What Does It Mean To Be “Saved” Pt 5

 

Salvation for Christians in the West has tended to imitate our culture; meaning it has become a very personal thing.  Jesus somehow became a personal Lord and a personal Savior. Of course Christ has many titles and names ascribed to him but those are two late inning additions come straight from, and mirror, our very in “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps” individualistic culture.  Everyone is responsible for themselves. As I was told many times growing up, “God has no grandchildren” 

The affect of this theology though has been reductionist view of salvation resulting in a smaller understanding of it than what God intended.

Jesus & Zacchaeus

When Jesus has dinner with  Zacchaeus which results in the the corrupt tax collector changing his ways Jesus proclaims salvation has come to the entire house:

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19: 9-10

Now I admit, if you see salvation as ultimately being a determiner of your after-life destination, then Jesus’ pronouncement makes little sense.  A personal Lord and personal savior can save my personal sins and allow me my ticket to heaven…but the rest of my household are on their own.

But…

What if salvation is much bigger and better than that?  If salvation is ultimately to bring restoration to the world than Jesus’ announcement just got a whole lot more interesting!

When Zacchaeus begins instead to operate as a government official from a new nature; dealing with people in fairness, justice, empathy, and compassion than salvation moves far beyond the personnel.

* His wife is impacted

* His children are impacted

* His community is impacted

I’m not suggesting those people don’t have their own choices to make.  They, like everyone, have to choose to engage in that restoration work that Christ initiated, or to work against it.  But those in Zacchaeus’ household will be impacted by Zacchaeus’ decision to walk in the Jesus Way.  They will experience the blessing of that decision and will be in a better position to participate in it themselves.

Paul & The Jailer 

In Acts 16 Paul the Apostle makes a similar statement when the jailer who was about to take his own life when he thought Paul and his companion Silas had escaped while on his watch:

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

Acts 16: 27-31

Paul’s declaration is almost better understood by Christians today because salvation is tied to belief in Jesus; and that belief can save your household as well.  As Christians we often err by suggesting salvation comes from believing in God and confessing Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  If we believe that we are saved.

But James the Apostle cuts across that thinking by suggesting that even demons can claim that level of belief;

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James 2: 14-19

James is saying that “belief in Jesus” that does not transform you into ambassador for a new kind of society that Jesus came to begin is not belief at all.

See, the kind of belief James is suggesting, and which Paul shared with the jailer in Phillipi, is a belief that will bring salvation to you and those around you.  Believing in Jesus means believing in the Way he taught us to live.  It’s not a lesson in good moral conduct, it’s a blueprint for restoring a broken world.

Salvation is an invitation and acceptance to participate in the restoration work that Jesus promises will bring rewards “both in this age, and in the Age to Come”

Peace,

Steve