Salvation in the biblical sense describes a dramatic
rescue. This rescue is not just from
some sort of eternal punishment or banishment. Rather, it is about an immediate
rescue from the lies and compromise that confront all people in this life: being delivered from a “kingdom” or a sphere
of influence that is corrupt and being placed in the kind of relationship with
God where genuine love, peace, and joy provide the proper filter for genuine
living. This new life begins when, after
God’s prompting through one or a variety of means, we choose to follow the
person and ways of Jesus Christ, intimately sensing God’s presence through the
work of the Holy Spirit and through participation in a new kind of community:
the Church (globally and locally). This
is salvation. It is about a holistic
change from one way of being and living to another (the “other” way being the
way the Creator and Lover of all, God, intends).
So, we enter into such a relationship with God, and then new
realities emerge in our lives. These
include a recognition that, however well intended we may be, the pull of
competing ways of living are prevalent and exert great pressure upon us,
seeking to pull us away from God’s ultimate, loving purposes. As this reality sets in, thankfully we have
not exhausted our options, nor has God!
God presents us with opportunities to grow. We are given the opportunity to stop trying
to manage our weaknesses and sins, and instead to surrender our ways and
loyalties completely to God. In
theology, this is part of the description of “entire sanctification.” That is to say, that we both recognize our
inability to live in a Christlike way while still competing with leftover
temptations; and, we recognize God’s willingness to help us change our loyalties
and even our tendencies when they conflict with His ultimate loving
purposes.
The means that God uses in this journey toward full
surrender and greater Christlikeness (which can be described as an increase in
love-motivated action without selfishness interfering with God’s purposes)
include things like personal conviction (God reminds us of specific and general areas of our need
for Him through Scripture, prayer and devotion), the community of faith (other
believers who help shape us through personal mentoring and discipleship), and
participation in other “means of grace” that God provides to change our
disposition. These means of grace can be
described as both informal and formal instruments of God’s love and grace in which
we participate in order to shape us more into what God through Jesus
Christ intends for us to be.
Informal means include interactions with Scripture, with
other believers, with key relationships in our lives, with hearing the
proclamation of Scripture, through participation in prayer and worship
together, and even through contemplation of God’s work in nature.
Formal means – those means that have been established
through the Church for these purposes – include things like baptism and
communion. Baptism is an intentional
participation in a covenant – a special kind of promise made between a person
or persons and God – that figuratively and literally (and mysteriously) brings
us into full fellowship with others who are on the journey with Christ. It is a promise made to us by God through the
Holy Spirit that God can make good on all of God’s promises in our lives. Furthermore, it is a promise that the
Community of Faith makes to us in regard to accomplishing God’s mission in us
and in the whole world. Ultimately,
baptism is a promise we make that involves surrender of old ways of living and
thinking and allowing the new Way of Christ to prevail.
Communion (sometimes called the Lord's Supper or "Eucharist"), which is an instrument of God’s grace (Sacrament)
that is to be repeated often, is a means of consistent instruction, reminder, and
strengthening, shared through the Church, that focuses our attention and
intentions upon the person and work of Christ. It is the “food” of the Church – the bread and cup, body and blood of
Christ – that nourishes our mission by keeping Christ and His ways as the focus
of our fellowship, living, and mission in the world.
All of these elements and opportunities are provided through
Jesus Christ, and their ultimate purpose (as John Wesley reminds us) is not
just helping us achieve some sort of “sinless perfection.” Alas, as long as we have freewill, we have
opportunity to sin (to disobey God and God’s ways). But, the purity of intention and focus these
instruments of grace provide us with do change our bent toward sin: they help
take away the sense that sin is “normal” for the believer. And in doing so, they provide us with the
means to deeper fellowship with God, greater love for others, and greater
participation in God’s Kingdom and God’s ways, removing the strength of the
“pull” of old (“carnal, worldly”) ways of living.
