Christmas in China?

Now, Contending for the Faith. In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here’s this week’s question: “Dear Dave and Tom: An article in Time Magazine last December referred to the exploding interest in Christmas in China, citing 30,000 people who attended Christmas Eve services in one registered church. At the close, the pastor asked how many first-timers would consider joining the church. And elder reported, hands went up everywhere. What does this say about the state of the church in China?”

Tom: I think we ought to begin by explaining “registered church.”

Dave: Yeah.

Tom: These are officially recognized churches by the atheistic, communistic state of China.

Dave: So they have a license to meet—this is so they can control them. I wouldn’t say there are no real Christians in these registered churches, but the real Christians meet underground. You would have to be invited, and they have to be very careful who they allow in these meetings.

Tom: So, they are not seeker friendly?

Dave: I don’t think so. The seeker-friendly thing just wouldn’t work in China.

Tom: And other places in the world.

Dave: Nor would the different venues and the Rick Warren approach, 40 Days of Purpose, The Purpose Driven Life, Purpose Driven Church, it just wouldn’t go in China.

Tom: Except maybe at a registered church if you’re trying to draw a crowd, and isn’t that what this is about, the Christmas services?

Dave: Yeah, so now, Tom, we have a very serious problem, and I saw that news article myself. First of all, to have a registered church large enough for 30,000 people to get in it, this must have been a number of services probably over the weekend. But is joining the church the same as getting saved? I never joined a church in my life, I never joined the church of Jesus Christ. I came to Christ as an unworthy sinner—unworthy of anything except His eternal judgment, and I believed that He died for my sins, paid the full penalty, that He is God and man so He could pay the infinite price, and He paid the full penalty for my sins, was buried, rose again the third day, and I accepted His offer: “If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink”—You want salvation, well, I’m offering it to you freely; you can’t buy it, you can’t pay for it.

Okay, so by that act of faith in Christ, it was the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12: “By one Spirit we are all baptized or immersed and are put into one body, the church.” So, that’s how we become members of the church, we don’t sign a membership roll. If you are a true Christian, you are in the true church, no matter what you call yourself.

Now, to join a church—“How many of you want to join this church?”—that doesn’t save you. I don’t think they got the gospel from the Christmas story, but it appealed to them, and apparently it was presented in a way, like I would say, some of the programs on TV or sermons preached by Rick Warren or Bill Hybels, or whatever. They are appealing to the emotions, appealing to the desire of non-Christians to somehow become part of this Christianity but without really telling them how it happens—without bringing any conviction of sin, without bringing any repentance. Very easy—“How many of you want to join this church?”

Okay. But, Tom, there are churches in America that do that, too—call them forth to join the church. Well, supposedly, they meet with them to give them the gospel, make certain that they understand. But I would say this is a gross deception and the church that grows out of that is—these are not even Christians.

Tom: Dave, there is an argument out there that says, “Well, wait a minute, at least they are being drawn toward Christianity; they are moving from where they were, whether it be—well, it’s an atheistic country, but still there is ancestor worship, there is all kinds of paganism.” Dave, wouldn’t moving them, at least from that position, toward Christianity be better than nothing?

Dave: Hm-mmm. Well, in some cases it might, if they will eventually hear the gospel, but generally, it would be worse, because now they think they are Christians. It’s like infant baptism—you were baptized as an infant.

Tom: Uhh, never knew what happened, Dave.

Dave: No, that’s right. You didn’t receive Christ, you didn’t even understand. Whereas the Bible says…

Tom: I think I was a couple of weeks old.

Dave: ...baptism is for believers. But that has deceived millions. Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinists. “Well, I was baptized as a baby.” Then you get confirmed, but all you are confirming is what happened to you—so that’s not salvation either.

Well, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it. Romans:1:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
See All...: “The gospel is how that Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose again the third day, died for our sins, according to the scriptures.” “Rose again the third day, according to the scriptures!” So, if I don’t believe the gospel, I am not saved.

Getting back to what we were talking about. DNA, there’s no physical life without words, without the written instructions. The problem is that, cancer for example, is a cell that has gone wild, it’s not following the instructions. Man is a cancer on this earth. We have rebelled against God. We’re not following His instructions, and unless we get back in touch with Him, we believe His Word, this is why the gospel is so important. Peter says, “We are born again by the Word of God, and this is the Word which, by the gospel is preached unto you.”

So, just as there is no physical life without words in the DNA, so there’s no spiritual life without words, the gospel, and you must believe it. And I don’t think they got that in that Christmas service—otherwise, they would have said, “How many of you want to believe in Jesus, confess your sins, repent and come to Christ as your Lord and Savior?”

“How many want to join this church?” Well, I guess you can even make a church popular in China if they follow the rules the government lays out.