Encouragement

---

A CHALLENGE TO THE LOST
By
Lawrence Walkup

As humans, whether believer or not, we can all see about ourselves that we are dependent creatures. We are not self-sustaining. What we do is we take for granted how dependent we are because we get caught up in the competitive lifestyle of human culture. And we are competitive because of a selfish nature that basically says to look out for number one. Let's assume that when God created us, he intentionally created us as dependent creatures so that we would be dependent upon him. Being dependent upon an invisible God is put into action through the dynamic of faith. Everybody in the world has faith. The issue about faith is the object of faith. You have faith that a chair will support you. You have faith that your car will start every morning. The chair and the car have proven to you to be reliable objects that you can put faith in. God designed us to put faith in him so that we could live the most fulfilled life possible...so that we could have purpose and meaning to our life. Exercising faith in God is a free choice. It is never forced upon us. This is absolutely of great significance to God because it is a demonstration to him that we want him, a demonstration to him that we love him. Love without free choice is absolutely meaningless.

Because we are dependent creatures, and if we do not put dependency in God, then we are going to find something else in life to put dependency in. We are going to find something else in life that we will depend upon because we believe it is bringing purpose and meaning to our life. And I say 'we believe it is' because when it is all said and done no matter what we do in life; if we do it apart from God; we will always still have that void. That void is a constant nagging that says: 'there has got to be more to life than what I am experiencing.' This is a spiritual nagging and it will never go away until the need is met in the God who is a spirit (John 4:4). It is because of this void, this emptiness...that makes man so susceptible to being religious. Some examples of things that we believe bring purpose and meaning to our lives are: money, appearance, talent, addictions, careers, recognition, reputation and family...just to name a few. These things that we put dependency in...apart from God...are called misplaced dependencies. They are misplaced because God designed us initially to put dependency in him. Misplaced dependencies are nothing new. It's just modern terminology for what God called idolatry (anything you deem first before God) back in the Old Testament. Man is the same as he's always been; it's just that he comes up with fancier words to explain the same old stuff.

God is a rock that is immovable. He is always reliable. The things apart from God are not reliable. They could disappear instantly. They have proven to be things that let us down. Assuming that all of what we have been saying is true, then we can begin to understand why as humans we seem to be out of whack...why we aren't as synchronized as we could be...why we are not lined up with the plumb line...why we spend a lot of time worrying about everything in life. Wouldn't you like to live a worry free life?

Anything that we become dependent upon to bring purpose and meaning to our life is going to control our life. Again, look at the list of misplaced dependencies above and tell me that these things don't control your life...that they don't make you a slave because they have mastered you (2 Pet. 2:19). Instead of these things controlling our lives, it was God who was meant to control our lives. One statement that summarizes the entirety of what the Gospel is about is the following: God gave his life for us, in order to give his life to us, in order to live his life through us. Jesus Christ, the example of a man for us, showed us in the last three years of his life how God lives through you. He said to Philip, one of his disciples: "Do you not believe that I am in the father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves" (John 14:10-11). Jesus Christ did not perform any miracles. God the Father performed all the miracles through him...because he was living through him. And Jesus put all this into action by faith. He trusted and expected God the Father to live through him. God the Father controlled Jesus' life, and now in turn, Jesus is to control our life.

Who is Jesus Christ? We need to give consideration to the most controversial figure that has ever lived and ever will live. Jesus Christ is controversial for the simple reason: He is God from heaven who took on flesh, or he is just a man like you and I. He is God who relinquished his deity for the purpose of being an example to man, of how a man was intended to be...live a life dependent upon God...live a life exercising faith in God. The issue and the only issue...because of eternal implications...for every man that has ever been born is the following: To make an honest endeavor to determine for yourself once and for all...who exactly is Jesus Christ? Either way you choose, you have to admit that an honest endeavor is in order. The keyword here is honest. It cannot be stressed enough...because of eternal implications an honest endeavor is in order.

If you are one who does not believe in Jesus Christ...do you have a legitimate good reason for not believing? People can come up with reasons why they do not believe in Jesus Christ, but are they legitimate reasons? For example: not believing in Jesus Christ because it is not popular to do so is not a legitimate reason; not understanding what you read in the Bible is not a legitimate reason; not wanting to stop the fun of sinning (as far as you understand sin) is not a legitimate reason; knowing that you cannot stop sinning (as far as you understand sin) is not a legitimate reason; misunderstanding salvation...thinking that sort of thing is for those who can't make it in the real world is not a legitimate reason; not believing in Jesus Christ because you equate him with the religious destruction that has happened throughout our history is not a legitimate reason; not believing in Jesus Christ because you believe in someone else is not a legitimate reason. If this is the case then you need to ask yourself why your founder is not as controversial as Jesus Christ. Why does Jesus stand alone away from all the other founders? Or have you not discovered that yet in your endeavor?

There does not exist one legitimate reason why a person does not believe in Jesus Christ. People will come up with all kinds of excuses why they don't believe, but they cannot come up with legitimate reasons. An atheist may come up with what he thinks are legitimate reasons, but why listen to an atheist? What is an atheist? In order to know that God does not exist would mean that a person would have to have all knowledge. At best an atheist is agnostic (doesn't know for sure). If an atheist wants to claim himself to be an atheist then he is claiming himself to be a fool (Ps. 14:1). And the reason we do not listen to a fool is because it will make us a fool (Pro. 26:4).

Jesus Christ came to this earth claiming himself the person. He didn't come to start Christianity. The word isn't even in the Bible. He came to proclaim the truth because he said he was the truth. He said he was the only way a person can get to the Father (John 14:6). Jesus would not come across real well sitting around a table with a bunch of other religious hierarchy discussing how much respect they have for each other's beliefs because it's the politically correct thing to do. He would speak the truth and that would be too offensive for the group at the table. Jesus' harshest words when he walked the earth were always (without exception) directed to the religious. That is very significant. His words were so offensive to them that it got him killed.

One of the reasons why God is so good to us is because he puts up with us. The entirety of the Old Testament is about God (who is full of compassion and mercy) putting up with the Israelites. He put up with their constant bickering and complaining after leaving Egypt...to the killing of their own priests and prophets throughout their history. Any movement of any type that ever gets started always becomes compromised for the simple reason of what makes up a movement...people. Jesus Christ did not come to start the movement called 'Christianity.' Man started the movement and even coined the term. If the word 'Christian' was to carry such significance to it, then it would have been used over and over again by the Apostle who wrote most of the New Testament. He never used it once.

The connotation of what the word means today is that it is synonymous with Jesus Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. And that's the point of it all...the truth is not laying out there in plain sight...it needs to be discovered. God intended it to be this way because he is looking for sincere hearts. Sincere hearts will do the digging because they are serious about finding God. Heb. 11:6, the Amplified version says: 'But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out).' "Christianity" can be just another religion, or it can be the real thing.

Jesus Christ did not come to start Christianity. He came for one purpose...to restore life to the dead. Those sincere hearts who receive his life will make up what is the real church. The 'church' is not a building. It is people. It is a living organism of born again people who live all over the world. This is what will be raptured off the earth someday. It is the body of Christ walking the earth today...those who are indwelt by Christ. The physical church you see on the earth today is what man has created. It is called organized religion. There may be elements within it that are a part of the real church, but because of organized denominational structure, truth usually ends up taking a back seat.

Absolutely all denominations teach the law of God instead of the grace of God. Teaching law comes so easy because it is a convenient way to control people. Non-denominational churches think they are different from the denominational churches, but really they aren't. They are a denomination within themselves and therefore they too teach law instead of grace. If a church is not outright teaching the grace of God, then by default it is teaching the law of God. An ideal church setting is like with the Apostles after Pentecost...small groups meeting in homes teaching the New Covenant and no longer the Old Covenant that has become obsolete (Heb. 8:13).

Let us not forget the purpose of why we are the church. We are the body of Christ today. So what did Jesus's body do 2000 years ago...that we are to do today? He walked in love. He fulfilled the law because he walked in perfect love. This is what made him so attractive to everybody (except the religious...imagine that). This is what gets people's attention. The love of God is irresistible. And who was his love directed to? It was directed to the lost...the lost Jew and the lost Gentile. We are here on the earth for the benefit of the lost. We are here for the same purpose of Jesus...to restore life to the dead. And the most effective way we can bring this life to the lost is through love...just like Jesus.

The Apostle said all that matters is faith expressing itself through love (Gal. 5:6). He was saying this to a church at the time that had fallen back into being religious again. Being religious means thinking that a relationship with God is based on keeping a list of laws...instead of it being based on faith. Being religious means our faith will never grow to come to know the love of God, let alone to be able to express it to the lost. We do not have the faith of Christ because of possessing a selfish nature that is so prone to be religious. If we do not grow in faith, we will never get to love. Paul in essence was saying to them; 'get away from the law that is preventing you from growing in the faith that will produce the love that is needed, in order to be an effective church, that the lost will respond to.' It is not any different today.

At best the lost can only perceive God through the religious prism that is presented in the world. At worst they choose not to perceive God at all because they care not to. Jesus came to save the whole world, but the whole world is not going to be saved. At the beginning of his ministry Jesus told a religious leader of the Jews (Nicodemus), that if he wanted to be able to perceive the kingdom of God, he had to first become born again. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom that is unseen. Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus you must be born again because the first time you were born, you were born spiritually dead. The reason I have come is to restore the spiritual life back to man that was lost in Adam 4030 yrs. ago. As a lost human being you are already exercising faith in things that you believe bring purpose and meaning to you life; why not make Jesus the object of your faith so that he can bring true purpose and meaning to your life that God had always intended?

If Nicodemus (the worst of the worst) can get saved, then anybody can get saved. I say the worst because anybody has a better chance than do the religious. It took the entirety of Jesus' ministry (3 years) but Nicodemus eventually got there. Religion is always about living in bondage. The truth is always about living in freedom. The ability to connect with God does not start with an organized institution as they would have you believe. It starts with the truth and the only one whoever claimed to be the truth. It doesn't matter where you are...Jesus Christ will come to you. What matters is that you make that honest endeavor to connect with him. If you are ready...ask him to give his life to you. The way it's always been put forth in religion is the other way around 'to give your life to him.' That would be inaccurate because that would mean your success is dependent upon you. For religious circles, that would be perfect. But the truth is...is that he gives his life to you; then your success becomes dependent upon him...and that is where we want to be.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR