What would you do to save a loved one?
“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,” (Romans 9:1-3). Wow, what a statement from the Apostle Paul that he would be willing to give up his own salvation, die and go to hell if it meant that his fellow Jews would repent, believe the Gospel and accept Christ. Dr. Russell Woodbridge was here with us a few weeks back and he preached on this passage and he really caused me to think about it as I never had before. Sure I had studied it while in Seminary in both my New Testament survey and Evangelism classes, but he breathed new life and meaning into it. Think about it here was a man who his fellow Jews had tried to kill on more than one occasion and had even stoned him (Acts 14). Yet Paul had this deep intense desire to see them saved. This desire was so great that Paul would have gladly given up his own salvation and spent eternity in hell. This is an amazing statement given the fact that a few chapters speaking of Christ dying for the ungodly, he says, “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die” (Romans 5:7). But here Paul is saying that he would not only die for them but give up his salvation and to ensure that we understand that he is sincere he says, I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, and the Holy Spirit will testify to the truthfulness of what I am about to say. He asserts that because he is in Christ that he can not lie, and that the Holy Spirit would confirm the truthfulness of his statement. Paul had a deep conviction and desire to see his fellow country men saved, far beyond what we can imagine or understand.
But how do we feel about the lost, do we have that deep of a desire to see them saved? Likely not, but what about our family and loved ones? We would spend our last dollar to see them cured of cancer. We would travel to a distant country to find them treatment, and give up our jobs to care for them. We would even be willing to risk our lives to save them from danger; and give our lives in their place. I doubt that I would give it a second thought given the choice to watch my wife or children die, or die in their place, I would gladly give my life for theirs. But do we feel the same way about their immortal souls? While we would go to great lengths to save their lives, we shut down in fear when it comes to sharing the gospel with them and make excuses as to why it is ok. If we refused to take our severely injured child to the emergency room for fear of what might happen or what it would cost, and as a result they died, we would be arrested for neglect, likely serve jail time, and possibly loose custody of our other children. Jesus tells us in Matthew’s Gospel, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (10:28). How much more valuable is a person’s soul compared to their life. If we would go to any lengths to save the life of a loved one and look down and punish those who do not, why will we not do what ever it takes to save their immortal souls? We need to work at over coming our fear of evangelism, realizing that the more we do it the easier it becomes. Secondly, we need to remember that it is not our job to save our loved ones but to simply share the Gospel with them. Lastly, we need to respecting them and not push our faith on them as we will likely only push them away from God instead of drawing them to Him. When they say I do not want to talk about it then don’t live like a child of the King wait for other opportunities and let God do the rest. May we all develop as deep a desire for not only our loved ones but all the lost to be saved as Paul did.
