WHAT ABOUT CONVERTS WHO DON'T GROW?

Are they even saved? Sometimes we wonder. Is coming to Christ, without going any further, just inoculation against ever being a disciple? When people see Christians who do not live a Christian life, doesn’t that turn some people away from Christ?

If converts never become disciples, is it even worthwhile to bring them to the Lord? After all, the Great Commission (Matt. 28) commands us to make disciples. Converts are not even mentioned. But obviously, no one can become a disciple without first converting. A disciple is one who grows in Christ. Yet no one can grow in Christ who is not already “in” Christ.

When we lead someone to Christ, there is no way of knowing whether they will ever go any further. Since we are “to make disciples,” we have a responsibility to help them grow beyond salvation. Obviously, they start as spiritual babies – just born again, a new creature. They will remain babies if they do not grow into disciples.

Just who are these baby Christians? They may be the ones Jesus spoke of as “the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.” But he also said that even though John the Baptist was the “greatest born of woman,” that even these “least” were greater than John.

They may also be the ones Paul wrote about with exasperation, because they only wanted spiritual milk and were not ready for spiritual meat. They also may be those he meant when he wrote that at the great judgement, those with works “of stubble” would see their works burnt up; yet that they themselves would be saved, even though as by fire.

Having gone through the “narrow gate” of salvation, they want to go no further. The sketch below (from "Basics of Being a Christian") shows them as clustering together just inside the narrow gate. They avoid the path of obedience to Christ, where discipleship is grown.

It is easy to imagine them in baby clothes for life, gray hair sticking out of baby caps, each with a ticket to heaven in hand. They chose the cheapest ticket, thinking they would get a lot while giving very little. But it is the worst ticket. The best ticket is for the path of discipleship, where the blessings and the strength for life’s troubles are found. Also where the very good life Christians have on earth is found. Perhaps not wealth and health, but for certain, love, joy, peace and contentment, just for starters. They settled for just admission, when everything in the whole kingdom was available.

Are they any help to us at all in growing the kingdom? To some extent. For one thing, they are still available for discipleship. Some of them will eventually try to grow. We just cannot predict which ones, or when, or how many. God knows, and he is not through with them yet.

For another, as Jesus said, “he who is not against us is for us.” At least they are no longer adding to the numbers of our enemies. They will stand with us sometimes when it counts, in Christianizing our culture and country. At the minimum, they have been neutralized from enemy to non-combatant. If they are not fighting on our side, at least they are not fighting for the other side either. That can make an important difference.

Is it really worth our time and trouble to lead them to Christ, without knowing whether they will become disciples? Well, if we saw them drowning, most of us would jump right in to save them, not even hesitating because of the risk to our own lives. How much more, if we have a chance to snatch them from the very gates of death and hell, would we not do so? If we could see that fate for them as clearly as we could see someone drowning, it would be the easiest of choices. God’s gift of life is what we bring them.

When Paul wrote Philemon about his runaway slave Onesimus, who had come to Paul in prison and been led by him to Christ, Paul wrote of Onesimus as his son, “whom I have begotten in my bonds,” meaning that Onesimus was Paul’s son in the Lord because he had converted him. He asked for freedom for Onesimus, reminding Philemon that he owed his very self to Paul, since Philemon also was Paul’s convert. Leading people to Christ means that they do owe us their very lives (though ordinarily this would never be mentioned.) There can be no reason whatsoever for neglecting to lead anyone to Christ that we can, even though they may never make it to discipleship.

(Next time – discipleship is a two-step process.)