Neighborhood Group Foundations: Our Shared Salvation, Part 2
November 13, 2017
As a pastor, I’ve had to walk with people through some pretty difficult times. One the toughest was the day I got a phone call from the State Police one Saturday morning. They were trying to locate the parents of Eric Wood, one of my students, who had just been admitted to the hospital after a farming accident. I told the officer his parents were at the beach with the rest of our Church on a weekend Campout. A few minutes later I received a second call telling me that Eric had passed away. At that point, I left my office, went to pick up Becky and drove the 60 minutes to Springfield, Oregon to the hospital where Eric had died. We arrived there maybe five minutes ahead of his parents. It was a pretty surreal situation. After all, Eric was a great kid. At 16, he had just gone with us to a National Youth Conference. The day after the conference we all went to Disneyland, where Eric bought for himself a Darth Vadar helmet. He was pretty stoked about that. Then couple days later we all met on a Sunday night like we usually did. And on this night each student wrote down a prayer request and exchanged it with another student. Holly Bieries got Eric’s request. He had asked for prayer at work. Now just a few days later he was no longer with us.
Later that afternoon our Pastor and every other adult that was camping at the beach drove home. I was no longer going to speak the next day. Our Pastor was. And I found myself meeting with him late that afternoon as he was now quickly preparing what to say to a grieving congregation. And I remember it like it was yesterday when he said, “Maybe I can use this to give them a wake up call.” When I heard that I was astonished, and for the first time I can ever remember I rebuked my boss and told him. “That’s the worst thing you can ever do! Don’t do that. Whatever you do, don’t do that. Give them comfort and hope. Give them Jesus.” Thankfully he took my rebuke. But the next day, I’ll never forget it either: For it was the first time I ever experienced a entire church crying together – many of them finding out about Eric’s passing during the service. But then a few days later I got the privilege of speaking at Eric’s memorial. And what started out so sad turned a joyful occasion. Because every person I spoke with that week, as I prepared to speak about Eric, spoke of Eric’s hope to be a missionary, his willing spirit to help just about anyone and his simple but sure love for Jesus. And even though we were quite sad that Eric was no longer with us, we were equally glad that we knew he was now with Jesus.
You see, Eric had this sure hope because of his faith in Jesus. And his hope in Jesus made this difficult time bearable for us all because we too shared this hope. For this shared hope is part of our shared salvation. We are not just saved FROM the consequences of our sin because Jesus took away our sin. And we are not just being saved because Jesus is still at work in us. No, our shared salvation is more than that. For now because Jesus rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father, we have a living hope – a confidence that the best is yet to come, because Jesus will make it better.
And my hope for you this morning is that you will leave here today holding onto that same hope. For it is this hope that will allow you to live with confidence in the present no matter what difficulty you face. It is this hope that can carry you through crushing grief and loss. It is this hope that can sustain your joy when your world is falling apart. And it is this hope that can keep you loving when everyone else seems to be hating. Just what is this hope? It’s truth #3 of our shared salvation: We will be saved!
So today we’re going to look at two aspects of Our Future Salvation: One that will give you CONFIDENCE as you live out the good news in your daily life. The other that will give you HOPE as you live out the good news in your daily life.
Now before we dig into that, let me back up and do a bit of a review. If you are new here today, we are in a series called Neighborhood Group Foundations. Here’s our working definition: A Neighborhood Group is a Community of Christ Followers on mission with God who are living out the good news of Jesus Christ through their everyday activities and relationships.
Two weeks ago we looked at the first part of that statement: A Neighborhood Group is a Community of Christ Followers on mission with God We looked at our Shared Identity. We share a family connection: we are all adopted of the Father. That makes us a community of God’s people. We are in this together!
We share a follower calling: we are all apprentices of Jesus. We are Christ Followers on the move with Jesus who’s working in us to make us fishers of men. We are in this with Jesus!
We share a friend commission: we are all sent into the world like Jesus. God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us be witnesses of Jesus. So then we are all in this together. We are in this with Jesus and we are on mission with God. That’s our shared identity.
But to live out the good news in our daily lives, we’ve got to be filled with the good news. So last week we began to look at the benefits of the good news by unpacking our shared salvation. Truth #1 We Have Been Saved: Jesus Did It Better The Scripture that sums this up is 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We’ve all been irreparably damaged by sin, separated from God by our sin. But Jesus became sin for us, took our judgment for sin upon himself, and now when you put your trust in Jesus – you get His righteousness. We are now saved from our sin because Jesus did it better.
Truth #2 We Are Being Saved: Jesus Does it Better The Scripture that sums this up is found in Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. God promises to work in you so that you will begin to want what He wants and then live like He lives. We don’t do this in out of our own strength or determination. We can’t. But Jesus can. And we have risen Jesus is now living in us. That means we have His power, His mind, and His will available to us to live this new life. We can now live and love like Jesus if we learn to die to self and live by faith. We can’t live this new life, but Jesus can. And that’s good news.
So now Truth #3 WE WILL BE SAVED God wants us to live out the good news in the present with confidence because Jesus has changed our future. Look at the good news of 1 John 4:16-18 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:16-18
What’s the good news here? No fear of future judgment! God wants you FREE of fear so that you’ll LIVE with confidence. He doesn’t want anything holding you back from living out the good news. That’s what fear does. Fear keeps you from living the life God intends for you to live. Fear makes you hide. Fear causes you not to trust. Fear is connected with punishment, not acceptance. And if you still fear the judgment of God, then you do not yet truly know the God of love.
That’s why God sent Jesus to die for you. When Jesus became sin for you and took the punishment you deserved – YOUR SIN WAS JUDGED ON THE CROSS once and for all. That’s why when Jesus said “It is finished” he declared that the debt of your sin was paid. That’s why it’s ludicrous for you to try to save yourself because Jesus has already saved you. It is done. It is finished. All you need to do is believe in Jesus. Believe He took away your sin at the cross. Believe you are now forgiven, once and for all. And if you believe that Jesus paid it all, your future is now secure. God will never bring up your sin again. As far as the east is from the west – that is how far He has removed your sin from you. That’s how much He loves you.
Yet the sad reality, is that too many still carry this fear of God – this fear that someday your sin is going to catch up with you and God is going to make you pay. So you live as a PRISONER of your fear. But the good news is that Jesus came to set prisoners free. God’s love for you means that He will never accuse you of sin, never punish you for your sin, and never make you pay for your sin. Jesus has already paid the price. And that’s good news. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no punishment in your future.
You see, punishment is foreign to someone who is forgiven and loved. Hear how the Amplified Bible beautifully expresses this truth: “The perfect love of God in Christ turns fear out the door and expels every kind of terror.” Does Jesus cringe in terror before the Father? Of course he doesn’t! He lives in the constant presence of God’s love. So if you are in Christ, you get to live in the presence of God’s love even now. In fact, God’s Word says that now…
Nothing can keep Him from loving you. Not your sin, not your failure, not your lack of progress in the faith, nothing. This is THE GOD WHO LOVES YOU: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 The good news is that God loves you no matter what you’ve ever done or will ever do.
But there’s more. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, this is the Bible’s manifesto of love. And it’s really a description of God’s kind of love. The kind of love that always seeks what is best for you. This is the God who loves you. How does He love you? Just listen: God’s love is patient, God’s love is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God’s love keeps no record of wrongs… Let me stop here. God sees you as perfect in Jesus. He has no record of your wrongs. He will not blindside you at some later time. He will never punish you for your sin. Your sin has already been punished. It is finished. Jesus did it. This is the God who loves you. His love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. His love always protects, His love always trusts, His love always hopes, His love always perseveres. And His love for you will never fail.
I don’t know about you. But this sounds like good news to me. So believe it. Jesus died for you so you could know the God of love. And when you know the God of love, you can live in love. You can live out the good news in your everyday life. And couldn’t our world use a little of God’s kinda love right now?
Are you starting to see how what Jesus did for your future impacts how you LIVE in the present? God’s perfect love drives out all fear of future judgment so you can be free to live a life of love in the present.
But sometimes we need a glimpse of how good our future is going to be to keep us going in the present. Sometimes we get so caught up with the stuff of everyday life – the joys and the heartaches, the blessings and sufferings that we FORGET JUST HOW GOOD life’s going to be at the end of this age. You see, the good news is this: Our Future is Secure and it is Good! Listen to this announcement of good news from the throne of God declaring our future with HIM: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4
A new day is coming: A day when we will meet God face to face. At that time we will be brought together with every person who has ever trusted in Jesus. It will be a family reunion like none other. It will be the wedding feast of the lamb of God! …But before we celebrate His amazing grace to us, the first order of business on God’s agenda will be this: He will heal us from every hurt and brokenness of this life. He will wipe away every tear from your eyes.
Then, then, the things that brought those tears – the damages of sin: death, grief, shame and regret, anxiety and fear, suffering and pain – THEY WILL BE NO MORE. There will be no more cancer, no more alzheimers, no murder, no betrayal, no more hatred, no more heartache. All sin will be eradicated. And nothing will separate us from the One who loves us. For the old order of things will pass away. This age marked by strife, destruction, war and division will cease. And a new order will come: He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” Revelation 21:5-7
This is the promise of Jesus. Jesus will make it better. He is the Alpha and Omega. He will make everything new. All that is broken will be made whole. Every person who belongs to Jesus will be healed. Then we will enjoy a perfect world with Jesus at the center forever. And it will be stunningly amazing. A life beyond your wildest dreams. This is Our Shared Salvation yet to come. This is our hope. This is our promise inheritance in Jesus. We will be saved. And it will be good.
So I have just one question for you this morning? Do you share in this salvation? Do you have this hope? If you do, then you are free to live out the good news everyday. But if you do not, the good news is that you can share in this salvation even today. You can do that by putting your trust in Jesus. For the Bible tells us that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 2:47 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
If that’s you, call on Jesus today. Put your trust in Jesus and you will be saved!
Leave a Reply