Thiemann Life

I was asked a very interesting question recently. Basically, I can sum it up like this – “Is salvation easy to obtain.” This is a tricky question indeed. But I hope to pack some meat on the bones so that we can have something substantial to chew on. First, I am going to highlight the side of the argument that says, “No salvation is not easy.”

Jesus said it very well when he said, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matt 7:13)” We must recognize those are some strong words given by Jesus. “The way is hard…” & “those that find it are few.” I think that sums it up nicely. But Jesus goes on many more times in the Gospels to say statements like – “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Self-denial to this level is a very rare thing. It takes real repentance that will be instantly and permanently clear and visible in a new believers lives.

I will close this side of the argument by pointing out one more verse. Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ This is an absolutely devastating verse that should cause our hearts to tremble before the Lord. The statement here given by Jesus isn’t directed at random people. This is a declaration and warning to those people who “prophesy, cast out demons, and do many mighty works…” These are people that think they are (quote) “in the faith.” But as He closes His sentence he says, “you workers of lawlessness.” Which basically means, “you who lived your lives as though there was no stander to live by.” Christianity isn’t a simple thing. Salvation isn’t a simple thing. In fact it is an impossible thing. Salvation is always a supernatural and sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. For it is impossible with man but possible with God.

Now to balance it out a little. Salvation is and always has been a free gift of God. And for this side of the argument I will turn to the epistles because Paul declared the free gift of salvation so beautifully over and over again in his many letters. These are all the verses we are all very familiar with because they are easy to digest. These are the verses we read in the “God promises books.” But I do want to stress this point… don’t forget the first section of this article when you read these verses. There are some strong warnings given that we need to take heed to in order to grasp the whole council of God.

The Epistle of Romans is naturally the first stop on our list in addressing this topic. Paul declares, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23).” What a precious verse. We deserve death but God has given the gift of life in Christ Jesus. Notice, that that gift is free for us but it wasn’t free for Him. It cost Him a great deal. Never cheapen that.

Paul goes on to say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8-9).” Salvation is nothing of our own doing but it is solely a gift of God that is freely given. Salvation is not something we can work towards or somehow through our own efforts obtain. It is a gift.

And to sum this side up, one of the most precious statements of all, Paul declares, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom 10:13).” It is an open-ended invitation. If you call upon His name He will hear and He will answer. But be ready. Be ready to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him wherever He chooses to lead you and don’t expect the road to be easy because He declared Himself that it is going to be hard (Matt 7:13). But don’t fear… with Jesus Christ our Lord as the leader we will always be blessed above all that this world can offer.

God Bless,
Pastor Mike

We are often mistaken when we believe that missions originated in the New Testament.  True, the calling of a specific people, namely the church, was given a “new task” that is called the Great Commission.  However, this “new task” is actually only a portion of the task that God began unfolding a very long time ago. 

So where did missions begin?  To answer this question we must turn to the left in our Bibles a long way from the book of Acts and Matthew chapter 28, to Genesis chapter 3.  Within Genesis chapter 3 we see that God has brought into being creation,  which He has titled “good.”  Creation was perfect, but slithering in the midst of the garden was one who sought to destroy that which God had brought into perfect existence. 

We are all very familiar with the story and suffer every day from the consequences of this event brought upon all mankind.  We understand the promise that disobedience brought when man ate of the fruit of the tree – death.  That is what God said…. this was the law:  ”If you eat the fruit you will die.”  Death is the just consequence for the breaking of God’s law that man brought upon himself.

We often think of this as one of the darkest chapters in the Bible. However, this chapter of the Bible absolutely blows my mind! Man ate the fruit of the tree that he was commanded not to and did not drop dead on the spot which would have been a just punishment.  In light of this fact, what do we learn about God?  Well, many things I think. But what I want to highlight here is that we see the very first missionary venture of God as He stood up from His throne and stepped down into His creation.  God knew exactly what had transpired and He new exactly what He was going to need to do to bring this, now corrupt creation, back into fellowship with Himself.  He needed to provide a perfect sacrifice of His blood.  God knew the death penalty was the only option, but He was unwilling to put that responsibility upon mankind knowing that man was unable to appease the full wrath of the God.  Therefore, God stepped down as the first missionary and entered the darkness of this world in order to pursue salvation on man’s behalf.  That’s amazing.  However, the most amazing part is the fact that He never relented in the His pursuit of salvation for each and everyone of us.  He pursued it all the way to the cross, enduring the indescribable pain and suffering, and uttered those amazing words that brought the reality of reconciliation into existence for anyone who would believe – “it is finished!”  The penalty of death was now satisfied and salvation was accomplished and God and God alone is the one that brought that task to fruition. 

Our wonderful privilege now as New Testament believers is to join with God in the mission that He started in Genesis chapter 3.  What a glorious privilege!!  We are allowed to partner with God in His missionary work.

So you see, missions didn’t originate in Matthew chapter 28 or Acts chapter 1 or any of the other so called “Great Commission” verses, but these are only new chapters of God’s ongoing missionary venture.  Missions originated in the heart of God when He stepped down to pursue mankind on that day in the cool of the garden when God called out to the first unregenerate man. Like Douglass Webster said in the opening words of his book, “We begin then where missions begins, with God.”

My encouragement and challenge to you is… Do you have a heart for the lost?  God does!  Every page of the Bible unfolds God’s heartbeat for the lost.  As believers our hearts should beat with that which God’s heart beats for.  Is your heart in rhythm with God’s heart?  I pray that we will all take this to heart.  Are you consumed and are you burdened with the realities of the lost? God was, God is, and God will always be burdened for the lost.  So much so that He sent His only son to die in the place of lost man and now He is sending us to go and tell them.

I find it strange that in today’s “American Christianity” there is a silent debate roaring under the radar. That debate consists of two important questions, ‘Who was Jesus Christ?’ and ‘Did He truly demand radical obedience?’ Obviously, these two questions are of supreme importance for every Christian today to take to heart and develop an honest Biblical answer.

During my own wrestling with these questions I found myself perusing through a Christian bookstore. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Jesus of the Bible is the same person we see depicted in all of the “coffee table” devotionals, with flowery paper that I saw filling the bookshelves. As a lot of these books were written by today’s Pastors I wondered, “Is He (Jesus) the one we hear represented from their writings and pulpits?” Or have we lost some of whom He really was and kept those things that we like?

My fear is that the majority of evangelical Christians living in America today are learning about and following a domesticated Jesus that we have created in an image that fits our liking and comfort zone. When I read the Bible and hear the things that Jesus said and commanded, and when I hear the radical commitment He called His disciples too I can’t help but question many of the teachings of today’s American Christian Pastors. If we were to do a side by side comparison of the disciples that followed Jesus then with the “disciples” that follow Jesus now would they look the same? Would we see as a norm, radical people who give up their lives, jobs, comforts and follow Jesus to the death? People that no matter what hardships they face will be faithful to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth? Because, that is what I see from the lives of those that Jesus called in the New Testament times. Did the call change in the past two-thousand years or have the ears of the Church today been plugged with things that don’t demand radical commitment and obedience?

To build my case let’s look at one simple passage found in Matthew chapter 9. We see that Jesus’ ministry is well under way when He encounters a tax collector named Matthew. Now I don’t think I need to build the context of the tax collectors corruption of that day. But one thing is I think is clear, these men were most likely well off financially. It is a man in this occupation and way of life that Jesus walks up to and simply says, “follow me.” Matthew had a choice to make. I believe Matthew understood all too well the realities that were packed into those two words. Matthew new abandonment to his old life and ways were now required of him to be able to follow Jesus. Matthew counted the cost and it says, “He (Matthew) arose from his tax collecting table and followed Him” (emphasis added). He abandoned all to follow Jesus!

Has that calling changed? Does Jesus say to sinners today, “stand up, abandon your life, pick up your cross and follow me!” or does He say, “simply raise your hand or make eye contact with a pastor during an alter call?” I don’t think the call to discipleship has changed. I believe the same redial commitment to discipleship is still required of ALL Christians. However, I see all too often people today finding their security in the fact that they raised their hand during an alter call while everyone eyes were closed or some other form of preaching tactic. I don’t think that is what He demanded  of people. I see Him calling people to stand up and forsake their former lives, turn from their sin and wholeheartedly without question follow Him no matter what the cost.

The Jesus of the Bible is not domesticated like a little house kitten, He is the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” and “He will rule and reign with a rod of iron.” The choice remains the same for people today then it was back then – bow and recognize that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and that He demands obedience and faithfulness to His Kingdom from His citizens. We have the choice. We can bow now and submit to Him as our King and Lord or have our knees shatter under the wait of glory that will be made manifest before His Throne on that day of judgment when we come to realize that He is in fact the King of kings and Lord of lords.

My New Years Challenge

Please take some time and examine these passages and ask yourself “is this true of you?” Because, it is what Jesus required then and it is what He requires now.

Matthew 10:34–39 (NKJV)
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Luke 9:23–26 (NKJV)
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”

Luke 9:62 (NKJV)
But Jesus said to him,  “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ call requires that you accept ALL of Him and that you give your life ALL for Him or you have not, nor will not, receive any of Him.

Think about it!

I would LOVE to hear your comments and feedback on this article. Please leave a comment. Also, you can join SGWM on Facebook and help us spread a passion for God and His mission.

All For Him,
Pastor Mike Thiemann
Director
 Saving Grace World Missions

We treat sin like it’s not a big deal. When we preach the Gospel to the unsaved we try to soften the edges of the message in order to be “sensitive” and “non-offensive.” Even Christians when we are dealing with sin in our own lives or even confronting a fellow Christian we still seek to soften the sting of the message. But let me say this – the message of the Gospel is offensive to sinful man! It’s suppose to be. You know why? Because sinful man is an offense to the Holy God.

Imagine this scenario:

You are waiting in your Doctors office for the results of your recent exam… and in skips your doctor with a big smile on his face. After getting comfortable in his chair he looks you in the eyes and says in a joyful tone “you have AIDS or cancer or some other deadly disease and only have days or maybe weeks until you die.”

It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But we often treat sin with the same flippancy when we share the Gospel or confront it in our lives or another Christians life. We (Christians) like to pretend that mankind isn’t marching towards a cliff that will drop them straight into eternal judgment and we go out skipping around the world as if their wasn’t a problem. We have turned a blind eye to the plight of man.

The reality is mankind is crumbling under the realities of sin. The fact of the matter is the judgment of a Holy God is coming upon them.

Knowing this, how can we look at a person with a smile on our face and say, “you know your a sinner right?” As if it was no big deal! We should be so broken and moved by the reality of the magnitude of the diagnosis of sin that we look at fallen mankind and plead with them to turn from their sin. We should never cease crying out to them and saying, “Your are a SINNER! And need to repent from your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ… For He alone is the antidote for your deadly disease.”

Let me take this a little closer to home for those Christians reading this article. Is their sin in your life? It’s time to understand its magnitude! I don’t care how “minor” a sin it may seem. We need to do away with that thinking. The reality is, sin is sin to God and you need to deal with your sin before your heavenly Father. Christians more than anyone else should understand and grasp the depths of the depravity we have been set free from and we should always be running towards and pursuing holiness in our lives.

Sin is a big deal. We need to recognize that truth and treat and address sin appropriately.

God Bless,
Pastor Mike Thiemann