Orienting My Life on Christ: Salvation

Introduction

Last week, You’ll remember we started the year by sharing a marching verse for each of us to consider and pray over. One that has for its foundation, a goal of worship and worth in Jesus.

Matthew 6:33 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Seek first. that means before all other things. It means as first, or as of greatest importance. It also tacitly nods at how it can be easy to seek other things but that this should be see as the most important and most urgent in our lives.

It also gives us a picture of kingdoms. We live in a world of national boarders and history books tell us of borders and nations long gone, confined now only to stories and dusty books. God is given a kingdom for us to consider in this metaphor as well. Not our kingdom, not our nation, not our identity, not our will, not our plans, but seeking to build God’s reign and authority. Unlike other nations, this will not be geographically centered on a map but will be one of influence and power, set up on the hearts of believers.

In addition, we are subtly asked to abandon other values of righteousness past and present to pursue God’s righteous values rather than the myriad of man—made ones. For its source this looks at the word and story of God. While all other civilizations write their own source code the Bible has for its source the person and story of God.

Great story, great ambition, great goal for a life, indeed. but it begs of us the question, “How then?”

How do I do this? How do I seek his kingdom, a kingdom built on the hearts and lives of mankind, without borders or nationality but that includes all people? How do I live this out?

In our time in our Long Range Planning Team last year a reoccurring phrase that kept popping up was “Orienting my life in and on Christ.”

In the older yester years you couldn’t acquire a tv or radio signal without making sure your antennae was pointed in the right direction, aimed towards the source of the signal. and, in a similar way, we need to make sure that we are aimed at the source for this signal as well.

How can a believer ever hope to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness if he is aimed in the wrong direction and going after the wrong things? It just makes sense. So in the next 5 weeks I have as a simple goal to set 5 directions for us to pursue as we orient our lives on Christ and seek to prioritize his kingdom in our world, starting in our lives.

Today’s goal is to have an open and honest talk about Salvation.

Tension

One of the clunky tensions we feel in our lives as Christians is our relationship towards salvation.

So much of Christian activity seems to be about knowing, owning, sharing, and responding to the gospel. Going from lost to found. And according to research 72% or so of people become Christ followers before the age of 18. But what does one “do” with their salvation after they receive it? What really changes? What should change?

What was my relationship with salvation like then, before I knew Christ?

What is my relationship with salvation like now, redeemed and forgiven?

What should be my relationship with salvation be like from here on forward?

My goal for today is for us to look at our connection to, for many of us, this transformative thing that happened to us 2-60 years ago and ask what it means for us in the hear and now and what it should.

Truth

What is Salvation Exactly?

Often salvation is used a sort of general catch all term, usually denoting a deliverance of varying kinds. For instance it may be used when you’re healed from a disease or when you experienced a mercy or safety in travel or some sort of preservation in a season of peril.

In the OT Isreal was constantly threatened by hostile nations and the term salvation was used to describe how God protected them.

In the gospels it’s often attached to Jesus’ healings “Your faith has saved/healed you”.

But salvation, or the ultimate salvation is best understood as the ultimate deliverance from sin and the final expression of that is when the saved enter eternal bliss with Christ at the end of the age.

So, it means to be delivered from an ailment or enemy to take from that reality/fate and being brought into a better place/state.

That explanation put simply acts as our framework for understanding our salvation through Christ.

What are we saved from? Well scripture is very clear about this.

Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

From the time of Eden and Genesis until today all men have gone their own way and tried to live life on their own terms. This has brought us away from God’s design, his purposes, and his glory and these choices have led us away from God’s light and into a darkness of our own creation. This is the reason for the brokenness in the world. Not a God who is asleep at the wheel who does not care but a creation acting as drunk drivers barely able to keep it on the road. then when the car eventually careens off the road and destroys us and potentially others, we look on and questions God’s goodness and love. Its doesn’t compute. God is not the cause of or to blame for sin, we are. And that brings us to a central component of God’s nature. God is a God of Justice.

Psalm 9:7–8 “7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.”

Ecclesiastes 3:17 “17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.”

God’s very nature demands justice in creation. That righteousness would be rewarded and wickedness would be punished. All scales will be balanced. We’ve discussed this before in terms of a courtroom. If I were out driving drunk and ran over your grandmother, and was now in court for my crimes before the judge and all the evidence was brought before me and I was found guilty, would it matter that I didn’t mean too? That I didn’t fully understand what I was doing? That I didn’t think I would cause an accident or that I didn’t think I would get caught? Would it matter that I had not ill feelings towards your family or your grandmother at all or that I was sorry? Standing before the judge, I am either guilty or innocent of the charges. Now, lets say that the judge decided to bestow mercy on me. Tells me I didn’t mean to do this so he’s letting me off with a warning. Justice was not carried out on me and the family got no justice. Likewise the rules and the laws seem like a “most of the time” thing rather than righteous standards to not be abused.

So, let’s take these ideas and put them to our problem of sin.

Are we sinners? Yes. Whether we understand it that way, believe it that way, want it that way, or even think sin is a thing, we are sinners. Justice demands that we are punished for this. We’ve already established that God is righteous and just and therefore will pour out the righteous and just punishment on us for our sin.

We also know that that punishment is death.

So how does God uphold his nature of justice while fulfilling the great desire of his heart?

1 Timothy 2:3–4 “3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

You see, despite all the reasons why God is justified to punish us as his enemies, His love for us and his pity for us as wayward children gives Him a desire to see us saved from our sins rather than in death because of them. So what does he drop if he cannot hold both love and justice at the same time? How does he punish sin justly while creating a way for repentance? This is what is known as the “scandal of Grace” in theology and has everything to do with the person of Jesus Christ.

How does salvation work?

The Baptist Faith and Message explains this very succinctly

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

So, to Juston this a little. Salvation happens because Jesus, who was perfect and righteous, died on the cross for sins he did not commit. He took your punishment and penalty on the cross (which you righteously and justly deserved) so that justice would be poured out without reservation on Him. He drank that whole cup of justice and punishment so that you wouldn’t have too. So, now, when God looks upon you, under the shroud of Christ’s holy and sufficient payment for sin, he doesn’t see your sin but Christ’s righteousness.

When you first hear this truth, the story of the gospel, the Holy Spirit flips a switch in your heart to open your eyes and break your spirit over your sin. This is called regeneration. Before this, you eyes are calloused, you heart is hardened, and your spirit is stubborn. The Spirit brings about a change that causes your heart to melt and open to the truth of Christ’s offer. This truth causes you to want to turn from your sin in a move we called repentance. We turn from our sin 180 degrees and towards Righteousness. Give up our old life stained with sin, taking Christ’s offer of salvation into us and allowing it to define the remainder of our life, causes justification to happen. Our sin is swallowed up in Christ’s sacrifice and our penalty is paid off in full. We’ve been delivered from this debt. Now we live in this redeemed life awaiting glorification when Christ comes again.

I really hope that makes sense to you as you reflect on your own story and how Christ became real in your life. I hope you saw these beats in your own heart and life and walk in Christ.

this is the nature of salvation and how it works in our lives according to the scriptures. However, I feel that often it can be the case in churches that our relationship with salvation feels very real and important towards the beginning of the story only to fade into the background as we move on from that date.

I’ve heard a pastor describe it this way:

“We put so many hours, dollars, and lessons into getting you from lost to found, sinner to saved, but saved to what end? Do we get you saved, baptize you in celebration, only to release you out the backdoor with a high-five and a good luck?”

Salvation can sometimes become a date on the calendar that we think on in memory but don’t have a relationship with any more. Like a birth certificate that documents an important time in our life but is filed away into a folder in a cabinet, only taken out when needed. Like it has been called in years past, your fire insurance policy that you keep in a safe place for when you need it.

But your relationship with your salvation is one of the most definitive things about not only your walk with Christ but who you will ever be, now and for eternity. Let me explain.

In one sense, you were saved in the past.

Ephesians 2:8–10 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Romans 8:24 “24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?”

Colossians 1:13 “13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”

there is a past tense understanding of a finished work of Christ being fulfilled.

Paul leaves his readers in absolutely no doubt that the reality of their salvation is an accomplished fact. and I too want to echo that point. Your salvation experience is a real and personal part of who you are. Whether you were 5 or 50, whether your story was one of total life overhaul or growing up in a supportive Christian family. God called and you heard and answered. I would go further to say that your salvation was accomplished and sealed long before you were even a thought.

In one sense it was finished when Christ died and rose. And there is nothing wrong with this. You are not deficient if you cling to this thought or remember that time or place or what was churning in your life at that time. I would suggest the further you get from that date of your salvation the more you need to reflect on the miracle that happened in your life and the importance of it.

However, that is not the end of the story.

Salvation in another sense is in the here and now.

Romans 1:16–17 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””

The gospel “is” the power. Paul seems to have a tenor now in this passage of this being a now happening.

or this one

2 Corinthians 6:2 “2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

It seems to suggest that salvation has an urgent and now mandate attached, not to be put off to some other more convenient time but to be taken hold of now.

and in this “here and now” understanding of salvation comes another understanding that we seem to know about but never take hold of. It often feels like a present under the tree, addressed to you, handed to you, but you never open it.

1 Corinthians 1:18 “18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

What does it mean that as we are being saved that we have the power of God?

Paul references this in Romans 7:24–25 “24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

Even as he comes face to face with his own failings and struggles and shortcomings, Paul rhetorically asks, “Who can set me free? Who will deliver me from this mess?”

Friends our eternal destiny has been rewritten yes, but God also gives us His hope and his power and his word to be our deliverance in the here and now. It is power over sin. It is power to accomplish his will. It is wisdom to counter our selfishness and earthly desires. God gives us power to overcome as he overcame. This power is not tied to your success either. You are already as saved as you can be. 100% through and through. You don’t have to conquer and succeed in order to now earn your salvation. No. This is instead Christ giving you his holy spirit and his power to be delivered in this day. Where you are not enough he steps in and becomes strength.

And salvation definitely has a future lean to it as well.

2 Timothy 4:18 “18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

As Paul points our eyes toward the future he paints but a small picture of the foretaste of salvation to be felt for eternity.

The apostle John gives us probably the best picture in a chapter no doubt many of you have heard and committed to memory.

Revelation 21:1–4 “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

So, in closing, to bring this all together, I want to remind us that as we seek to build God’s kingdom and pursue his righteousness, it starts with orienting our very lives around and towards him. Its for him, its in him, and its through him. That starts with regeneration and salvation. Being brought from death to life in Christ. Salvation is the snowball that starts everything rolling down the hill.

But that salvation is not just fire insurance, it is the power of God that is good for living out this new life in him. As you pray, as you worship, as you study and apply his word, Christ is giving you power to see with a heart like his. He gives you power to overcome sin in your life and endure trials in Christlikeness. He gives you a heart for the lost and for others to taste the salvation you have experienced, are now experiencing as you live in victory, and will get full picture of in Christ when you behold him in glory.

cool story juston, so what?

Well here is your so what for this week. 5 take-aways that you can take home and put in practice immediately.

Landing

Salvation changes your identity from slave and sinner to redeemed and beloved.

As one who is redeemed and freed from this old life, you are free to walk in this new life as one who is and is being sanctified.

You cannot do anything to earn your salvation then, now, or ever. But thanks be to God, you don’t have too.

Your salvation is not just a date in the past or in the future but power for today.

Be thankful, live redeemed, remember who you were, and continue to share the hope of this change with others who need to experience salvation.