The rooted thinking website posted a great article that addresses those “nominal Christians” who reside within the church. The article is written by M. R. Conrad and is entitled “Faking It: The Sad Reality of the Nominal Christian.” The link is: https://rootedthinking.com/2020/10/06/sad-reality-of-nominal-christian/ . I recommend that you read it, especially if you are in church leadership.
The article reinforces what is a frustration of mine in that when church leadership sees behavior inconsistent with how a believer is supposed to live, they are reluctant to challenge those folks about the genuineness of their conversion. I understand that church leaders do not stand in the place of God and that only God knows a person’s heart. Yet, is it really “loving” to play “quiet mouse” when nominal Christians are on the road to hell.
Is it really “loving” to play “quiet mouse” when nominal Christians are on the road to hell.
The fact that nominal Christians are on the road to hell is the most important reason to raise the issue about the genuineness of one’s conversion. Conrad’s article makes that point citing Matthew 7:22–23 (ESV) :
22 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?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Wow! Can you imagine the surprise by the “many” in verse 22!! The “many” who can say “did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” qualify as nominal Christians. The ESV translates the Greek adjective polys as “many” and it means a relatively large quantity of objects or events—‘many, a great deal of, a great number of. See Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 594). New York: United Bible Societies. The large multitude of nominal Christians will be eternally disappointed when they meet Jesus face-to-face.
The large multitude of nominal Christians will be eternally disappointed when they meet Jesus face-to-face.
The article ends with eternally urgent advice to any believer, but especially to church leadership:
Wheat and tares look virtually alike. Only God can see hearts. However, the awareness that those dear to us may merely appear to be a brother or sister in Christ should compel us to humbly initiate these hard conversations. Let us not become the Christian gestapo, but let us exhibit an authentic urgency and concern for the spiritual condition of those who worship God alongside us each week.
Believers should humbly initiate those difficult conversations with those who seem to be nominal Christians.
If you are reading this post and are not a Christian, unless God intervenes, your eternal destination is hell. But, your destiny can change. Today can be the day of your salvation! Please see my blog (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/04/20/for-god-so-loves-you-2/) for a description of how you can be saved. You can also go to another article at my blog (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/10/20/there-is-hope-even-when-there-seems-to-be-no-hope-2/ ).
If you have comments, questions, observations or the like, please leave a comment in the comments section or send me an email at steve@stevebelsheim.com.
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