Salvation process

I have changed my views in recent years on how someone comes to know Christ. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church where there was a common belief that "being saved" meant repenting of sin and walking an aisle at a church service to receive Christ publicly. The newly "saved" person would then go through the process of water baptism in front of the church to signify their commitment to Christ.

There are probably many people who experienced genuine conversion to Christ that went through these rituals. But I was always troubled by the number of people that walked an aisle or said a prayer and never experienced any change in the way they lived. Were the Scriptures inaccurate? Paul taught, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.

The most troubling part of this for me is that as I reflect on my own life, I walked an aisle to receive Christ at 7 years old and was baptized twice if I remember right. Once soon after I was "saved" and then later as a teenager. I don't remember having a lot of interest in the things of faith until my freshman year of college. It was at this point that I found myself longing to know more about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. But there were many sins that I rationalized and continued to embrace wholeheartedly. I had no sense of true surrender to the commands of Christ to turn from sin and follow Him.

Of course, I don't believe a Christian is ever free from sin in this life. But I have become convinced that one of the marks of true conversion is a hatred of sin and an inward warfare to love truth, purity and holiness because it is only through holiness that anyone sees the Lord- Hebrews 12:14. JC Ryle and Jonathan Edwards both had a big impact on my understanding of the salvation process.

In Religious Affections, Edwards describes the conversion/salvation process as occuring in three steps:

1. Enlightenment- God starts to draw the thoughts of men/women towards Him. We start to become aware of spiritual things.
2. Awakening- at this point, we develop a conviction that we are sinners and need a Savior- Christ. Many modern churches teach that this is the point of salvation. A person confesses their need for Christ and then makes a public commitment to Him.
3. Conversion- Edwards taught- rightfully so in my view- that a person is not saved until they surrender their hearts completely to Christ. This means a lifelong effort to make progress in becoming more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled- Galatians 5:22-23. It means to love God and His revelation. And to hate sin and all of its destructiveness that it causes this world.

JC Ryle taught a similar understanding of salvation. Ryle explains in Holiness that we must be born again- regenerated- by God the Father. We must have our sins forgiven by Christ- justified. And we must strive for holiness- sanctification- through the power of the Holy Spirit. In my own experience, this actual conversion process where I desired to follow Christ and actively declare war on my greed, gluttony, pride, sexual lust and apathy to name a few did not occur until well after I had made a public profession to accept Christ.

Once again, I want to emphasize that no works could ever earn salvation. Salvation is an unmerited gift that I owe only to the radical grace of God. I also continue to sin, but I now am engaged in a warfare against sin and was not before conversion. Would I have gone to heaven if I died before surrendering my life to Christ in my early 30s? I believe most churches today would have thought so. I attended Bible studies, gave money to the church and even showed some signs of commitment. But ultimately my life was a contradiction to the gospel and I was a miserable reflection of Christ for many of those years. According to the word of God, I was still in a lost state. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven.." Matthew 7:21.

If you are confused about whether you have become converted, I urge you to read Holiness by JC Ryle and Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. They will lay a clear, scriptural path on what the Bible teaches about salvation.

For the Glory of Christ,

Ashley Hodge

Need for grace and peace in stewardship struggle

Nothing in life worthwhile comes easy. Human experience points to this fact every day. Whether it is getting in shape, building a business, obtaining a college degree or daily working on a difficult relationship, hard word is a necessary component. My prayer to God every day is to hold me close and don't allow me to stray from Him.

The life of stewardship doesn't happen overnight. It is a long, tedious process. The apostle Paul starts most of his letters in the New Testament with the greeting- grace and peace to you. This is not some salutation with little deeper meaning like- hello. Our most desperate needs are for grace and peace.

We need grace because we have sinned greatly against God. I had a week where I experienced a lot of deep regret over my past. Specifically for a time in my life from 20- 30 years old where I confessed Christ with my mouth but denied Him with my actions. I hurt a lot of people with my selfish, sinful ways. I desperately need the grace of God given through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. I know that I will never receive God's approval for living a good, decent life. My only appeal to Him is based on the righteousness of Christ and what He has done for me.

Paul- a murderer of Christians before conversion- understood this need for daily grace. Philippians 3:13-14, "One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." What is our most desperate need? Grace- the unmerited favor/love of God displayed in Christ.

We also need peace. Inwardly each of us has a conscience. God has implanted this in our souls. Eclessiastes 3:11 tells us that God has put eternity in our hearts. When we live in a way that is contrary to the ways of God, we will never experience inner peace. Peace is only possible when we submit ourselves daily to Christ and strive for holiness- Hebrews 12:14.

All of us love to be on our own gods by nature. We are naturally selfish and rebellious. We need the peace of God to restore us to our rightful design as reflectors of God's glory. I need to be reminded daily that my opinions are not always right. I am filled with anxiety, anger and self-righteousness on a daily basis. I need the peace of God.

Ephesians 2 is a beautiful description of our need for grace and peace. Let me highly recommend a series of books if you are interested in studying what many theology scholars believe is the best summary of sound Christian doctrine in the New Testament- Ephesians. I have been using Martyn Lloyd Jones set called the Exposition of Ephesians. It is a verse by verse explanation of Ephesians. This eight book set can currently be purchased at christianbook.com for around $50.

Grace and Peace,

Ashley Hodge

Reflections on West Point

I traveled to New York City with some friends from Baylor to hang out in New York and attend the Baylor versus Army football game this past weekend. I was impressed with what I witnessed at West Point- one of the most scenic campuses in America. I came away from the trip reflecting on submission.

Most people hate to submit to anything- authority, spouses and each other. We are born rebels and most die rebels. Rebellion is glorified in our culture. I want to differentiate between submission and conformity. Conformity to peer pressure and the crowed is usually motivated by fear. What would happen if I am different? Would I still be liked if others view me as odd? These are questions that go through the head of someone deciding to conform or not. Romans 12:2 teaches, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect."

Submission is usually voluntary. Submitting is powerful and humble. It is preferring others over self. Ephesians 5:21, "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." I have been fortunate to take Greek and Hebrew classes from Elliott Greene- a humble, godly man. He emphasizes continually that we need to love the word submit. Submitting to God is the highest of all actions. What does this have to do with West Point?

It was refreshing to be at a place where submission is practiced daily. I am sure some of those cadets are anxious for the day when they will be giving orders instead of taking them. But as I overheard them talking to fans at the game, it always "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am". Their respect for God, country and others was evident.

Football games give them one of a few opportunities to cut loose during the week. But it is controlled fun. I was encouraged by what I saw at West Point. As future leaders of our country, it is refreshing to see submission applied in the tradition of past West Point graduates Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and more recently Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf.

At the root of stewardship is a burning desire to submit to God and to allow Him to use us for whatever purposes He may have. Teddy Roosevelt called submission the Micah Mandate. Micah 6:8, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Ashley Hodge

Christian unity

This is off the topic of stewardship, but is fresh on my mind. I have spent some time recently in the book of Ephesians. God seems to be showing me through His Word, classes that I have taken at Westminster Theological Seminary and experience with others the importance of Christian unity. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Don't misunderstand me. I believe there are some issues worth fighting for. Christians throughout history have called these items dogma. These are areas that the Scriptures speak loud and clear on. Such as:

1. God is the Creator of all things.
2. All of creation is affected by the curse of sin and is in need of redemption.
3. Jesus Christ is God's plan for the redemption of creation from the beginning.
4. Christ will return to this earth to redeem mankind and all creation and establish His kingdom.

The Scriptures declare that Christ is our only hope of glory- Colossians 1:27. I can never deviate from this and must put my stake in the ground and fight for these truths. But there are a host of other issues that Christians have been fighting each other on for years. These issues fall under the categories of doctrine and opinion.

Doctrine includes some important areas- predestination versus free will; infant baptism versus believer's baptism; theories on the end times- dispensationalism, premillenialism, amillenialism and postmillenialism- to name a few. But the Scriptures are not 100% clear on any of these debates. We see these things through a glass darkly but one day they will fully known- I Corinthians 13:12.

Opinion includes areas that the Scriptures are silent about- whether to use guitars in worship; dress formal or casual for church; whether sermons should be expository or topical. All of us who claim the name of Christ should be careful over what we make a big deal over. We need to be constantly reminded of Paul word's, "Make every effort to maintain unity through the bond of peace."

A wise person once said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." The gospel needs to be preached and lived to a cynical world. I urge us all to not allow pride or the divisive schemes of our spiritual enemies to distract us from this focus.

Ashley Hodge

Hurricane Katrina

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I did something I normally don't do. I watched and listened to a lot of news. My heart breaks for the families of this natural disaster. I felt disgust that some evil men and women used the hurricane to commit acts of lawlessness.

As I listened to comments about why God allowed this hurricane to happen- which varied based on religious, political and moral hot buttons. Some reasoned that God allowed Katrina because the United States was not serious about global warming. Others thought God's hand of judgment was on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast for the proliferation of immorality abundant in the Big Easy.

I was reminded of an excellent article that appeared in World Magazine right after the deadly tsunami hit the Far East. The article was written by John Piper and can be accessed here: http://www.worldmag.com/johnpiper/piper.cfm?id=17445

Piper reminds us not to ask the why of God's judgments. But instead what do we do now? Jesus taught us in Luke 13:1-5 that disasters are to lead us not to I told you so. But rather to repentance.

Luke 13:1-5: 1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Repentance for sin is our daily need. We need the mercy of God to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Tragedy and prosperity should both drive us to our knees in expectation that God is merciful and holy. All tragedy is just a glimpse of God's wrath that is coming on all sin. Prosperity is just a glimpse of God's goodness to those who love Christ with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength.

Christians should also be driven to help the families of hurricane Katrina through prayer, care and share. The needs for these families will be enormous. Some words of caution are in order though. Not every charity will steward the assets in the same way. Christians need to be wise in how they give. http://ministrywatch.com has a list of charities that are reputable and effective with distributing funds to the needy.

For example, it was well documented after 9-11 that the Salvation Army was more effective in distributing assets to the needs than the Red Cross: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=95001506

I am challenged by this tragedy as I was by 9-11 and the Tsunami to be even more vigilant about excelling at areas of life stewardship. There may come a time when each of us is called to help a friend, family member or stranger. Those who are debt-free, live low maintenance life styles and have savings are in the best position to help.

May God bless this country,

Ashley Hodge