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" Abiding
in the Word"
"If you abide in My word,
You are My disciples Indeed..."
- John 8:31
"Converted To What Or Whom?"
In Psalms 51:13, David promises the
Lord that if He will forgive David of his sins, "Then I will teach
transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You." Notice
that the conversion is not to a group of people, nor to a system of
belief or doctrine, but to the Lord. Likewise, in Acts 3:19, Peter told
his audience, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of
the Lord." Again, the conversion is to the Lord.
Believers are not
converted to the church, they are added to it upon their conversion to
Christ (Acts 2:41, 47). If believers are converted to the church, then
their conversion is to a group of believers who have weaknesses and
flaws. Such a conversion will not last. It will fall apart at the first
sign of sin in the object to which the believer is converted. Not once
does the gospel require the recipient to, "believe in the church." The
belief or faith is always toward Christ (John 8:24).
As I have said often,
one of our failures in the church is that we are more prone to
converting people to the church rather than to Christ. This is an honest
mistake. We fight denominationalism at every turn. There is only ONE
church, and that church or body is THE body of Christ (Ephesians 1:23;
4:4-6). Because of this, we look more at the church sometimes than we do
to Christ.
Also, conversion is a
radical change. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says, "Assuredly, I say to you,
unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no
means enter the kingdom of heaven." The Greek word translated "convert"
or "converted" is strepho. It means to: "…twist, turn quite around or
reverse, a complete revolution, turn (again, back again, self, self
about)…". If we are converted to the church we become like it. If we are
converted to Christ we become like Him. Becoming like Him requires a
radical change in heart and life (Romans 12:1-2).
In John 21:19-22, Jesus
speaks man to man to Peter: "This He spoke, signifying by what death he
would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow
Me." Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved
following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said,
"Lord, who is the one who betrays You? Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus,
"But Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, "If I will that he
remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."
Here, the Lord reminds
Peter that his conversion, allegiance, and focus should be on/to Christ,
not John, not anyone else. If our conversion is to Christ, we are not
prone to comparing our Christian walk to another’s. We bear our own load
while helping others bear theirs (Galatians 6:2, 5). In Hebrews 12:1-3,
the Scripture says,
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily
ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For
consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."
If our
conversion is to Christ we do not lose heart and give up the faith when
others let us down, offend us, or discourage us. The Lord will never let
us down nor fail us in any way. When others do fail (and they almost
always will at some point) and we leave the church because of it our
focus was improper and misplaced.
"The law
of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul," (Psalms 19:7). Nothing
else can convert a sinner other than the Word of God (James 1:21). Since
the Lord is the one who does the converting (and not the church) the
object of our conversion can be no one else but Him.
David Decker
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