Personal Salvation – CorporateTraining and Service

I was born and raised a Catholic. I was born and raised VERY Catholic. I went to Catholic School. I served as a Altar Boy. I even went to the seminary for a year and a half. By the time I met my bride I had drifted away from that church, but I was still Catholic. She was a fiery little red-headed cute baptist. She greatly confused my world.


She used terms like “personal relationship” and “born again.” I thought she was pretty crazy but she was so hot… I ignored that. Okay so I was twenty. I proposed the same month I met her and we were married soon thereafter; but my confusion continued for many years.


I don’t think I’m the only one. I grew up looking to the church for all things spiritual: salvation, training, service. We evangelicals look at things differently. In fact, I think most everyone does now. Salvation is a personal thing. We are each responsible (that’s the key word) for our salvation. Salvation doesn’t come from membership in a church either by being born into it, joining up or getting baptized there.


So what’s the function of the church? The church’s job is to mature us and train us for the great commission. That sounds pretty simple but we still get confused. Some of us find God after joining a particular church so forever thereafter we associate our spirituality with that church or it’s pastor. We are confused. 


We say we go to a particular church because there we get fed. That’s a good thing. As long as we’re not getting fat. Too many of us never get past the getting fed stage. Our spiritual life consists of listening, and reading and learning and never doing. Jesus taught the disciples for three years. He sent them out, two by two, long before that time was up.


We need to avoid church confusion. It’s important we know it’s function and responsibility and separate it from our personal function and responsibility. 


Again to review: We are responsible for our salvation. We have to make a personal decision to abandon sin and follow Jesus. We are responsible to grow in our knowledge of Him (that relationship not seminary education) and to share that with others.


The church is there to help us with that. It trains and provides opportunity to serve.


There is an important side note to all of this. Just because someone serves and is trained in a church different from yours, doesn’t mean he isn’t a child of God.  That’s a source of way too much confusion and disunity. It’s important whom we follow; not so much where we do it.


Thanks to Rosemary I got that… finally. Hope it doesn’t take you as long.


Be blessed.


Nick

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