What to do to be saved?

So you want to be saved and inherit eternal life, and want to know what to do?

The Bad News

The fact is there is nothing you can do.

The prophet Micah also wondered what he can do:

“Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:6-8).

Burnt offerings? Thousands of rams? Ten thousands of rivers of oil? Your first born child? As if we could buy God’s favour?! We cannot bribe a perfect God with material things. The last part of the text above gives some hope. Maybe we can persuade God through good works: doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly before God. While these things are good, they are still not enough.

The prophet Isaiah makes it clear:

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). Our “righteousnesses”, in other words our good works, are like “an unclean thing” before God. Even the best we have to offer is not good enough for a perfect God.

The Apostle Paul makes it very clear: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

We have all sinned. The best we can offer is not good enough. Even if we devoted our life as did Mother Theresa, our good works are considered inept at gaining us salvation and eternal life.

The Good News

A perfect God can only accept absolute absolute perfection. Since none of us are perfect, we have nothing to offer God. Knowing this, and not wanting us to be lost, God provided the sacrifice Himself, since only a perfect God can supply a perfect propitiation.

“But this sacrifice was not made in order to create in the Father’s heart a love for man, not to make Him willing to save. No, no! “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” John 3:16. The Father loves us, not because of the great propitiation, but He provided the propitiation because He loves us. Christ was the medium through which He could pour out His infinite love upon a fallen world. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” 2 Corinthians 5:19.” – Steps to Christ.

How are we saved? We are saved when we acknowledge our helplessness at attempting to save ourselves, and then call on God to save us. This is the big difference between real Christianity and any other religion. All other religions are about the things we do. True Christianity makes it clear – there is nothing we can do that will be good enough. Our only hope is in accepting our weakness, and accepting God’s strength in our stead.

Recounts Paul: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

This acceptance of our weakness, of our imperfections, or our sinfulness; the realization that there is nothing that we can do to be saved and that our only hope is in God is called Repentance; i.e. a change of mind. We used to think that there is something that we can do, there is some kind of contribution we can make that will help in our salvation that will somehow make us good enough. Such thinking is the thinking of other religions. Christianity requires a paradigm shift: Repentance.

Once we’ve repented (i.e. accepted that only God can provide the perfect propitiation), we move on to confession. Consider confession the actual acknowledgement of your repentance. It is during confession that you tell God about all your attempts at saving yourself and all your failures (sins), and ask God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Through confession we actually give God permission to do for us what He is most eager to do.

“God does not force the will of His creatures. He cannot accept an homage that is not willingly and intelligently given” – Steps to Christ.

God does not force the Gift of Salvation onto us; love never forces. He offers it gladly, and we are free to accept or decline it. We are free to choose life or death; however, God pleads with us to choose the former life, not the latter (Ezekial 33:11).

Confession is what the tax-collector did: “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). In this action he acknowledged his helplessness and pleaded for God’s mercy. Jesus said about the tax-collector: “…this man went to his house justified… For every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14).

This is it. This is how we get saved – we stop trusting in ourselves and we start trusting in God; we cease having faith in ourselves and we commence having faith in God. God promised that He will save us if we believe in the provision He made for us. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

Since God is perfect, and the propitiation is perfect (after all, the sacrifice is God-self, incarnated in human flesh, i.e. Jesus the Christ), no amount of sin can make it of ill-effect. You cannot be too sinful for Jesus’ righteousness not to cover you.

“None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus, who died for them. He is waiting to strip them of their garments stained and polluted in sin, and to put upon them the white robes of righteousness; He bids them live and not die.” – Steps to Christ.

So what about the Ten Commandments and Loving God and They Neighbour as Thyself?

Clearly these things are important, as they are reflections of God’s character. God’s character is love. In fact, God is love (1 John 4:16). By living out the Ten Commandments we are demonstrating love to God (first four commandments) and we are demonstrating love to our neighbour (remaining six commandments). But wonderful as such actions might be they should never be confused as having any merit for our salvation.

“There are those who profess to serve God, while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense of love of Christ, but they seek to perform the duties of the Christian life as that which God requires of them in order to gain heaven. Such religion is worth nothing.” – Steps to Christ.

No amount of good doing contributes to what God has done for us. If it did, it would insinuate that Jesus’ sacrifice was not good enough, was not perfect. Our salvation is not Jesus’ righteousness plus some of our righteousness. It is only Jesus’ righteousness on our behalf. It is Jesus only. The only contribution we make is to accept God’s perfect salvation for us.

When we accept God’s great gift of grace, when we allow God into our life, a steady transformation occurs:

“When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be filled with His love, with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to Christ will be the spring of action.” – Steps to Christ.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). Thus, keeping the commandments is not a duty, nor an attempt at going to heaven, but a natural outflow of our love to God. When we love God, we’re not following a law written on stone, but a law written on our hearts: “…saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33b).

I conclude with my favourite Bible passage: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). As one pastor so wonderfully summed it up: “By Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.”

God is good, Jesus lives!

The Good News Tour 2009

A series of sermons about God -- the God I believe in.

In MP3-format. Right-click and "save as".

The Good News Tour 2009

1. Is There Really a God? -- Greg Boyd
2. What I Expect from God -- Marco Belmonte
3. What is God Like? -- Herb Montgomery
4. Prove to Me God is Love -- Greg Boyd
5. So Why All the Suffering? -- Herb Montgomery
6. Scary God or Scary People? -- Brad Cole
7. What Does a Christian Look Like? -- Greg Boyd

Faith

What is it? Specifically, what is faith within the Biblical context? Many people will have you believe that Christianity requires a blind faith. This is not the case. Faith, in the Bible, is not a blind surrender to superstition. God invites us: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD…” (Isa 1:18). A whole book (Proverbs) in the Bible is devoted to Wisdom and throughout Scripture wisdom is praised and superstitious belief in idols (the illogical worship of inanimate objects) is scorned. Jesus talks about wise men and foolish men. In fact, Jesus is Himself described as the Word. The Greek term translated into “Word” in English is “Logos”, which means [logical] expression. Whatever faith is, it is clearly not a simpleton's acceptance of something that lacks reason; of something illogical.

So what does “faith” mean in the Bible? The first time the word faith is used in the Bible is in Deuteronomy 32:20: “And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.” The Hebrew word for faith, from this passage is “'êmûn” and literally means “established”, “trusty” or “trustworthiness”.

When Jesus says in Matthew 6:30: “…if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”, the lack of faith in this section comes from the Greek word “oligopistos”, which means “lacking in confidence”.

Referring to the centurion that asked Jesus to heal his servant by merely speaking the word, Jesus answered: “…Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matthew 8:10). The term “faith” in this passage comes from the Greek “pistis” which means “persuasion”, “conviction”, usually of Truth.

The implication is not blind faith, but acceptance of a Truth after being persuaded of its validity. The centurion was not hoping on some superstitious belief, but he was convinced that Jesus could heal his servant because he knew about Jesus’ ability. He had probably heard of the many instances where Jesus healed the sick and might even have witnessed some of these miracles. He was persuaded about Jesus’ power; he was convinced of His authority over sickness.

Throughout the New Testament the word translated into faith in English is the same Greek word “pistis”, i.e. persuasion of truth, or the negative “oligopistos”, i.e. a lack in confidence -- not trusting something. A better modern translation than “faith” would probably be “trust”. Trust is something that comes from experience; to have confidence in something. That is why “faith in God” is not merely saying the words “I believe in God”, nay, true faith, is trusting God. And trusting God comes from having a relationship with Him.

God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith. -- Steps to Christ; Chapter 12.

[This little book, Steps to Christ, is basically Christianity in a nutshell. Two great chapters regarding faith is Chapter 6: Faith and Acceptance and Chapter 12: What to Do with Doubt. Or download the whole book in pdf-format here. For more formats, including audio, visit this website.]

The Good News

A couple of years ago (and not even that many years) I had this idea that we had a certain measure of righteousness (goodness in less theological terms), which Christ added to in order to make us perfect. Imagine that in order to be perfect you had to have a score of 100 for every virtue. Let’s pretend that under the heading of Patience I have a score of 65. When I accept Christ as my Saviour, he fills my Patience bar with the extra 35 I need to be perfect, i.e. to be saved. And he does that to all the virtues, so that I can become perfect and acceptable for heaven.

This, I now believe, is heresy.

It pretends that salvation (justification) and perfection (sanctification), is part me and part Christ. I am now convinced that it is all Christ. Scripture says: “Because of God, you are in Christ Jesus, who is made for us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” [1 Corinthians 1:30] We have no merit that is worthy of contributions before a perfect God. We are all sinful. Even our best actions (all our righteousness / goodness) are “as filthy rags” [Romans, 3:10; Isaiah 64:6].

We contribute nothing to our salvation. We have nothing to boast about. “Therefore, as it is written, he that wants to boast should boast in the Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1:30, 31] For our salvation is all God’s doing from beginning to end. It is He that supplies the righteousness, it is He that paid the price, and it is He that will complete it in our lives. If ever we are to become perfect it is because He that started this good work in us will finish it also.

There’s one thing that we do – we accept the invitation and trust in God. And even this “faith”, is a gift from God.

This is, simplistically, the great difference between true Christianity and all other religions. In other religions the person has to bring something to his or her Deity, or do something for the Deity, or become a better person before the Deity can accept him or her. In Christianity, it is the Deity that supplies the sacrifice, it is the Deity that does the work, and it is the Deity that makes the believer a better person. It the Deity that reconciles the person with Itself.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” [2 Corinthians 5:17-19]

This message of reconciliation is called, the gospel – the Good News – that if we trust in Him, we will have eternal life [John 3:16]. Full stop.