The
Struggle to Discover Salvation
Luke
24:45-49
Jim Davis
I have often
heard the question ask, what does your church believe?
There are as many varied answers as there
are churches. When someone asks me this question I always feel as if
the person is asking, how does your church differ from other
churches? I have heard church members seek to answer the question by
defining the church by the activities of the church. They may say,
we are a mission oriented church or we are a youth oriented church.
A person may describe a church by a doctrinal tenet. The church may
be described as one that believes in baptism or the trinity or the
resurrection, etc. Many define their church as a seeker church. The
church may be described as a church that seeks to plug people into
church programs. I can only wonder if we are so mesmerized about
what we want a church to be that we have lost our focus about what
is important.
During my years
attending a Christian college I learned how to defend the faith. I
was taught the doctrinal tenets. It is not that those aren’t
important, but I wish I had been taught how to live by faith. Over
the years I have learned that a living faith is the only way to
truly defend my faith. I have learned that increased Bible knowledge
doesn’t automatically translate into a dynamic faith or change the
way people live. I have discovered that knowledge of the Scriptures
does not guarantee an understanding of the Scriptures.
Jesus told the
Pharisees, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think
that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that
testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John
5:37-40 NIV).
Jesus’ disciples
had a working knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. They knew
the Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and Abraham and all
his descendants. They even believed Jesus was the Messiah, but they
didn’t really understand the Scriptures. After Jesus’ resurrection,
Jesus had to open their minds so they could understand what they
thought they knew.
Luke 24:45-49
45 Then he opened their minds so they
could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is
written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third
day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in
his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are
witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father
has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with
power from on high." NIV
The disciples
stayed in Jerusalem as Jesus instructed, but even though they were
obeying, their ideas about the kingdom of God were much different
than God’s. They were obeying Christ with a totally different idea
about God’s kingdom than what would actually transpire. The whole
time they were waiting in Jerusalem they were still wondering, when
God would restore the kingdom to Israel. Ten years later they were
still struggling with taking the gospel to the gentiles as God led
Peter to Cornelius’ house. Jesus didn’t make any attempt to correct
their ideas about his kingdom before he ascended to heaven. He
simply let the true nature of his kingdom reveal itself as they
followed him.
A Misguided
Purpose is Better than No Purpose
The disciples
weren’t much different than most. They began their journey with the
Messiah seeking greatness. They wanted to do something great to earn
the right to sit on his left hand or right hand in his kingdom. It
was difficult for them to understand what God wanted to accomplish
through each of their lives. We find Saul on the road to Damascus
ambitiously seeking his personal dreams for the kingdom of God as he
persecutes Christians for believing in Jesus. Jesus opens his eyes
to understand. Saul gives his testimony of Christ revealing himself
to him.
Acts 26:9-18
9 "I too was convinced that I ought to do
all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10
And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the
chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were
put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went
from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to
force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went
to foreign cities to persecute them.
12 "On one of
these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and
commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, O king, as I was on
the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing
around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I
heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, '
Saul, Saul, why
do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15 "Then I
asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
"'I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16'Now get up and stand
on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and
as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.
17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I
am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they
may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me.'" NIV
Paul later wrote
to the Corinthians saying:
2 Corinthians 4:6
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out
of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
NIV
We have the same
problem; the nature of our world hasn’t changed. The nature of our
dreams hasn’t changed. Human nature hasn’t changed. We come to God
desiring to do great things; and God humbles us to accept him. The
only true way to know God is by seeking him even if we are misguided
by our dreams of grandeur. I am always overjoyed when I see someone
who sets out to find a church to attend who discovers God’s
salvation. The amazing aspect of God’s salvation is not discovered
once and for all. It is not about a past experience of salvation.
The free gift of
salvation is given to us when we confess Christ as Lord—ruler—of our
lives and are baptized into Christ.
Galatians
3:26-29
26 You are all
sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who
were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV
Salvation isn’t
just something that happened when we believed and confessed Christ
as Lord in baptism. It is about what we are discovering and
experiencing about God moment by moment throughout life. It is about
the fact that I have been saved to experience salvation as a life
long experience. It is a daily experience as God gradually and ever
so wisely chips away at our ambitious earthly dreams and replaces
them with himself.
Salvation
doesn’t end with our acceptance of the free gift.
It requires allowing God to lead us through our sometimes shameful
ignorance to reveal his living truth. We must allow God to unwrap
his free gift in every experience in life. Otherwise the gift
becomes static and absolutely meaningless. Salvation is a journey of
discovery where God is continually helping us discover his ongoing
priceless gift of salvation.
If you don’t
believe this; you have got to put everything down right now and
begin reading the stories of the Old Testament. Notice how every
faithful character in these stories is struggling to believe. Just
look at Abraham’s struggle to believe God’s promise of a son. When
Abraham is finding it extremely hard to hold on to God’s promise,
God ask him a simple question. God finally asks Abraham "Is anything
too hard for the Lord." We see the same struggles in the lives of
Jesus’ disciples. It is the same know-how each of us must experience
for salvation to become real.
We must have the
experience of Job. In midst of all his troubles Job declares.
Job 42:1-6
42:1 Then Job replied to the LORD:
2 "I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3[You asked,] 'Who is this that obscures
my counsel without knowledge?'
Surely I spoke of things I did not
understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4["You said,] 'Listen now, and I will
speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.'
5
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes."
NIV
Job’s ideas
about God obscured God’s counsel. His thoughts prevented him from
seeing the awe of God. His friends were certainly no help. When God
questioned him about his understanding he was dumbfounded.
Job 38:1-12
38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the
storm. He said:
2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's
foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely
you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, 'This far you may come and
no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?
12 "Have you ever given orders to the
morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the
edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a
seal;
its features stand out like those of a
garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken. NIV
God questions
Job with unfathomable questions until Job declares, "My ears had
heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise
myself and repent in dust and ashes." He had heard of God, but it
was his experience of God that opened his eyes to the true nature of
God—to see the God he had only dreamed of. It caused him to despise
his ways and repent in dust and ashes.
Job’s journey is
a journey each must take as we seek the light of God’s counsel. We
must seek it to discover the true nature of salvation. The free gift
of salvation is freely given to us through the sacrifice of Christ,
but discovering God’s salvation in every living circumstance is
something each of must come to know for ourselves.
The Bible is a
book that we must seek to experience in our lives. We must allow God
to make our lives his story before our minds will be opened to
understand. The disciples came to Christ with great dreams of a
powerful earthly Messianic kingdom. The Messiah would overcome
Israel’s enemies and restore her prominence in the world. Instead
Titus marched into Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and demolished the city
along with all their hopes and dreams of the Messianic kingdom of
their dreams. Yet, it was through seeking this misguided dream that
the disciples learned the true nature of the Messiah.
The disciples
learned it all through experience as they sought a misunderstood
dream. They came to Christ seeking to fulfill their ambitious dreams
with the Messiah. They came to Christ seeking to fulfill their
worldly dreams. They came to Christ seeking their own righteousness.
They were seeking to earn a place of honor. They were no different
than most walking into church buildings today.
Conclusion:
God never asks
us to give up our ambitions without giving us something better and
more glorious to hold onto. Study the lives of the faithful; behold
how God leads them as he works in and through them to accomplish his
will. Allow God to work in your life.
Commit yourself
to discovering salvation on a daily basis. Allow God to work his
plan for your life. Allow God to come alive in your life.
