No indifference! It's time to choose

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… John 1:11-12

I knew a man (I’ll call him Dave) who never missed church on a Sunday morning. He was fulsome in his praise of the church: “They’re wonderful people, I don’t know what I would do without them.” I only had to stand and watch how he related to the people there - plenty of banter and simple friendliness – to see how the church had taken him to its heart.

But he wasn’t a Christian.

He was probably around 60 and, I think, lived alone. But he had never made that “step of commitment”, as we sometimes put it. “Oh, I can’t be doing with all that stuff,” he told me once. “Just not interested. I’m quite happy as I am, thanks very much.”

Well, all credit to the church – it was lively and informal, and from my occasional visits I knew that it was a church where the gospel was preached. You sensed the love of Jesus among its people. But as I chatted to Dave I didn’t know quite how best to respond to what I can only call his cheerful indifference to the gospel.

The last time I visited that church I noticed that he wasn’t there. Apparently he had died some weeks earlier.

Oh. I felt quite deflated - that wasn’t how this story was meant to end! I wanted to hear that he had eventually seen the need to be baptised (the church was a Baptist church) and fully entered the family of God’s people. But, it seemed, that was not to be.

Well of course I cannot know what thoughts – and prayers? - Dave may have had in “the secret place of his heart” since we last talked. Perhaps he had come to a fuller understanding of who Jesus was and all that he has done for us.

However that may be I sense, especially at Christmas time, that there are many people who are quite like him, though perhaps not quite so relaxed and open about their feelings: grateful for the existence of the church (in spite of failures and scandals) even to the extent of attending an occasional service - but who, like Dave, keep Jesus at arm’s length: “Well, that will do for another year”.

I wonder if you are one of them? Have you, perhaps, just made your annual visit to church?

The question arises: What in particular had Dave failed to grasp about Jesus? Whether he had consciously closed his mind to the gospel or whether, for some reason, the church had failed to spell things out clearly enough is neither here nor there. What matters is that for some reason he had decided that while the kindness of that church was to be welcomed and appreciated it wasn’t something he needed to respond to; his attitude was, in effect, “thanks but no thanks”.

The first chapter of John’s Gospel makes plain that that is very mistaken. To borrow the title of a book which was popular some years ago, the Christian message is “evidence that demands a verdict”: it puts us on the spot, asking the question “So what are you going to do about it?” It’s summed up perfectly in verses11-13.

The key word is “receive”: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”.

No gift, even a box of chocolates or a pair of socks at Christmas, is of any benefit if it isn’t received. Which means, if we apply it to God’s gift of his Son Jesus, that even this supreme gift is, so to speak, wasted if it is not received. This, as far as I could tell, was what Dave didn’t understand. Certainly, he admired Jesus – you could tell that by his praise for Jesus’ people; and I think he must have respected him in the same way. But, so far as I knew, he never received him.

What does “receiving him” mean in practice? John uses the word “believe” in order to spell it out (verse 12): those who receive Jesus are those “who believe in his name”. And if we go one step further and ask what that means, the answer is: to believe in the name of Jesus means to accept him on his own evaluation - the Word of God made flesh (verses 1 and 14), the very light of the world (verses 4-9), plus various other self-descriptions scattered through the rest of the book.

Whenever I meet people who are polite and even warm towards the church but not prepared to go any further I feel like shouting, “Look, sorry, but that just won’t do! The Christian message requires a response! If it isn’t true – if Jesus isn’t the Word of God made flesh, if he isn’t the light of the world, if he isn’t the good shepherd, if he isn’t the living water, and if he didn’t die on the cross for our sins and rise again for our salvation - then the whole thing is just a web of fancies, a conspiracy theory gone mad, and it should be denounced as such and exposed! Have nothing to do with it.

Ah, but if it is true, as millions of Christians today and throughout the centuries have testified… what then? Receiving him by an act of faith brings you to a whole new life – you become a “child of God”, a new you, gradually becoming more Christlike day by day, and one day assured of being with him in a place of perfection. It’s not easy, but it is the ultimate joy.

So… a word to anybody seeking to be neutral about Jesus. It’s time to decide, to respond, to “receive” him by faith, and to start to become the person you were always meant to be. What holds you back?

Here’s a prayer you might like to pray. Please read it through carefully first, for if prayed from your heart it will change your life for ever…

Father, please forgive me for having held Jesus at arm’s length for so long. Enable me now to receive him by faith, no longer just an example to be followed or a teacher to be respected, but a Saviour and Friend who has forgiven my sins and gives me a whole new life. Amen.