Our kitchen table is pretty chaotic. While our family routine is getting better, we still have a long way to go toward learning how to eat our food without complaining; how to keep everything on the plate without spilling it everywhere; how to give each other personal space without accidentally or purposefully whacking elbows; and most of all, how to make the dinner table a time of prayer and edifying conversation. Maybe I’m delusional, but I still hope to make progress in those areas, which leads me to seek out different books on how to raise a Christian family.

Ronald Rolheiser’s Domestic Monastery: Creating a Spiritual Life at Home is a simple book about living an intentional Christian life with your family. I had at least one good takeaway from that book, which I will write about in a subsequent blog, but I did notice this glaring error about salvation:

“The theologian and storyteller John Shea once suggested that the kingdom of heaven is open to all who are willing to sit down with all. That’s a one-line caption for discipleship. In essence, the single condition for going to heaven is to have the kind of heart and the kind of openness that makes it possible for us to sit down with absolutely anyone and to share life and a table with him or her” (Rolheiser, Domestic Monastery, p. 86, emphasis).

This might be a throwaway passage; if someone challenged Rolheiser on it, he might retract or rephrase it. But for anyone searching online for a review of Rolheiser’s book, I want to clarify two things about the gospel.

First, I want to point out how this is a good example of confusing salvation and discipleship. In one sentence, Rolheiser says being “willing to sit down with all” is a “one-line caption for discipleship.” And in the next line, he talks about “the single condition for going to heaven.” In other words, discipleship is what it takes to go to heaven. That’s a serious mistake. What it takes to be saved and what it takes to be a disciple are two different things. Check out this series by Lucas Kitchen, which explains that distinction (see here).

The second thing I want to clarify is that “the single condition for going to heaven” does not depend upon being willing to share a table with anyone. When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas how he could be saved, they did not answer, “Be open enough to sit down and eat with absolutely anyone, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Of course, that’s a great attitude to have! Christians should want to love our neighbors, including our enemies, which means loving everyone. But just because that is a healthy attitude does not make it the Biblical condition of salvation. You have to go to Scripture to determine that. And the Bible is clear that the one condition for going to heaven is to believe in Jesus. To give just a few examples:

• John 11:25-26: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’”
• Acts 10:43: “All the prophets testify about him that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins.”
• Acts 13:38-39: “Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers and sisters, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and everyone who believes is justified through him from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.”
• Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

If that’s not clear enough, here are fifty-five verses that teach salvation by faith: https://freegrace.in/55-verses-that-teach-salvation-by-faith-alone/. There should be no confusion on this point.

Since salvation is so simple, I am happy to anticipate that heaven will be filled with all kinds of people. I love that Jesus “purchased people for God by [His] blood from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). His redeeming death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead made it possible for anyone anywhere to believe in Jesus and be saved. He died for you and everyone around you, no exceptions. Salvation sola fide is incompatible with racism or ethnic prejudice. One of the things I love most about the gospel is meeting people from all around who have believed in Jesus. I have brothers and sisters in Washington, London, Manila, Lahore, and Accra, and in every nation on earth. Hence, if you believe in Jesus, you should be open to sitting down “with absolutely anyone and to share life and a table with him or her” because that is what the kingdom of heaven will be like—eating together at the King’s Banquet (cf. Matthew 22:1). That table is prepared for you, too! You’re invited—just believe!

I just hope my kids will have learned some table manners by then.rose again from the dead to make salvation available to you for free. The price has been paid, so stop haggling and accept His gift!

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Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.

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