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| Three
Fundamental Facts
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| Dee Bowman |
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The fundamentals of anything are its
essential parts; and its essential parts are just
that—essential. Without them whatever the project or
enterprise, it cannot function properly. In the Christian life
there are certain fundamental parts that are essential. Let me
call to your attention three things which are fundamental to who
and what we are.
Conversion. Conversion means
change. A Christian is a changed person, a new creature. In 1
Corinthians 5:17, we are told, “Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new. To be converted is to move
from being “in” the world to being “in” Christ. Please
be advised that there’s more to being “in” Christ than
merely announcing for Christ. “He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:16). That’s fundamental.
Without being a believer, one who has repented of his sins,
confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and willingly
submitted to baptism, one cannot be “in” a right
relationship with Christ. That’s what the Bible says.
Romans 6:17-18 says, “But God be thanked that ye were the
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin,
ye became the servants of righteousness.” Notice that he says
“ye were” and now “ye are.” What you once were you are
not now. You have been converted.
But there’s more to conversion than merely being baptized into
Christ. A person must then convert his life so that it becomes
like his Master, Jesus. You become, as Paul describes it in
Colossians three, a “new man.” That is, you are converted to
a new way of life. After you become a Christian, you can’t
live like you once did, “…seeing you have put off the old
man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him”
(Col. 3:9-10).
True conversion does not stop at the point of salvation; it
continues in life.
Conviction. Conviction means
having a strong persuasion. It both causes and grows out of
conversion. A converted person is a convicted person. And that
conviction doesn’t stop at the point of his conversion, it
continues into every part of his life.
Christians move the world, they are not moved by the world.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world,” John says (1 Jn. 2:15). Too many Christians profess
their love for God but keep on serving the world. They are
seemingly convinced that happiness can be found in the world.
It’s amazing how the world has its hold on so many people. We
are to be “sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a
crooked and perverse nation, among who ye shine as lights in the
world, holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:15). But far
too often we not only don’t shine, we are so much like the
world it’s difficult to see the difference in us and them.
True conversion requires true conviction. One is no good without
the other.
Continuation. The Devil is
constantly plotting our spiritual demise. He would like nothing
better than to cause us to sputter in our service to God. He
puts all kinds of obstacles in our path. He is cunning about it,
too. And it’s interesting to me that he doesn’t always try
and get us to stop, he just takes steps to slow us down. A
little at a time. By slowing our progress, he inhibits our
growth and keeps us at a place where he can still exercise some
control over what we do.
We have to keep on serving. Nobody ever said that continuation
was easy. Everywhere God warns us that our faith will bring
difficulties. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the
fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ’s sufferings…” (1 Pet. 4:12). Suffering is a given
for the Christian.
One of the most effective of the Devil’s tools is to make the
world part of religion. Everywhere you look in religion today,
there is compromise, there is concession, there is
adaptation—and all of it is intended by the Devil to weaken
Christianity and make it more like the world. He doesn’t mind
your worshiping God so long as you do it his way and not
God’s. He still wins that way. The Devil is crafty indeed. And
admixture is one of his most effective tools.
In a world given to compromise we must “speak as the oracles
of God” (1 Pet. 4:11); we must stand up and be counted; walk
as “children of light,” “proving what is acceptable to the
Lord” (Eph.5:8-9); we must not be deceived by empty promises,
vain words and watered-down versions of what is acceptable to
God.
We must keep on keeping on. That’s what continuation is all
about.
True conversion requires conviction and continuation. True
conviction requires both conversion and continuation. True
continuation requires conversion and conviction. Conversion,
conviction, continuation—three fundamental facts to be
considered by every person.
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Copyright (C)
2008
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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