Recently, I read the portion of scripture below:
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:9-11 emphasis mine)
We tend to focus on the death of Jesus. He died for our sins. Then we celebrate Easter and shortly after that, he goes directly to heaven. Are we forgetting that Jesus didn’t just die for us, but that he also lived for us?
His sacrifice wiped the slate clean, restored us to zero when we had been at negative one zillion. But the goal isn’t to stay at zero. It’s to start counting up. To build on the second chance, to seize the opportunity.
Accepting Jesus’ sacrifice isn’t the finish line we often treat it as being: “Accept Jesus and you’ll end up in heaven”. It’s a beginning.
When God found you, you were laying in a roadside ditch – crippled and unable to help yourself. He picked you up and healed your legs. The worst thing you can do now is sit back down and wait for the end of your life. It’s time to start using the legs he healed. To go on the journey that he’s been calling you toward all along.
That journey is about restoring this world, not escaping it. To be part of his movement to make all things new. To bring light to the darkness, hope to the despairing, freedom to captives.
If you’ve accepted Jesus death as payment for your sins, then I want to say ‘Congratulations, welcome to the family. We’ve got a lot of work to do, so roll up your sleeves and let’s get busy.’
Absolutely correct. Notice here Paul says having been reconciled (this occurred in our salvation), we will be saved in His life. We need to be saved in life for a full salvation. Paul speaks similarly in Phil. 2:12-13, when he, speaking to believers, says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who operates in you.”
What we come to see in the Bible is that God’s original intention was not to come die on the cross. His original intention was that man would express Him (image) and represent Him (dominion). See Genesis chapters 1-2. God wanted a counterpart who was just like Him. Reconciliation, redemption, and regeneration through the cross are just the means to get fallen man back on track with God’s plan. They are not the end of the plan in themselves. Now that we have God’s life in our human spirit, he needs to spread into our soul, our mind, emotion, and will. So that eventually we will be wholly sanctified (1 Thess. 5:23). This will be our full salvation. We may refer our initial salvation as “judicial redemption” and the second step of our salvation, as “organic salvation”.
Man will be judged on whether or not he has received God’s life. However once man has received God’s life there will be either a reward or discipline when we meet the Lord based on how we have lived; whether we have allowed Him to spread into our innermost parts (mind, emotion, will). Christians who feel they are ok, by just having been saved through judicial redemption, have been drugged by the atmosphere and distracting things of this current age. Way too much to say here, actually this covers the entire Bible. Man was created to become on with God in life and nature, but not in the aspect of being worshiped, and to carry out His plan on the earth, which is not to just save lots of people, but to build up His Body, the Church, for His expression. Christ will return, not when some heavenly timer goes off but when His Bride is prepared and the Church built up. At his coming many Christians will be put to shame, because they did not adequately experience or gain Him during their life on earth. I’ll stop here, but I believe I’ve made a few points. Check out my blog for the truth of whats in the Bible and how its effects us as believers today, and what we should do.