Cliches..."Accept Jesus into your heart" and "Christianity is a relationship not a religion."

Repent, Believe, Reconciled

I stumbled across some readings from Grace to You about Christian cliches. I waa a little surprised to find out the words I have been using are incorrect biblically. Two cases in point are listed below. 

I have taken excerpts of the blogs about these cliches and pasted them in here. If you want more information, or my excerpts don't make sense, just follow the links.

Hopefully you will find this as interesting and convicting as I did. In fact from now on, instead of saying "Accept Jesus into your heart" I am going to try to remember to say "reoent and believe." 

I also frequently say "Christianity is a relationship not a religion." I use this phrase to distinguish the currently used word religion, which means anything organized, from what the Church is really about...worshipping God and loving each other as God loves us. After reading this big, however, I will use "reconciliation to God through Christ" instead.

It is scary that our words, used innocently to further the kingdom of God, have come to mean something very different than what scripture really states. Let me know what you think!


Repent & Believe - not "Accept Jesus into your heart"
From:
https://www.gty.org/blog/B160120/ask-jesus-into-your-heart

Modern evangelistic outreach regularly follows the call to “accept Jesus into your heart” with the phrase “and make Him your Lord and Savior.” Sadly, when I first encountered the language of contemporary altar calls, I never stopped to ask what Jesus’ job description entailed before I “made Him Lord and Savior.”

God’s Word is abundantly clear on this point. Christ’s Lordship has never been contingent on anybody’s willingness to grant Him that title. Jesus is Lord. And your present belief has no bearing on that eternal reality. He is Lord of Christians, atheists, and everything else in the universe—whether they bow their knee in repentance or burn in a hellfire of regret:

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8–11)

According to Paul, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16) Using this Spirit-inspired logic, you don’t need to make Jesus Lord of your life, you simply need to demonstrate that He is Lord of your life by submitting to Him in repentance, faith, and obedience.

....Using Appropriate Biblical Language

....In stark contrast, God’s sovereign means of salvation have never changed. He draws the sinner through His call (John 6:44; Romans 8:28), convicts the sinner by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), regenerates the sinner by His power (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 5:17), and sees the sinner through the lens of Christ’s atoning work (2 Corinthians 5:21).

...... Instead, God has chosen preaching as the means of proclaiming Christ crucified and calling for the response that He demands—repentance from sin (Acts 17:30–31) and faith toward Christ (Ephesians 2:8­–9; Acts 20:20–21).

Rather than asking sinners to accept Christ we should call them to plead for His acceptance. Rather than telling sinners to “make Jesus Lord” we should call them to submit to His lordship. And instead of calling sinners to a saving altar, we should entrust them to a sovereign Savior.

Reconciled to God through Christ - not  "Christianity is a relationship not a religion."

From: https://www.gty.org/blog/B160208/christianity-is-not-a-religion-its-a-relationship

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him. (Romans 5:10–11)

The problem was never that we lacked a relationship with our Creator, but rather that it was hostile. And that remains the relationship status for all unbelievers. It’s why Paul describes evangelism, not as the ministry of relationship, but as “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18)—we are calling people to be reconciled to God through the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Saying that “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship” actually creates a false dichotomy. It deceives people into thinking that they have to choose between a religion and a relationship. Instead, the division needs to be made between true and false religion, and between a reconciled and an estranged relationship. Are you reconciled to God and, if so, is that reconciliation evident through the practice of “pure and undefiled” religion?