What am I saved from? What am I saved for?
Those who spend much time in the "church bubble" do not recognize how much we have our own "church" language. Just like "gearheads" talk about camshafts, displacements, and gear ratios, Christians also have their own language used within our community that many use without much knowledge about what we sound like to those outside the church. Christians use words and phrases like doing life together, backsliding, or if you want to be super holy, say the word beseech in prayer (it will impress your super holy friends). One of the words we throw around quite a bit, but sometimes fail to pause and think about, is the word saved. We talk to others in the "church bubble" using this word all the time. "Do you think he/she is even saved?" "Did you see how many people got saved?" I wonder if many of us have ever really examined how this sounds to outsiders or even contemplated this word, saved, and thought more intently about its meaning?
I remember early in my Christian life, full of zeal, asking a stranger at the beach, "Hey bro, are you saved?" He looked at me like I had a third eyeball. "Saved?" He replied, "Saved from what?" I must admit, at the time, I did not have a response. I quietly ended the conversation, but the question was etched into my mind. If you are anything like me, a well-placed question can be something that will cause you to scrap, claw, and lose sleep until you find the answer. This question was one of those questions. In fact, it was the best question. A question that helped me understand how much I am saved from. I want to take a few minutes and examine this fundamental question, "What are we saved from?"
I do not want to give anyone a complex and make people all self-conscious about using the term saved, but if we misuse it or do not know what we are saved from, how will we adequately tell anyone the Good News of the Gospel? Obviously, scripture uses the term many times. From Matthew 1:21 when the angel spoke to Joseph and said, "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." to Acts 4:12, which says, "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." The word salvation is used throughout scripture to convey to us that there is something we needed saving from. The word saved implies there is some dangerous predicament we are in that now, through Jesus, we need to be saved from.
In many churches around the globe today, and especially in the Western Church, you will hear a prevailing message from many churches that Jesus came to save you from all of your problems. You may hear, by inference, that Jesus is the most significant "self-help" guy in all of human history. You may hear that Jesus is full of wise words, illustrations, and anecdotes. You may hear that Jesus came to bless you with things you have always wanted in life and deliver you from the things you never wanted. After all, he blesses his children, and he is our deliverer. In so many minds, Jesus exists for kids to make their homework easier and for adults to save us from our self-inflicted financial woes, not to mention to bless us with the vacation of our dreams. We wrongly think that Jesus is simply there to save us from bad habits like drinking, smoking, or over-eating. To many, Jesus has become the method by which we can be saved from some temporary woe, vice, habit, inconvenience, or some self-induced calamity.
The truth is, however, that while Jesus can do all of those things, that was not his main reason for coming to this earth.
So, what are we saved from?
Our Sin
“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together, they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’”
Romans 3:9–12
God's Wrath
“among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Ephesians 2:3
Condemnation
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
John 3:18
Judgement
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
Hebrews 9:27
The World, our Flesh, and the Devil
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
1 John 2:15-17“and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
2 Timothy 2:26“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8:7–8
Our Wicked and Hard Hearts
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Jeremiah 17:9“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
Ephesians 4:18
What an amazing God we serve that would choose to save anyone, especially a wretch like me.
What are we saved for?
I do not know about you, but I am thankful for all we have been saved from, but it begs another question. Is being saved just about the terrible things that are no longer held on our account? Can we tuck away the greatest sacrifice of all time and relegate it to a simplistic ticket to heaven? Can we take the faith that was so costly for so many and simply turn it into a spiritual retirement plan? The answer to those questions is a resounding NO! The problem for many today is the idea that salvation is the end of the road when it is, in reality, only the beginning. Not only are we saved from so many things, but we are saved for so much more!
Pastoring for many years, I have heard many Christians present the Gospel as if the reason Jesus came to earth and died for our sins was so that we could go to heaven. That all we need to do is pray a prayer, and our eternal destiny would be secure. Heaven, my dear friends, is only the cherry on the top of the Kingdom sundae. We are saved from so much, for so much more.
I will use another Scripture to explain my point.
"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 16:11
The number of things that we are saved for is too numerous to even list them all. As God chooses, each individual is blessed beyond measure when he submits himself to King Jesus and discovers, as he submits to Jesus daily, what he is saved for, moment by moment. What does scripture say we are saved for?
We are Saved for Good Works.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10
We are Saved to have an Abundant Life.
"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
John 10:10
We are Saved to select God's Joy.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11
We are Saved to Make Disciples.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
We are saved for Obedience.
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:15-17
We are Saved to be Filled with His Spirit.
"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,"
Ephesians 1:13
We are Saved to do His Will.
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13
We are Saved for the Master's Use.
"…he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."
2 Timothy 2:21
We are Saved to Preach the Gospel.
"And he said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
Mark 16:15
Our great God and Savior desires to use us for His glory! Do you realize that in God's perfect plan, you have always been a glorious part of the plan of salvation for His Kingdom?
God does not want to simply save us, but He also desperately wants to use us to further His Gospel, make disciples, worship Him, and bring a picture of heaven to this earth.
I pray today that more Christians would catch a glimpse of the glory that God wants to reveal to this world right now through us. I pray that more Christians would have a vision of the Kingdom now. I pray that you, my brothers and sisters, would stop focusing on your sin, the devil, and the things of this world and begin to focus on the Kingdom of God that he wants to reveal to this world, right here, right now, through you! I am glad that this is not the end of the story. I am thankful that God is alive, moving, and wants all of us to be a part of His Kingdom work today!
