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The Other Side of Salvation

1/30/2014

I was reading my Bible the other day, and a thought I’ve long known but seldom considered struck me upside the head. That thought was about what God, through Jesus Christ, has saved me to. When I think of salvation, be it on the eternal scale or in everyday life, I think of being saved from something. Saved from being hit by a car. Saved from the ravages of a disease. Saved from a burning building. Saved from an embarrassing or awkward experience. Saved from losing a football game by a great play. See the theme? Saved from…

It’s in the nature of the word and its synonyms. Deliverance. Rescue. Escape. In all of these examples, salvation implies not facing certain consequences, be it physical harm, emotional discomfort, or some sort of displeasure. In the spiritual world, the term “saved” refers to being rescued from an eternity in hell. It is the ultimate salvation, and it shouldn’t be minimized.

But as drastic as the “from” of salvation is—avoiding hell—I think the “to” of salvation is even greater. A person shoved out of the way of an oncoming car is saved from injury, but they are left on the sidewalk. Aside from maybe a lesson on looking both ways before crossing, they have gained nothing. A person cured from a disease or illness is restored to “normal health”. A football team who survives a loss on a shanked field goal at the end of the game often still finds itself competing in overtime. These are all examples of being saved from. Being saved to brings an abundance of benefits beyond what one had before finding oneself in need of saving.

When God offered Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, He did it to save us from eternal death in hell. But that is only the beginning. Because God also saved us to eternal life in heaven. It doesn’t stop there. He could have cordoned off a section of heaven for His rescued people, giving them a reasonably nice place to spend eternity. And maybe chosen a few really devout, kind-hearted people to have a rare visit to His side of heaven. But that’s not what happened. Scripture tells us that He adopted us as His sons (Ephesians 1:5) and made us heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). He has promised us every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) and given us everything we need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3).

Think back on the example of a fireman who rescues a young woman from a burning building. He carries her down the ladder and over to an ambulance where she gets some medical attention. And then the fireman goes back to work. Now imagine if that fireman, having rescued the young woman, took her into his lavish mansion, gave her run of the house, and included her in his will…on equal terms with his children. That is, on a much smaller scale, what God has done for us. He has not only saved us from hell, but has also saved us to a personal relationship with Him—a relationship that we are told is like a child and his daddy (Galatians 4:6)—and the promise of an eternity in heaven that our wildest dreams can’t touch.

Jesus told Nicodemus that, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV) We often see the “eternal life” aspect of John 3:16 as a contrast to the “shall not perish” portion. And it is. But it is also so much more. It’s also a summary of the abundance of benefits (benefits made known in dozens of other verses in the New Testament) beyond what we ever had or ever could dream of having without God. Being saved from is indeed great. Being saved to is even better.

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Knowledge, Part II

1/18/2014

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In my last post, I wrote about the danger of overvaluing knowledge, either by trusting in man’s knowledge as opposed to God’s, or by viewing knowledge as more valuable than faith or in contrast to faith. These are issues I see outside the church. However, within the church, I think the far more pernicious crisis comes when we undervalue knowledge. And I think we do it all the time.

Undervaluing Knowledge

What do I mean by undervaluing knowledge? How does the church do it? Let me start by saying, as I said in my previous post, that knowledge should not supplant faith. Man does not come to God nor is he justified by God because of knowledge; rather it is through faith. Similarly, man does not grow closer to God by having a special knowledge as the Gnostics of the 1st century claimed. But neither should people who have believed on Christ for salvation then stick their heads in the sand. And too often, I think that is the case. Christians talk about living by faith, and rightly so. But they do not often speak about living with knowledge. The latter does not diminish the former. Look at what Paul wrote to the Colossians, who were under assault by a group of people who claimed they needed a special, elite version of knowledge to get close to God. Paul didn’t tell them to avoid knowledge. Rather…

“…we have not stopped asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has
qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” (Colossians 1:9-12, NIV)

We see the significance of knowledge from these verses in that…
1) Knowledge comes from spiritual wisdom and understanding—that is, it is based on God’s wisdom and understanding as revealed by the Holy Spirit, not on man’s wisdom and understanding. (Verse 9)
2) Knowledge enables us to live a life worthy of God, please Him, and bear fruit. (Verse 10)
3) Knowledge leads to more knowledge. (Verse 10)
4) Knowledge leads to power that produces endurance and patience. (Verse 11)
5) Knowledge helps us better give thanks for the Father’s provision of eternal life. (Verse 12)

Paul prayed for the Colossians to grow in knowledge and clearly outlined the benefits of doing so. In studying the culture in Colosse and the condition of the church there, it doesn’t seem drastically different from our world today, and I think Paul’s prayer would be similar for us.

As I mentioned in my first post, I often hear one person describe another as having a “heart for the Lord.” What I don’t hear is a person having a “mind for the Lord.” Once again, I’m not arguing one over the other. It should be both. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up.” (I Corinthians 8:1, NIV) and that without love, we are “only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (I Corinthians 13:1, NIV) But what happens to the person who doesn’t have knowledge? How will they know if the fiery preacher is actually speaking the Word of God if they themselves do not know the Word of God? How will they know that a fine-sounding argument is based on lies if they aren’t acquainted with truth? How will they know if an emotional experience or a word of advice or tugging on the heart comes from the Holy Spirit or from someone else with a known proclivity to produce counterfeit acts? Scripture makes numerous references to guarding against false teaching and being led astray. False teachings and lies of the devil don’t advertise themselves as such. In fact, they often do just the opposite. The way we recognize them as false is by being intimately familiar with what is true. That which deviates from truth, must then be false.

I think it’s clear from Scripture that God wants His children to value knowledge, to cherish it, to pursue it. The knowledge must be based on truth and it must not take the place of faith or love. Instead it should come alongside both to support and enhance them. Without it, we will be left twisting in the wind, vulnerable to the lies of the devil. Jesus said in John 10 that His “sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (John 10:4-5, NIV) His voice is most prominently spoken through Scripture, and therefore our knowledge of it is paramount.

Knowledge is indeed power. We mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that since we have faith, we have no need for knowledge. But we also must be sure that our knowledge is found in Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 2:3, NIV)

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Knowledge, Part I

1/8/2014

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“. . . my people are destroyed from lack of know-ledge.” (Hosea 4:6, NIV) God spoke these words through the prophet Hosea in reference to the prevalence of evil in that day and age. But I think they are just as applicable today. We—the church, America, the world in general—are facing a knowledge crisis.

First, let me clarify what I mean by knowledge. Oxford Dictionaries defines it as “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” Merriam-Webster adds “the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning” to the meaning. Let me narrow those definitions slightly by referring to knowledge as a familiarity with truth and with the implications of that truth.

At the risk of being overly simplistic, the crisis I mentioned comes when we overvalue knowledge or when we undervalue knowledge. I’ll examine the first in this post, and the second at a later date.

Overvaluing Knowledge…

“My goal is that…they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3, NIV)

The world at large often substitutes words like “educated” for knowledgeable. We esteem academia. If someone attends a renowned institution of higher learning, they are considered educated and whatever they say is considered truth. But not everything taught in institutions of higher learning is true. (Much of it is, but much of it isn’t. The same is true in public schools, churches, and blogs.) Therefore, people can become educated in something false, and therefore not have true knowledge. I can become intimately familiar (thus being educated) with the theory that the earth is flat. But that doesn’t make it true, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I am knowledgeable about the shape of our planet. Being educated does not mean that a person doesn’t have knowledge, but it is not an indicator that they have it either.

Genuine knowledge, therefore, is based on actual facts or truth. If you have an educated familiarity with something that is true, you have true knowledge. If you have an educated familiarity with something that is false, your knowledge is actually false, and thus not knowledge in the truest sense of the word. Defining what is true and what is false is obviously paramount, and when one is successful in doing so, one has gained true knowledge.

“Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:20-25, NIV)

The second danger in overvaluing knowledge comes when we think that knowledge—real, genuine knowledge based on truth—is the be all end all. As humans, we are limited in our knowledge. No matter how much you or I or we as the human race can learn, there will always be something we don’t know. We cannot have infinite knowledge. And we dare not make the mistake of thinking that what we don’t know doesn’t exist.

Yes, I’m talking about faith. The world has labeled faith and knowledge—or reason, or logic—to be mutually exclusive. That is not the case. The Christian faith—be it the resurrection of Christ or creation vs. evolution (which is another topic and blog post entirely)—while they do require varying degrees of faith, are supported by logic and reason. We tend to think that faith is like the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where in a desperate attempt to save his father, Indy has to step out in faith over a bottomless chasm. Only when he takes a leap of blind faith is he supported by a plank that was previously invisible. And sometimes, faith feels like that. But when we have a thorough knowledge, while some faith is still required, we realize that we are not asked to take a blind leap, but to trust that the plank we see before us is real and will hold us, based on the recountings of others who have crossed the plank, the mathematical calculations provided on the sign beside the cliff, and the word of the One who laid the plank in the first place.

This brings up a lot of individual issues and situations that, while important and valid and worthy of discussion, are not the focus of this post. The focus rather, is to point out how we overvalue knowledge when we seek knowledge not based on truth or when we categorize faith and knowledge as mutually exclusive.

In my next post, I’ll look at the dangers in undervaluing knowledge, which sadly, I find to be a more prevalent condition in Christian circles.

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Smell the Roses

1/1/2014

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January 1, 1991
Pasadena, California

On a sun-splashed afternoon, the Big Ten champion Iowa Hawkeyes clashed with the Pac-10 champion Washington Huskies in the 77th Rose Bowl Game. The 90,000-seat stadium was packed with enthusiastic fans, and millions around the world were tuned in to ABC to hear the venerable Keith Jackson’s call of the game. But it wasn’t much of a contest. Washington raced to a 33-7 halftime lead and was never seriously threatened, winning 46-34. I was only eight at the time, so I don’t recall many of the details of game. But one thing I do remember is that Iowa kept playing. As the sun set and darkness fell across Southern California, the Hawkeyes never gave up. And a love affair was born.

Five years later, I sat on my grandparents’ couch as Cinderella Northwestern went up against the mighty Trojans of USC in the 82nd Rose Bowl. Like Iowa, the Wildcats fell behind in the first half. Like Iowa, they rallied, even taking the lead in the 2nd half. And like Iowa, they ultimately fell short on the scoreboard. But that game cemented the Rose Bowl’s place in my heart.

Every year since, I’ve watched the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day…or whenever it was played. The games haven’t always been great and the outcomes haven’t always been what I hoped for, but it has always been the Rose Bowl. For me, it’s not just the actual game. It’s the setting—a pristine playing surface, warm sunshine, and the San Gabriel Mountains as the backdrop. It’s the iconic programs—Michigan, Ohio State, USC—with their winged helmets, buckeye stickers, and gleaming swords. It’s about a Midwest blue collar attitude colliding with a West Coast free-wheeling attack. It’s about events that make announcers say “Oh My!” and “Whoa Nellie!” It’s about flowery parade floats and ringing fight songs and pre-game flyovers and some really good football.

It’s about the start of a new year, the game’s first-half sunshine symbolic of the coming spring. I grew up in Big Ten country, where teams played on cloudy, blustery, November afternoons for the right to spend the holidays in sunny Southern California. I spent the holidays in cold, snowy environs, watching a television that seemed to exude West Coast warmth. New Year’s Day, and especially the Rose Bowl, was a promise of spring, a forerunner of the year to come.

It’s about the end of the old year, the game’s second-half dusk symbolic of the end of the college football season. The sweat of two-a-days in August, the trap road games in October, and the roses in the teeth in November all lead to this. A few of the players will go on to the NFL, and the underclassmen will return the following season. But for some, it’s the last time they will ever step on a football field. A life’s dream is about to be harshly interrupted by the alarm clock, and the Rose Bowl is the last few seconds of a fantasy world.

For me, the dream was to someday see my Cornhuskers play in the Rose Bowl. That moment came after the 2001 season, when something called the BCS mandated that the national championship be decided in the Rose Bowl. It was played at night instead of in the sunshine, it wasn’t on New Year’s Day but a few days after, and Nebraska got clobbered by a superior Miami team. But they still played in the Rose Bowl. And like those Iowa and Northwestern teams from my childhood, they kept fighting. Now Nebraska is in the Big Ten. Maybe some year, they’ll be back in Pasadena. Maybe as afternoon turns to evening some New Year’s Day, my Huskers will triumph in an epic Rose Bowl shootout.

Maybe more than anything, the Rose Bowl is about tradition. Every year, my family comes over on January 1st and we have breakfast together, flip back and forth between a host of afternoon bowl games, and then fill our plates with snacks and appetizers and our glasses with punch as we settle back to enjoy the Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl. It’s not about who plays, although I prefer the blue bloods of the sport, ideally wearing uniforms that clash nicely under the afternoon sun. And it’s not even necessarily about who wins, although I prefer a close game, ideally a shootout that lasts well into the night. It’s about the moments—questioning play calls with my dad (and food choices with my mom and sister) and waiting for Brent Musberger’s “You are looking live” and that moment when the sunset turns the San Gabriels a brilliant mixture of orange and purple and so many others—and it’s about the memories. Some year, they won’t play the Rose Bowl anymore. Or I won’t be able to watch it while I stuff my face with pizza rolls and smokies and deviled eggs. Or I won’t be able to share the experience with my family. But I will have the memories. Memories of Iowa fighting to the end, of Northwestern and USC staging a classic, and of my hapless Huskers who didn’t quit. Memories of food and fellowship as good as the football. Memories like today, where the cold outside will be no match for the warmth depicted on my TV, emanating from the fireplace, and felt in the words and actions of those I love.

So Happy New Year, everybody. Take some time to smell the roses.

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The Other Side of Salvation

Knowledge, Part II

Knowledge, Part I

Smell the Roses

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