Ok gang–I think the next couple of chapters will be where your feedback is the most necessary. Let me know how this chapter about conversion strikes you. Thanks.
Chapter One: Let Me Tell You a Story
Chapter Two: The Story from Above
Chapter Three: The Story from Below
Chapter Four: Jesus–The Center of the Story
Chapter Five: Conversion: Becoming a Part of the Story
The Gospel is a story unlike any other. Its purpose is not merely to entertain us, tell us what happened a long time ago, or give us something interesting to talk about with others. The gospel story calls for a response from everyone who hears it.
As we saw in a previous chapter, the gospel story ends with an invitation. Some never get far enough into the story to hear the invitation. Others hear it and reject it or misunderstand it. Some hear it and accept it and are transformed by it.
When we accept the invitation we experience what is called a ?conversion.? When converted we experience the joy of salvation. We start seeing our life in light of what God is doing in the world through the gospel. We start thinking of ourselves as God’s partners in repairing his broken world. To be converted is to become a part of God?s story.
What does conversion look like? How does it happen? How do we formally accept the benefit package and agree to start fulfilling the job description offered to us by the gospel?
How to Respond
There are a number of stories in Acts that describe how different people become followers of Christ. You might want to go read several of them now, before we go on. Here?s where to start: Acts 2:36-47; 8:26-39; 16:25-34; 22:6-16.
While each story is as different as the person being converted, each story has several common elements.
The gospel story is told. There is an explanation of what God has done through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Those who hear the story are faced with a choice. What do I do with this story about the resurrected Jesus? Some reject it or ignore it, but others believe it. They believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and they believe that this means they can be saved, forgiven, and restored. Their belief (or faith) compels them to change the way they?re living.
This change is called repentance. To repent means to change directions. Repentance involves a change in both thought and action. Faith that doesn?t lead to repentance is no faith at all. Those who embrace the gospel will see their lives change in noticeable ways.
In Acts, those who embrace the gospel story express their faith through baptism. They are immersed in water. Baptism is a significant marker in the life of a Christ-follower. We?ll look at its significance in greater detail in the next chapter.
Those who respond to the gospel with faith, repentance, and baptism, are also committing the rest of their lives to learning and practicing the ways of Jesus. The longer they follow Jesus by obeying his teachings and imitating his example, the more like Jesus they become. We?ll come back to this idea in a future chapter as well.
Conversion is a once-in-a-lifetime event that marks a specific moment in time as a turning point, the crossing of a line, the experience of new life. It?s also possible to describe conversion as a lifelong process.
We can become a Christian in an instant (conversion event) and we spend the rest of our lives learning how to be what we have become (conversion process). The conversion event is how we become a part of God?s story and the conversion process is how God?s story becomes a part of us.
Both are necessary.
It?s sort of like what happens when a couple gets married. Their marriage is an event. They go through a public ceremony, make their vows, exchange rings, and even receive a piece of paper that makes their marriage official. While they may be legally married, they?re far from knowing how to live as a married couple. They?ll spend the rest of their lives learning what it means to be married. Marriage is both an event and a process.
We?ve looked at a number of different stories that show how conversion is an event. Let?s look at the story of one man?s life that shows how conversion is also a process.
Peter was one of the first of Jesus? followers. He was a prominent leader in the early church and even ended up writing part of the Bible. Take a look at several key moments from his life with Jesus.
? Peter is introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew. Upon meeting him, Jesus changes his name from Simon to Peter (which means ?rock?) (John 1:40-42)
? At the end of a fishing trip, Peter confesses his sin and starts following Jesus. (Luke 5:1-11)
? Peter declares that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah and then moments later challenges Jesus for saying that he is going to Jerusalem to die. Jesus then rebukes Peter and calls him ?Satan.? (Mark 8:27-33)
? After Jesus is arrested in Jerusalem, Peter repeatedly denies having any connection to Jesus. (Mark 14:66-72)
? After Jesus? resurrection, Peter renews his commitment to Jesus (John 21:15-20)
? After Jesus? ascension, Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and preaches with boldness. Thousands respond to the message and are baptized. (Acts 2)
? Later on in Acts, God shows Peter that the gospel story is good news for all people, Jew and non-Jew (gentile) alike. This is a huge is a revelation for Peter and when he starts preaching the gospel to gentiles, it gets him into a lot of trouble with his fellow Jews. (Acts 10-11)
? Sometime after realizing that God is included both Jews and Gentiles into the same church, Peter gives into peer pressure and refuses to eat with Gentile Christians. This gets him into trouble with Paul, a Jewish church planter who worked with lots of gentiles. (Galatians 2)
? Years later Peter writes a letter to struggling believers about what it means to live a life that honors God, imitates Christ, and wins the respect of skeptics. This letter is so helpful to its readers that it eventually becomes a part of the New Testament.
Now consider this question: When was Peter ?converted?? (Thanks to Scot McKnight for posing this question in such a way.) Rather than give us a clearly defined conversion event like some other stories do, Peter?s story helps us see the process side of conversion.
From the perspective of process, Peter’s conversion started when he was introduced to Jesus and it continued throughout the rest of his life. The longer he followed Jesus, the more like Jesus he became and the more of the gospel story he came to understand. He made plenty of mistakes along the way and he learned a number of hard lessons, but he never stopped moving forward with Jesus.
Scripture may not show us a clear-cut moment of conversion for Peter, but the overall shape of his life leaves us in no doubt that he had become a part of God?s story and that over the course of his life God?s story had also become a part of him.
When asked to tell their story, each Christian will emphasize different parts of their conversion experience. Some will tend to talk about it more as an event (?You should have been there!?) Others will emphasize the ongoing process (I?m a work in progress.) Even though no two conversions stories are ever the same, they all move in the same direction: a life dedicated to Jesus.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Well written. Here are just a few of my thoughts.
IMHO it reads as if the old 5 step method has been boiled down to 3 – faith, repentance and baptism. I would argue there is only one response for salvation, conversion or whatever you want to call it, and that is faith. Repentance will happen. Baptism will happen, but they don’t drive conversion. Conversion drives them.
Also, including repentance (defined as a change in direction) as requirement for conversion seems to rub against the idea of “process”. The marriage illustration is a good one. One can become married, but still leave his dirty underwear on the bed or forget to lower the lid. No change yet, but hopefully it is coming. Repentance defined seems to be more internal, a changed way of thinking, resulting many times in the spontaneous, but more often gradual transformation of behavior.
Same idea with baptism. Not the basis of salvation, but the proclaimer of the basis.
I am enjoying reading these. Keep it up! Well done so far.
I like the phrase, “the long revolution” to describe the change that the individual and the community undergoes as it seeks to become more like Christ.
Perhaps you mentioned this and I missed it.
Part of being saved is reclaiming our humanity. To be like Jesus is to be the best version of ourselves possible (C.S. Lewis) . . . but it is also an invitation to be the best human God created us to be.
Jesus, after all, was fully God and fully human.
Sometimes I wonder if there is an over reaction to what some call the so called 5 step plan. Did not Jesus teach us to hear His words , to repent or else perish , to beleive in Him and if we do not confess HIM before men He would not confess us before the Father. And is He not the One who said belief and baptism is essential for salvation. In close to 40 years of personally teaching people I have never had anyone who was born again complain about any one of these commands. If you say you want Jesus to be the Lord of your life then there is no argument.