Mark IV: A Biblical Understanding of Conversion

Mark IV: A Biblical Understanding Conversion:
It’s Like Someone Throws a Switch

Introduction:
In Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, he spoke about seed that fell on stony ground and among thorns. The seed is a person who apparently receives the gospel with joy, but then when the cares and afflictions of life come, they fall away.

The point of the parable is that they were false converts; they had the outward appearance of being believers, but only when it was convenient; they had no endurance.

This raises the question: “what is true conversion?” and “how can we know that it has occurred in ourselves and in others?”

Conversion is not just intellectual assent to theological propositions (though that’s part of it). Nor is a matter of just praying a prayer or assuming of a set of moral rules associated with a religion or the adoption of a ‘Christian’ worldview or political leaning. Conversion is not just an existential experience of the transcendent nor does not happen at the end of a sword or the result of much nagging and manipulation. We don’t just decide one day to convert, nor are we simply converted by others. The Bible describes conversion as being like the wind- it blows when and where it wills and no one can predict it.

One example of a true conversion occurs in Acts 22:1-22, let’s read it.

Conversion literally means to change course; it comes from the Latin word convertere which means to turn around, which is a fitting description of what Paul is describing as having happened to him.

A. I want to quickly describe 4 Elements of Paul’s Conversion (this is also a good outline for constructing a personal testimony):

1. The Original Path:
The first element of Paul’s conversion was the path that Paul was originally on. In Galatians 1:13 Paul wrote,
I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

Paul was a rising star in his chosen career of church extermination. His phone was ringing off the hook for him to come and get rid of those pesky Christians. Notice that he confessed his sin to Jesus in verse 19,
…‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You.  And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

Paul considered it his religious duty to squash the church and he did it with religious zeal. But his religion was the religion of man. This is also the condition in which the gospel finds us before we place our faith in Christ. I was in Chapters bookstore recently looking at the religious section. They have everything there from Deepak Chopra to Shirley Maclean and the content of it all is man centered. But I was most surprised to find an entire section in the religious section on atheism.
What surprised me was not that the topic of atheism was found in the religious section, but that the manager of the bookstore had the discernment (which is lacking in bookstores these days) to put it there!

Paul (like all people- including atheists) had a form of Religion that was viciously opposed the Way (opposed God). His opposition was more overt and vicious than the opposition we find in most people, however, but it seethes under the surface of all people.

2. Intervention
The second element of Paul’s conversion is the intervention of God. Jesus describes this as the wind blowing where it wills. To the observer, the wind appears to blow erratically and indiscriminately but Paul said of his own conversion that “it pleased God… to reveal His Son in me…” (Gal 1:16-16).

God revealed Jesus to Paul according to His predetermined timing and good pleasure. Often Paul describes himself as an Apostle according to the will of God. God sovereignly chooses the time and the place when He will intervene in our life. This is a miraculous intervention!

3. The Changed Course
The third element of Paul’s conversion is the changed course of his life. Sure, he still went to Damascus, but no longer was his intention the extermination of the church; Paul had a career change and now he was going to Damascus to submit to the church he once tried to destroy.

Can you imagine if something like that happened today? It is the equivalent of Osama Bin Laden rejecting Islam and becoming a Christian. You can imagine him at a Billy Graham crusade sitting on the ancient bench…. For one thing, he would have to hide from his former colleagues, because the punishment for conversion is death in the religion of peace and Moslem converts to Christianity are being put to death regularly in Moslem countries.

4. The opposition
One more element of Paul’s conversion that you might also experience is the opposition. Jesus promised his disciples,
…they will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them (Jn 16:2-4).

This is exactly what they were going to do to Paul, look at verse 22,
And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air….

This may not be the case with many people here, but it was for Paul- he lost his friends and became an enemy to his own people.

B. Why Does It Matter to us?
Why is it important for us to be certain that we have regenerate Church membership? Why is important that we do due diligence in making sure that our members are truly converted?
Conversion is about change; true change- 180 degrees. It’s not as much a focus on self as it is a re-focus onto God. We repent before God for our former life path, which was away from Him and we change our path in the opposite direction towards God. This is missed in concepts of conversion where the emphasis has been placed on religious performance rather than personal renovation. People are told that by walking the aisle, or saying a prayer, or by being baptized, or attending church services, or serving as an usher, or whatever… that those things mean they’re Christians.

Conclusion:
So that’s conversion. Explaining it to someone who hasn’t been born again is a bit like explaining colour to a blind man or melody to a deaf person.

But clarity on conversion is essential to church health because it provides unbelievers with a clear and unified witness of what conversion really is. Clarity on conversion also promotes the purity of the church’s membership and protects the church from false teachers.

For these reasons, it is the duty of the pastor and the elders to do due diligence in interviewing candidates for membership. Some the things to look for are these:
· Joy;
· Repentance of past sin and grief over current sin;
· A deep love for Christ and desire to be obedient to his Law;
· Assurance of Salvation
· Willingness to forgive others and show grace/ mercy to all;
· A willingness and a passion to share the gospel without fear or embarrassment;
· A good report of one’s conduct from people in/outside the church;
· A love for the church and a desire to promote the unity and health of the church as well as a willingness to be associated with its members and submit to its leadership;
· A desire to grow in the knowledge of and submission to God’s Word;
· A life of prayer and acknowledgment of God’s will for their life;
· Assurance of answered prayer and ongoing forgiveness
· Persevere in times of affliction


Addendum

I could be here all day listing the damage that can be done by a false understanding of conversion, but this morning I will only talk about two consequences of false assumptions that about conversion (both of them cause injury to the church):

1. A true convert who does not know that they are truly converted and as a result they struggle with tremendous self-doubt and guilt. They can never accept that grace is enough and their Christianity becomes all about their performance. This can lead to pride, legalism, and eventually spiritual burnout, and crippling self defeat. There’s rarely any joy.

This person needs to be reminded that the gospel is not about doing, its about done! Jesus did, not you; nor is there anything you can do to achieve it and this is good news, because if God does it you can know that it’s done right: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship… (Eph 2:8-10).

2. Someone who is not converted but thinks that they are because they performed some religious performance in the past. They know how to talk the talk and they get themselves into positions of leadership in the church, they get titles like deacon or pastor. The greatest distance that the gospel must travel is from the head to the heart and, for them, the gospel has not made this journey. Outside the church (and more importantly- in their hearts) they live a life that is contradictory to the faith they profess to believe. Outsiders see this and assume that this hypocrisy is representative of the whole church because the Church is always judged by its worst examples.