Salvation in 3-D
Hebrews 1:14
14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Okay, I'm hoping that tonight can be more of a discussion than the last couple of weeks have been.
If you remember, two weeks ago I talked about a question that my bible study leader asked us "What is salvation?" Drawing from the verse in Hebrews that we just read. Well, as I predicted Hebrews 1:14 was the jumping off point for what turned out to be an hour long discussion on Salvation and how God works in our lives.
Now, I've always been a guy who applies Occam's Razor to my theology. I've always loved to distill everything down to its simplest form, and its served me, personally, quite well; but after the pastors got done I was left with the feeling that maybe I've done you guys an injustice. So, salvation revisited, now in 3D
Now, what I said two weeks ago still holds true: in its simplest form salvation is being saved, being rescued.
I will now break out my pastoral dictionary and throw some deep sounding words at you, which we will then try to distill down to their simplest form, thus hopefully gaining both complexity and simplicity.
They are justification, sanctification and glorification.
What do these words mean? What do they mean to us as Christians and most importantly, what do they promise us?
Lets start with Justification.
Justification - Reconciled with God through His grace.
Saved from the consequences of sin.
1 John 4:10
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Romans 10:9-10
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Justification, or to be justified by God, the classic memory trick for this one is "just if I'd" never sinned.
When we are justified (and if you've been saved then you were justified in that very moment) it is as if we had never ever sinned, and we are freed from the ultimate consequences of our sins, separation from God.
Sanctification - Being perfected by God.
Saved from the power of sin.
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
John Piper writes in his book The Passion of Jesus Christ:
"Our sins ruin us in two ways: it makes us guilty before God, so that we are under His just condemnation; and it makes us ugly in our behavior, so that we disfigure the image of God we were meant to display. It damns us with guilt, and it enslaves us with lovelessness."
Sanctification is God working through our lives, through our circumstances, to make us better.
We still sin. When we accept Christ and the work He did on the cross to save us we are justified, and the penalty of sin is wiped away, but we still sin, and that sin is an insult and wound to God, so he teaches us through our friends, through our circumstances, through so many different things, how to walk in His ways and obey Him. This is the process of sanctification, that we are free from sins power over us.
Glorification - Living with God in heaven.
Saved from the presence of sin.
Revelation 21:4-5
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
There will be a day when all of this fallen world will be gone and we will stand in God's presence, for real, and like He promises right here in Revelation, there will be no more pain or sorrow or death. Sin will be gone. Sin will be impossible. The first question of the Westminster catechism is "What is the chief purpose of man?" and the answer to that is "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
There will come a day when we will stand surrounding God and we will glorify Him. If I can say this without sounding weird than I would say that we will be his glory. We will enjoy him forever. That is our future as Christians, that is the final part of our salvation. That is the end of the story as we know it, and that is pretty cool.
So, Justification: Saved from the consequences of sin. (Just as if I'd never sinned)
Sanctification: Saved from the power of sin.
Glorification: Saved from the presence of sin.
That is how we are saved.
No comments:
Post a Comment