Salvation
I've told a lot of people about this Life in the Spirit Seminar hoping that they would come, in hopes that we could get a new community going in south Calgary. But also because, frankly, I want this time to be a life changing experience for the people who come. I mean, if all it was was just a fascinating social experiment, that'd be ok. Just a weird cultural experience of what could be considered a sub-culture of Orthodox Catholicism in Canada. Or maybe it'll just be a time to get to know other young adults who are somewhat like minded- though, I know quite a few people here, and I know that you're not all necessarily "like minded", especially regarding the issues at stake. But I think it'll be more than that- for some of you these next 4 weeks could be a definitive time in your life when you decide for yourself who Christ is and what relevance that has for you.
Matt. 16Peter's Confession of Christ13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
Context- They are in Caesarea Philippi. The town is called that because it was built by King Herod Phillipus to honor Caesar. In the town is a large white temple dedicated to Caesar- Caesar was worshipped as a God by the Romans, and this worship was imposed on everyone the Romansruled. Thiss town is also near the place where the Jordan River starts- coming from underground streams. The Jordan river is the life force for all ofIsrael. Thiss area was also considered by the Greeks to be the birthplace of pan- the little "toot" guy with pig legs and goat horns from "Hercules". So this is where Jesus asks the question "Who do the people say that I am". The people listening to Jesus had lots of food for thought.
But I'm not gonna give you an apologetic talk explaining precisely why I believe that Jesus is God and not just an imposter. It's not unlikely that I could convince you, at least at a rational level, the arguments supporting Jesus as God are quite convincing. If anyone wants to engage in this type of discussion later, I'd be happy to talk to you.
But Jesus himself said "Not everyone who calls me "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom." And James wrote " 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that, and shudder". So obviously bringing you to a point of intellectual assent would not be good enough! Most people need to encounter Jesus for themselves- and that is precisely the thing that we are hoping will happen to you in these next four weeks. You will encounter Christ, some of you for the first time, many of you in a deeper way than ever before. Even I, as one of the speakers and small group leaders, fully expect to get from this seminar a deeper appreciation of Christ, and a deeper relationship with Him.
I encourage you then to just unload your preconceived notions, open yourself up, and for the next 4 weeks every Thursday say "God, I give you permission to do whatever you want to do in me tonight. Show yourself to me, bless me, Knock my spiritual socks off."
Jesus' 2000 year old question is being asked to you- "You- who do you say that I am?"
Now we've heard a lot of cliche answers over the years "Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God, King of Kings, Good Shepherd." Many of these answers have probably been so repeated they've lost all their meaning! But there's one that I want to unpack in particular- "Jesus as savior".
Some Christians like to evangelize to other people by running around asking them "Have you been Saved? Have you been washed in the blood?", which frankly doesn't mean anything to most people who hear it. What do we mean when we say "Jesus Saves"?
Most people think "Jesus saves us from Hell." Now this is true. People often get mad at God for sending people to Hell, but they got it backwards. God created people for Heaven. But Heaven is a perfect relationship with God. Hell, on the other hand, is the absence of a relationship with God. God loves us all, as we heard in Fr. Alfredos talk. He wants us to be in a perfect relationship with Him. But we choose not to be in a relationship with him. We choose to sin, and we cut ourselves off from God.
When I say Sin, the word means "Miss the mark." God is perfect, any imperfection whatsoever cannot exist in the context of a perfect relationship with God. Any sin severs that relationship- no matter how minor. Mother Theresa, then, 'deserves' to go to Hell. I was thinking about this one day, and I was frusterated with God, that all over the world people are going to Hell, and I said to God "Why don't you do something!"
And then I remembered- Oh yeah. God already did. He sent us Jesus.
Some how- I admit I don't understand how- Jesus' act of perfect obedience makes it possible for us to be in a relationship with God. Some people explain this in a kind of legalistic way, that Jesus took our place. Others say "he was perfectly obedient where our obedience was imperfect, and his perfect obedience makes up for ours." I honestly don't know how it works, but I know that Jesus gave himself to us in a total gift of self sacrifice, and that somehow through uniting ourselves with Him (Eucharist) we are 'saved' from Hell!
But the word "Saved" means more than that. In the original Greek in which the Bible was written, the same word is used for both "Saved" and "Healed" See, Jesus wants to save us from our sins and make us fully alive- in this life! He wants this life to be rich in meaning- not superficial and dull, as most of our lives are! He wants to save us not only from the consequences of our sin, but from the sin itself!
Now, most people today wouldn't get this. They'd think "I don't want to be saved from my sin. I like sinning. I don't wanna stop." Christians are accused of being self righteous if they say "Hey that's a sin! But don't worry, I know a cure!". Would it be self righteous of a healthy person to say "Hey, you have a cancer growth! But don't worry, here's a cure."?
Sin is a spiritual disease, and Jesus is the cure. People might not think they want to be saved from their sin- they think it's not hurting anyone- but what about the alcoholic who can't stop drinking? What about the guy addicted to pornography who's marriage is suffering? What about the woman who gossips so much that no one wants to share anything with her and be vulnerable? What about the person who is so guarded because of what other peoples sins have done to them, that they are unable to have a healthy relationship? What about the married couple who can't figure out why they keep fighting about little insignificant things, and they keep drifting farther and farther apart?
Believe it or not, Christianity offers a cure to all of these things. You think "Whatever, I know some disfunctional Christians"- think of them as being in rehab. The more you unite yourself with Christ, the greater freedom you will experience from sin.
Remember that God created us perfectly good, and perfectly free- he wants to restore us to that dignity- Christ is the way.
Lastly, I want to warn you against a danger that a lot of Christians fall into. Desperate to be free from sin, or to escape Hell, or to have meaning, or whatever, they look at Christ as a means to an end. I did this for the longest time. I remember asking Christ in virtual desperation one day while in Adoration "Jesus, you died to free me from my sins. Well you died for nothing, because I'm still a sinner."
For the longest time I missed the point. Heaven is a perfect relationship with God. Sin diminishes that relationship, clouds our minds so that we can't see clearly and we're likely to sin again, and closes us off to the love God has for us. Jesus' saving act was when he died on the cross, giving himself to us, body and soul, spirit and divinity. We receive Christ in the Eucharist. None of this is legalistic. None of it is a formula. You're not "saved" by believing the right thing. It's about getting to know a person- that person is Christ, who is God.
My challenge to you over these next four weeks is to pray every day- not just on Thursdays when you come here, but every day that you would be brought a little deeper into this relationship.
Matt. 16Peter's Confession of Christ13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
Context- They are in Caesarea Philippi. The town is called that because it was built by King Herod Phillipus to honor Caesar. In the town is a large white temple dedicated to Caesar- Caesar was worshipped as a God by the Romans, and this worship was imposed on everyone the Romansruled. Thiss town is also near the place where the Jordan River starts- coming from underground streams. The Jordan river is the life force for all ofIsrael. Thiss area was also considered by the Greeks to be the birthplace of pan- the little "toot" guy with pig legs and goat horns from "Hercules". So this is where Jesus asks the question "Who do the people say that I am". The people listening to Jesus had lots of food for thought.
But I'm not gonna give you an apologetic talk explaining precisely why I believe that Jesus is God and not just an imposter. It's not unlikely that I could convince you, at least at a rational level, the arguments supporting Jesus as God are quite convincing. If anyone wants to engage in this type of discussion later, I'd be happy to talk to you.
But Jesus himself said "Not everyone who calls me "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom." And James wrote " 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that, and shudder". So obviously bringing you to a point of intellectual assent would not be good enough! Most people need to encounter Jesus for themselves- and that is precisely the thing that we are hoping will happen to you in these next four weeks. You will encounter Christ, some of you for the first time, many of you in a deeper way than ever before. Even I, as one of the speakers and small group leaders, fully expect to get from this seminar a deeper appreciation of Christ, and a deeper relationship with Him.
I encourage you then to just unload your preconceived notions, open yourself up, and for the next 4 weeks every Thursday say "God, I give you permission to do whatever you want to do in me tonight. Show yourself to me, bless me, Knock my spiritual socks off."
Jesus' 2000 year old question is being asked to you- "You- who do you say that I am?"
Now we've heard a lot of cliche answers over the years "Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God, King of Kings, Good Shepherd." Many of these answers have probably been so repeated they've lost all their meaning! But there's one that I want to unpack in particular- "Jesus as savior".
Some Christians like to evangelize to other people by running around asking them "Have you been Saved? Have you been washed in the blood?", which frankly doesn't mean anything to most people who hear it. What do we mean when we say "Jesus Saves"?
Most people think "Jesus saves us from Hell." Now this is true. People often get mad at God for sending people to Hell, but they got it backwards. God created people for Heaven. But Heaven is a perfect relationship with God. Hell, on the other hand, is the absence of a relationship with God. God loves us all, as we heard in Fr. Alfredos talk. He wants us to be in a perfect relationship with Him. But we choose not to be in a relationship with him. We choose to sin, and we cut ourselves off from God.
When I say Sin, the word means "Miss the mark." God is perfect, any imperfection whatsoever cannot exist in the context of a perfect relationship with God. Any sin severs that relationship- no matter how minor. Mother Theresa, then, 'deserves' to go to Hell. I was thinking about this one day, and I was frusterated with God, that all over the world people are going to Hell, and I said to God "Why don't you do something!"
And then I remembered- Oh yeah. God already did. He sent us Jesus.
Some how- I admit I don't understand how- Jesus' act of perfect obedience makes it possible for us to be in a relationship with God. Some people explain this in a kind of legalistic way, that Jesus took our place. Others say "he was perfectly obedient where our obedience was imperfect, and his perfect obedience makes up for ours." I honestly don't know how it works, but I know that Jesus gave himself to us in a total gift of self sacrifice, and that somehow through uniting ourselves with Him (Eucharist) we are 'saved' from Hell!
But the word "Saved" means more than that. In the original Greek in which the Bible was written, the same word is used for both "Saved" and "Healed" See, Jesus wants to save us from our sins and make us fully alive- in this life! He wants this life to be rich in meaning- not superficial and dull, as most of our lives are! He wants to save us not only from the consequences of our sin, but from the sin itself!
Now, most people today wouldn't get this. They'd think "I don't want to be saved from my sin. I like sinning. I don't wanna stop." Christians are accused of being self righteous if they say "Hey that's a sin! But don't worry, I know a cure!". Would it be self righteous of a healthy person to say "Hey, you have a cancer growth! But don't worry, here's a cure."?
Sin is a spiritual disease, and Jesus is the cure. People might not think they want to be saved from their sin- they think it's not hurting anyone- but what about the alcoholic who can't stop drinking? What about the guy addicted to pornography who's marriage is suffering? What about the woman who gossips so much that no one wants to share anything with her and be vulnerable? What about the person who is so guarded because of what other peoples sins have done to them, that they are unable to have a healthy relationship? What about the married couple who can't figure out why they keep fighting about little insignificant things, and they keep drifting farther and farther apart?
Believe it or not, Christianity offers a cure to all of these things. You think "Whatever, I know some disfunctional Christians"- think of them as being in rehab. The more you unite yourself with Christ, the greater freedom you will experience from sin.
Remember that God created us perfectly good, and perfectly free- he wants to restore us to that dignity- Christ is the way.
Lastly, I want to warn you against a danger that a lot of Christians fall into. Desperate to be free from sin, or to escape Hell, or to have meaning, or whatever, they look at Christ as a means to an end. I did this for the longest time. I remember asking Christ in virtual desperation one day while in Adoration "Jesus, you died to free me from my sins. Well you died for nothing, because I'm still a sinner."
For the longest time I missed the point. Heaven is a perfect relationship with God. Sin diminishes that relationship, clouds our minds so that we can't see clearly and we're likely to sin again, and closes us off to the love God has for us. Jesus' saving act was when he died on the cross, giving himself to us, body and soul, spirit and divinity. We receive Christ in the Eucharist. None of this is legalistic. None of it is a formula. You're not "saved" by believing the right thing. It's about getting to know a person- that person is Christ, who is God.
My challenge to you over these next four weeks is to pray every day- not just on Thursdays when you come here, but every day that you would be brought a little deeper into this relationship.
posted by Peter van Kampen at 7:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home