There is a statement I have heard made periodically over the years in various church circles I’ve crossed paths with; perhaps you are familiar with it as well? It sounds basically like this:

“We have absolutely nothing…to do with our salvation.” As in: Not. A. Thing.

Would you agree, or disagree? I'm not here to argue the point, but I do have questions.

Clearly, we humans are incapable of ‘saving’ ourselves, which is the primary reason God sent us a ‘Savior’ in the form of His only begotten Son, Jesus. I should also reiterate that if ‘salvation’ could be ‘earned’ or ‘worked for’ simply by ‘living better lives’, marked by ‘obeying rules and commandments’…then the death of Christ on the cross would have never needed to take place.

Probably the most second often quoted verse I hear after John 3:16… might be Ephesians 2:8-9, where Paul writes: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  That's a great verse and I firmly believe it.

Now the way this portion of text is explained can vary, depending on which ‘church camp’ you spend time in; but the point is always driven home that ‘salvation is a free gift’, period. And I am not contesting the idea that ‘eternal life’ is not a free...‘gift’ (Rom. 6:23).

But even a ‘gift’…must be received, does it not? And if ‘gift-wrapped’…does it not need to be unwrapped and opened? And even then…a gift can be ‘laid aside’ or ‘put away’ and never made use of, right? So the question could be asked: ‘if a person refuses to receive, open, or make use of that gift…what becomes of this ‘gift of salvation’? In other words, if one falls into that category, are they even ‘saved’?

Now I know we tend to think of ‘salvation’. or receiving the ‘gift of eternal life’, as many phrase it …to mean one will go to heaven and live for eternity with God after they die; but are you aware of how Jesus defined ‘eternal life’? Take a quick look at John 17:3.

As I have stated many times in the past, I really try to avoid the discussion of asking who is ‘saved’ or not, preferring to direct the focus on asking if one is truly ‘abiding in Christ’…or not.

I do believe more clarity could come to such conversations if we had a firmer grasp in our understanding as to what we are actually ‘saved’ from, but we can circle back later to review that at a later time. (Rom. 5:9)

So let’s talk about whether a new ‘believer’ has any role…in their ‘salvation’. No, we do not ‘earn’ our salvation, nor can we humans ‘strive to do better’ in the way we conduct our lives so as to find favor with God and perhaps be granted ‘eternal life’ as some reward when we finally appear before Him on Judgement Day. (2 Cor. 5:10; Romans 14:10-12). That is not the way salvation works in God's kingdom.

I do have some understanding as to how the Reformation came about when Martin Luther led the charge to break away from the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church back in the 1500’s, declaring we are saved or justified by ‘faith alone’. This in turn gave birth to the Protestant Reformation movement which explains all the multiple protestant denominations we see today. Now I’m not here to examine church history, nor to expound upon it, but it might help some of us to have a better understanding as to what ‘faith’, or ‘faith alone’…actually means.

As I was going over this subject matter, I came across a quote by Edith Hamilton that resonated with me. Again, it’s just a quote by another person and sounds good, and is not a verse in the Bible. But it sure has biblical roots. I posted the quote for my graphic this morning:

“Faith is not belief. Belief is passive. Faith is active.” Take a moment with that, if you would please.

What does ‘active faith’ look like? Take a look at Hebrews 3:16-19. We read there with whom God was angry with 40 years. It was that generation of folks who Moses led out of Egypt, and was going to take them to the ‘land of peace and rest’, but they never made it there. Do you see why? They continued to sin and eventually died out in the wilderness (that first generation did). Now look at God’s reasoning why they were not able to ‘enter in to God’s rest’- “they did not obey…so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”  It would seem to me that 'obedience is the fruit/evidence of faith'; what say you?

It would also seem that many sincere Christians today feel it is almost blasphemous to include the word ‘faith’ and ‘obey’ in the same sentence. Why is that? (Might want to read yesterday’s message if you missed it). So when we talk about this idea of ‘salvation’ and the ‘gift of eternal life’ being obtained simply by ‘faith’…and ‘nothing else’…that sets up a scenario of having to tip-toe around a whole lot of other verses in our Bibles, or can I say ‘puzzle pieces’? Take Hebrews 5:9, for example where we read how Jesus “became the author of eternal salvation to all who OBEY Him”. What are we supposed to do with that?

If we indeed…have absolutely ‘nothing to do with our salvation’…other than to ‘just believe’ or ‘have faith’…then where do all these other passages come in to play, that sure sound like ‘active verbs’ to me. Verbs like ‘repent or perish’ (Luke 13:3,5) and ‘take up your cross and follow Me’, and how unless we are willing to ‘forsake all’…we ‘cannot be His disciple’. (Luke 14:33; 9:23)

I mean, at the bare minimum of responding to the gospel…what happens to us if we fail or refuse to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so we might be saved” (Acts 16:30-31) or we fall short in “calling upon the name of the Lord” as we ‘confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts’? (Rom. 10:9,13). And if we don’t bother to ‘keep the commandments’, as Jesus explained to the rich, young ruler…can we still ‘enter into life’? (Matt. 19:17; Rom. 2:13)

And if there are no responsibilities or expectations on our part to offer up in response to the gospel other than to ‘just believe’ since ‘we have absolutely NOTHING to do with our salvation’… then may I ask who wants to go correct Jesus for speaking out of line when He declared: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who DOES the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21-23)

I don’t mean to come across sounding snarky here, but is it time to just take a sharpie pen or maybe a pair of scissors and start removing so many of those other ‘troubling’ passages we see in our Bibles…but don’t ‘fit’ with our modern day, man-made doctrines? How are we supposed to answer that question Jesus posed: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’…and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

The problem we run into with such discussions can be demonstrated like this: Hold up a quarter where you see one side and ask the person across from you what they see, 'heads of tails'.  Obviously, if they see 'tails', then you are looking at 'heads'.  When it comes to a discussion like the one we are having here, if one person is seeing 'saved by faith alone', then the assumption the other person sees is we are 'saved by works' i.e. we 'earn our salvation by living better lives'.  

I'm not going to contest there is only two views when it comes to the side of a coin; but on this topic of 'salvation'...what if there's actually a 'third' perspective?  Lord Jesus...open our eyes and hearts to your word.