Here's all you've gotta do

I'll never forget the day I was walking along in Scotland and I told a woman all she had to do. I was an apprentice missionary 15 years ago, and I spoke trying to convince an elderly lady that if she wanted salvation and to be right with God, all she had to do was _____ .

Maybe there's a time and a place to show the simplicity of the Good News, but I'd like to suggest that the wording "all you've gotta do" demonstrates the problem we have in understanding the Gospel.

In the last few years, I've heard "all you've gotta do" around every corner. All you've gotta do is be baptized. All you've gotta do is believe. All you've gotta do is call Jesus into your heart. All you've gotta do is get right with God. All you've gotta do are these 5 steps for salvation. All you've gotta do is go to church.

Jesus' words are so contrary to ours. For example, in John 3 where we get both the powerful message of simplistic belief in Jesus, as well as the call for baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus never says "all you've gotta do." Rather, Jesus argues that if Nicodemus wants to enter the kingdom of God, he must be "born again." The point is, Jesus doesn't say "Get into magic water. Say a magic prayer. Follow these magic steps." Rather, Jesus is arguing for total and complete surrender of self over to God. While total and complete surrender of self surly involves death in baptism, the gift of the Spirit, and salvation by grace through faith, Jesus doesn't just say "Do this simple act" or "think this spiritual thought." Instead Christ pushes for a transformed mind and lifestyle based on death of self and life to God.

Again, when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus could have given them any combination of words. Surely if the sinner's prayer was the solution to mankind's problem, Jesus would have just quoted that prayer to his disciples. Likewise, Christ could have told them to pray that God give them "the answers" to salvation. He could have said, "When you pray, just ask me into your hearts." Likewise he could have said, "When you pray, ask God for help understanding the five steps." No, Jesus talked to them about God's holiness and relationship to his people. How mankind needed to submit to God's will and direction. How the kingdom was advancing and they needed to be less about themselves than about that kingdom. Does that mean Jesus hates prayers that begin, "Lord, come into my heart?" Does that mean that believers shouldn't repent or confess or be baptized? No. Rather it means that God is calling his people to something much greater than they might actually understand.

Christianity is not a quick fix or an easy 1,2,3. Christianity begins and ends with a cross. Christianity is about a lifestyle, a change both internally and externally. A move from self towards God. One should be careful when saying, "Here's all you've gotta do." Jesus never did that.

Mark 10: 17 "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ¹⁸"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" ²⁰"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." ²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."