'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ Acts 16:31
A typical reaction to the good news of Jesus Christ, is, ‘There must be more to it than that. It can’t be that easy.’ This is one of the appealing things about the cults. People think they can earn, at least in part, this great gift from God we call salvation. Along comes someone with a message that affirms this and they get caught on the treadmill of works-based salvation.
If someone thinks the Christian Gospel is easy, they are hearing it wrong, usually because it is being wrongly told. Two serious errors must be avoided when telling and hearing the Gospel.
It is possible to so emphasise the free gift of God in texts such as Romans 3:21-26; 6:23; 10:9 that we teach a type of ‘Corinthianism.’ The church in Corinth had adopted a doctrine of licence in practically everything, from the way they conducted their public lives and services to the way they practised their personal relationships (1 Cor.1:10-19; 5:1-6:20) It was so shocking that it was, ‘...of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans.’ (1 Cor.5:1) Paul went to great lengths to remind the Corinthian saints of their duty to live holy and upright lives.
Conversely, it is possible to so emphasise obedience, from Jesus’ call to forgive Mt.6:14-15; to avoid lawlessness Mt.7:21-23; to bear fruit Mk.4:1-20; to practise good John 5:29, and from texts such as James 2:20, ‘faith without works is dead,’ that we rob people of the message of grace, replacing it with religious observances and laws.
Where do we Start?
Where do we start is a good question. Paul brings the sobering message, ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ (Ro.3:23). Later in the same letter he observes, For the wages of sin is death…’ (Ro.6:23). Writing to believers in Ephesus, he reminds us, ‘you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked.’ (Eph.2:1).
That is where we start, dead! Sin has made us dead to God and dead to the things of God. That is why, ‘the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Ro.6:23; 3:24). For us to have a meaningful relationship with God we must first be made alive.
Life is a gift (Eph.2:4-5).
Which is the Way?
In Jesus’ time it was widely believed that riches signified God’s favour and blessing (Deut.28:1-14). When Jesus declared, ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ (Mt.19:24) the disciples marvelled, asking, ‘Who then can be saved?’ (v25) Jesus answered, ‘with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ (v26)
If it is hard for a rich man, how hard must it be for a dead man? That is why the gift of life is vital as our starting point. However, how are we to know if that gift is ours? How do I know I am saved?
We are urged by Paul to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Cor.13:5). A good example is the prodigal son who, on examining himself, comes to his senses and returns to his father’s house (Lk.15:17-24).
When Peter preached at Pentecost, the crowd cried, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ to which Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…’ (Acts 2:38) Like the prodigal, they found themselves wanting in the face of the truth.
The Bible makes clear we are either servants of sin or servants of righteousness. If we are not servants of righteousness then we are already servants of sin. There is no neutral ground where we stand while deciding which to serve. Jesus said, ‘everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin,’ John 8:34. Repentance is a turning away from sin to Christ.
So often today this part of the message is missing from the Gospel story. Too many have answered altar calls, filled in commitment slips, said the sinner’s prayer, only to deceive themselves that they are right with God. But we are first called to repentance.
Like life, repentance is a gift from God, something God grants and we receive and act upon (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim.2:25-26)
How do we Live?
Anyone who has read Pilgrim’s Progress will know the cross is not a destination but a point of departure into the Christian life. The new Christian, having been ‘born again’ through faith in Christ (John 3:1-16) embarks on a journey, a pilgrimage through this world. Here his faith will be tested simply by the nature of the fallen world around him, and the saved fallen in his company. James, a favourite with works-based sects and cults, reminds us, ‘we all stumble in many ways,’ (Js.3:2)
When James warns, ‘faith apart from works is useless,’ (2:20) he is not saying works form the basis for our salvation. Rather, he is reminding us how we might test whether we have the right kind of faith, the saving kind of faith. Saving faith issues in works, bears fruit.
Paul sums it up wonderfully:
‘Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed,, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.’ (Philip.3:7-8)
Receiving the gift of life, we are to repent of our old, worldly and wicked ways, to relinquish all we once valued most dearly, for the sake of Christ whose worth, Paul tells us, is surpassing all else. Having received life, exercised the gift of repentance, turned our back on the world, we find ourselves adopted into God’s family (Ro.8:12-17). We are to walk in the new way of life, serve our new Master, Christ.
This new life is a gift (Eph.2:5)
We now grow daily in our family resemblance.
‘See what kind of love the father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are...Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.’ (1 John.3:1-2)
You will have noticed that in all this I haven’t said, ‘You must’...read the Bible, go to church, say your prayers, and so forth. This is because these are the fruit that issues from authentic faith, from our new life in Christ. We don’t do them to gain life, that is already ours. We don’t simply do them from gratitude, although we are a grateful people.
We walk the walk, run the race, discipline our bodies and minds because, ‘...we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’ (Eph.2:10)
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