Rooted in Salvation, Part One
March 5, 2019
About a nine months after Becky and I moved to Tacoma, we bought a home on North 7th. It was a Brick Tudor, had great bones, but was a fixer-upper. One of the first things we fixed-up was Courtney’s room. We totally gutted it, made it completely new and painted it lime green, Courtney’s color of choice at that time. But as soon as we finished that room, I began to tackle the overgrown landscaping outside. And one of the first things I tackled were these ugly square shaped bushes that ran along our parking strip in the front. They were an eyesore. And to top it off, when we first moved in, there was a local nightclub just around the corner. So often we would find empty beer cans and other garbage underneath these bushes. So they had to go. Now the first part was easy. I just took a chain saw, toppled them and hauled off the debris. But I wasn’t done. I needed to dig out the roots. That’s where things got tough. I chopped, dug, pulled and strained for hours trying to eradicate those things. But they weren’t coming out without a fight. The roots were in there deep, broad and secure. And it seemed the deeper I dug, they harder they were to pull out. They weren’t budging. So finally I decided to dig down around those roots to about two feet, then I cut them off. And that did the trick. Those were some amazingly strong roots, deep roots.
That’s just the thing about roots. They are meant to go down deep and create a secure foundation for the life of a tree. It makes sense then, that God would use the term “rooted” to describe how He wants us to grow strong in the Christian faith. This is God’s will for everyone who receives Christ. So then, just as you receivedChrist Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7
God wants you to be deeply rooted in Christ. It is not His will for you to have a shallow faith, but a deep faith. He’s not simply interested in getting you into heaven, but getting heaven into you. He wants your life to thrive, to take on meaning and be full of hope.And to ensure that happens, God wants you to be Rooted in the Faith. So over the next few months, we are going to look at what it takes to be rooted in Christ, rooted in His Word, rooted in the Spirit, and rooted in Community. And as we do, the more we are rooted in the faith, you will be encouraged your faith, your confidence as a believer will grow and will become more and more free you to live this abundant life in Christ, that Jesus calls us to live.
But the question this morning is this: Where do we start? Well, we’re going to start with where God started with us. With Salvation. Whether you’ve been saved 50 years or 5 weeks, or if you’re not even sure if you are saved, understanding what God did for you in the Salvation is the foundation of the Christian life. So if you brought your Bible with you today, I want to encourage you to find Ephesians 2:1-5, where God’s Word describes Salvation: Why we need Jesus to save us. So, if you’ve found Ephesians 2:1-5, let’s read this together: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived amongthem at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:1-5
So what does Jesus save you from? 1. Jesus saves you from life without God Paul begins by making this factual statement of everyone’s spiritual condition apart from Jesus. He writes, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins”
These are two terms we don’t hear much of today. A transgression is just not a word that’s part of our modern day vocabulary, and sin, the concept of sin… well that’s just an offensive or ludicrous term to many. So let’s start with Transgressions:
What are transgressions? They are false steps we take from the right path. In other words, when you break the law, you make a transgression. When the traffic cop pulls you over for going 50 in a 35 zone, you’ve transgressed the right path and your going to have to pay. God in His Word has given us the right path. He has given us His Law. He has revealed the right way to live. The right way to relate with Him and with others. When Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the greatestcommandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
So God has established His path of righteousness. His path is a path of compassion and mercy, a way of dignity and justice, a way of love. As long as we love Him and love our neighbor we’re good. But as soon as we deviate from His path, and chose to make up our own ways of living, we separate ourselves from life with God. We turn our back to Him, ignore Him, and alienate ourselves from any relationship with Him. As a result we become disobedient rebelswho know the right path but refuse to take it.
Sins: Failing to measure up to God’s Standards. Paul uses an archery term picturing our failure to hit the target, when he says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” We simply fall short of the way God intended for us to live: with Him. We fall short of the Ten Commandments. We fail to trust God fully. We chase after other gods, other idols that we look to for joy and meaning in our lives. Tim Keller says it this way: “The primary way to define sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose or happiness than your relationship to God.” We seek significance or our identity from things other than God. Let me give you a couple examples of this: In the movie Rocky, Rocky’s girlfriend asks him why it is so important for him to “go the distance” in a boxing match. “Then I’ll know I’m not a bum,” he replies. In the movie Chariots of Fire, one of the main characters explains why he works so hard at running the hundred yard dash for the Olympics. He says that when each race begins, “I have ten lonely seconds to justify my existence.” Both of these men looked to athletic achievement as the defining force that gave meaning to their lives. But the truth is, anytime we seek to find significance or worth apart from God Himself, we make good things into ultimate things. For some achievement is the idol, for others romance is the idol, for still others its food, or alcohol, possessions or experience. Whenever we attempt to fill the void in our life with something other than God, we worship and serve created things rather than the Creator. And the Bible calls that sin. We’ve fallen short of the life God created for us to enjoy with Him. This falling short is what the Bible calls sin.
So now, put put these two conditions: transgressions and sins, together before God and all of us are both a rebel and a failure. As a result, God’s Word says: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you so that he does not hear.” Isaiah 59:2 What this means is that our sins have separated us from life with God. This is our identity apart from God’s saving grace. We are the walking dead, spiritual zombies, separated from the very One who gave us life and designed us for life with Him. We’re DEAD to God. And that creates a problem for us.
For, Spiritually dead people cannot create life where there is no life, we cannot save ourselves.That’s why WE NEED A SAVIOR. And this why God sent Jesus to save us. Jesus saves you from life without God by taking away our transgressions and sins on the cross. Jesus removes your sins so He can reconcile you with God. He gives us His righteousness so we can be made right with God. That’s amazing grace. Jesus saved you from your sins. Jesus saves you from life without God. That’s the first thing He saves us from.
Now, the second: Jesus saves you from a life without Meaning Look at verses 1-3 with me: As for you,you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Ephesians 2:1-3 To summarize these verses we could say: Without God in our lives we were left to follow the demands of this world, the deceptions of the evil one, and the desires of our flesh. These were the forces at work outside and inside our lives that enslave us and cause us to seek a life apart from God.
The first of these forces is the world: The world expresses a whole social value-system, which is alien to God– which is opposed to God. This is a value system of unbelief; a system where mankind determines what is what is true or good for life. In this way the world seeks to influence our minds, our affections and our thinking to seek after lesser joys then are found in God, by offering us things, status and life that will never satisfy.
It is also a value system that demands there are no moral absolutes except for looking out for number one. The way of the world is about gratifying self and exalting self, often at the expense of others. The way we see this worked out on a larger scale is through cultures that have abandoned God. In these cultures people are dehumanized through poverty, discrimination, oppression and any other form of injustice.
On an everyday scale we see this worked out in an endless pursuit of meaning: We chase after the latest technological toys, become thrill seekers, and search for meaning in relationships, possessions and experiences – but are always left wanting. We end up living for today but struggle to find true joy or any real meaning. That’s the world, a world that demands we follow its ways.
A second of these forces is the evil one: The “prince and power of the air.” This term is another way of giving reference to Lucifer – the arch-angel of heavenwho rebelled against God’s authority in heaven and was cast to earth, hence: the evil one. He is also known as the devil, or Satan, the tempter, the destroyer and the deceiver. He continues to work to today to deceive people into thinking “it is OK to disobey God and live for self.” He’s the ONE who influences the world to ignore and disregard God. Therefore, he is described here as “the spirit – or attitude” that is at work within those who want nothing to do with God. Anyone who has an anti-God attitude who wants to twist that which is good about God and make it sound bad has this “spirit.”It is his attitude and influence that infiltrates the world and makes the world so self-focused, ambitious, and godless. It is his philosophy that DECEIVES US into pursuing every thing but God for life and meaning.
A third of these forces is the flesh. This is not the living fabric which covers our skeleton but our fallen, self-centered human nature: The distorted cravings of legitimate human needs. There is nothing wrong with natural bodily desires whether for food, sleep or sex. For God has made the human body for these. But when the appetite for food becomes gluttony, for sleep becomes sloth and for sex becomes lust, our natural desires have been PERVERTED into sinful desires. This also includes the wrong desires of the mind, such as intellectual pride, false ambition, greed, malicious and hateful thoughts. And again, the world works in concert with our flesh, telling us to follow our heart, have it your way – and it bombards us with the message that fulfilling the desires of our flesh is the way we should live.
Ever wonder why Christianity seems to be under constant attack? It’s because of the power of the flesh at work in people today. Paul couldn’t have said it any clearer when he wrote this description of the flesh: The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7-8
So sadly, all three of these: the world, the flesh and the devil are actively at work in our culture today and are bent on keeping us enslaved to sin and from living the life God intended for us to live. And so trapped in this matrix, living under the delusion that this world is all there is, we search for life with no moral compass in a culture that keeps pushing God out. But at the end of the day, we are left wanting and asking: Is this all there is to life? Something, no someone is missing: The true source of life and meaning – God Himself. This is why God sent Jesus. Only Jesus can satisfy your soul. Only Jesus can save you from a life devoid of meaning. There’s one more thing He saves us from:
3.Jesus saves you from a life without Hope… Now, think about the logical conclusion to the powers that seek to lead us astray. Our sin causes us to turn away from God and choose a life where our sinful desires lead. How does that leave us with God? Does God shed a blind eye to our sin? Does He overlook our selfish ways? Or does He treat us as our sins deserve? Look now at OUR PLIGHT apart from the mercy of God. Paul writes the conclusion to a life that disregards God. He says, “Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” What this means is that apart from God’s Mercy every person who sins, has a single destiny… and that destiny is not good. It is a destiny not only without God, but also without hope. Because it’s a destiny where we must face the consequences of offending a holy God.
So just What is God’s wrath? Well, God’s wrath is not like man’s wrath. It is not bad temper. It is neither spite, nor malice, nor animosity, nor revenge. No God’s wrath arises from God’s character. First, His righteous nature. In this sense, God’s wrath is His personal, righteous, constant hostility towards evil, his settled refusal to compromise with it, and His resolve instead to condemn it. His righteous nature refuses to let anyone get away with sin. It is His righteous opposition to evil.
Second, God’s wrath also rises out of His loving nature. What? God’s wrath is connected with His love? Yes, as difficult as it may be to conceive, the wrath of God is an expression of his love and deep attachment to his people – the people He made in His image and likeness. In the third century, the theologian Lactantius wrote that “he who does not get angry does not care.” If God can look at the sin and injustice of the world and not get angry, he is not much of a God. The God of the Bible is not some unmovable, unfeeling force, but He is a God who cares deeply about His creation, He is a God who cares deeply about the destruction that evil wrecks upon the world.
We live in a world today that wants to deceive us into thinking that God is only love; that God will not destroy anyone for his or her sin. We live in a world that wants us to believe God will be tolerant of all evil – that He will let us slide. But that’s a lie. God’s righteous nature will let no evil slide. His nature means He must treat all sin the same. It must be dealt with and removed. That is why every person who sins is under the wrath of God. There is no escaping God’s wrath. There is NO HOPE for anyone to stand before God on the merits of their own righteousness, because there is no one righteous before God, for all have sinned, and offended the One who made them.
Here now, is where we begin to understand the Good News of Salvation. For once we realize there is no hope for us to stand on our own before God. Once we realize that we are helpless to remove ourselves from His wrath… then we begin to understand our need for mercy, then we can understand the good news announced here by Paul: But because of His great love for us,God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.
This is why Christianity is Rooted in Salvation. For Salvation is God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves! Some people object to terms such as salvation and being saved, claiming that these ideas are out of date and meaningless. But salvation is God’s term, and there is nothing better to describe what He offers us through His mercy. That’s why HE gives us Jesus. For it is through faith in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, that we have the opportunity to be saved from sin, from Satan, from judgment, from wrath, and from spiritual death…
We cannot save ourselves… But Jesus gives us Salvation
We cannot satisfy ourselves… But Jesus gives us Meaning
We cannot acquit ourselves… But Jesus removes God’s Wrath
He did all this and more when He laid down His life for you on the cross. For when He said, “It is finished” the debt for your sin was paid once and for all. And now God, out of His great love for mankind, extends His mercy to anyone who will receive it. He has provided everything you need to be saved. Jesus saves you from life without God. Jesus saves you from life without meaning. Jesus saves you from life without hope. And it’s all by God’s grace. Salvation is His gift given freely to anyone who believes in Jesus. So let me ask you: Have you received His gift of salvation? Do you want His gift of salvation? The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” For there is no other name given under heaven by which we may be saved.” Acts 4:12
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