We Believe in Christian Living (SOF of the EFCA, Part 8) August 22, 2010 Salvation as spoken of in the Bible has three points of time associated with it - there is a past aspect, a present aspect, and a future aspect. For the biblical understanding of salvation, I think we can best understand with an umbrella. The total picture of what the bible calls salvation is made up of a few different activities that occur in our pasts, in our presents, and in our future. What’s interesting is that the aspects of salvation that have occurred in our pasts, and the aspect of salvation that will occur in the future are all singular events in time. For example, at the moment in time in which you became a new creation of God, in which you became a disciple of Jesus Christ, when you made a confession of faith in Christ and became a Christian, there were a number of instantaneous acts that occurred between you and God, that only occur, as we like to say, at the moment of salvation. Salvation begins with a RESPONSE to the call of the gospel - Jesus saying come and follow me. Then REGENERATION through the indwelling Holy Spirit - this means that we are not longer spiritually dead to God but made spiritually alive to God. There is also ADOPTION - we are no longer God’s enemies but God’s sons and daughters, made members of God’s family with al the rights and privileges that come with this new status. And then finally, we have JUSTIFICATION - which means that God gives us right legal standing before him, we are no longer condemned because of our sin, but have been made clean and pure before God. All of these occur simultaneously in a single moment in time. Some of you can remember clearly the day in which you received Christ as your savior and Lord. For others of you, you can not point to a single day in which you became a Christian. Having a day or a moment in time to point to is not what’s important. What is important is if you have confessed Christ, at some point in the past you have responded to the call of Christ to Christian discipleship, you have been regenerated, you have been adopted into God’s family, and you have been justified. All of these occur as the work of God alone, He calls, He regenerates, He adopts, and He justifies. We can not earn this or work for it. It is God’s work alone and we receive this by faith alone, through Christ alone. But for a Christian right now, this is salvation past. Salvation future, is also a single moment in time. Salvation future, has not yet been received by any of us who are Christians in this room this morning, because salvation future occurs when a Christian physically dies and goes home to the Lord. We call this GLORIFICATION. This too is the sole act and work of God and is the final completion of God’s work of salvation in our lives. But there is the third aspect of salvation that completes the entire picture and brings unity and balance to the umbrella - and this is salvation present. As with any focus of time, the past is always the past it is done not to be repeated again. The future is always the future, something that has not yet occurred but we wait expectantly for. The present, well that is always ongoing. In theological terms we call the present aspect of salvation, SANCTIFICATION. Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. To say it another way, Sanctification is God’s working in our lives and our cooperating with God’s work. It’s this understanding of the total picture of salvation that article 8 of our statement of faith is seeking to communicate when it says, “We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose”. In other words, we believe that the work of God in our lives demands action that tangibly expresses the profession of faith we make. For example, if I say I’m married, then it’s expected that I’ll live and behave as a married man. Failure to do so may prove that my statement is at worse a lie and at best terribly ignorant and misguided. I can claim or state all manner of things about myself, but saying I am something doesn’t make it true. I could say I am a starting offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins. But until you see me put on the uniform, take the field, and drop Mark Sanchez or Eli Manner to the turf your not going to believe it. In a real sense, under the umbrella of salvation - seeing IS believing. However, as we’ve been asking throughout this series we need to ask again here - does the word of God which is our authority for life and practice teach that Christian Living is an important and necessary part of the total picture of our salvation? I believe it does. In Romans 6, which we heard read just a moment ago, Paul says that because we are now owned by Christ, we are to offer our bodies, live out our lives under the ownership or as Paul is saying it, the slavery of Christ. Paul says in verse 13, “Do not offer the parts of your bod to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, for you are not under law, but under grace”. And just in case we are tempted to say that being under grace means that there is no response that must be made to Christ, that the way we live our lives is inconsequential to our profession of faith in Christ, Paul reminds us that we are still slaves, and that our slave master does demand a changed way of life. The difference is who our slave master is. Salvation in Christ means that sin is no longer sin our slave master, Christ himself is. Paul says in verse 16, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness”. In other words, where sin is a cruel slave master exacting death, Jesus is a merciful and gracious slave master imparting life. As we take a look at article 8 in our statement of faith - Christian Living, we’re going to look at four ways the concept of Christian living is defined by our statement of faith. So again, if you don’t have a Bible out I invite you to open it now or take one from the seat in front of you. The first way our statement of faith defines Christian Living is in our love for God and others. The statement of faith says, “God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially”. Pay attention to the used to describe our love. God is to be loved supremely - God is the primary, the first, the most important object of a Christian’s love. Christian living is birthed from God’s love for us and demonstrated in our making our love for Him superior to anything or anyone else. All other action, all other service, all other work for the Christian finds its genesis in their supreme love for God. Though God is the supreme focus of our love, he is not the only focus as we are to love others sacrificially. What does it mean to love another sacrificially? It means that we will spend ourselves in love for others, we will go without so that we may love a brother or sister in Christ, we will surrender our own prerogative, or abdicate our rights over another in order to love them as God loves them. So, does the Bible teach this? Turn with me to Matthew 22. When asked what the greatest commandment in all of the scripture was, Jesus offers a powerfully simple and profound answer. Verse 34, “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with a question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’”. Have you ever wondered why it is that Jesus cites love for God and love for others as the greatest commandment? Do you think it might be because love of self, being self-centered is just so stinking naturally our bent that we need it to be constantly challenged and be reminded to refocus our heart and mind and soul away from the me and to the he and thee? Christian Living begins with supremely loving God and sacrificially loving others. The second way our statement of faith defines Christian Living is by engaging in the lives of other people around us. The statement of faith says that we believe we are to, “...live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed”. To care for one another is to look out for the interests of those around you, to be concerned about those around us, and looking out for and times even providing for their welfare. Many times in the NT we see this in the various passages called the “One another’s”. Here’s a sampling: Love one another; honor one another; live in harmony with one another; accept one another; instruct one another; greet one another with a holy kiss; be completely humble and gentle, bearing patiently with one another; be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other; speak kindly to one another; and spur one another on towards love and good deed. These are just some of the ways that the Bible teaches Christians to live out our faith with care for one another. In addition to caring for one another, our statement of faith also says that we believe we are to be compassionate toward the poor, and are to seek justice for the oppressed. Throughout the Bible, God’s people are consistently being called to remember those who are poor, and to defend those who are being treated unjustly. I confess that this is an area of my life that I am needing to grow in and see change. I myself need to learn how to be more compassionate towards the poor, and concerned about the injustices and oppression of many in our world and in this community that I live in. The Lord Jesus in announcing his mission while on earth says in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” As people seeking to live out our faith compassion towards the poor, seeking justice for the oppressed, even caring for one another is a part of what Jesus has modeled for us to do. What we must not miss is that these actions are all done with the gospel of Jesus Christ as the primary focus. It easy to lose the gospel in good works, but it is the gospel which allows Christian work and Christian life to have any power at all. Our supreme love for God and sacrificial love for others is the foundation from which we live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor, and justice for the oppressed. The statement of faith defines Christian Living a third way - we are to take seriously the spiritual war we as the church are engaged in and get armed for battle. The statement of faith says we believe that, “With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power and fervent prayer in Christ’s name we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil”. We believe that the spiritual world is real. Further we believe that the spiritual forces of darkness, Satan and demons are real, and that they are active in our world. Therefore, we believe that we need to not only be ready for spiritual battle but need to engage in spiritual battle head on. Understand, this may mean casting out demons and the like, but I think it has far more to do with every day faithfully and obediently living our lives as people committed to obedience to Christ. Paul paints a dramatic word picture in Ephesians 6:10-18 saying, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” We are not sent into war unprepared or without the necessary resources to win. God has given us the battle armor needed to engage the evil spiritual forces, and frankly the evil physical forces in our world by putting on truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Bible, and prayer. These are the weapons of our warfare. As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds”. The fourth definition of Christian Life that our statement of faith gives returns us to the foundation of the statement of faith itself -telling people about and calling people to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The statement of faith says, “In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed”. How does the Bible teach this principle. Peter pleads with us in 1 Peter 2:12 reminds us that we need to, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us”. This verse helps us to remember an important concept of sanctification, or what the statement of faith calls Christian Living. Sanctification, or Christian Living can’t be confined simply to Sunday morning or Church behavior. Christian Living IS living, it is life. The Bible knows nothing of a concept of living a spiritual life and living my real life. The Bible, Christian discipleship knows only of life. Life which is both spiritually and God- centered, and lived out with the world that we find ourselves in. And because this is true, how we live our lives matters, it matters to God, and it needs to matter to us. And, as Peter is saying the way you live your life being a believer in Christ has a powerful affect on those around us, and whether or not those who do not know Christ as savior and Lord will by your way of life, how you live may very well be a significant influence in whether or not that person responds to the gospel themselves. I know that may sound like a hard sell and a bit unfair - but it is what the Bible says and Christians are to take it as true and live accordingly. I guarantee you, when you say you are a Christian, those who are not are thinking about what you profess to believe, they are watching your life. Your salvation was received in the past by grace alone through faith, alone in Christ alone. Your salvation will be completed at some point in the future when either Jesus returns or we physically die. But your salvation is currently being worked out as God works in you, and you cooperate with his work. Salvation is past, it is present, and it has a future. We need to engage in the present now, and live out the change that has come in the past as we anticipate enjoying our salvation’s future completion.