Conversion necessary before discipleship

Just what did Jesus have in mind when he told His disciples to go into all the world and make disciples?
   
That question was addressed during the convention. Speaking during the first of three “Bible Moments” that focused on discipleship, Jim Warren, director of missions for Colbert-Lauderdale Association, said Bible teaching today does not focus enough on conversion.
   
“Authentic discipleship always begins with a miraculously changed heart,” Warren said. “Someone has said that confession without conversion is an eternal disaster.
   
“One of the most futile things that anybody can try to do is to disciple an unconverted person,” he said.
   
Warren shared the account of Zaccheus when he was changed “from a dirty, lying thief to a generous, honest and spiritual man.
   
“He demonstrated born-again character instantly, and conversion must always and forever be the essential, undeniable authentic foundation for any concept of discipleship,” Warren said.
   
“I have the distinct conviction that much more clear biblical preaching that intelligently and clearly explains conversion is needed today from our pulpits,” Warren said.
   
“Supremely important is preaching and teaching that explains to people what takes place in conversion,” he continued, “and it obviously cannot be done in five minute invitations.”
   
Warren said people must be informed that more than moral errors separate them from God. “They are separated from God by their unbelief,” he said.
   
Examining a recent study by California researcher George Barna, Warren said Barna’s findings do not bode well for the question of how well Christians are doing in sharing Christ.
   
“His research suggests a rather unsettling answer,” Warren said, telling convention messengers that Barna said America today is in a state of spiritual anarchy.
   
“The predominant belief is that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe something and feel good about it,” Warren said. “We cannot really call the faith of many American Christians a Bible-based faith, he (Barna) says.
   
Ironically, most cities have Christian book stores selling millions of Christian books, he said. Additionally, there are Christian radio stations broadcasting services by “highly gifted preachers” and television stations broadcasting the worship services of the largest churches in this country.
   
“We have more money to use in church than in any other time in our history,” Warren said.
   
Despite that, he predicted most preachers would say they are concerned with the lack of personal commitment and maturity that characterizes large segments of our churches.
   
“There’s never been a time when we need a greater focus on what it means to be a disciple,” Warren said.
   
Key to following Jesus, Warren said, is a true belief in Christ.
   
“The intentional act of unbelief is the sin that alienates us from God,” Warren said.
   
“And a man is not separated from God solely because of various degrees of moral indiscretion.
  
“Unbelief is the main issue,” he said, “and refusal to receive God’s self-disclosure of Himself is the deadly and eternal sin of humankind.”
   
Warren offered an analysis of what it means for us to be created in the image of God.
   
“Essentially, it means that you and I were designed by God so that His invisible being would be clearly displayed in our visible humanity,” Warren said. “Such was the case with Jesus when He said, ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father.’”
   
Jesus, Warren said, brought life back into mankind when He died for our sins after Adam and Eve became “spiritually dead” in the Garden of Eden.
   
“To minimize sin is to minimize the cross, and to minimize the cross is to minimize the gospel,” he said. “The gospel is a message of forgiveness to the guilty,” he concluded.