Audacious Sermon Fragment - - Really Old!

Think with me through two or three "inner dramas" of people coming to seek salvation. See how the idea of what sin is goes to the heart of how we come to trust: 1. A commonly held "Nazarene" idea of finding salvation: Sin is being "bad," and sinning separates me from God. Salvation is being GOOD (once I've been to the altar to take care of being BAD)- And later I should come back to the altar to take care of the SIN ("bent to sin") that makes me wobbly at the center. The "drama" goes like this: I come to the altar. I confess my sins as I am told. I am given a clean slate, which assures me I will go to heaven if I die. I have a list of things I must and must not do. I must read and pray. I must not smoke or drink. I should go to church when I can, but then I sometimes see others who are rather casual about it, so maybe that isn't all that important. I start out with confidence. Then a couple of bad things can happen: (1) I keep all the neat rules, like NOT smoking and NOT drinking and so forth, and so I "know"(presumption!) I am saved even though from year to year I never really come to know the Lord Jesus in any personal way, and I never help any fellow mortal move one inch closer to the kingdom of God; or, (2) I soon find out that my clean slate is all messed up. I start over several times. Finally I quit in disgust saying that I cannot honestly live a Christian life. I drop away and say there is nothing real in this fake religion. (3) Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! 2. Let me have the audacity to change the scene. Now I am a hard-shell Baptist, or a child of strict Reformed or Calvinist roots. My definition of sin is sort of all the above PLUS-- sin is ANY COMING SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! And by that I mean any place I should do better and don't, or shouldn't do bad and do. It is ALL sin! All my life I hear the Bible preached as propositional truth. "God said it! I believe it! That settles it!" Here's how MY "salvation drama" goes: I "come forward." With good solid counseling I "receive the Lord Jesus as Savior." I understand that He is my Substitute, and that His righteousness is IMPUTED as my own. God now looks at me, and instead of my sins He sees the righteousness of His Son. I am honor-bound to read and pray and prove the reality of my new birth by (1) Baptism; (2) Tithing; (3) Witnessing. If I do these things (1) I often come to live far above the raw simplistic application of the very real Truth of this system, and the discipline carries me into a genuine relationship. OR, (2) I drift into old ways, and from time to time I "re-dedicate my life" during times of emotional challenge. All the while I am more-or-less consoled by the fact that I have received "eternal Life" which by definition can never be forfeited (presumption) , otherwise how is it "eternal?" (3) Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! 3. Let me be even MORE audacious! Let me describe a person with some form of Catholic up-bringing. Sin to me is pretty much defined by the Church. There are mortal sins; there are venal sins. Jesus Christ is GOD and Savior, but the idea of salvation is strictly mediated through both the Word and the Traditions of the Church. I need to (1) be baptized; (2) confirmed; (3) keep current by taking Mass regularly, which should involve regular confession as well. My "salvation drama" comes when somehow these truths I have been taught become personal to me. I am saved by being in fellowship with the Church, and obeying from the heart its teachings, and I trust without inner assurance what I have been told- my salvation is "second hand" but the Creeds and Gospels move me from time to time. Or, I become a skeptic, a "nominal Catholic" and my life is no different from the culture in which I live, OR, Or-- in spite of not having a perfect understanding of all these things I find a personal, growing knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and somehow the miracle continues to grow! IN ALL THESE DIFFERENT STORIES LIFE-CHANGING SALVATION NEEDS A PRESENT SAVIOR No human agency can fully present the truth so powerfully and true that "correct theology" will save. Somehow, by the Word being released and through the preaching I hear, in whatever church, I must grasp -the Idea that God knows ME-! He cares that I have sinned. He is angry with my sins, but I know He loves ME. I am enabled to enter into a personal relationship with Him. I ask Him for mercy and forgiveness. He grants it. I sense that I belong to Him. We do not know all the profound things that take place when the New Birth takes place! We properly quote our theology-- Justification – Regeneration – Adoption – Sanctification -- but it is never ours to say whose faith in genuine and whose is not. This is God's One Holy Catholic Apostolic church-- it is God's call. The Church is God's Beloved! Be careful not to rip and tear at what God loves! Salvation is a relationship has been established. It is not easily broken!

The Jesus Prayer

People I respect and love come from many different backgrounds, and many different sets of values. I want to be honest and real with every friend, but it is easier with some than with others to disagree at times and still feel unshaken fellowship. Some of my friends are convinced that the emerging church is the reason for a falling away in my denomination. Others of my friends are sure that people in political office are the greatest threat to our way of life, to the point of obsession. Some haver abandoned the music I grew up with, and the hymns that are written on my very heart; others excoriate the new, loud, casual music and cannot imagine how guitars and drums can ever bring a spirit of worship. I'm not saying it very well, but so many times what we are "against" becomes so strong that we forget what we are f\"for." Or, more properly, sometimes we hve to make our points until in our spirits we deny the very core of what we say we are. Actually, it is not what we are for, but Who is really our Life. Bottom line: The spirit (Spirit in us!) is everything! Even in militant opposition to sin as we understand it it is still the Jesus in us that people need to see. I have known many people whose doctrine is far different from my Wesleyan-Arminian persuasion-- but who lived and breathed a love for Christ that made me love Him more. I'm rambling, I know-- old people do that sometimes. But let me say this: the Word of God is a Person. The Bible is not true because it is written down-- it is written down and passed on because it is true. Sometimes TRUE means more than we can understand-- when it comes to how we got here, and why God permits this and that-- and why it seems hard for us to understand each other. The Church is God's darling. Don't rip it to shreds because it isn't like you think it should be-- rather pray that the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic church-- bigger than any "denomination"--purer and more holy that we can understand and yet imperfect and in need of grace (because I belong to it-- and you) --PRAY THAT WE WILL LET GOD BRING US TOGETHER AS HE SEES FIT. There is an ancient prayer that sums up what we need, day by day. Pray it with me: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.