Salvation Transforms

If one who lives in the midst of Christendom goes up to the house of God, the house of the true God, with the true conception of God in his knowledge, and prays, but prays in a false spirit; and one who lives in an idolatrous community prays with the entire passion of the infinite, although his eyes rest upon the image of an idol: where is there most truth? The one prays in truth to God though he worships an idol; the other prays falsely to the true God, and hence worships in fact an idol…
Søren Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846)

I would probably agree with Kierkegaard to a point, I really would. He was a strong proponent of relationship. He argued that being or becoming a Christian involved a passionate, lifelong commitment to being in relationship with God.

But I believe a confession needs to be made. You must confess that Jesus is Lord in order to be saved. I truly believe He died for you. There has to be an admission there, and it has to be real.

Sketch of Kierkegaard by his cousing, Niels Christian, ca. 1840

There are people, who go to big conferences, and while they are there, someone hits on something in a message that really touches them. It hits them hard because of the difficult time they’re having, or the emotional high they’re experiencing. And then someone says, “Do you want to believe in Jesus? Do you want to be saved? Come forward!” So they go forward. They say the prayers. And they’re saved!

Or maybe someone just goes through a really emotional time, and they meet a Christian who says something that touches them. They make the confession, that Jesus is Lord. They’re saved!

But for some people, this isn’t enough. Some of these people go home from being saved, and they find that nothing changes for them. Their struggles continue. They’ve come from a time of high emotion, and they’ve said the words. But they only said them because it was the right thing to do at the time. They don’t go on to live out their newly found salvation in the lifestyle of Jesus.

If you want to really understand Jesus in your life, you have to live in the mentality of discipleship. You won’t understand it if you don’t live it. You won’t understand it if you just say some words. Mere words don’t substitute for infinite passion. They can’t substitute for a relationship with your creator and savior. It has to be heartfelt.

And so in that sense, I would agree with Kierkegaard. But I would want to explore this with him a little bit. Think of the man or woman who lives life as Jesus’ disciple, in passionate relationship with Him, but they don’t know it’s Him. Would God look at that man or woman on the Day of Resurrection and say, “They loved me, they believed in me”? I don’t think so. I think in this sense, Kierkegaard got it wrong.

The Bible says you must make a confession with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9). Good people aren’t saved in the absence of this confession. They may do good things, but the key to salvation is the acknowledgment and confession of who Jesus is.

But I also believe a lot of people say “Jesus is Lord” and they don’t mean it. It needs to be a heart commitment, not just a verbal acknowledgement. In the wake of salvation, you’ll see a lifestyle change. Saved by the spirit you will live by the spirit. (Romans 8:13)

Salvation is not just words. If you’ve been saved but you feel unfulfilled, just try a little discipleship mentality.

See you soon!

Discipleship Mentality

The resurrection is power, man. Resurrection power says, “I have conquered death. I have given eternal life.”

When Jesus resurrected, He said, “Now you live in a family in which your sins have been taken from you. Now you live in a family in which death has been conquered. I have died for your sins, and I have resurrected, giving you new life.”

I am in the family of God because I believe in who He is and what He’s done for me. I’ve been justified. I’ve been justified because of the blood of Jesus and the faith that I have in what He did.

But I believe the lifestyle of Jesus is really where it’s at.

The Simplest of Rules

You see a lot of wealthy people that are not very happy. They always seem to need more. But they get more, and they’re still not very happy. It’s because they don’t understand why they’re wealthy. We’re here on this planet for the simplest of reasons: to love our neighbors as ourselves. And when we do that, we’re happy.

Loving your neighbor as yourself is fulfilling. Whether you’re rich or poor or in between, your joy will come from the way you use the gifts you’ve been given. This is what I teach my children. Life isn’t about how much money you make. Life is about what you do with the gifts you’ve been given.

Addicted to Servant Leadership

Here’s your mentality when you’re a servant leader. You say, “I’m going to serve somebody with my leadership skills.”

That’s the whole concept of being a servant leader. You lead with the understanding that you’re going to serve somebody else with your leadership skills. And then the transformation comes easy. Now you enjoy your job.

You’re not just going through the motions. You’re not just saying, “Well, I’m making tons of money, so I guess I’ll keep doing it.”  That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It’s not necessary to live that way!  Ask yourself, why do you do your job?

A Gospel of Sustainment

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” John 4:13-15

Last time I said that Jesus Himself would work to distribute the One World Futbol, because it’s unpoppable. Why would I say that?

When you visit a poverty-stricken community, the first thing you notice is also the most obvious thing. They can’t afford anything. In many parts of the world, people have grown so poor that they really can’t even afford to eat. Their voices are silent.

How we can help them? Whatever we decide to do, the results need to be sustainable.

Jesus’ whole concept was sustainment.

One World Futbol

One World Futbol makes an unpoppable soccer ball. You can try to pop it! You can squash the air right out of it, but it just fills back up.

You’ve probably seen pictures of kids in refugee camps or slums receiving soccer balls as gifts. But what happens when the balls pop? Those children don’t have lush soccer fields to play on. They play right in the road. What happens when they kick the ball into a barbed-wire fence? Or into some thorn bushes? Even if they avoid those scenarios, the ball skids over the rocks in the road. Eventually it tears a hole and pops, or a stray dog gets hold of it and bites through it.

The One World Futbol is immune to all that damage.

Why Get Rich?

I don’t want to make all this money and die knowing that I did nothing with it.

And I really don’t want my sons to grow up thinking that life is all about money.

I don’t want to raise them to think that success is something we achieve only for our own sakes. I just don’t want them thinking that way.

I want my sons to be financially successful. Of course I do! But I also want them to know that financial success is not the point of life. You know what I say about money? Go ahead and make a ton of money, if that’s what you really want to do. Sure! Great! Just remember that you’re not going to find a ton of joy in it.

Living Like Jesus (Part 2)

I think the Bible tells us to live and love like Jesus, and the scriptures tell us a lot about how He lived and loved. Last time, I wrote about what I think that means. You can see for yourself what the Bible says about Jesus, and how we’re supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I’ll tell you what living like Jesus is not about. It’s not about health, wealth, and prosperity. These are things that God chooses to bless us with as he sees fit. Whether you are blessed with them or not, you can still be fulfilled through the discipleship lifestyle.

Living like Jesus is also not about your best life now. Not all the time.

Living Like Jesus (Part 1)

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Abundant life! What does that mean? Well, abundant life is a life that is not in need. You don’t need to find food, you have it. You don’t need to find water, you have it. You don’t need to find a place to live, you live somewhere. You don’t need to find a job, you have a job.

It doesn’t mean you have millions of dollars. I think abundance is having enough, plus some for somebody else. And if you have enough, and you have extra, then you live in abundance.

Consumerism can actually kill people.

Discipleship (Part 4)

I’ve never been in the back of the room at a church meeting, but I can almost see it. “Hey,” they say, “How are we going to get people saved? We’ve got to figure out how to get them to say the prayers.”

I think we’re used to thinking in terms of numbers. It’s only human to play the numbers game. I mean, think about it. In the baseball world, or anywhere in sports, the concept is, “How many fans can we get in the seats?” After all, that’s where the business is. And so we see it in the churches. “How many butts can we get in the pews?” After all, there’s our tithe.

And you see that a lot, man! You see churches saying, “Fifty people got saved today!”