Do you need a Savior?
Perhaps we’re getting the cart before the horse, perhaps we have no idea we need a cart… or a horse.
Have we forgotten our need?
As I prepare for a men’s Bible study, a thought popped into my head. Do you need a savior?
I’ve been listening to a selection of lectures on evangelism and one major point was about properly identifying a person’s position before presenting the Good News. This, for the uninitiated, is a matter of preaching law and Gospel, not just Gospel. To put it another way, if a person is not aware they’re sick they are going to be hard to convince that they need emergency medical intervention. This is why we need to present the law because the law illuminates the sin in our own lives and excites it. When the law shows up in our lives, our sin wants to sin even harder. Which for the conflict averse, seems counterintuitive. Why would we agitate those that we are trying to evangelize? Unless a person understands their dire situation, they will not (by the power of the Spirit) fall to their knees and repent, calling upon Christ who died on the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead according to Scriptures.
But… the thing that stuck in my mind is the reality that we, even as Christians, live in a state of independence or perceived health. We truly believed, but we’ve struggled to grow. Our life in America provides so many safety nets, so much entertainment, so many drugs (chemical or otherwise) that we are are anesthetized to our need for our Savior everyday.
The Symptoms
Prayer shows up during crisis when we can’t ignore the pain anymore. Church is a fair-weather endeavor, or something we do when we think that one guy at church has taken notice and is gonna text us… or heaven forbid call us (I’m that guy from church, and I know who you are and I will be calling you later). All the while we have masked the pain of our sin and dulled the ache of our need to be daily before our Savior. Christians don’t need Jesus less because we have Him and He has us.
We are dumb and forgetful creatures. We are sheep after all. We often will not wander ourselves to Christ, not until a certain level of spiritual maturity is acquired and even then we are still fallible. So, we need to preach the whole Gospel to ourselves daily. Not just the good parts, but the law as well. We need to diagnose ourselves every morning as a wretched sinner, saved, and being saved by grace. We must feel the need or fear the neglect of our faith, lest we wander off thinking all is well when in fact all is not well.
The Medicine
So ask yourself, do you need a savior? Does your life reflect a countenance of dependance rooted in an utterly woeful knowledge of your own insufficiency that drives you daily to Christ? Do you see your own weakness so much that gathering with the saints on the Lord’s day is non-negotiable? Is your mouth parched and stomach twisting in pain if you do not begin by feasting on God’s Word?
Maybe you think all is well.
Maybe you forgot you need a Savior.
Prayer Requests
Pray for God to bring the right people for our church plant team and that we will identify strategic community partnerships to make an impact in our neighborhood.
Pray that the seeds of the Gospel will be watered by the Spirit and birth new life in a dear friend who I shared the Gospel with last week.
Pray for the Spirit to stir a zeal for God’s glory in evangelism within our church body.
Pray for our Thanksgiving gathering this Sunday after church, that we will delight in the Lord in food and fellowship.
Don’t miss out on our last interest meeting.
