Salvation

 

As believers and followers of Christ we are commissioned to spread the message of salvation. This is not something we “just do as a Church” nor is down to “special gifted people” to do . It is the responsibility of us all who are Jesus disciples. That include you and me. It was Jesus Himself who told us to do this in the great commission.

 

“Go onto all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”

Mark 16:15

 

Gosh! That seems like an enormous thing to have to do and something that would take a lot of predation and work. And unless we all play our part that is exactly what does become! I have noticed that there a lot of programs and discussion about sharing hacks that will save us money and effort in our day to day life. I know I can easily get hooked into watching these clips on YouTube. Think about how you pass on things that you have tried and found work well. We all want to share these hacks and tricks with friends and family. And yet we so often find it hard to talk about peoples need for salvation. This wonderful gift of salvation that we have and know it changes our lives, we often keep it to ourselves. Perhaps we are worried people wont listen to us or that they will laugh. Or it could be that we fear being asked a question we don’t know the answer to so think it is better to just keep quiet. We don’t need to stand up in front of crowd of people with our bible in our hands and preach a sermon. No! We need to be willing to have one to one conversations with people, to take opportunities as they come along to share the gospel. As for not having all the answers, Well we can share our own testimony and experience of being a christian and life changing work of Jesus in our lives. We are after all introducing people to that life changing relationship we have. We are recommending people into a course of action that will ultimately save their lives as it has ours. But how do we bring all the wonder of the gospel into a nutshell that is easy to use when talking to others?

Well I like to use the colour method. This is easy to remember and easy to carry around wherever I go. All you need is a book mark, bracelet, key ring, or beads which are of the six colours and that you don’t mind giving away. You then talk about what each colour represents using both scripture and testimony. By giving your visual aid to the person you are talking to you are giving them a reminder of what you talked to them about. It is not for us to convince people of the truth of the gospel we are merely telling them and then allowing God to do the rest. 

So lets have a look at the different colours and what they represent: 

SIN

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

What do we mean when we talk about sin? The first thing we need to be careful of is not condemning others because their life style choices or behaviours. We need to talk about sin in a generalised way so that God can bring conviction to their hearts. After all sin at it’s very core is not believing in God, which is the state of anyone who is not christian. Anything that gets in way of relationship with Jesus or that we put before God is sin.

 

All unrighteousness is sin, and the is sin not leading to death.

1John 5:17

 

“Of sin because they don’t believe in Me;

John 16:9

 

It is not for us to point all the wrong things in anyone else’s life as we all sin and fall short of God’s glory. We must however talk to people about salvation and eternal life. The only sin that does not lead to death is that which we confess before God. Any sin that is unconfessed or faced up to most certainly leads to death and eternal separation for God. 

For many people God can seem such so big that it is hard to see Him as a personal God who walks closely with us. How can the God who created the universe be interested in me? But the wonderful truth is that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to us. Hold that thought for a moment and think about what it means to you. God sent His Son, He stepped out of the Glorious throne room of heaven and became flesh. Jesus came as a man and walked this mucky world, He lived and breathed as we do and faced all the same temptations and struggles we face and yet He did not sin. Having lived our life Jesus also came willing to die on the cross so that we also had way to be free in this world. I mean that is amazing!

 

I have often heard people who have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances talk about campaigning so that no one else should suffer like they have. The tragedy they have faced has spurred them on to take action so that others can be saved from the same tragedy. I expect we have all heard their stories. And of course we have read about young men and woman who have lied about their age so they could go and fight in a war for the sake of us all. Some might think these people are foolhardy and others will thank them. Whatever your feelings about such people their acts can give us a way of explaining the death of Jesus on the cross. 

 

JESUS BLOOD

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

John 3:16a

Jesus blood was poured out on the cross that we might be saved. He has made away for us to know God, to have a personal relationship with Him. His blood cleanses us from sin and it’s consequences.   

Faith is something that is hard to explain and is often marred by our human experience. We can all hold up our hands and say that our trust has been broken at sometime in our lives. Maybe we have trusted someone who has let us down or maybe we have trusted that something would happen and then have it not happen. I don’t know about you but I am finding more and more that you can’t trust people to do what they say they will do, even in large companies. I had a situation recently when switching phone provider. I gave all the information needed with all the relevant codes needed and was assured that everything would change over by the next day. This did not happen and when I chased it up I discovered that the person I had spoken to had misinformed me and it would take a couple of days to change over. When it still didn’t happen I was then told two previous people had not done their job correctly………and so it went on. After nearly two weeks it all changed over perfectly, but I have been left with huge question mark about the company. I am sure that many of us have faced similar. It is hard to put our trust in anything with so much false and fake advertising and information. And of course there are those who have been abused and let down by those who we should definitely be able to trust. What ever the reason putting our faith and trust in something can seem very risky. And if we have had multiple experiences we naturally question if we can trust in Jesus.

 

FAITH

knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 2:16a

Faith has to be grown and tested as we begin our relationship with Jesus. Our coming to Jesus for salvation is the first step in faith that must be taken. Jesus is the only person who will never let us down and is fully trustworthy, but you can only know that if you take the first step. 

Obviously we need to know that we are in need of saviour and that no matter what has happened in the past we can be made clean. We no longer need to live the lives we are living but we can be forgiven and have a new life. It is not that our circumstances will change but that we will have a new way of living in those circumstances. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we have done or not done. And it doesn’t matter if we are rich, poor or the colour of skin Jesus died for us all. It is His blood shed on the cross that cleanses us from our sin. His shed blood paid in full the consequences of our sin. It is such an awesome truth that cannot be worked out in our minds but can truly change our hearts.

 

FORGIVENESS

Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as whit as snow....

Isaiah 1:18a

 Forgiveness is not just a one time deal it is something that is ongoing in our  christian lives for we will sin time and time again. But we can always come to the cross and ask for forgiveness. Of course we can’t just go about sinning thinking it doesn’t matter because we will be forgiven. As we grow and learn in our relationship with Jesus we will want to become like Him and not want to fall into the temptation of sin. As Jesus pours His love out to us in forgiveness so we will desire to pour love out to Him and walk closely with Him. 

Have you ever washed a dirty floor and then not wanted people to walk on it but for it to stay clean for as long as possible? My mum would make us walk in our socks to keep it clean. But after time we would forget and inevitably it will get dirty and need washing again. And so it is similar to our need for forgiveness.

 

 GROWTH

But grow in the grace & knowledge of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ...

2 Peter 3:18

Becoming a Christian is not a passive thing, it doesn’t mean that we will receive the all things God promises us instantly. We must learn to walk with Jesus and grow in all that God has for us. Our relationship and walk with Jesus will different for each one of us and likewise our growth. The more we read His word (the bible) and spend time in prayer the more we will grow. It doesn’t mean that we must give up everything else and spend all our time reading and praying. We need to live a normal life of work, rest and play so we can apply the word of God to us. God can be found in anything and everything and is wanting us to discover Him in new and meaningful ways that are personal to us. I have the privilege of living near the sea and so often find that God will speak to me when I am out with my dog. It might be the view, the sea, a person or I might find something. I remember one particular day when I felt frustrated, hurt, angry and as though God had left me alone. So I took a walk on a wild beach empty beach. As I walked I talked to God, I poured all my feelings out and asked Him to show me He hadn’t left me. I then stood still and heard God speak, “look down at your feet”. When is did there looking up at me was a stone with a goofy smiling face. It had two holes which went right through and a darker coloured crease as a mouth. I knew in that moment that God had known for a very long time that I would need that stone. I picked the stone up and still have it on a shelf in my home. That moment was one of growth and a deeper understanding of God’s word

The key to growth is to remain open to hear what God has to say to us. We think that reading the bible and praying is a boring think to do and we may not understand what the scripture is about and how to apply to our lives. But if we ask Him and stay open we can be certain that He will speak to and teach us in some very unexpected ways.

 

 ETERNAL LIFE

....That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16b

There is a song sung by Queen that asks the question “Who wants to live forever”? And if we think of that in terms of living as we currently are there are few who would they do want to live forever. We live in such a broken world that can feel very uncertain and unsafe. It is so full of deceit and lies where hate and anger seem to run rife. We see police powers rising up against each other and innocent lives being lost through war, knife crime and mass shootings. There are many people living in poverty with no real help illness and sickness claims the lives of our loved ones. And our planet is slowly dying. So who does want to live for ever?

Well I do, because living an eternal life is what lifts me away for what is happening around me giving me hope no matter what I face personally or globally.  I can't wait for the day I am in the presence of my saviour for ever and ever.

 

Of course we cannot berate people into becoming a Christian. We can’t simple point out how sinful they might be and condemn them for the life choices they have made. Nor can we lead people to Christ by telling them that life will be so much better with Jesus in their lives. We have to be real with people, our own testimony of what Jesus has done for us and what He means to us is the perfect way to tell people about Jesus. Anything we do say must be backed up with with our life style. And we must always be praying for the Holy Spirit to bring conviction into the hearts of those we are sharing with. We can only do so much the rest is God’s Devine work deep in the heart of those who are seeking Him.