Let me climb up here on this soapbox and tell ya something.
I heard a sermon today about evangelism that went something like this:
"We should tell people about the gospel, have them pray the 'sinner's prayer,' and be real happy that we're fulfilling the Great Commission."
I was annoyed.
The "sinner's prayer" is not in Scripture, folks. Are we all aware of this?
I do not get to have a notch in my spiritual belt for having you repeat some rote incantation. This is not the Great Commission.
The Great Commission says to "Go ye into all the world....making disciples of all the nations." Making disciples is a process requiring a great investment of time and effort. It demands relationship and an investment that can't easily be counterfeited. Asking someone to pray a little prayer is so easy. I know so many people who have prayed a sort of salvation prayer whose lives are not changed at all. Our lives are shaped and defined by those things that we believe to be true. You can't have a change of your entire belief system, without a radical change in how you live your life.
If you come to realize that you are in desperate need of God, that you are a hopeless sinner with no redeeming qualities worthy of this God,
and the understanding that Jesus is handing you a chance to be made whole and new, with access to the very throne of Heaven
Then your life will reflect that!
If I say that being a mother is the most important job I can ever do, and that raising my children is my number one priority....but I put them in daycare and go to work all day, then hang out with my social circle all evening, you can tell by looking that I don't really believe what I say I believe. There's a major disconnect.
If I pray some "sinner's prayer" and go along unchanged, than I am not a disciple of Jesus Christ.
What I am saying here, people, is that saying a prayer doesn't mean salvation. A real, life altering shift in your entire belief system can mean salvation.
This has a dramatic impact on evangelism. It has to.
You and I tell others what we've seen God do, and change, in our own lives. Then we let God do the converting part. When someone wants to know how they can have the kind of relationship we have with the God of Creation, our discipleship is a coming-alongside of that person to teach them how to follow Jesus. We are teaching them to be disciples of Jesus.
You don't get brownie points for making someone repeat a prayer. You can expand the Kingdom of Heaven by speaking truth and investing in the people God is at work in.
Whew.
That's my sermon de jour.
I'll step off of the soapbox now.
7 comments:
Wow!!! I was just having a similar conversation with myself this morning about "the sinner's prayer" (Yes, I talk to me!) I was thinking the same thing about how saying that prayer has nothing to do with what God has told us to do. Interesting that I happened upon your post today.
:)De
Thank you for saying this. It is one of my many pet peeves with popular Christianity. Among them, that going to church on a Sunday morning means you are a Christian and doing all of your Christianly duty. That is not what the Bible says. Anyway, I'll stay off my soapbox but I'd be happy if you'd stay on yours!
I like your soap box...
OH oh oh oh oh oh....oh....ohohoh! i am oh..so with you I cant speak!
loving todays sermon-LOVE.
Needed to hear it actually-bless you.
Maybe you should have a talk like this with the speaker of which you are referring.
Dad
Well said. I work in a mission field where the Sinner's Prayer is important part fot he culture.
We all recognize that the prayer itself doesn't save, as you have so pointed out. In my invitations, I say such a thing.
But for some, not all, it is an "x marks the spot" moment where one decides to start following Jesus and to begin learning of His ways.
Evangelism is not all about the decision, but does indeed include the process of integrating in a local church and helping to foster the transformation (Make Disciples).
Pastor Chris
EvangelismCoach.org
Bullseye...in the 10 ring.
With ya on this one, for sure.
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