Five Days-Five Questions #3
Ken wants to know: do you feel there has to be an exact moment a person comes to full relationship with Christ, or could it be gradual, over time?
That’s a great question and only slightly less difficult than Kent’s question from yesterday. If we’re to take Ken’s question at face value about a person’s relationship with Christ, then the answer could be either one, especially a gradual commitment to Christ. However, I think Ken might be asking about when a person is justified or “saved.” This question deserves a little more attention. Very early in John’s gospel, Jesus is having a conversation with a guy named Nicodemus. Nic wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by saying that he must be born again, which is only possible when a person is born of the Holy Spirit. Obviously, there has to be a moment of birth, but I would argue that there might be a gestation process. Take for instance, the disciples process of a fully committed relationship with Jesus. At what point where they fully committed? Was it when Peter makes his confession that Jesus is the Son of the living God? If it was, what do we do when Jesus calls him Satan or when Peter denies Jesus 3 times? By Acts chapter 2, it’s pretty obvious that Peter’s been born of the Spirit. Shoot, he and the others speak in foreign languages under the power of the Spirit. But, when did it happen? I’m not sure. In the modern church (over the last 50 years of Christianity in America), we’ve focused on the moment!
Did you pray a prayer? Did you raise your hand? Did you walk an aisle? (Just so you know…I did!) Some call this “decisional regeneration.” However, a moment or a decision doesn’t “save” a person. It’s only by grace through faith that someone is justified. That’s not determined by a moment, but complete trust in what Christ has done completely! That might take place in a moment, but it might take place gradually. The important question is this: Has it taken place? Is a person in a fully committed relationship with Jesus? Is a person born of the Spirit? THAT’S ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS!
FYI, in a 5-mile radius of Chateau Elan, there are approximately 19,000 people who do not have any level of a relationship with Jesus Christ!
Need to confess?
