Christ’s Supremacy and True Conversion
Jan 26th, 2008 by Nathan White
I saw this video posted over a purgatorio, a Christian satire blog that often has some thought-provoking stuff.
Sadly, conversion predominantly spoken of in this culture has more to do with ‘getting saved’, ’saying ‘yes’ to Jesus’, ‘inviting Jesus into your heart’, etc., than it does the very essence and nature of true conversion from a biblical sense. Here, I believe Piper nails a vital point: that treasuring Christ above all things is the result of a truly regenerated heart, and anything less is unbelief –no matter what decisions you’ve made or opinions you hold to.
“treasuring Christ above all things is the result of a truly regenerated heart”
What does this mean, Nate? None of us have met Him. We’ve only read of Him. We can only have an idea of Him. We have never encountered Him. Prayer is, in the vast majority of cases, a one-way conversation. Our minds (being what they are) will form their own conclusions of what He is. How much of that is projection? Desire? Christ as a man lived over 30 years. How much is said over the course of a life? Yet, the pages of Scripture that detail Christ’s words are minimal.
We are, unfortunately, creatures of sense. I know my friends and family because I hear them, I see them, I can touch them. Otherwise, what could I say of them? Nothing. My experience of them would be nil.
I often wonder whether the love of Christ that Christians supposedly have is always based on reality.
Nathan,
This nailed it on the head, and explains succinctly why I lose sleep over my congregation. Out of about 40 regular attenders, if I had to make a guess by what I’ve observed, I am terrified that 20 or more are not converted.
James, I’m not Nathan but my two cents are that we treasure what we know of Christ as He is revealed in the Scripture. I treasure what He has done for me, for I believe that it is my only hope. I also believe it’s wrong to speak as if the Christian doesn’t have any experiential intimacy with a “real” and living Person. There may only be one person speaking in prayer, but that doesn’t mean only one is present. And now that I’ve muddied things, I’ll let Nathan come and clarify.
This is a faithful man!
I wiil come and read more of your blog when I have time Nathan
David Fisher put your blog site over at the Pilgrim Pals
James,
Your question does require some thought. I saw it last night and have been thinking about it on and off since then. Here are but a few things that come to mind:
1. Peter says in 1 Peter:
So, true faith does indeed believe in Him and love Him, though He is not seen.
2. Of course, we are incapable of knowing anything about Christ outside of the holy scriptures. As Paul says, it is the scriptures that ‘make you wise unto salvation’; is the word of God that pierces our soul and gives us ‘the mind of Christ’.
3. Christ gave His authority to the twelve apostles to carry on His name. I mean, if He really was God in the flesh, couldn’t He have published volumes of volumes of His own words? Of course. But He chose the weak fishermen of the world, and as Acts 2:42 points out, the early church, as we do today, are devote ourselves to the apostles’ doctrine. They, like the prophets of old, were given the task to build the Church, and so scripture clearly downplays the necessity to only have the very words of Christ as authoritative.
4. You said: “I often wonder whether the love of Christ that Christians supposedly have is always based on reality.”
And I completely agree. Our ‘love’ must comport with scripture otherwise we have erected and idol and are ‘loving’ our own creation, as scores do now days, IMO. The scriptures are the only foundation upon which we can base this love and knowledge of Christ. That’s what the scriptures teach; that is consistent with reality.
5. We are creatures of sense, but I would certainly argue that when Christ touches a hear with the gospel, and causes us to take our eyes completely off of ourselves and onto Him, which is completely contrary to our natural inclinations, that is when we do ‘feel’ Him in that our hearts are assured of His divine grace in our lives. Just as Jesus said in John 3: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
We cannot see Christ, but we can see Him working, we can see how His word perfectly comports to reality, we can see how His word perfectly comports to the human heart, and we can see the glorious promises of Christ fulfilled in those who believe.
I hope that helps you out some. Let me know if I answered your question.
thanks for posting this. I’ve actually listened to this You-tube video before and several more from Piper…always a good word.
However, my own thought to add is that is only through the working of Christ in our hearts through His GRACE that we’re able to treasure Him above all things - even this does not depend on fleshly effort.
There more we abide in Him through His Word, the more His Spirit can flow in and through us, causing these changes that are so needed.
Nate, I hope my post didn’t lead you to think I was a “materialist” in the sense that I believe that the only reality is the material. I don’t believe that. So I think what you wrote made sense.
IMO, the love of God is a bit of a loftier endeavor than the love of one’s fellow man. To paraphrase Scripture “If one says he loves God yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” I think it is potentially even dangerous to ask some to love God when they have yet to attain an appreciation for their fellow beings. It would be too easy to mistake a simple contempt of other people for a “hatred for sin”. In such a case, this vice would be that much harder to break, given that they see their vice as a manifestation of their zeal for God.
I’m slightly over-simplifying, but perhaps you can see where I’m coming from.
When i witness to “professing Christians” I usually ask “If I got 10 of your friends together, and asked them the following question, what would they say? “What does Nathan White love most? Would they say football, or would they say his car, or his house, or his family?” and at this point the “witness-ee” would name whatever it is that the friends would have said about them.
Then I ask them…”how come your friends don’t say this: Nathan White? arggg…that guy has a one-track-mind! All he ever talks about is Jesus…Jesus this and Jesus that! He doesn’t seem to care about anything else!”
That’s usually a good indicator of who or what your idol is…
James said:
Interesting perspective. Of course, scripture does say that truly loving God or man is impossible outside of the Spirit. In fact, I would even take it a step further. For example, the command to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart…” is actually impossible. Who, besides Christ, can ever claim to obey this even for one second? But that’s the point: Jesus quotes this to show us that we cannot obey it. But just because it is impossible by no means stops Jesus or His apostles for laying the demands on our lives.
Robert–
Great thought. On that note, I would strongly recommend the book that is currently in my sidebar, The True Christian’s Love for the Unseen Christ.