Should You Accept Christ?

Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. - Acts 16:30-34

It seems to me that the phrase “accept Christ” helps to only perpetuate the narcissistic spin that is easily woven into the gospel in our time. When one is accepted by someone else, it implies that they've somehow "made the grade." I was accepted into college. I was accepted into a fraternity. I have accepted others despite their faults or our differences.

So when I accept Christ, it seems as though I’m saying “Okay, Jesus, you make the cut. I get it. You make sense. Welcome to my life."

This seems to be in sharp contrast, however, to the conversion experience of the Philippian jailer. So what were the events leading to his conversion?

1) He saw the power of God. Paul and Silas were in prison singing hymns, which in and of itself must have been strange. But then there is this violent earthquake that shook the jail to the point where the prison doors were open and the prisoner’s chains had come undone. That’s quite an earthquake!

2) He experienced grace. Assuming that the prisoner’s had all escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, presumably because whatever he could do to himself would not be as bad as what the Romans would do to him for allowing such a thing. But as he’s about to end it all, Paul stops him and demonstrates to him that all the prisoners are still there. They had not made a run for it – instead, they stuck around when they didn’t have to, resulting in this prison guard’s life being spared. Just considering the implications of that would require another discussion altogether.

It was only when he saw the power of God and received a demonstration of his grace in a very real way that he asked this question: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You see here a man who was truly moved to the point where he recognized he was in a position of need.

I do not believe that one can truly be saved unless they first recognize their vacuous spiritual condition. This prison guard, for example, is not in the position of evaluation, consideration, and decision. He is not wondering whether he should make a purchase, decide on a political candidate, or select a job among multiple offers. He sees himself as desperate yet so inspired by the grace he has just experienced that he will do anything to get to the source of this grace.

The apostles response? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. In other words, receive the gift of grace. Know that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings, surrender your life to him, and you will be saved.

I have to admit that throughout much of my life evangelism has been reduced to events that resemble those horrible time-share presentations - a limited amount of information and a lot of pressure to make a commitment right now. Raise your hand, walk down the aisle, pray the prayer, and make sure you sign on the dotted line. And all of a sudden you've got all these people patting you on the back, but you're still not quite sure what you just did.

Of course we need to follow up with people who respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Of course we need to challenge people with the truth of the gospel in a clear cut way which demands a response of some kind.

But we need to throw out this “accept Christ” terminology. We need, instead, to pray for the power of God and authentic demonstrations of grace to overwhelm our friends and neighbors. That way, rather than asking them if they’ll please “pray a simple prayer to accept Jesus Christ” they will be running to us and pleading out of a heart filled with both desperation and inspiration, “What must I do to be saved?”