/her sin under the light of breaking God’s holy law(ten commandments) & therefore feeling a sense of sorrow for offending a holy God. If the sinner is made to feel that God is only there to be a bonus of bringing a sense of self-fulfillment to their life, then Jesus to the sinner is merely a person design to fulfill their desires, hopes & wishes. However, the gospel is the exact opposite, it’s a call to self-denial & not self-fulfillment. To back this up Luke 9:23 states “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”  Most gospel presentations in the modern-day church given to sinners are centered around God making them happy & fulfilling all their worldly desires. I’m not saying following Christ has to be a miserable experience. However, I am saying that those who desire to live Godly in Christ will be persecuted.  2 Timothy 3:12 (see for reference). If sinners are led to believe the end game is self-fulfillment, then being persecuted is the last thing on their minds. When the gospel is presented in the correct biblical way to a sinner, he/she is forced to count up the cost of following Christ. There is no sacrifice in having all of your earthly desires come true. Our fallen sinful nature already wants those things anyway. Instead of giving a sinner fanciful ambitions of conquering the world, we must be brutally honest with them and explain that following Christ will be equivalent to carrying their cross in life. To back this up Mark 8:34 states “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” 

Many professing Christians view coming to Christ as a means to finding their worldly purpose, building a better business, aspiring to become a multi-millionaire, Finding a better job, etc. There is nothing inherently wrong with desiring these things, but they must become the minor issues in our life, & our walk with Christ has to be the priority. Many opponents push back on this citing things like didn’t God make Abraham, David & Solomon rich? And my answer to that would be yes. However, when you look deeper into the lives of these men. They were given riches and status and maintained God’s approval so long as they kept the Lord first. These men were not perfect. But they all understood one fundamental truth in that you can’t love the gift more than the giver. Matthew 6:24 states “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” When a sinner comes to the Lord from true repentance they are turning away from sin & rebellion to the only true living God. The sinner no longer wants to indulge in self-seeking worldly pursuits. They now shift their focus and work towards eternal things. If you want to measure whether or not you are doing something for the Lord or selfish gain. Just ask yourself, is what I’m trying to accomplish going to advance the kingdom of God in light of eternity? Or, will this only impact matters in this temporal world? Some Christians will say they are trying to do certain things to advance the kingdom of God on this earth. And To this, I always ask why would you want to do that when this earth will soon pass away? To back this up 1 John 2:17 states “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”  

Lastly, I believe if the church goes back to presenting the gospel to sinners using the law of God as the backdrop (ten commandments) to reveal their sinful state. And by doing so, showing the sinner there are at threat of God’s wrath if they don’t repent and trust the finished work of Jesus Christ atoning for their sins by dying on the cross and rising again on the third day. The results of this kind of witness will bring fewer false converts to the church. Individuals who come to Jesus to gain some measure of worldly success are more prone to fall away during times of persecution because anything that threatens the pleasures of life for them is not part of the deal. However, a sinner that comes to Christ with an eternal perspective knows that being friends with the world makes them an enemy towards God. James 4:4 states “You adulterers![a] Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” This verse is saying Christians who follow the wisdom of this world by adopting a mindset that says they need to do whatever it takes to get what they want out of life & provide for themselves because nobody else is going to, are by default being friends with the world.