Renewal 2/6 - Receiving Salvation

Last week:

Seek

Jesus said:

Matthew 7:7 NRSV

7 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

I like the metaphor of a door.

Doors remind us that we have some independence, some security, some safety.

We have a choice.

Open them - or close them?

If we want to be spiritually renewed we need to, in this verse - knock. Let Jesus open them.

In the book of Revelation -

Revelation 3:20 NRSV

20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

We need to turn the handle ourselves.

Our Spiritual health depends on our willingness to open the door.

If we are to seek renewal - the first thing we need to do is know:

There is a door.

Sometimes we leave the doors closed so long that they get covered in weeds.

Sometimes we get trapped by the idea that our doors are up a massive flight of stairs - things we need to achieve before we reach them.

Sometimes we pile up all our luggage against the door. Past hurts. Resentment.

All we need to do now is:

1 - See the door

2 - Understand what is in the way

3 - Know that Jesus will do most of the work to open the door.

We just need to knock.

Matthew 7:7 NRSV

7 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

Psalm 85:6-7

Psalm 85:6–7 NRSV

6 Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? 7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

So far - I was just focussing on the intentionality of the Psalmist - calling to God:

Revive us again.

Literally means - make us alive.

Why -

So that your people may rejoice in you (Verse 6)

Revive us - Verse 6

And ‘Save us’ - verse 7

Grant us your salvation

Salvation

‘Salvation’ in the Old Testament and through to the new gradually develops in terms of what it means.

Back in the Old Testament there isn’t really a concept of life after death - just life in this world - so Salvation means save us for now - rescue us for now - save us from death / famine / destruction.

Restore us to what we ought to be.

Salvation is practical - here and now stuff.

But as you journey through the Old Testament it becomes a bigger concept.

the meaning of salvation expands to include the restoration of all humanity to a state of peace and wholeness. (Middleton and Gorman, “Salvation,” 56 New interpreter’s Bible Dictionary).

Eventually becoming a concept that is about eternal life - and about the fullness of life on Earth.

Salvation in the Old Testament

In Hebrew the words most often translated as save / salvation are:

Yasha (Yeshua) Natsal (Rescue)

Greek - Sozo (Save)

The first concept of Salvation in the Bible is back in Exodus - and probably the biggest motif -

Exodus 3:8 (NRSV)

8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land...

For most of the Bible - this is Salvation - deliverance from slavery. Deliverance from oppression… moving to the promised land.

It is inherently a physical concept about God’s protection and presence - and about God rescuing us from adverse circumstances.

It has to do with protection - and deliverance from enemies:

Deuteronomy 20:4 (NRSV)

4 for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.”

In this translation the words ‘give you victory’ (Yasha)

All through the historical books of the Old Testament -

Genesis - all the way to the Psalms - Salvation means to bring us safely through trouble to where we need to be.

Salvation in the Prophets

Something starts to change:

Ezekiel 37:23 (NIV84)

23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Salvation starts to talk about - not just God delivering us from the enemies that surround us...

But from the enemies within us.

Cleansing of our person - inner cleansing - washing away the effects of our sin.

This starts to come closer to what we find in the New Testament -

Salvation moves from just God saving us from calamities.

Or maybe God saving the nation - restoring it - which I think is what the Psalmist is praying.

Toward a much bigger understanding of what it means that God can Save us.

Ezekiel 37:23 (NRSV)

23 ...I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

God can save us from the damage of our past.

Restore us.

And then - make us ‘his people’ and he will be our ‘God’.

Salvation is restoration of the relationship between us and God.

Psalm 85:6 NRSV

6 Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?

Psalm 85:7 NRSV

7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Love is restored (Vs 7a), we rejoice in God (Vs 6b) - relationship is restored. And 6a — we are made alive again.

Fully alive.

Properly alive.

Renewal

1 - Intentionality

Our spiritual renewal begins with our becoming intentional.

Deciding to open the door / knock on the door...

Matthew 7:7 NRSV

7 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

2 - Receiving Salvation

Salvation is a gift we receive.

Saving is something that God does.

It is not something we can do in our own power.

We can’t ‘save ourselves’

Zacchaeus

Zacchaeus was looking for help. But Jesus invited himself.

Luke 19:5 NRSV

5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”

Jesus’ might have invited himself - but Zacchaeus could have refused to open the door.

He did - and when he did - something changed....

Luke 19:8 (NRSV)

8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

What is happening here?

What Ezekiel heard God talking about.

Ezekiel 37:23 (NRSV)

23 …I will save them ...will cleanse them. ...they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Jesus declares:

Luke 19:9 NRSV

9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.

Something happened to Zacchaeus when Jesus popped in - something changed.

It was a gift of God’s grace...

Jesus inviting himself - Zacchaeus receiving him. But it prompted a change of heart - undoing his corruption. And now he was restored to God’s family -

‘he too is a son of Abraham!’

How?

Romans 10:9–10 NRSV

9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

1 - Open the Door

2 - Receive Salvation

3 - Pay Attention

Psalm 85:8 NRSV

8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.