Unashamed of Grace

Friday, August 24, 2007

Question for Readers

by Matthew

In sharing the Gospel, would you tell the would be convert that she needs to make a choice or decision?

23 Comments:

What if you tell that one that he needs to decide whether or not he is going to take the claims of Christ seriously ... or ... walk away from the message you have given him? I think that may be very effective and I see no problem with it?

By Rose~, at Friday, August 24, 2007 7:59:00 AM
Good suggestion, Rose.

By Matthew Celestine, at Friday, August 24, 2007 8:03:00 AM
Indeed, chose you day whom you will serve. This is a biblical motif. We are called to respond one way or the other.

By Anonymous, at Friday, August 24, 2007 11:16:00 AM
How would you bring the language of choice into your witnessing, Bobby?

By Matthew Celestine, at Friday, August 24, 2007 11:25:00 AM
Matthew,

I'm really not so concerned with formulas as such, which is the sense I get when I hear both you and Antonio talk about the gospel.

In evangelism when I have offered the gospel, I typically ask someone what they think, based upon what is presented in the gospel. Further, and bottom line, I've asked folks if they are ready to give their life to Christ . . . which implicitly flows from chosing something or someone other than self.

By Anonymous, at Friday, August 24, 2007 1:26:00 PM
Hi Matthew,

"We report, you decide." Hmm, maybe Fox News has something there.

Hi Bobby,
I am not convinced I should ask the potential canidate if she is ready to give her life to Christ. My wish for her is to begin a personal relationship with Him who gave His life for her. I may ask, "Would you like to meet a man you can trust?" or "Would you like to know for sure you have eternal life?" or "What do you think about the claims of Christ?" or "What do you think about the claims of Scripture?"

I think Rose is on the right track.

By J. Wendell, at Friday, August 24, 2007 6:19:00 PM
I second that John. We need to receive at the cross and not seem to be calling the sinner to offer something that God is giving away as charity to a beggar...still we need to awaken and alarm the conscience to the desperate need because of his or her sin so that he sees what He is trusting Christ with and receiving from Him. I am not with the crowd that likes to gloss over the sin element, that was the whole point of our need of redemption as we chose to not believe and sin against God and so we need to enter back in understanding from who, what and why we have fallen from.

By Only Look, at Friday, August 24, 2007 8:08:00 PM
John,

I can agree with you on your approach as well . . . like I said I'm not into formulas on this issue, the main point to me is for a person to recognize that they can't do it, they need someone else to provide reconciliation for them, between "God and man". I just threw out, "are you ready to give your life to Christ", as an example of what I might or have said in a given situation in the past. Like the Apostle Paul, as illustrated in Acts, there are many "ways" to present the same gospel message (i.e. see the differences in the Gospel accounts, e.g. Matt., Mk, Lk, Jn). The main thing is to be prepared to given an answer, and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in our presentations of the Gospel. That's all.

By Anonymous, at Friday, August 24, 2007 10:46:00 PM
Bobby, an unbeliever might not necessarilly understand what you mean by 'give your life to Christ.'

How would you explain that to her?

By Matthew Celestine, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:45:00 AM
Only Look, I also think it is a good idea to preach the sinfulness of man. Thanks for visiting and commenting.

By Matthew Celestine, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:47:00 AM
John, if a preacher said:

"You have to make a choice right now. You need to decide whether you are going to become a Christian or not."

Could you say Amen?

By Matthew Celestine, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:49:00 AM
"Do you believe this?" ;-)

By Kc, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 8:02:00 AM
Hi Matthew. I understand you teach the sinful element, but you are rather vague at times in its importance in bringing the sinner to repentance of his self righteousness because of that sin and why it is he needs Jesus Christ to wash his sin away by your embracing the reductionist viewpoints that Antonio shares and that Lou rightly challenges you guys on. That is where I disagree with you guys and we must maintain that clarity so that the sinner does indeed see that he is making a clear and decisive move toward God in need of forgiveness of his sin.

By Only Look, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 10:09:00 AM
Kc, good to see you.

By Matthew Celestine, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 10:18:00 AM
Only Look, I am glad you have been following me up. :)

There are circumstances in which a person can believe and be born again without recongnising their sinfulness.

If a child is taught that Jesus has enabled her to go to heaven and she believes this, she would be trusting in Christ for eternal life, even if she did not understand why Christ's work was necessary.

Or an adult might well believe without recognising her sin.

A person might come to trust in Christ, believing that He has conquered death and obtained eternal life for her, without her understanding that death is the consequence of sin.

Or the wife of a man who has been converted might recognise the change in her husband and see the power of God to change lives. This might lead her to trust in Christ before she has come to recognise the severity of her sin.

These situations might not be the norm, but I do not see that they are impossible on either Biblical or psychological ground.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

By Matthew Celestine, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 10:23:00 AM
Matthew,

I was assuming that you would understand that by the time I got to that point I would have already explained that by the proclaiming of the gospel.

I think a person needs to understand why they need a Savior (cf. Gal. 3), they are a sinner separated from the life of God. This leads to the logical question how can I be united to the life of God. And this leads to Christ. Once a person recognizes their need for Christ and the reconciliation He alone can offer, then I ask them if they are ready to give their life to Christ. This is simply a call to response.

By Anonymous, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 12:48:00 PM
Bobby,

What is the book, chapter, and vereses that say that one receives eternal life, eternal salvation, or justification by "giv[ing] their life to Christ"?

Why would you use this inaccurate and unbiblical invitation? If a person decided to give their life to Christ, they would remain lost. No one receives eternal life by "giv[ing] their life to Christ"!

Where in the world!!!! do people get this sort of thing!

WHY DON'T WE USE THE BIBLE!

Antonio

By Antonio, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 8:16:00 PM
Antonio,

Why are you so hung up on this? I'm not talking order salutis, I'm using language that is true to the scriptures. I Cor. 6:20 says our bodies are not our own, Rom. 12 says offer our lives as living sacrifices to God, etc. I realize these passages are talking to Christians, exactly, that's my point . . . we recognize that our lives are not our own.

When we are united to Christ, He has our lives, because He bought them with His blood. How do I appropriate this, by believing in Christ alone for salvation Jn 20:31. When I quit believing in myself, and begin believing in Christ alone, this is the ingressive point of salvation. When I say give your life to Christ, this is what I mean. You're no longer "believing into your life for salvation", but believing into Christ for salvation (to use your awkward literal translation of eis, Antonio)---I would say this qualifies as giving my life to Christ.

As far as I'm concerned Antonio, there ain't nothing biblical about your obssesion. In fact I would say that Matthew's blog (sorry to bring you into this) is apropos "Want to join a cult". You're obviously a misguided fellow, with passion (which is commendable), who needs some theological help. I hope someday you will come out of the delusion you hold onto so desparately, and learn to read the WHOLE Bible for all its worth (i.e. John isn't the only book in the Bible that speaks to how we appropriate salvation). In the mean time I'll be praying for you, Antonio . . . seriously---I have concern for you.

peace.

By Anonymous, at Saturday, August 25, 2007 11:03:00 PM
Antonio,

let me soften the language of "delusion" I used in my last paragraph to you . . . that was a little strong, I apologize for that.

But I really do believe that you are on an unhealthy tangent, and read way to much into things, that just aren't there.

peace.

By Anonymous, at Sunday, August 26, 2007 3:04:00 AM
Matthew,
You ask:

John, if a preacher said:

"You have to make a choice right now. You need to decide whether you are going to become a Christian or not."

Could you say Amen?

No.
___________________

I do appreciate that Brian and Bobby saw my point and Bobby, I agree that we need to be sensitive to the Siprit's leading and move away from formulas.

By J. Wendell, at Sunday, August 26, 2007 8:28:00 PM
John, I hate to be a nuisance, but could you tell us why you object to that statement?

By Matthew Celestine, at Monday, August 27, 2007 12:45:00 AM
I'm late to this post...sorry.

I don't like "choice" or "decision" as it alludes to salvation being contingent upon what the lost person "decides" as opposed to what the lost person is fully convinced of - accepts as truth.

I think "accept" is better.

Either you accept the gift of God, eternal life, through belief in Jesus Christ or you reject it through unbelief.

By Jon Lee, at Wednesday, August 29, 2007 7:11:00 AM
Well said.

By Matthew Celestine, at Thursday, August 30, 2007 5:31:00 AM