Good
evening. When I was in high school, my mother had a part-time job as the alto
soloist in the choir at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church. Eventually, she started
dragging me with her to church. By that point, I was a freshman in high school,
so she couldn’t physically drag me—I was too big for that—but I didn’t want to
go. I wanted to sleep in and I really wasn’t all that interested in church. Eventually
I got to know and like the other kids who were in the youth group, so I came
around to the idea of going to church. It kinda scares me to think that this
was about thirty years ago. In my mind, I’m only in my early thirties.
At
one point, the pastor felt that the kids in the youth group weren’t getting
enough religion, so he thought it would be a good idea to send the youth group
down South to church camp. Southern Baptist church camp. I can’t speak for any
of the other kids in that youth group, but I am a Yankee, through and through.
I am not saying that I have anything against Southerners and I don’t mean to
speak ill of the entire region. I am just saying that it was quite a bit of
culture shock. And let me tell you, we got a whole lot of religion that week.
As
Yankees, we were also something of a curiosity to all of the Southerners. Very
often, we were asked, “Are you saved? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your
personal Lord and Savior?” Now I’m perfectly comfortable confessing Christ as
my Lord and Savior. But to this very day, I get a little anxious when I hear
the question, “Are you saved?”
My
problem is not that I have a guilty conscience—though I suspect that any good
Presbyterian or Lutheran feels a little bit of guilt from time to time. No, my
problem with that question is theological. The very question suggests that
salvation is a once-and-for-all kind of thing. The way the question is phrased
suggests that the work of salvation is completed the moment you accept Jesus.
That’s it. Accept Jesus and there’s nothing more you need to do. You’re saved
from eternal damnation. Period.
On
one level, that’s absolutely true. As Reformed Christians, we believe that
Jesus has done all the work that is necessary for our salvation. We believe
that we are saved by grace alone, and there is nothing, not a single blessed
thing, that any one of us can do to work our way into heaven. So in that sense,
if you are a Christian, the only possible answer to the question, “Are you
saved?” is, “Yes!”
The
English theologian N.T. Wright has a slightly different take on that question.
Instead of looking at what we’re saved from—eternal
damnation—Wright focuses on what we are saved for. The short answer is that we are also saved for building God’s kingdom here on
earth; this is our calling. Wright says: “God is utterly committed to set the
world right in the end.”[1] For
this reason, what we do here on earth matters a great deal.[2]
Salvation,
then, is also a process. It is the ongoing work of God’s re-creation in each
one of us. This is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in his letter to the
Colossians. According to Wright, Paul is telling them—and us—to develop “the character which will truly anticipate
the life of the coming age.”[3] So
Paul tells the Colossians to “put to death” the things that are of this world:
impurity, passion, greed, and idolatry. Paul isn’t telling us to do these
things so that we may get into heaven. Paul is reminding us that our true
identity is in Christ. And these worldly things get in the way of that
relationship.
Yet
Paul doesn’t stop with the things that we’re supposed to give up. Yes, we are
supposed to unlearn the ways of the world. By doing so, we make room for
heavenly things. Rather, Paul says to the Colossians and to us, “As God’s
chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience.” This doesn’t come naturally to us, nor does
it come easily. How then, do we do this? How do get rid of the ways of the
world? How do we become holy, compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and patient?
Remember
that Paul is not writing this letter to one person, or to a few select members
of a community. No. Paul is writing to the entire Christian community at Colossae.
This context is vitally important. It is the job of the entire community to
move in the direction of holiness. No single person can do this alone. No
pastor can do this for you. It is a process in which all of us must
participate.
Tending
vines and branches is a process, an ongoing process. You don’t just harvest the
grapes once and then forget about it. Jesus chose this metaphor and Paul built
on that metaphor because it was something that people understood. Attending to
your faith, your character, and your spiritual development is an ongoing
process, just like tending a vineyard. You don’t do this once, you do this all
the time, and you do it together. So instead of asking, “Are you saved?” I’m
going to ask, have you been pruned? Or are you resisting the pruning hook? If
you feel that you have been pruned, that great! Now go help tend someone else’s
vine. And if you think you might be resisting the pruning hook, don’t hesitate
to ask someone else for help. Remember, we are a community of faith; we’re all in
this together. Thanks be to God. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment