March 15, 2015
Obstacles on the Journey: Salvation by Grace
- 1 John 3:14-21
- Dr. Teri Thomas
March 15, 2015
Obstacles on the Journey: Salvation by Grace
John 3:14-21 and Ephesians 2:1-10
What do you do when you encounter a problem you want to overcome?
When you need to understand something?
Or learn to do something differently?
Some folks find someone to talk to about whatever is troubling them.
Some folks turn to Google.
I read about it.
You can look at the numerous bookshelves in my office and my home
and pretty much learn my life history.
What to expect when you are expecting.
How to raise boys.
So you want to keep your marriage alive.
Divorce Survival Guide
Improve your prayer life
Preaching so others might hear
Raising Money in the Church
How to Manage Change and then Conflict
Mixing faith and physics
How to build a staff team
Increase your will-power in ten days
How to embrace your 60’s.
How to read your way to a better life.
I read.
And every now I then I come across a book that I really find useful.
Sometimes it is helpful simply because the author puts into words
what I have been feeling and helps me find a way to think about the issue or the problem.
Sometimes it just helps to hear someone else struggle with my struggles
and I don’t feel so alone or so insane.
I have a category of books in my collection that I might label- How to save your faith.
Two of my favorites are listed in your bulletin this morning.
Douglas John Hall is one of the best contemporary theologians today.
Marcus Borg, who just recently died, was a great biblical scholar and author.
The two of them have been of significant influence in my personal belief and faith.
While I don’t agree with either of them all the time,
They have a way of helping me figure out what I do believe, and why.
They also helped with this sermon. The topic is salvation.
Both authors agree that salvation, as it is presented in scripture
is not simply about getting into heaven.
We are not saved simply so we can go to a better place when we die.
Salvation is important in both the Old and New Testaments.
It is the goal and yearning of the Christian life.
Yet in the Old Testament, belief in an afterlife- heaven or hell- is basically absent.
“Heaven” simply meant the sky.
And “Sheol” or “Hades” was the land of the dead, It was the place everyone went.
Not because they were bad, but because they died.
In the New Testament, Jesus doesn’t talk about heaven.
He talks about the Kingdom of God and he says it is at hand- now – not later.
The Lord’s Prayer clearly says- Your kingdom come…on earth.
The new life in Christ that Paul claims the Gospel offers
is new life today, not in a future world.
Jesus’ intention was to enhance life
To save us for life
He came that we might have life and have it abundantly.
Please don’t misunderstand me -
I am not saying there is no heaven
I am simply saying that heaven is not really our end game.
When we make the afterlife the sole purpose of salvation
we seriously distort what it means to be Christian.
If we think of salvation as our ticket to heaven
then Christianity becomes a religion of requirements and rewards.
It creates a contract- if I do this then God will do that.
That is salvation by works. It is something we earn.
And scripture clearly says salvation is a gift from God.
It comes by grace, totally unmerited, unearned, undeserved.
It is not a reward for completing a contract.
Another problem is that emphasis on the afterlife
turns Christianity into a religion about self-preservation.
The only reason to do good is to earn the eternal reward.
When our attention is focused on the next life
why bother making this life better for anyone but ourselves?
No need to worry about our environment, all will be right in heaven.
Don’t fret about the justice of political or economic systems.
We will be satisfied in heaven.
Why work for peace? Heaven will be tranquil and calm.
So if salvation in the Bible isn’t aimed at heaven, what is it for?
The meanings of salvation and of being saved
are rescue and deliverance.
It is about being rescued or delivered
from a negative condition of life to a positive way of life.
From anything that separates us from God
to a place nearer to God.
Today we would call it transformation.
The Scriptures are full of metaphors and symbols for this kind of life change.
The exodus is the story of Israel being liberated from bondage
they were powerless, exploited, depairing, then they were set free.
Salvation means returning and reconnecting with God
as a way to get out of the mess we are in.
Salvation means we are free from whatever holds us in bondage
Anger, fear, addiction, greed, ego.
Light in the darkness and sight to the blind
are images used in both the Old and New Testaments for salvation.
Salvation is about seeing again, seeing in a new way
When we are saved we are able to see that we are never alone.
We see the presence of God in our lives and in the world.
We see hope in hopeless situations.
We see promise and possibility in community.
We are saved for friendship, community and the care of others.
Being saved from sin is an image for salvation in the Bible.
In this image our salvation is forgiveness.
It means our misdeeds and betrayals are not the last word.
We are not condemned by our past- or our present.
New beginnings, fresh starts are always possible.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians about salvation
He said- God so loved the world.
Salvation is love.
It is the love God has for each of us, all the time, no matter what.
That love is what Jesus came to make real in our lives.
When we can feel that love it is the beginning of salvation.
When we know the presence of someone who shares our lives
Someone who can identify with our suffering, our pain, our struggles
That is salvation.
When we can love our enemy, our neighbor, our selves…That is salvation.
I cannot say that I am saved.
What I can say, with confidence, is that I am being saved.
One day at a time, one problem at a time,
one screw-up at a time, one reconciliation at a time, one experience of God at a time.
I am being changed.
Life is getting better.
I am being saved from my own brokenness.
I am getting closer to being what God intends me to be.
Salvation- in fact all of our Christian faith
Is about transformation- this side of death.
Salvation is about reconnection, seeing anew, acceptance,
forgiving, being forgiven, and knowing we are loved no matter what.
And faith, at its best, is a path
a path , a curvy, round-about, back and forth, up and down unmapped path
that step by step leads us to that salvation.
Thanks be to God.
Amen
Resources:
Why Christian: For Those on the Edge of Faith by Douglas John Hall, Fortress Press, 1998.
Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most by Marcus J. Borg, Harper One, 2014.