Do, a deer, a female deer, re, a drop of golden sun....
No, I'm not loosing my mind (not yet at least), just this little tune has been running through my mind the last week or so. Isn't it amazing how catchy simple things like this are? Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.... Who wanted to keep going? Come on, raise your hand and admit it. How about this one: A B C D E F G... Yes, the simple alphabet that we all learned as a child. We can all say it I am sure. I even know some people that can sing it backwards!
How does this relate to Youth Speak? Well, sometimes we complicate matters WAY too much in the church. We like to appear "grown-up, sound in the Word, able to rightly divide the Word of God." Have you ever wondered how you "divide" the Word? When I was teaching the middlers class years ago, I always went over a very simple way for them to remember the salvation plan. It was built on something we all learn as little kids, the ABC's. Ok, who can tell me how the ABC's relate to the salvation plan? Raise your hand, and no looking ahead (you know you wanted to)!
Ok, you can look now. Here they are as taken from the Assembly of God web site.
A. Admit you are a sinner.
B. Believe in Jesus
C. Confess that Jesus is your Lord.
Pretty simple right, but do we really understand what they mean? Can you really describe them? Lets look at them one at a time.
Accept You are a Sinner
What does it mean to accept that you are a sinner? Sure we can all say, "Yeah I'm not perfect, but then who is?" But is that an excuse or a reason? According the the book of Romans: Romans 3:10 MSG "There's nobody living right, not even one," and Romans 3:23 MSG "Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us,". But you say that your not that bad, you've not killed anyone or stolen anything. Is that enough? What about in Colossians where it says, Colossians 3:9a MSG "Don't lie to one another." Have you ever told a lie? Raise your hand if you have? If your hand is not in the air, then you just told a lie because everyone lies, right? What's the big deal about a little lie? James 2:10 NIV "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." "Do you mean that if I have told a lie I am guilty of murder?" That's what it says, isn't it? So, are you guilty of sinning. If so, what next?
Believe In Jesus
So what does it mean to"believe" in Jesus? Sure, I can say I believe He existed and that he was a great teacher. I can even say I believe He was from God or even is God! But the belief here is much deeper than that. Let me ask you, have you ever seen Jesus? Face to face I mean? Touched His hands? Walked beside Him along a lake? No. Well I can tell you about some that have. James 2:19 NIV "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." The demons were former angels. They have seen Jesus face to face before they followed Satan in rebellion. They really know who He is, and they shudder! Do you shudder when you think about Jesus? Do you even know Him enough to know if you should shudder? Maybe you should, know Him well enough that is. In Romans Paul writes, Romans 10:9-10 NIV "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Believe in your heart, did you get that? What does that really mean? I think by looking at The Message paraphrase we can get some in-site into that. James 2:19 MSG "Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?" So, you say you believe, then act like it! And what is the first step a "believer" should do?
Confess
"Ah yes," you say. "Here it is, the part where I have to get all weepy and tell everything I ever did wrong." Well, maybe, but I doubt you could remember EVERYTHING you did wrong your whole life, and even if you did, do you think God wants to hear it all in detail? After all, He already has seen it once, and He has perfect memory! As far as the weepy part, yeah, that might happen, but that's ok. After all, you were lost and you are now found! But what is confession? Sure it starts with admission (from the first letter), but if admitting was all we needed to do, then it would be easy for anyone to be saved. What does the Bible say? There are two things we need to confess, our sins and Jesus Christ. Look here: Romans 10:9a NIV "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and also here, 1 John 1:9 NLT "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong." So there are two things we need to confess, our sins and Christ. Our sins I think we all understand, but how do you confess Christ? Look at this particular translation and see if it helps shed some light. Romans 10:9 GW "If you declare that Jesus is Lord," When we "confess" Jesus is Lord we are admitting it to others. Confession is the simple act of admitting He is God, He is your savior, and He is now in charge of your life! We can't hide it. It will be like James 2:19 from The Message, we can't just "profess to believe in the one and onlyGod, but then observe and complacently sit back as if we had done something wonderful." Confession is an action word! And this leads me to one more letter.
Do
Being a Christian is not a passive decision. Being a Christian is an active lifestyle. If the church has failed anywhere it is here. Grace has a cost! The gift may be freely given, but accepting it carries a cost, a responsibilty. There are no beach warmers on God's team, and He won't let you be one either. We are all on the team and we are all needed on the team. If one of us does not show up for the game, the entire team suffers. And it may cost someone more than we should be willing to risk. Ever wonder about those men and women who die without ever hearing the name of Jesus? I wonder if someone decided to sit on the bench one day instead of playing ball that day. Was that one lost because someone decided they were too tired one day, or were sick that day, or maybe they wanted to pitch instead of playing right field where the coach wanted them that day. What do you think?
I end with this one verse. Think about it in your life. Is this you? Would you want this written on you grave.
James 2:26 MSG "The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse."