Who or What is Being Saved
Who did Christ die for?
You could easily start some serious debates by asking that one little question.
But, what if you changed it to ask: What did Christ die for?
What if the New Testament view of salvation isn’t limited to human beings?
My thoughts for this week have been primarily focused on answering that very question after I came across a quote of James Kallas, saying:
…. since the cosmos itself is in bondage, depressed under evil forces, the essential content of the word “salvation” is that the world itself will be rescued, or renewed, or set free. Salvation is a cosmic event affecting the whole of creation….Salvation is not simply the overcoming of my rebellion and the forgiveness of my guilt, but salvation is the liberation of the whole world process of which I am only a small part. 1
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My wife and I recently decided to go through a marriage series together. We started on the first of several messages on marriage from John Piper.
The first in the series is called, “Staying Married is not about Staying in Love.”
John starts off with the idea that not only do we have a misconception of what marriage is, but that without divine revelations and the illumining work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand God’s design for marriage.
Wow! I had never really thought of it that way.
People all over the world have been getting married, but I never stopped to think that we cannot truly understand what marriage is all about without God revealing it to us. We can get married, have a good relationship, raise a family, but without God showing us, we cannot, and do not have the ability to, know what this marriage thing is all about. Why is it that:
The natural man does not have the capacities to see or receive or feel the wonder of what God has designed for marriage to be.
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Problem with Evangelism
I recently listened to a brief audio clip by Ray Comfort called, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.” The message goes through what Ray believes is the major problem behind modern day evangelism methods. The problem—and tragedy—is that current evangelism has forsaken the law and its ability to covert the soul. Instead of using the law, the church has resorted to giving a message promising to enhance the quality of life.
This message is what causes so many Christians to turn away from the faith—being discomforted by Christianity and not seeing any enhancement to their life.
They received a parachute in hopes of enjoying a better flight instead of receiving a parachute to save them from sudden death on a flight guaranteed to crash. Read More »
Peter spoke from experience when he reminded a group of people who were about to undergo persecution how Jesus responded to persecution.
Peter said, “When he [Jesus] was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).
These words had to have come deep from within Peter’s heart because of his recent experience with Christ—who demonstrated in a dramatic illustration how to respond to persecution in love rather than retaliation. The scene plays out John 18 as the officers come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Read More »
