Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Matthew 7:21-23
Today we did some destruction work at an old abandoned church in a Masai village (suburb of Nairobi) getting ready to rebuild it. After we got done with our yard work, we went to the local market area to do some one on one evangelism with the Masai people. Through translators we were able to talk to them in groups of 2 or 3 of us to 1 to 3 of them. We were surprised that many people said they knew Jesus. But they did not seem to have any evidence of Jesus in their lives. Although there are many churches in that area, no one seemed to have any grasp on Jesus beyond the cross.
This is a common result of any area that has had a good deal of 5 minute evangelism. They tell them the basics, but there is no follow up and no charge to change. They are told something like:
Do you know Jesus? Do you know that Jesus died for your sins a long time ago and if you confess to him and put your faith in him and ask him into your heart you will be saved? Will you love Jesus?
Pardon my saying, but what a load of crap! Talk about full of holes. “Jesus?…. sin?… put my faith in him?… into my heart?… WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” In our zeal to get a yes, we hit all the important points but skip all the supporting points. Nothing of the law, the son of God, prayer, Hell, Heaven, or repentance. This is a mild exaggeration of coarse, but only mild. If we go around doing this to everyone we want to “save”, there will be many who cry out “Lord, Lord, they told me I was saved.”
If we are going to spread the Truth, lets spread the whole truth. Let’s not make 5 minute converts, let’s make 3 year disciples. Let’s invest some time and effort in them. They are worth it.
The great commission says to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded them. Let us teach them of righteousness and grace, not grace and grace.
