Salvation: What Does It Mean to be Saved?

Psalm 89:20-37  Ephesians 3:1-4   Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

“Lord Jesus, please, guide us to search our souls.  Revive relationships with You in our hearts. Revive our church with you in our hearts. We need You.  We seek You.  Open us to the challenge, beauty, and joy in fully serving you. Create in us the desire to love you more and draw near to you.  Amen

We’ve accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. We’ll go to heaven.

Done and done. End of story. Is that it?

Salvation isn’t just a New Testament concept. The rainbow and covenant with Noah, God’s promise to Abraham, the Exodus with Moses, and then God anoints David king. God promises to give support, strength and wisdom to overcome his enemies. For me, it is God saying “My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him is what is most meaningful. But God does want one thing. For David to cry out “'You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!' God wants Acknowledgement. Recognition. Appreciation. And belief that he is God.

How is it different since Jesus arrived? Or is it? Why do we want salvation, why is it important and what are we saved to? Do we want to be saved just so we can go to heaven? Do this and get that? Is that why Jesus lived and died? Is there more? We are told this.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

6 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life John 3:16

We won’t perish. We won’t succumb to death. We won’t give in or surrender to sin. Believe and repent. Have faith and atone. Trust and make amends. Thoughts and actions. We are saved from death. But we need both belief and actions. That IS good news.

The Good News is that we can be alive in Christ today. Right at this moment. Alive in Jesus who is the resurrection. This is good because I want to be in Jesus now, in the moment, and not have to wait for it.  Salvation and resurrection are closely intertwined.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke gospels talk about Jesus himself. Not so much the means to an end. Jesus’ life is about what life is really about. He talks about saving others. Is this what we are suppose to do? Be found and find, be healed and heal, be rescued and rescue?

Feel free to disagree with me. But I think salvation’s purpose as passage to heaven is not the primary thing Jesus is getting across. He is talking about the kingdom of God – On earth as in heaven. Heaven coming to earth.

Let’s Understand more about what Jesus is about. Salvation is less about getting us into heaven and more about getting heaven into us. Recall the scripture Luke 17:21 when Jesus said, "for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom has started already.

Mark tells the story inthe very few words of Jesus.“ The time has come, “The kingdom of God has come near: Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15)

Jesus is the answer to Israel’s long quest. Jesus came to reunite heaven and earth in God’s kingdom. To bring a society that is filled with love and peace and justice. And that kingdom is here right now. And anyone can enter this life with Jesus if he or she puts their trust in Jesus. To enter this new life with Jesus, we need to give up our old lives.

Would Jesus ever say, ’Don’t worry, I’m going to everything for you, you don’t have to do anything because that would be works based righteousness and that’s bad?’ No, he wouldn’t. Are we to just sit back, say we believe and let the world go to…..chaos. to evil, yes to hell? Are we to bask in salvation like it’s a day at the beach?

No. We can’t and we won’t just sit back.  Commit. Follow Jesus. Become his disciple. Become his apprentice. Answer the question yourself. What have you been saved to and saved to do? Take the salvation that has been given to you and run with it. Amen