BELIEVE- chapter 3 “God cares”
Reinbeck UMC
9/11/16
(First slide is introductory video)
How to knock over a tower of blocks.
(Power point slide plays video)
(Talking over top of video) That is the
way some people approach Christianity. They add layer upon layer of complexity.
They use bigger and bigger words. They write more and more books. They make
more and more rules. They think the number of their words have saving power.
They think the volume of their preaching has saving power. They think the
height and beauty of their steeple will bring the world to God. They thing
bigger and fancier is better.
(Video finishes)
If I were going to knock over a tower,
I would touch it with my finger and knock it over. (DON’T DO IT)
So when I come to this third week of the
BELIEVE series to tell you about salvation I am not going to make it a great
big theological knot you have to untie in order to get anything out of it. That
is not what God wanted it! That’s not how did in Jesus did it!
If you turn to page ____ of your
Believe book, you will find Jesus conversation with Nicodemus. You have to
remember that Nick was one of the Pharisees. He was supposed to know all the
answers. He was supposed to understand the deep things of God. He was supposed
to have this salvation thing down pat. He comes, however, in the dark of night
to admit to Jesus that he doesn’t get it. Jesus tried to explain it to him as
simply as possible. In the process, Jesus changed everything.
1. In Jesus Christ, God took a bite out of the
old ritual system.
2. In Jesus Christ, God took one great big bite
out of the rules.
3. In Jesus Christ, God chewed up some of the
old fancy theological constructs that assumed people could save themselves. He
said,
4.
“For God so loved the world
5. that he gave his only Son,
6.
so that everyone
7.
who believes in him
8.
May not perish but may have eternal life.
“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.” Period.
Right here is everything we need to
know about salvation.
First, WHO DOES THE SAVING? Who does the
loving? Jesus started with “For God so loved…” We cannot save ourselves… only
God can save. That is why God sent us a savior…because there was no other way
we could be freed from our sins, there is no other way we could be liberated
from the death of guilt and shame,
Second, we have to ask, WHY DID GOD DO IT?
Because he loved. God is LOVE. Do you remember our first two weeks of the
BELIEVE series.
• I
believe in the God of the Bible Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• I
believe that God cares for me personally.
• And
because God cares for you personally… because he loves you …he came as Jesus..
and Christ saves by faith.
The third question is WHO CAN BE SAVED. Easy.
The passage says it twice. For God so loved THE WORLD. Not just the righteous.
Not just the wealthy. Not just the powerful. The whole world. Anyone… It says
whoever believes… can be saved. That includes you.
Fourth, HOW DO WE ACCEPT THIS SALVATION? Just
believe. God came in Jesus so that anyone who BELIEVES will be saved. Now we
have to spend a minute on the word believe.
In the New Testament, there is a word:
“pistos.” Sometimes it is translated to believe, sometimes to have faith. So
for our purposes here today, to believe is to have faith. I am not talking
about a something that happens in your head like “I believe that alien life is
possible.” I am talking about a
• Deep
conviction on which you would stake you life.
•
It is deep knowing. Where you know that you know that you know, and you know it
in the depths of your being.
• Faith
is a believing that you would trust with your life.
…Because that is exactly what we are
asked to do….
• “Follow
me.”
• “Take
up your cross.”
• “Leave
your nets and follow me.”
• “Go
sell all that you have and then we’ll talk.”
So we must have faith… or belief in
order to accept God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.
Finally, if we believe in that deep
way, we will be saved.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED? This is
the final thing about which we need to talk.
We talk about being saved, from what
are we saved?
• We
are not saved from sin because I am pretty sure I am not the only one here who
still makes bad choices and sins.
• We
are not saved from the consequences of our sin. Even good saved, born again
Christians go to jail if they do wrong. The consequences are still there.
• We
are not saved from doubt. Again, am I alone in that I sometimes have doubts and
questions? I don’t think so.
From what then, are we saved? We are
save us from being separated from God by, our sin. Sin creates a barrier
between God and us.
God knows we are guilty of sin, God
knows that because of sin we cannot, on our own, come to be in relationship
with him. God knows that, but Jesus’ message was that God loves you so much
that he is going to treat you as though you are innocent. He is going to tear
down the barrier and restore you to life with him.
• Some
might say he paid the price for our sin.
• Or
took our punishment.
• Or
paid the ransom.
Each of those images is simply a way of
understanding how salvation happened and each one ends up in theological knots.
The bottom line is God knows you are guilty and he sent Jesus to tell you that
if you have faith…if you believe… he will treat you as though you are innocent.
By his death, he will tear down the wall that is eternal death, and you will be
saved. “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.”
It is that simple
• God
so
• Loved
the
• World
(you)
• That
whoever
• Believes
will be
• Saved
to have
• Eternal
life
That’s it.
When the famous theologian, Karl Barth, was
asked if he could sum up his life’s work, he said, “Yes, I can with a song I
heard on my mother’s knee. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me
so.” Simple, right? Just believe and be saved.
Now the question is do you believe…
will you believe… That is a decision that we don’t just make once. I don’t like
the question, “are you saved.” I prefer “are you being saved” because every day
we wake up, we have to answer the question again. Am I going to believe in
Jesus and live for him today? Every day we have a new chance. With each new
day, we have to make the decision to commit our lives and our day to him. It is
a life long journey and we are on it together.
God so Loved you That if you Believe,
in Jesus, you will be saved to have
Eternal life.
That’s it- simple as knocking over a
pile of blocks. (Do it) AMEN
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