Ring the Bells of Heaven
See, you get saved, and you go to church. If that’s all you do, you will grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I can hear someone saying, “Now, that’s not all there is to it,” and I agree. There are other things, but the successful Christian life is going to come down to the basics. We live in an age where the church is doing everything it can to compete on so many fronts that the simple things are forgotten. Like a gifted but undisciplined athlete, we will waste our potential and lose the game if we do not learn the fundamentals. There’s nothing wrong with a little flash if you know how to play the game.
If a foundation is there, then we have something to build on. Many believers have got the gingerbread, but they forgot the house. I hope they are saved by the grace of God even as I, but there’s not a lot of real evidence. Boy, I don’t want to be judgmental, I’m just saying. Biblical Christianity means something. It’s not always a gain, sometimes, it’s a loss. Someone says they didn’t encounter loss, but Paul said he did. If you’ve never lost anything for the sake of Christ, you’re not doing it right. Paul didn’t want his things back. He said he’d rather have Christ. Paul traded up and tried to convince others to do the same.
It’s not easy to convince the Globetrotters to be satisfied with playmaking, but that’s the difference between entertainment and the pro game. I often think the obsession with fun undermines the church. Now, that’s coming from a guy who sat on a block of ice for three and half hours to win a Sunday School contest. Don’t even. I know “fun” is a part of “fundamentals,” but we need to learn both. What will it profit a person to gain the world and lose the soul- even is the world means the world of scriptural knowledge, church prizes and ecclesiastical honors. Again, the basics.
Jesus said there was as much joy in heaven over a sinner saved as over a person already saved. Oh…no, He didn’t. He said there was more joy over a sinner saved than over a person already saved and in maintenance mode. Wrong again. He said a sinner saved causes more joy in heaven than ninety-nine already in the fold. He wasn’t discrediting the already saved- He was redirecting our focus to the basic and essential truth that, unless a person is saved, nothing else matters. Nothing. That basic business is our main business. The other things are OK, too, but they are not the most salient truths.
At Faith Fellowship, we say we’re a simple church. Living for Christ is not complicated, but it’s not easy, either. It’s the simplicity of Christ that can be an obstacle. We don’t want to just wash and be clean. We’re always waiting for some great thing. William Cushing said we could reach into heaven and stir eternity to song. The ransomed army on earth will join in chorus with the heavenly angels and the morning stars if we only learn the basics: get saved, go to church and share Jesus with your friends. Those are not always easy to do- but they get easier, and it’s not complicated. Make the angels sing! You can do it! You can! You can!
Sterl
« Go back