The following is from Watchman Nee:
“Men rejected Christ, not on the ground of what he did but on who he was, and they are invited to believe in what he is and who he is, and not, first of all, in what he has done. ‘He who hath the Son hath life.’
The appreciation of his work must come, but the main question is whether or not you have the Son, and not, first of all, whether or not you understand the whole plan of salvation. The first condition of salvation is not knowledge, but meeting Christ.
There are people who you may feel were saved by the wrong Scriptures! They were spoken to through verses that do not seem to point the way of salvation, and you almost feel that they could not be saved by that basis!
I used to wish that those whom I led to the Lord would be saved on the basis of John 3:16, but I have come to see that all that is needed for the initial step is that there should be a personal touch with God. It does not matter, therefore, which scripture God elects to use for that first vital step.”
~ Watchman Nee
I came across this quote recently, and found that I’ve expounded on these same ideas in a previous post entitled, Rethinking How We Present the Gospel.
Have you ever met Christians who felt that understanding “the plan of salvation” was more important than meeting Jesus Christ Himself or who equated the two as being the same?
James D.G. Dunn
I so appreciate your blog. The Gospel is a person – Jesus, not a “what” and that starting point really makes all the difference. I’ve been listening to your podcast on Colossians Part II over and over (that’s how I learn to give meaning to truths in my heart, where my mind can be renewed to believe what my heart already knows) … and it is so true that Christ is so much bigger than we really can imagine, and how wonderful it is to be in community with people and enjoy sharing and living Christ with each other.
“Have you ever met Christians who felt that understanding “the plan of salvation” was more important than meeting Jesus Christ Himself or who equated the two as being the same?”
I grew up with and spent the first 50 years of my life with Christians like that.
God’s written word is so awesome and I am so thankful we have the benefit of holding the word at our fingertips…however, just as the first believers believed, so must we, its a personal, one-on-one encounter with Jesus Christ, sometimes from reading any variety of scripture, sometimes by seeing Him in another believer, or by hearing the account of what Christ has done for someone else…sometimes in a miraculous way that only that one person witnesses. I remember an evangelist sharing a story of his relationship with a non-believer…for years they shared ideas of faith, debated philosophy, and still his friend did not believe, yet their frienship grew. One day his friend called to say that he had given his life to Christ. The evagelist humbly revealed that deep inside he almost felt insulted that he had not been the one personally present for this conversion…after which he did some soul searching and heart changing. The salvation of each person is totally Christs…we are just fortunate he allows us to be involved in tiny minute ways 🙂
William Booth also taught that. One of my favorite quotes from Booth goes something like this: “I don’t bring people to a Book, I bring them to God.”
I had an experience with the “sinner’s prayer” while on vacation a few years ago. We were visiting this small rural free methodist church and during a testimony opportunity a woman shared that they were elated that this mainline friend that was passing away in the retirement home prayed the “sinner’s prayer” (after much prodding) and received salvation before she died. I remember thinking to my self, did she really believe that this prayer was like a talisman moving her from hell to heaven.
Sadly, I experienced this very thing, recently, at a church I was invited to attend by a friend. The midweek preacher said his topic was on sound doctrine, then proceeded to rail against the Catholic church, then explain their church’s 5-step plan of salvation. Taking a verse at a time, often out of context, he even explained that God had hidden the plan in the New Testament, instead of just having the Book of Salvation. What’s worse, he was merely substituting his legalistic approach for the Catholic one he condemned.
Later, hoping it was just a fluke, I agreed to come to a Bible Study with a member of the church. I was ambushed as he gave me a carefully memorized Tom Hopkins inspired sales presentation for Jesus and how to properly study the Word, again taking verses out of context – even attributing to them the opposite meaning than what was in the text – all designed to make sure I believed the proper way. He and his ‘sponsor/mentor’ got very flustered when I started pointing out Biblical inconsistencies in what they were teaching and quickly finished the presentation. Oddly enough, even though we had planned to see a movie that Friday, I never heard from him again.
It’s so sad when I see/hear these things happening. And sad when I remember partaking in many of the practices myself. We would much rather have a structure and a set plan or law than deal with the way Love operates.
My husband gave his life to Christ before he even knew that Jesus had died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins.The scripture that God used with my husband was, “The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.” My husband’s eyes were opened and he saw that his life was darkness and Jesus was the light. His “prayer of salvation” was, “Jesus, take my life. I’m yours.”
I’ve met many who equate knowledge or intellectual assent to correct doctrine with salvation, but everyone I know with a great miraculous story of how they met Christ, has told of an encounter with a Person without much of any knowledge of doctrine until much later. Which seems to match up with encounters with God in scripture.
I’ve heard people raised in church say they had head knowledge but no heart knowledge. I wasn’t raised in church and when I accepted Christ it was almost, totally a heart thing. I know a lot more now but I’m no more ‘saved’ than I was in that first moment that I believed. Now, I’ve been in church for a long time and I understand that many people are more comfortable with formulas for salvation than actually, accepting that salvation is fully, a work of God. I’m glad that God chose to save me in the manner that He chose, so that I never have to get confused and think it was because of what someone else had done or what I had done. It’s simple, if you believe Jesus is who He says He is and accept Him as your savior from your sin, you are saved. Even sealed, in Christ Jesus.
Pam
Pam, your post spoke to my experience as someone born and raised in church, and in the truth of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for how Christ revealed himself to you and I am married to someone who came to Christ in a similar way without all the “knowledge” of a “church kid.” Always thankful for the truth my parents surrounded me with, and ever thankful of how I came to Christ at a young age, I now am enjoying the journey toward a more organic fellowship outside the confines of “organized church.” Hopefully no matter how we come to Christ…his perfect work in us brings us to the same place…real relationship dependent on nothing but HIM 🙂
Sure. There is a huge emphasis among “Reformed” churches on the gospel being central to everything in the Christian life. That sounds good to me at the outset, but then the message comes across as having more to do with being able to present a precise outline of the docrtine of penal substitution than it does with meeting Christ Himself, as Nee clearly pointed out.
In God’s plan He gives us not a thing or a blueprint mainly, but He gives us His Son, a Person! The Christian life is actually a life in fellowship with This One! What we speak to others shouldn’t be mere explaining God’s plan but cooperating with the Lord to give Christ to people, helping them to have a personal touch with the Lord… A good reminder, thanks, brother.
How immensely sad it is that your post today is actually very needed. That fact should be utterly shocking to us all, but no, it is not, not this day.
The “plan of salvation” isn’t a thing. The “plan of salvation” isn’t a knowledge about something. The “plan of salvation” is the Person Himself, Jesus the Christ.
Good Word Frank. Love Watchman Nee! Thanks for sharing!
That has certainly been my experience. I went to church because I suddenly felt like I had come home, a feeling that has carried me through many moves in the last ten years. Wherever I have gone, even different countries, I have always felt at home. The process of the salvation came to me later.
On a similar train of thought, I believe God uses broken people who know Him (even if their theology is “”bad”” – like Charles Wesley) more than people who may know how to present the whole gospel 100% “”biblically”” but have no intimate relationship with Christ. Like most baptists, or reformed (charismatic) guys like me.
Frank, thanks for sharing this from Née. Yes, I do think evangelicals are caught up in sharing a plan, rather than Christ. We miss the point that God’s plan is Jesus. He is God’s word to us. The substance of salvation is meeting Him. The substance of eternal life is knowing Him.