Is it actually required that I actually do it?
- samuel stringer
- Aug 6, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 26, 2022
The short answer: no. But yes. And definitely no. And yes. But no.
It depends.
Yes, it's confusing, but actually it makes a lot of sense.
the coast at Kerala, India
No, it is not required, expected, or suggested.
Yes, it is the demand of Christ that is not to be disregarded.
No, it has nothing to do with being called. There is no such thing.
Yes, is has everything to do with obedience.
No, it doesn't mean you are disobedient if you don't do it.
A society requires people to do many different things. A society cannot exist unless it has mothers and fathers, educators, police officers, firefighters, hospitals, doctors, judges, a military, farmers, ranchers, pastors, transportation workers, sanitation workers, people who build roads, construction workers, and thousands of other jobs and services.
Conversely, a society cannot exist if it has only mothers and fathers, only educators, only police officers, only military, only sanitation workers, or only anything else.
We also know that people cannot declare themselves police officers or judges, put on a uniform or robe, and show up for work. On the other hand, a judge must judge, a police officer must police, a soldier must go into battle, and a mother must mother.
So no, it is not required, expected, or suggested of you. But it is required of some, and what is required of you, you must do, and not the other thing.
Yes, it is the demand of Christ that is not to be disregarded, because his Church is a complex sophisticated organism that has many parts and each part must do what it is made for, and not the other thing.
No, it has nothing to do with being called. There is no such thing. Full stop.
Yes, is has everything to do with obedience, because each person's role is an act of obedience, and not doing the other thing is an act of obedience.
No, it doesn't mean you are disobedient if you don't do it, but it does mean you are disobedient if you don't do what you should.
Jesus had twelve disciples. He did not allow someone to walk into their campfire some evening, sit down, and ask what the plan for tomorrow is. Jesus controlled it. Anyone who was not in the Twelve was obedient by staying out.
Jesus had rules for the Twelve that were strict and nonnegotiable. If you lived with Jesus, you had to live like Jesus.
Jesus taught the expectation of God and made it clear that expectations were expectations, not suggestions, and for you, not someone else. But God does not treat us as a class. Everyone is an individual. How God treats one person is completely up to him, and no one, not the person in God's sight or anyone looking on, has the right to question that. If God wants to make Job rich, he will do that, and pity the person who complains it's not fair. If God wants to pay some people the same wage for working only one hour instead ten, be happy and rejoice: do not tell God he is unfair.
It has nothing to do with being grateful for what God has given you. That is (again) looking at God from your perspective. If he gave you nothing that would still not give you the right to call him unfair for giving someone else the wealth of the universe.
God's gifts are his. He gives whatever he wants, to whomever he wants. He can favor one and not favor another and it is of no concern to anyone. It is not about you, never has been, and never will. Jesus did not die for you; he died for his Father. He did not come to earth for you; he came to earth for his Father. You are not a Christian for your sake; you are a Christian for Christ's sake. Christ obeyed and asked for one thing: to be given those who he asked for. The Father will happily do that, a billion times over for a billion years, for his Son. Not for you.
You are not saved (if there is such a thing) to keep you out of hell (there is such a thing). You are a made a child of God if God wants to do it, for the sake of Christ or Abraham or himself, of for any other reason he decides. He is not obligated to do anything because someone walks down the aisle to the refrain of "Just as I Am". If you have done that, and knelt at the front of the church with an elder or deacon or pastor praying with you, great! But that does not make you a child of God. It makes you a Baptist.
If someone tells you that the place they are working is hiring, don't show up for work Monday. If all your friends are going to a wedding, don't go. There is no situation in human experience that is comparable to how we treat the gift of God. No one is allowed to just walk in and say "I'm here!" The employer, the bridegroom, or the commanding officer always controls the door.
God has the final say, not us. The answer will usually be yes, but to tell him that you have done your three steps and now you're going to heaven will not turn out well.
If it makes you feel unsettled that you can't depend upon a song or a prayer or a pastor, great! It should. You have no right to think you are a child of God just because you have followed your church's tradition or have been declared saved by a pastor. No one, not your pastor or priest, and not even you—no matter how much faith or emotion or humility or sincerity you can generate—makes you a child of God. It is up to God and you won't know for certain until you're dead. That's what faith is.
If you say you are a child of God, you probably are. Compare yourself against Scripture (with no regard for what your pastor or books or songs say) and see how you measure up. It is not an unreasonable thing. Paul says we should do examine ourselves to see whether we are living in the faith: 2 Cor 13. (But then in 1 Cor 4 he says he does not judge himself, so there's that.)
There is nothing complicated or confusing about it, so long as you let God be God. If you think he can be trusted, you're fine. If you think trusting your life and death to him is good enough, you're fine. If you can't do that and you need your pastor to declare you saved, then we have a problem, because you're saying you need to know for certain. God might take pity on your childish silliness, but he has never listened to someone who says he must do something because someone has said so.
Forget the sinner's prayer. He doesn't want to hear it. Telling him you're sorry for sinning but admitting you'll do it again (today!) and that you're sorry for that too is meaningless. The thing God wants to hear is this: "I'm done with my life. I give it to you from now on. I'll do whatever you want." If you can say that, and then do it, with no expectation of anything (not even heaven!) you'll be fine. God is good.
The reason this is important is that once we start on the wrong path it is almost impossible to straighten out. If you believe God saves people to keep them out of hell, or that God saves you because he loves you, or that God has a wonderful plan for your life, then you've started on the wrong path. It's not about keeping you out of hell, it's not because he loves you (he doesn't love that other person?!), and it's not that he has a wonderful plan for your life. It's not about you. Period.
You go door-to-door or stop people in the mall (like I did) to ask them: "If you were to die tonight and stand before God and he were to ask you, 'Why should I let you into my heaven', what would you say?" At the end, if the conversation has gone according to plan, you say, "You just trusted Jesus as your Savior! Welcome to the family of God!" Maybe yes. But if the person asked to be forgiven so he could go to heaven, possibly not. That is starting on the wrong path. Asking for a little bit of forgiveness for a big bit of heaven is doubly wrong: both because regretting your sin gives God nothing that he wants, and because you are saying it for your benefit.
Starting down the wrong path means you then believe anything you are told that is for your benefit and disbelieve anything you are told that is not for your benefit. Even if there are a thousand warnings in Scripture that say you're heading the wrong direction, you won't believe it because your pastor tells you you're okay. And you actually believe that: that your pastor can get you into heaven.
Starting down the wrong path means you will believe the professor or the commentator who tells you to not take Christ's words so literally that you end up poor. Being on the wrong path will allow you to believe anything and disbelieve anything, with no regard for what Scripture says, because Scripture is too complicated and must be simplified for you by experts in hermeneutics, languages, ancient history, and the cross-cultural situation in Palestine in the late Second Temple period.
Go ahead: find one expert in hermeneutics or languages who will tell you that "if you love me you will do what I say" actually means that. They will use their position to tell you that what it obviously says is not what it really says.
No, it is not required, expected, or suggested. But some, even if just a few, must do it.
Yes, it is the demand of Christ that is not to be disregarded. Because some, even if just a few, must do it.
No, it has nothing to do with being called. There is no such thing. Again, full stop.
Yes, is has everything to do with obedience. Because some, even if just a few, must do it.
No, it doesn't mean you are disobedient if you don't do it. But it does mean you're disobedient if you don't do what you know you must.
Take some time to learn, experiment, make mistakes, start over, and make some more mistakes. Even Paul spent 14 years learning. And he took care of Timothy for a very long time. You should take time too. No one is worth much at first, so offer yourself to someone, with no expectation, because you need to make yourself valuable. Learn. Help where you can. Take some trips. Find people in poverty and distress and learn how to work with them in a way that pleases God. Take some more trips. Keep your eyes and heart open. Look for the thing that no one else is doing. Years later, when you stumble upon the thing that you know you can't walk past, do that.
Do NOT start by selling your possessions, giving to the poor, and waiting for God to call you. It's not going to happen. First, because that's not what Scriptures say, second, because he didn't spend all that effort giving us his word only to have people disregard it and wait for a call, and third, because you're not useful to him for a while. Make yourself good enough for God to use, then do it.
And don't listen to anyone who says Christ was not serious. Those people know nothing about the path. Just make sure you do, before you step off into the darkness.
#1_Cor_4.3 I do not judge myself
#John_14.15 #if_you_love_me you will do what I say
#Gal_2.1 Paul spent 14 years learning
Comments