Can you name a disciple of Jesus who demanded a certain kind of feeling before being willing to follow our Lord?
Can you name a disciple who asked Jesus to prove Himself by performing some kind of miracle before abandoning all to follow Him?
The Bible does not say how all of the 12 were called, but each case recorded in Scripture includes an interest in Jesus’ message, an invitation and a response. Peter and Andrew were fishing when Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The brothers immediately followed (Matt. 4:19).
James and John were working in their father’s boat mending nets. Jesus called them and they responded (Matt. 4:22). Matthew left his tax counting table in response to Jesus’ invitation (Matt. 9:9).
If the first disciples responded to a straightforward invitation to follow Jesus, then why do some people today insist on some kind of special feeling or sign before they will allow Jesus to be their Savior and follow Him?
An answer offered occasionally relates to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, better known as the apostle Paul. Acts 9 relates Paul being suddenly overpowered by a bright light and hearing a voice that identified itself as Jesus. Paul was forced to the ground by the light and temporarily blinded. In response, this fierce persecutor of the church was transformed into a champion for Christ and a church planter par excellent.
This unexpected irresistible kind of experience with Jesus is described by many as a “Damascus Road” experience, a reference to the road Paul was traveling when he had his encounter with the Lord. And some people say they will not accept Jesus as their personal Savior until they have a “Damascus Road”-type experience.
Overlooked in that statement is the fact that Paul was not seeking an experience with Jesus. Paul hated the One who had died on Calvary’s cross. He was headed to Damascus to arrest and punish early believers. Paul’s experience had nothing to do with Jesus fulfilling his wish for some kind of special spiritual experience.
But the Book of Acts, the closest thing to a history of the first-century church available, relates a different kind of experience for others who chose to believe in Jesus. Without fail, those who accepted Jesus as Savior heard the gospel message and responded to an invitation. The most common description of salvation in Acts is “they believed.”
Acts 2 tells of the apostle Peter preaching in Jerusalem, where about 3,000 were converted. His message was simple: “Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified” (36). Those who heard the message did not ask for a feeling. They simply asked, “What shall we do” (37). The scene closes with the observation “so then, those who had received his word were baptized” (41).
In Acts 8, Philip, one of the original seven deacons, was in the town of Samaria preaching about Jesus. Verse 12 says, “But when they believed … they were baptized, men and women alike.”
Later in the same chapter, this early deacon confronted an official from Ethiopia and “preached Jesus to him” (35). In response to the message, the Ethiopian asked what prevented him from being baptized. Philip responded, “If you believe with all your heart, you may” (37).
In each instance, the deciding issue was faith (“if you believe with all your heart”), not feeling about some unexplainable experience.
In Acts 11:21, the author described an evangelistic campaign at Antioch. He wrote, “The hand of the Lord was with them and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.”
On Paul’s first missionary journey, the Roman governor of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, who is described as “a man of intelligence,” “believed” the message of the evangelist, “being amazed at the teaching of the Lord” (Acts 13:12).
Later on that journey, Paul preached to the Gentiles and “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (48).
The first convert to Christianity in Europe under Paul’s ministry was Lydia (Acts 16:14). Of her conversion, the writer recalled, “And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”
Whether the presenter was Peter, Philip or Paul, the emphasis was always on the message. As the apostle John summarized, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16–17).
The emphasis was always on faith, believing the message of the gospel, too.
When the Philippian jailer asked what he must do to be saved, Paul and his missionary companion Silas responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).
In Thessalonica, Paul preached in the synagogue and some of the Jews “were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas” (Acts 17:4).
At Berea, “many of them (Jews), therefore, believed along with a number of prominent Greek women and men” (Acts 17:12).
At Corinth, Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, “believed in the Lord … and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and were baptized” (Acts 18:8).
From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to the close of the New Testament and even today, the process is always the same. Salvation begins with sharing the gospel. Whether it is preaching to thousands as Peter did at Pentecost, to a small group as Paul did at Philippi or a single soul as Philip did with the Ethiopian official makes no difference. The gospel must be shared.
As with Lydia, it is up to the Lord to “open the heart” to the message. The 3,000 believers at Pentecost believed because God’s Holy Spirit “opened their hearts.” So did the Ethiopian, the jailer, Crispus and all the others.
The “feeling” they had was the urge to believe, have faith in the gospel message and accept Jesus as personal Savior. That urge to believe is God’s Spirit beckoning people to faith because faith — believing in Jesus with all your heart — is what salvation is all about.
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