First Effect of Christianity is to Make People Stop & Think

So the first effect of Christianity is to make people stop and think. They are not simply overawed by some great occasion. They say, “No, I must face this. I must think.” That is the work of the Spirit. The people in Acts thought again. They repented—the Greek word is metanoia—they changed their mind completely. The Spirit always leads people to think, and, as I have been showing you, the greatest trouble is that men and women go through life without thinking. Or they think for a moment but find it painful, so they stop and turn to a bottle of whiskey or television or something else—anything to forget.

Is it not obvious that the world, speaking spiritually and intellectually, is in a doped condition? In all sorts of ways men and women evade the facts. They can do this with great energy, they can be very intellectual, but ultimately they end up with nothing.

What does the Spirit make us think about? Well, not first and foremost about ourselves. I must emphasize that Christianity does not start with us. It does not say, “Do you want to get rid of that sin that is getting you down? Do you want happiness? Do you want peace? Do you want guidance?” That is not Christianity. That, again, is the approach of the cults. No, these people in Jerusalem were made to think about Jesus Christ! They were given the objective, historical facts about this person . . .

The next point is that the . . . Spirit now makes us go on to realize the relevance of Jesus Christ, and everything concerning Him, to ourselves personally . . .

You can sit in a chair and read a book about Jesus Christ, you can read about Him in your Bible, and you can read books of theology. Very interesting. To an intelligent person there is no study more entrancing. It has been the occupation of some of the greatest minds of the centuries. But you can do all that and still not be a Christian. It is the Holy Spirit who makes each of us see the relevance of Jesus to ourselves, so that we are no longer spectators, no longer critics, no longer people taking a wonderful, objective view. No, no, I am under criticism myself. The relevance of this has come to me. I see that I am involved in all this, and I had not realized it.

—D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Authentic Christianity (1st U.S. ed., page 53, Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books.)

...No Related Posts...I think.

There are no comments yet, add one below.

March 7th, 2010 on Sunday at 6:58 am

If you want to comment, please read the following guidelines. These are designed to protect you and other users of the site.

Be relevant: Your comment should be a thoughtful contribution to the subject of the entry. Keep your comments constructive and polite.
No advertising or spamming: Do not use the comment feature to promote commercial entities/products, affiliates services or websites. You are allowed to post a link as long as it's relevant to the entry.
Keep within the law: Do not link to offensive or illegal content websites. Do not make any defamatory or disparaging comments which might damage the reputation of a person or organisation.
Privacy: Do not post any personal information relating to yourself or anyone else (i.e., address, place of employment, telephone or mobile number or email address).

In order to keep these experiences enjoyable and interesting for all of our users, we ask that you follow the above guidlines. Feel free to engage, ask questions, and tell us what you are thinking! insightful comments are most welcomed.