What does it mean to accept Christ?
It has been the writings of people like Francis Schaeffer and Nancy Pearcey that have drawn our attention to C. S. Lewis’ suggestion that we must keep “the clean breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds.” Nicholas Carr’s best seller The Shallows may indicate that we have lost those minds due to what the internet has done to them.
But the Word of God assures us that we can have the mind of Christ when we receive Christ. I have often used the phrase “When we accept Christ.” In the shortest amount of words, lest you become bored and move on, let me quickly discuss this phrase with you. The Scriptures tell us You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. John 15:16
Dr. Del Tackett, from the Truth Project would ask his students, “If you believe this, will you act upon it?” That is as much as to say that if we accept what the Scriptures tell us, then our faith in the Word assumes the throne of our lives.
When Christ, the living Word, rules our lives, we become a part of a different ideology or theology, for that matter. The idea of accepting Christ is, of course, a comfortable thought. The problem with accepting this kind of thinking is that we begin to worship thoughts, ideologies and perceptions. When the living Word of God assumes the throne of our lives, we become worshippers of the Living Word.
In the 19th chapter of Revelation concerning the vision of the angel informing John of the church’s victory, John mistakenly thought the voice of the angel was the voice of God. He wanted to bow down and worship him. The angel said, Do not do it. Worship God. Revelation 19:10 I believe one of the purposes for which Schaeffer wrote True Spirituality was to show that when Christ becomes the lord of our lives, we enter into a completely new relationship with the Triune God through the living Word of God. This opens up a whole new way of life.
We live to serve in the manner the writer of Hebrews tells us. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14 By “angels” the writer is referring to “saints” who serve God. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices to Him which Paul calls our reasonable service. We offer not only our emotions but well-thought-out responses in our minds that are led by the Spirit. There are three ways I see this happening.
First, this world is God our Father’s world, and everything in it comes from Him, each new sun ray, each new child, according to His Word in Genesis 1 “In the beginning God created . . . .” Led by the Spirit we sing This is my Father’s world, And to my listening ears All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres.
But this is also a terribly broken world because we were deceived into thinking we could become gods but instead became filthy rags. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:19-23
God became flesh and entered into the depths to rescue us from the filth. While studying in Zurich, Switzerland some years ago, a professional skier told me of his dread of the precipices from which there is no recovery, no turning back. Life without a redeeming God is living a dreadful life without God—forever. Christ took that dreaded life upon Himself. Therefore, through His death and resurrection whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24
Thirdly. While we live in a very troubled world, from His throne in us, the Triune God renews our spirits, minds, hearts and souls as He pours out His Spirit upon us as we daily read, study and meditate on His Word. This, alone, will sustain us.
Schaeffer writes in True Spirituality that in the early church you don’t find a group of strong men laboring together. As the Holy Spirit pours out his power on us, we become the light of the world. Schaeffer’s concern was that the church, however, at the end of the 20th century should be our concern. The doctrines and the principles of the church were not being followed.
Men will not always be led to apply the same action at the same moment in regards to the Bible’s command concerning the practice of the principle of purity within the visible church, but if the principle is given up as such, the proper legal circle falls to the ground just as certainly as if we cast aside Christ’s and the Bible’s command concerning the proper and legal aspects of marriage.
Schaeffer writes in Death in the City “It is a horrible thing for a man like myself to look back and see my country and my culture go down the drain in my lifetime.” What was happening in the lifetime of Jeremiah has happened now. We are left as Francis Schaeffer says with not only a religion and a church without meaning, but we are left in a place where man has no meaning.
His solution to the problem should also be ours. “We must look to the finished work of Christ.” The last words Christ spoke from the Cross were “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30 He has won the victory for us.
