These are excerpts from the lyrics of an old but popular Christian chorus that I recently heard sung in church.
To a Christian, the sentiment and the theology behind the lyrics are quite obvious. The singer is professing that he has abandoned the lusts and temptations and desires of the world which would keep him from Christ. He has changed his focus from things of the world to concentrate on the cross. By keeping the cross before him, he seeks to remain on the path of righteousness with no thought of ever turning back.
The reality is that this is seldom true of most Christians – or more accurately, most church members who profess to be Christians. Too many of us have not turned our backs on things of this world, either materially or spiritually. Too many are still determined to live the American dream of working or winning our way into prosperity.
We still sin – sometimes egregiously. We are still guilty of covetousness, of contempt and pride and hatred, of disobedience to parents, of adultery, and of untruthfulness. We are still strongly subject to idolatry, of taking the Lord’s name in vain, and of abandoning any concept of a Sabbath.
Yet I believe God was aware of all of this when He developed the plan of redemption before the foundation of the world. He was aware of all this when He created man and placed him in Paradise. He knew that even those who professed Christ as Lord would be subject to temptation, and sin, and rebellion, and spiritual as well as moral failure. He knew it – yet He staked the future of the kingdom of Heaven on just such people. As C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “…apparently He thought it worth the risk.”
That is why there is grace. That is why salvation is not dependent upon a person’s goodness or behavior or even upon on a person’s confession, but on God’s call on that person’s life. That is why the evidence of being born again is not a profession, or a prayer, or a performance, but obedience.
Matt. 7:21 Not everyone who calls out to me, “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
Read Luke 6.46-49 and Matt. 7.25-26 carefully. The rock upon which the house which can withstand the floods and storms of this world is not belief or profession, but obedience.
Thus the end of repentance is not salvation or the forgiveness of sin, but obedience. True repentance is not signified by walking an aisle or by reciting a salvation prayer or by inviting Jesus to come live in one’s heart, but by fulfilling the Great Commission.
Jesus promised that He and the Father would live in the hearts of those who were obedient (John 14.23). Thus confession that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 4.15) is not simply making a statement, no matter how sincere. Abiding in love (1 John 4.16) is not settling complacently into a peaceful and relaxed relationship with God. Both of these are actions that follow hard after and give living proof of the reality of repentance.
Jesus called to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt. 4.19)
Jesus did not call us simply to save us from death and hell. He saved us so that we would be able to respond to His call to obedience. God determined to build His kingdom through the labors of men and women empowered by His own Holy Spirit. He called us to come by the cross. Then, leaving the cross behind us, we are to focus our eyes on the world through which we are passing as obedient servants of the gospel. (Read Heb. 6.1-3 in the light of Matt. 29.19-20.)
Thus we should maybe rethink the old chorus. Maybe we should revise the song to say…
“I have decided to follow Jesus…The cross behind me, the
world before me…No turning back.”
