We’ve almost reached the end of the series and I really wanted to use these last couple of videos to talk about a topic I avoided earlier on. I left his until the end because I wanted to lay the groundwork for what is probably the area where I differ from mainstream Christianity the most…and that area is Salvation.
I know I keep saying this, but what we believe depends entirely upon who we believe God to be, and that includes how we conceptualize what determines whether we are saved or lost. If you believe God created you for selfish, obscure, or arbitrary reasons, then you may believe in a God that feels justified in setting moving targets regarding what constitutes “righteousness” and burning people for all eternity if they reject Him. However, if you believe that God is a God of love who allowed freedom of choice to be exercised in a way that would give Him an opportunity to demonstrate the true depth of His love, then your conception of salvation and what it looks like should reflect that, and that’s what I’m going to talk about today.
What Must I Do to be Saved?
We’ve established that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and that God is a God of unconditional love. We’ve established that God gave us freedom of choice, knowing what the consequences would be, so that He would have the opportunity to demonstrate the depth of His love by sending His to be the propitiation for sin itself. We have established that it was BECAUSE of sin that mercy was brought into active exercise. We’ve established that unconditional, Godly love is the fulfillment of the law and thus, it is the way we overcome sin. And we’ve established that God’s plan accounts for the decisions He knows we’re going to make and that community is about love, encouragement, support, and creating invitations to hold each other accountable, not behavioral modification, judgment, and presumptions. Why does any of that matter? It matters because it informs the answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
“And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Matthew 19:16-22
This passage is crucial because, again, it helps establish a foundation. The man asked, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?”Jesus’s response was, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good.” Jesus then told him to keep the commandments, which is stated more than once throughout the Bible, and when the man asked “Which ones?”, Jesus named the Ten Commandments, adding “and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But here’s where it gets interesting. The young man said “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” And to that Jesus responded, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Now a lot of people think that passage refers to material possessions, but I believe this young man is an example of what it means to be “lukewarm.” Stay with me.
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” Revelation 3:14-18
Now let’s go to John chapter 9. One fine Sabbath day, Jesus healed a man who was born blind and it sent the Pharisees into a tizzy. I won’t read the whole thing, but when you have time, you should read it because the shade the Pharisees were throwing to everybody was completely out of pocket. They even cast the man who was healed out of the synagogue because he said that He believed that God was with Jesus. This is what Jesus had to say about that:
“Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” John 9: 35-41
So what do these passages of Scripture have to do with each other? The rich young man came to Jesus asking what good deed he needed to complete in order to be saved. He essentially asked how he could “earn” his salvation. Jesus’ answer may seem straightforward, but if you know that love is the fulfillment of the law and that it’s a character trait…a state of being that only God can make manifest within a person….then you know what Jesus was really saying to him. But if there was any doubt, it should have been removed by Jesus’s response to the young man saying, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Because at that point, it became clear that the young man was lukewarm. It became clear that the young man was neither hot nor cold, because he was unable to see that he wasn’t perfect, which meant he was unable to TRULY see his need for a Savior. He came to Jesus seeking what DEED he needed to complete to be save….what LIFESTYLE he needed to live to be saved….what he could do within his own strength to be saved…and he thought he pretty much had it under control. But the problem the Laodiceans had in Revelation…the problem the Pharisees had in John 9…and the problem real “lukewarm” believers have today is the belief that they are “rich,” have “prospered,” and are in need of nothing, not realizing that they are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”And Jesus essentially says the same thing to both: Follow me. Because following Him is a direct path to a life of love, which in turn is a direct path to salvation.
Love isn’t some abstract, intangible theory that you can’t really base your way of life upon. It’s a principle that has been explicitly outlined in Scripture over and over and over again. It’s not a coincidence, an afterthought, or a caveat. It’s the essence of God’s character. It’s the fulfillment of the law. It’s the reason for our very existence and the ONLY way anyone get anywhere spiritually…the only way any of us build a lasting, meaningful relationship with our Creator….is by letting go of what we’ve been conditioned to believe and opening our hearts and our minds to the fullness of who God wants to be for us. “What is the most loving thing I can do in this situation?” isn’t an easy question to ask, but I don’t think there are very many scenarios where the answer is something displeasing to God. Love is the one thing in this life that transcends literally any barrier human beings can think to put in front of it. It overcomes time, space, religion, culture, gender, race, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, and so much more. It is a universal law that everyone who has ever existed has had the opportunity and the capacity to experience and understand. And history has always been defined by those who acted out of unconditional love and self-sacrifice, and those who acted out of selfishness and malice or indifference. Love always has been and always will be the standard by which all of us will be judged. No exceptions. No excuses.
This week, I challenge you to ask God to give you eyes to see. I challenge you to ask God how you can let go of what you think you know that may be holding you back from seeing and knowing God more deeply. I challenge you to stop trying to be perfect and live “right” and to start trying to surrender daily and follow the Lamb wheresoever He leads. I challenge you to ask God to show you the breadth and depth of His love and to enable you to share that love with others.
Next week, I’ll be concluding the series by explaining why love is the standard by which we will all be judged and why that means that ANY doer of the law can and WILL be justified.