Fire Insurance, Really?

There are five types of people.  The first one was discussed yesterday and was the individual with no God conscience.  The second type of person is one who has entered into a relationship with God, but God is on the back burner of their life.  I think most “Christians” fall in this second category.

I felt called into the ministry at the age of fourteen.  I finally surrendered to that call at age sixteen and preached my first sermon that year.  I took my first paid position in ministry at age eighteen and have been involved in ministry ever since that time.  I share this to state I have been in vocational ministry of some sort for twenty-five years now.  It is from this perspective I make the statement that most “Christians” fall into this second type of person.

Jeff Kisiah described this individual as one who wanted a fire insurance policy against the Lake of Fire.  I think for many of these individuals there was/is sincerity in their conversion.  For most of them, however, I think they are really type one people, who think they are born again.  I am going to address the type two person who is truly born again at this point.

I do not recall which ministerial training I went through in which there was a picture of a chair.  On the chair it showed a big letter “I”.  The chair represented kingship.  Beside the chair it showed a little cross.  In this portion of the illustration the individual had prayed to receive Christ as his Savior, but he was still lord of his life and that is why he was sitting on the chair.

As I have grown in grace and knowledge of our Lord, I am not certain this picture or illustration is biblical.  In other words, as I read the Scriptures, I don’t really see one who receives Jesus as Savior without also receiving Him as Lord.  Can a person really be born again and not have Jesus as Lord of her life?

Yet, Paul does describe the carnal Christian and I think this concept is what we find in this type two person.  They are sealed with the Holy Spirit, but they are carnal.  They are chasing after the things of this world more than they are pursuing intimacy with the Lord Jesus; and once again, I think this is where most in the church of America can be found.

As leaders we must model for these individuals what true biblical growth looks like.  We also need to encourage them to press on in their spiritual journey with the Lord.  Our goal is to move them from being a type two person into a type three person.  I will give you a hint as to how this is done.  It is done the exact same way that a type one person becomes a type two person.  The way is through relationships.  We call this process discipleship, but it happens when a more mature believer comes along side a younger believer and invests in their life with time and intentionality that they begin to grow and become type three people.

This thought makes me ask, who are you presently mentoring?  It also makes me ask a second question.  How are you mentoring people?  Respond in the comment section and let me know.  I would love to read the ways God is using you.