I think it was Carman who had a song, ‘Are you saved?, Saved from the power of sin. Are you saved, deep within.’ I think that was the chorus or something along those lines. It had a kind of heavy metal flavor (to my untrained mind), and the listener could get caught up in the music but the words are clear. So I guess it would be light metal … The fact is, our reflections this week have mentioned the keys to salvation – confessing Jesus as Supreme Ruler, because we believe in the resurrection fact – but we probably have not fully considered what it is that we are saved from or to. I invite you to consider today’s Holy Nougat with me:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NLT
Within the context of faith, in particular the Christian faith; salvation is about the business of sin. Humanity‘s sin when we opted to ‘take control’ or ‘lordship’ over our lives. Ironically, most of us wanted control over our lives when we were younger.
We probably dreamed of the day when we could make independent decisions without worrying about what others think. And if it’s people’s opinion that we seek to override, then independence is fine; but when we lose the willingness to heed God’s guidance or desires for us; that’s usually on the fast track to sin. I suspect that we ALL have had a moment or many when we really didn’t want God’s way; we might even have a justifiable reason why. It still is sin – we were totally outside of God’s will.
A quick trip down memory lane takes us to Genesis 2:16; where a clear direction was given by God. It even came with conditions – ‘Do NOT eat of the fruit of the KNOWLEDGE of Good and Evil OR Death is your portion.’ In Genesis 3:1-5; we get a clearer picture of what yielding to sin does from a mental-emotional standpoint: it convinces us that we are Gods (ourselves) and this capable of making our own decisions. I suspect that the fact that Eve’s flesh didn’t immediately fall away and return to the earth in Genesis 3:6-7 (which recounts the act of falling away from God’s plan and will), caused many of us to determine that sin isn’t Death.
And it isn’t. It leads to Death.
But not the physical death per se, rather a spiritual death. Dead faith perhaps. For Death in faith contexts is best described (by me) as Separation from God. And that’s what we seek to undo when we yield to the Lordship of Christ. We recognize that living by our own rules (doing what is right in our own sight, for there’s no sovereign control over us c.f. Judges 21:25) leads to disaster, mayhem, destruction and even physical death; and we seek to be rescued from our own understanding.
Thus for Christians, To be Saved means we are rescued From our own sin and sinfulness. Unfortunately, not everyone has opted to be rescued.
And, as we are rescued By our Faith – belief in Jesus as God and Messiah (aka Christ), and that the proof of Him as Messiah (Savior/Christ) was His Self-Resurrection – we recognize that we are Saved TO Fullness of Life with Jesus in control.
Yups.
It’s not necessarily that rough seas won’t toss us all around; it’s that we don’t seek to randomly figure our way out of the storm without First consulting Our Sovereign. And while there is that genuine promise of Living Forever with Christ; it’s more critical that we first Live under His Rule.
And that, in a nutshell, covers the gist of Salvation. We receive (as a free gift from God) the power to overcome the desire to sin (our innate desire to be God), which comes with separation from God (death) by yielding to God’s will. This is demonstrated in our believing in and confessing the Lordship of Jesus over our lives. When that’s done, Christ in God’s Spirit can do marvelous work within, with and through (without) us. Thanks be to God.
