Am I really saved? Have I screwed it all up?

I think most people wonder the connection between forgiveness and sanctification. How does repenting of my sins create a different character? More simplistically, people don’t have an issue with being forgiven so we can trust heaven when we die. They want to know what use does that do me now? Here are the answers given that are most familiar:

Discovering all your sins are forgiven creates gratitude and thankfulness. It’s that thankfulness that changes you.
Once Jesus forgives you, you get a clean slate and have a second chance at becoming righteous.
It doesn’t matter. Being broken is the top rung of the Christian ladder…the apex of the Christian life.
The success of your life is indication of your righteousness.

Not only are there serious problems with all three of those common explanations, wondering the connection between forgiveness and a changed life, in the first place. Jesus talks about repenting and forgiveness of sins. But He also talks a lot about this Kingdom that’s near or present, with His arrival. He keeps talking about life everlasting and He doesn’t seem to be only talking about heaven after death. What Jesus offers is life…a life of both quality and quantity, starting now and never ending.

Jesus offers forgiveness of sins as a means of a new and abundant life being accessible to us now.

Sounds simple. But I have problems right now. You probably do too. Money is tight. The spouse is leaving me. My kid is on drugs. Where is this life? Is all this my fault? Am I being punished? Was Jesus lying?

You can see how those four explanations are not only wrong, but abusive. I don’t think people provide them because they want to abuse you. But it does, nonetheless. Being loyal to Jesus means Him being present with us in good times, bad times, forever. And His presence comes with power…not necessarily the huge, miraculous power (even though that’s possible), but the mundane power…the kind of power that changes you without you even realizing it. And when you do realize it, it’s most likely not when you are the most popular or wealthy, but when your circumstances are awful. It’s usually in those circumstances that you find our reactions and demeanor way different than you expected. That’s life. That’s the life His Spirit gives, which is also His presence. And that is the Kingdom.

So, having said that, lets tear down those four strongholds.

Can being grateful generate enough thankfulness to put down the crack pipe? Can it extinguish any contempt or hatred towards someone who continues to insult you or harass you? How many church settings have you been in where everyone pretends they’ve got it all together and it makes you feel like you’ve either done something really wrong…or maybe you’re not really saved and you don’t belong. In Reformed circles, the anxiety sounds like this: “God elects and it’s not me who chooses. So, am I really a reject?” Here’s the truth. All those people who pretend at that church you attended: They all have secrets. They have secrets that, if they were exposed, they may become suicidal. That brings up another question: if that’s the case, is any of this stuff even true? What if the issue isn’t the truth of what’s being proclaimed, but a refusal to actually accept the kind of life Jesus offers because it requires too much vulnerability, too much honesty or laying down projects we don’t want to lay down? What if it’s true but found way too difficult to try? Sometimes the Lord has ways of putting us into circumstances where we don’t have the leisure to worry about all that. And as bad as it may seem to us, it would be by His mercy that it pushes us to actually believe Him instead of our reputations or pop preachers, for a change.
How about the second chance view? It basically says that salvation is yours to lose. He’s given you a leg up with His shed blood…but now it’s up to you whether or not that will get you to the finish line. It raises questions within yourself. If Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, what will you do if you screw that up? The Bible says that it would be better for those to have never heard the gospel at all than to hear the gospel and mess it up anyways, right? That comes from 2 Peter 2:21. Here’s what Peter actually said:

“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.”

Wow. That sounds harsh! But never read only one verse. One verse can be taken to mean just about whatever you want it to say or what you don’t want it to see, because it is taken out of context. That sentence is in a chapter about false teachers. These are people who don’t believe the message, but preach it falsely within a church setting, to purposefully lead people away from the Gospel of Jesus. What that verse is not about is a believing Christian who screwed things up and can’t count on redemption anymore. Jesus’ salvation and His presence are always available to you, so long as you want Him. And once you experience His presence, why would you not? If that’s you, then you are worrying in vain. The people who propose this usually appeal to the fleshly desire to make worship human centered. They may not even see it. But to diminish the power of Christ’s shed blood on the cross and raise human works to such levels cannot help but create a religious club of Pharisees, rather than disciples of Jesus. Remember this: you can never lose what you never earned to begin with. Your salvation doesn’t come from you. It comes from Christ. Can you lose that salvation? There are all kinds of theological tomes written about that topic. Here’s what I know: the only possible way to lose it would be to reject it and never have an interest in it again. But is that even possible? Leave that up the theologians. But, needless to say, the pressure of your performance doesn’t stand between you and hell. That actually is a message from hell and to be rejected.

What about your life change not being relevant? This is the view that brokenness is the highest thing we can achieve. These usually come from grace movements where grace becomes the centerpiece even over the King who brings grace to us, without merit. Brokenness, for sure, is something necessary for us to embrace in order for a repentant life to even happen. But does it all end there? Is the life Jesus offers us a life of constantly celebrating our brokenness? Is there anything more? Thank God there is! We don’t have to give up or give in and use the giving up or giving in as a celebration or act of worship. Paul writes to the Romans in Chapter 6 asking since we are saved by grace, does that mean we go sin because our sin makes grace all the greater? What’s his response? Never! Let me ask you this: would you ever think about returning to your own vomit? Sounds harsh, but it’s a biblical question. If you despise the sin, brokenness and weakness that brought you to the cross, why would you return to it, especially as an act of worship? That’s weird. And it should sound weird to your ears. The only reason these movements gain traction isn’t because of their truth but because they feed on hurt people, affirm the hurt and let the hurt drive their beliefs about Jesus. Perhaps they were abused in a church setting. Perhaps, they were raped. In any event, Jesus came to heal our wounds, not give us an alter of woundedness to languish. We don’t have to accept that. We can dare to believe Jesus is offering us a life that takes us way beyond our hurts, hang-ups, addictions, and turn us into different kinds of people.

Lastly, what about the test of success? Does money, a big house, big church or pretty face vindicate the Lord’s love for you? Seriously, do I even need to ask that question? In Isaiah, the prophet describes the coming Messiah as someone whose looks were nothing to notice. He was not model material. Nor would He be wealthy and never face any kind of trouble. In fact, He would suffer and die innocently. That, all by itself, should help you see that anyone who preaches this is a moron and not to be taken seriously, except for the damage being done to those who do take him or her seriously.

So, what’s left? What is the connection between forgiveness and sanctification? They are inseparable. They are also inseparable from Christ’s presence within us, through His Spirit…and the power He brings us…power to change, power to grow, power to be salt and light…and most of the time with us being ignorant of it. If we realized it, we would probably be hard to live with. In John 7:17 Jesus says the following:

“Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”

That’s an easy challenge. Just try practicing what Jesus preached and see if it is self-vindicating. When you try, you will discover He’s telling you the truth. He is trustworthy. And by discovering that, it makes it far easier to clearly see the garbage being said about Him and His offer of salvation from the truth of it. You can never lose what you never earned to begin with. Once more, you are holy. You may not feel holy, but when you trust Him with your existence, He dwells within you and your body becomes what the Jews considered the Holy of Holies that was at the center of the Temple. That goes for those fellow believers too. It is not a performance-based message. But the message will affect performance. It won’t affect performance because you get the right attitude or just learn to desire to be good a lot more. It effects performance because being in His presence and putting into practice His words reveals His Kingdom and it changes you through the power of the grace He gives. There isn’t a human explanation for this change. It’s essentially supernatural. But it is harmonious with everyday life too. There will be days that are darker than others. There will be times you will feel like a loser and an ingrate. But never believe that’s His thoughts about you. No! He loves you. He’s there in the successes and the failures. I honestly believe that when we do experience the consummated Kingdom of God, we will not only be in wonder of how amazing it is but will also start to recognize aspects of it we experienced while living in this realm, but never really knew. Just knowing that helps us realize we are perfectly safe in His realm, no matter what this realm dishes out.

Don’t ever forget that.

Charlie Curtis