Are Calls for Rededication Biblical?

 

Dear Campers and Student Pastors,

 

I know we are in the throws of camp right now and I’m excited for that fact.  But can I caution all of us?  The push to ‘rededicate your life’ is going to be real.  The push to rush to the alter and pray a prayer of rededication is going to be prevalent in your camp experience.   

The doctrine or teaching of ‘rededication’ is not taught anywhere in the scriptures.  The idea of rededication was thought up by some well meaning person, I’m sure, but what it does is lesson the weight and gravity of sin and makes it easier for a person to ‘come forward’ which is one of the biggest measuring metrics a camp has.   Pastors and student Pastors I would encourage you NOT to pressure or even present this as a viable option for your students.  Rather, present what is biblical for young believers in their walk when they are convicted by a sermon.  REPENTANCE.   I know that the pull to have number of ‘decisions’  is real so you can present that to your church the following week.  But let’s do some critical thinking for a moment.  The student who ‘rededicates their lives’ during a service no doubt has some type of conviction, but it’s where we end up going with it that causes issues.  Rededication is nothing more than ‘white knuckling it’ or the student thinking ‘I’m going to do better this time.’  But the emphasis is on the student ‘doing better’ rather than taking death to self.  The student says things like this…’I’m not going to cuss, or I’m not going to sleep around anymore or I’m not going to smoke, drink. You get the idea. And then two weeks later they are back to doing the SAME stuff they were doing before camp. Why?   The teaching of rededication a ‘self-betterment’ program at its core. Do better, make better choices.  The call of Scripture is not to try hard and do better.  The call of the scriptures is to TRUST AND OBEY.   So, when I say repentance should be the message that is pushed by pastors and students what do I mean?   Look at this.

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:4-5

So, this is directed at people who are followers of Christ, people who had their doctrine correct, but who had loved something more than they loved Jesus.  That’s the problem at the core of all of this.  You and I can have moments where we love something more than we love Jesus.  What is the great lyric from Come Thou Fount?  ‘Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.’  We all can have these moments, but the call is not to try harder, the call is to take death to self (repentance) and fall in love with Jesus.  To love Jesus more than you love your sin.  That’s when true LASTING transformation takes place.  It’s not an emotional plea for fire insurance, but rather a call to fall in love with a Sovereign Savior who loved us enough to redeem us back to himself.  This kind of call might have less folks run to the front of the alter, but the ones who do it’s going to be more genuine.  Don’t preach rededication rather preach repentance of sin and trusting Christ alone.    I love each of you so much!

Pastor Caleb Gordon