Before all the non-Christians rejoice over the title and think I am going to lambaste Christian families let me assure you that is not the case. If you are going to grow up in a family then a dedicated Christian home is the best place to be.
When I was newly saved, my pastor and I were having a chat and he said, “I wish I had a testimony like you because I grew up in a Christian home and been a Christian since a child. I told him, “You are lucky I don't punch you in the nose because I would give my right arm to have your testimony. Jesus saved you from going into the pit. He had to pull me out and you do not have the scars or the memories. Be happy! “ Remember, I was newly saved. I don't punch preachers in the nose though I did have one that I wanted be a part of the Kung Fu fighting scene with him, but that is another story. ;-)
While a Christian home living in grace and truth is awesome, it also has its danger. Too often, we rush our children into becoming Christians or some think salvation is handed down like blue eyes and blond hair. Once in Virginia Beach at a Service Men's center I was talking with a sailor who told me that he was born a Christian. I could not get him to see that he needed to have his own relationship with Christi
Growing up in a Christian home has the danger of this kind of thing more often than we might suppose. When I was a junior in Bible college we had five THB seniors get saved at a conference. These lads were born and raised in good Christian homes. They were schooled in Christian schools from 4K through what was not their fifth year of Bible college. They were about to go out and seek a position as pastors of a Conservative, Bible Believing, KJV toting' church, yet were as lost as a goose in a hurricane.
Over the years I have heard many similar stories. Men who have been pastors for 30+ years, Sunday School teachers, deacons, and music people getting saved. Serving their hearts out for Jesus and yet not in a true relationship with Him. It is not just Baptists. I grew up a Methodist thinking I was OK because I was baptized as an infant and said a bunch of creeds I did not understand.
My wife was a Lutheran who thought being baptized as an infant was all she needed. I never heard about Wesley riding a quarter of a million miles on horseback preaching you must be born again. My wife never heard the solas of Luther. All we had were tradition, creeds and rituals. Many folks from those groups and others have had issues with being good church members but not saved.
The most glaring story was when a lady told me she was a Lutheran and I replied then you believe what Luther said about sola fide and sola scriptura? She said, “Martin Luther King?” Some preachers have failed to to do their job and that is putting it mildly.
Many knew all the right words, hand shakes, routines and rules, yet they were religious but lost because they had learned everything as a child. Did they go forward to be saved to please parents or grandparents? Did their buddy go so they went with him and said the prayer he did? Maybe the buddy was saved because he was under conviction of the Spirit, but he was not as he was just mimicking what he heard. My theologians friends could militate against everything under the sun, but did not know the Son.
We need to make sure our children truly understand what salvation is all about and that they are truly saved or we make them twice the “child of Hell” we were before we were saved by inoculating them with facts not truly mixed with faith making them resist Holy Spirit conviction to be saved. They may think it is just the devil trying to make them doubt their salvation. He does do that, but in their case it is the Spirit trying to keep them from “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7, Hebrews 4:2)
Do I write this to scare you and cause you to doubt? Yes, and I am unapologetic. There is an obvious dearth of true Christianity in the West and Europe as seen in the Word. I believe it because there is dearth of true Christians and a plethora of ethnic, traditional and misguided people who think they are Christians and not truly born again.
We have too many who grew up with the wrong idea of what Christianity is supposed to be about and hence the mess we see around us. Christian has become a diluted and polluted word. There is no Left and Right in Christianity because we are all supposed to be Ambassadors of His Kingdom and He is not a yea and nay God or a buffet of conflicting ideas. There is only one truth for any issue though that truth may have many applications. He is a God of grace and truth. Neither concept exists properly without the other. Indeed, we can add love and call it a trinity as you cannot have love, grace or truth alone and be right. They are inseparable. We are called to all speak the same thing and not be divided. That fact that there are divisions and opinions shows we are not listening to the Spirit who would unite us around truth as that is part of His mission to lead us into all truth. That is why so many are lost in the Church and cannot reach the lost outside it.
2 Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Should you question your salvation? Yes, even if you have been a Christian for fifty years. Better to question and make your calling and election sure than be sure because you were “born a Christian”, raised in a Christian home, said a prayer, completed all the rituals and requirements and end up in Hell. Remember, “Christian” leaders who preached around the world and did many marvelous works and even miracles will be in Hell. (Matthew 7:21-25)
2Co_13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Some of us who think they need to run the church and resist everything the pastor or board does need to examine themselves. No man or board is perfect but if you have roast preacher and board every time you can there is a good chance you are not saved. Yes, Paul had to fuss at Peter and some pastors are lost, but watch your heart and examine yourselves to see if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you or the flesh and the enemy.
Besides checking for our salvation, we should also examine ourselves to see if the Spirit is really working in us or have we grieved, quenched and resisted Him trying to transform us into the image of Christ. If you are in the faith, then the Spirit should be witnessing to you that you are a child of God and there should be some evidence of His fruit in you. We too often clean to 1 John 1:9 instead of seeking to allow the Spirit to lead us into where He wants us be walking in faith and holiness.
So, Brethren, are you really Brethren? Being raised in a Christian is awesome, but avoid the danger of complacency and false trust. Even if you have had what you consider a Damascus road experience it will not hurt to examine yourself and make your calling sure. At death, it is too late. Maranatha!!
