Growing up Southern Baptist in Arkansas, I became accustomed to altar calls. I grew up with them every Sunday that I was in church. I grew up singing "Just As I Am" while people made their way down to the altar to commit their lives to Christ or rededicate their lives to Christ. I would see the pastor and deacons pray with these people and then they would be ushered off into another room with one of the leaders of the church. Then they would be brought out and everyone would be told what decision they had made. Most of the time it was to join the church, but there were times when someone would make a decision for Christ and the whole church would clap. But, then when the service was over, everyone would go get some lunch and go home. End of story.
As I have grown older, I have reflected a lot on this time of my life. I have wondered to myself, "Is this how one follows Christ? Is this what the Bible commands us to do? Is this how Jesus did it?" To be a Christian, is it really as simple as saying a "sinner's prayer" and then joining a church? I almost feel like a heretic to even question this. I have been to countless evangelism events and services and seen the speaker have everyone close their eyes, bow their heads, and raise their hands if they want to accept Jesus. I have always wondered why it had to be private? Aren't we taught in Scripture to not be ashamed of Christ or the Gospel? Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him while he was at his tax collector's booth in the middle of everyone. I have led people in the sinner's prayer in order to be saved. But, is this it? Is this what the Gospel teaches us? Is this the Gospel?
It seems anti-climactic. It seems like a cheap way out. It doesn't quite live up to the call of Jesus found in the Gospels. Jesus called people to follow him. Not one time does Jesus lead someone in a prayer. I had a student ask me one time where the sinner's prayer was found in the Bible. I had to tell him the truth: it's not. The sinner's prayer is something we came up with to make it easy for someone to accept Jesus into their hearts. I think we are missing something.
For too long, we have been teaching a Gospel that is a little watered down. The gift of grace through Jesus Christ is easy. I don't want to make it seem like it's not. However, it's not just about saying a prayer or even accepting Jesus into our hearts that makes us a Christian. If you read the Gospels closely and even the letters of Paul, Peter, and John, there is never a time where any of them lead someone in a prayer or tell people to accept Jesus into their hearts. The only statement that alludes to accepting Jesus into our hearts is found in Romans 10:9: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." I can see where maybe we got the idea of a sinner's prayer and accepting Jesus into our hearts from this verse. However, Paul is not leading a prayer where someone accepts Jesus into their hearts. Like Jesus, Paul did not preach a Gospel where one could simply say a prayer to be saved. Paul preached a Gospel that was all about denying ourselves. He preached a Gospel that was all about considering our old life rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus preached and taught of a better life for all who would believe. When a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus, he looked at those who brought her and said that if any of them that had not sinned could cast the first stone. All of them left and Jesus looked at the woman without condemnation. He told her to leave her life of sin. He did not lead her into a prayer. He did not demand she ask him for forgiveness. He saved her because he knew she had faith in him.
This is the Gospel that needs to be preached today. This is the Gospel that is going to lead people from a life of darkness and destruction to a life of light and life. This is the Gospel the world needs. We don't need another prayer that will promise us the world. We need a Gospel that gives us a Savior who wants to save us and give us a new life. We need a Gospel that gives us a Lord who wants to be in control of our lives because, let's be honest, we make a train wreck of our lives. We need the Jesus of the Gospels not the Jesus of the altar calls. We need the King of Kings who is passionate about us. We need the Love of our Souls who wants to rejoice over us with singing. We need the Lion of Judah who will ferociously protect from and attack anything that is harmful to us, including our sin. This is the Jesus I want to follow and this is the Jesus I want to preach.
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