Chapter 3: You’re lost…and I’m saved!
I recently attended this huge Christian concert at our local arena. There were a few worship bands and a speaker that delivered the gospel message at the end of the concert. For months, this event was billed as something that local churches could bring their unbelieving friends to so they could hear the Gospel and come to know Jesus. There were thousands of people there, it was overwhelming. The place that I go to see NC State Basketball games was now packed with people singing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It was overwhelming.
I have known Jesus over ten years now, and I know that part of me is jaded when it comes to these kinds of events. What would the speaker say to really bring people to know that Jesus died for them? How would he convey the great hope in the resurrection? In thirty minutes, how can he point people to forgiveness and salvation?
I knew we were in trouble when the opening prayer from a charismatic local preacher included something like this “God, save us from our sin. Save the homosexuals, deliver the lesbians from their sin…” and people around me hummed in agreement. In my mind I was trying to get the facts straight. This free concert they are putting on, it’s designed to bring our friends to Christ. So in theory, over half of the people in this arena, hearing this prayer, should not know who Jesus is or what Christians are about. They should be here with a friend of theirs that loves them and wants them to hear about Christ. Instead, they are hearing a prayer about saving not just sinners in general, but specifically, homosexuals. As a body, we should pray that we do not fall into temptation. It seems to me that sometimes our prayer life is to fix the sinners around us, instead of the sinner inside of us.
The Sunday after the concert, I was talking with a woman at our church that went with me to chaperone our youth group. I asked her what she thought about it. She said one thing that really bothered her is the constant reference to “the lost”. The speaker mentioned “our lost friends” a lot. Our lost friends that were there with us. My friend said “I remember, before I came to Christ, I would hear churches use that term and it really offended me. Why am I lost, and they get to be saved? I felt like they looked down upon me.”
Have you ever been lost? I used to fly all over the country for my graphic design job, and I would have to navigate airports and shuttles and rental cars and highways. Every time I flew into Texas it frustrated me. Texas is filled with these things called frontage roads. Frontage roads run parallel to highways. Frontage roads only go one way on each side. Frontage roads expedite the road rage process. On one occasion, I had to stop at a gas station to get directions because mapquest failed to recognize these frontage roads. Flustered and late for an appointment, I ran in to get clarification. What if, in my desperation, the lady behind the counter answered my request for directions by saying “You’re lost!” I think things would get pretty serious pretty fast. I didn’t need her to tell me I was lost. That was pretty clear. I needed her to give me directions. Simple directions. I had a question, she had an answer. That’s how it works. Right?
My mom gives hilarious directions. “Take a right out of the driveway, you’ll see a stop sign at the corner, turn left there, because if you turn right you’ll end up going the wrong way, so turn left. Then you’ll see three cows on the right side of the road and you’ll want to pass them. Oh, then on your left is route 82 but you don’t want to turn on that road because that will take you into Kennett and you don’t want to go into town. So stay straight, and you’ll pass this cute little corner store next to Landhope, they sell scarves and jewelry and you can get cute beads there…”
This goes on and on. And you forget where you were going in the first place. Our lost friends don’t need us to tell them they are lost. And they don’t need us to give them complicated directions. Think about when you first heard about Jesus. Think about where you were, what was going on in your life at the time, what you knew about God. I absolutely knew that I was lost. I never needed someone to say that to me. That would be like turning the knife that was already stuck into me. I knew I needed something. I needed love. That’s it. The love of Jesus is the only thing that can save us.
When we tell our friends that they are lost, we are causing division. When they hear us refer to them as lost, and us as saved, we are damaging a very fragile relationship. The Christian world is seen as a bully, especially in America. Watch any documentary where a Christian politician is interviewed and you’ll see that to be true. The only time a Christian gets media attention is when they fall. The world loves to see Christians fall down. I think that is partly because we claim to have all the answers. We claim to be saved, and we condemn the unbelieving world to be lost.
My life with Christ has been an amazing process. One thing I know for sure is that there are no checkpoints. That is a hard realization for me, because I am such a task-oriented person. I love getting things done. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I complete something, but then I am immediately onto something else.
I bought my first house a few years ago and my biggest project was the backyard. The yard was a disaster when I first moved in. There was this gnarly dog pen made out of chain link fence, there was a disheveled shed made of plywood, and the backyard was a forest of tall, gangly pine trees and overgrown brush. Over the next year, every weekend was spent in that backyard. I had a revolving door of friends come over with various skills and tools. We rebuilt the shed, we cut down dead trees, we dug up brush and raked all the old leaves into yard bags that lined my street every single Sunday. I planted grass seed and watered that lawn religiously. When I started to see grass come up it was such an amazing day.
Last summer we had the youth group end of year party in my backyard. There was about forty people back there eating hot dogs, sitting on my new deck with bench seating that some friends helped me build, throwing a football in the new emerald green grass, and swinging in the hammock that I tied between the two big pine trees I kept in tact. When the party was over and everyone left, that night I sat on that new deck and just looked over at what we had accomplished in that backyard and I was just so pleased. Now, one year later, I hardly ever take the time to go out back and think about what I accomplished.
I don’t think it’s terribly healthy to always look back. But I do think it is valuable to take stock of your spiritual accomplishments. The other day I went for a walk and I just stopped myself and sat with God. I never do that. If I’m not careful, my prayer life becomes a checklist. I sat on a bench and just let myself be with God and it was wonderful. God reminded me of where I have come from, what He has showed me, what He has saved me from. I was flooded with my relationship with Jesus. I was encouraged by where I had been with Him and how we have grown together. In my bible, on the very first page, I wrote something down that I guess I heard from a speaker in high school:
Never forget what you’ve been saved from.
If I have the mindset that I am saved and my friend is lost, that will affect the way I look at her. That will make me feel like I have all the answers and she doesn’t. I win, and she loses. It rarely makes me feel like I have to pray for her. It rarely shows me that Jesus died for her. It separates us as people. The reality is that there are lost people all around us, that we are called to love. But a greater reality that we ignore when we separate ourselves from them, is that we ourselves can be lost if we are not careful. We are saved when we are in a relationship with Jesus, when we are walking with Him and living in His will. Paul says it best in 1st Corinthians 15:18 – “Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.”
Have we fallen asleep in Christ? Have we taken our salvation for granted? Look at what Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 5, verse 13-15 – “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise.”
Never forget what you’ve been saved from. Remembering what Jesus has done for us is the key to understanding our friends that need Him. They know they are lost. Pointing them simply to Christ and praying for them is the best thing we can do. Your life is your witness. That simple sentence is probably one of the most complex directives of the Christian life. It requires a daily walk with God, doesn’t it?
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
