Saved!

I love the Gospel of Christ for "it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16) When W. believed and Christ entered his life, he gave up drinking, turned his heart toward his family, and began to live a new life. Eventually this man, who once was drunk every night, became a leader in our church. I was his pastor for many years and wrote about his spiritual journey in an article entitled, "From Detox to Deacon." For W. the Gospel wasn't just an idea! He got saved and everybody knew it. When my Grandfather accepted Christ, he became a new man. He sat on the third row of his little church in Iowa, singing the songs that declared his love for Jesus faithfully for decades. But he had more than Sunday religion. He gave to missions, prayed for his family, and sowed seeds of faith that continue to yield a harvest of righteousness to this day. For Grandpa Scott, the Gospel was not an accessory in life; it was life!

There is a troubling trend today (it's always been around, I suppose) to take the edges off of the Gospel and make the truth of Christ less confrontational. I don't hear many of us saying that somebody got 'saved.' Instead we say they became a follower of Jesus, or they came to faith. There's nothing wrong with those phrases, but they don't have the punch of getting 'saved.' The wimpy Gospel, that is preached in many places today, allows people to make a decision to add Jesus to their shelf of gods! The Gospel is reduced to a pardon for sin, without the accompanying earthquake of transformation that the Bible promises to those who 'get saved!' I know why we do it. We're trying to avoid implying that somebody needs to do something good to earn God's favor. No one can save himself by any amount of determination to be good. We don't want to return to the days when being a Christian involved signing on to a whole list of rules about not drinking, not smoking, not cussing, and not going to the movies! Too often that rule-keeping let the real issues of ego and surrender to Christ get papered over with a superficial adoption of a moral code. I make no appeal to return to that.

But my appeal is for a Gospel that produces genuine transformation! If a person has come to faith in Christ and is now alive in Him, it ought to show in the way he lives. The Bible says that there must be a distinct difference between those who belong to Christ Jesus and those who don't! Take a look. "Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. . . . Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. . . . So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:3-20, NLT)

Dear Believer, if you're still in love with the things of the world, if you're still singing the same songs, doing the same things you always did, using the same filthy language; and going to church on Sunday to get a little religious juice and to make sure you're cool with God; you need to get 'saved!' I'm not judging you; the Word is. The genuine Gospel of Christ not only changes our external behavior; it transforms us from the inside out. He enters our lives as Lord and God, not as Buddy to make us feel good while we keep doing wrong things. He sets our hope on Heaven, not on getting rich or famous. He secures us in love so that we become tender-hearted, gentle, forgiving, and deeply compassionate individuals.

Let this word from the Word fill your mind today. Hear the call to receive the Gospel, which is God's power to truly transform sinners into saints. "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good." (Titus 3:3-8, NIV)

Wow! and Amen!