February 1, 2004, Number 4 of 7 in the Series: FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Today is the fourth Sunday in the sermon series "Frequently Asked Questions of New and Not-so-New Christians." The question is: What does it mean to be saved? I have to tell you that this is the most challenging question so far; not because there is little to say, but because there is too much that one can say about "being saved." I found that every time I formed in my mind how to organize a response to that question, I said: "Yes, that's good, but there's more . . . but there's more . . . but there's more. And so, I found it very challenging. And, to this moment I still haven't decided how I want to present this. I mean, there are lots of bumper stickers about salvation and being saved which I can quote to you, but they can be misleading and not at all helpful.

But, I think one way to approach this is to begin with the word "salvation," being "saved," and examine its roots in the Bible and in the original Hebrew.

There are a number of Hebrew words which translate into English as "salvation." I think the most important of these words has the sense of "deliverance," and its fundamental root meaning is "to be broad," "to become spacious," "to enlarge."

Think of it this way: when you are confined, constricted, compressed, you have the sense of being oppressed and in need of deliverance; a need for space, a need for things to be broad and spacious. So, one of the things that the Bible says about God is that God is "salvation;" that God offers us a deliverance, that God makes things spacious for us. God frees us from being oppressed and that is the fundamental meaning of the word which I want to work with this morning.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever been in between a rock and a hard place? Do you know what I mean when I say being in between a rock and a hard place?

One of the images in the bible of being in between a rock and a hard place is the children of Israel, having been freed from bondage in Egypt, were approaching the Red Sea when they heard the thundering rumble of the chariots of Egypt bearing down upon them with murderous intent. With the Red Sea on one hand and the Egyptian chariots on the other, Moses and the children of Israel were in between a rock and a hard place.

That's when we need salvation, that's when we need a deliverer, that's when we need someone to make that narrow space, that place of confinement, into a spacious place. And this is one of the meanings of God as savior, God as salvation. One who takes an oppressive place and opens it up to give us the freedom to breathe, to grow, and to live, and to do so in relationship to God. Salvation as deliverance.

When God becomes a part of our lives, things change. Our lives having formerly been pinched and confined and constricted become open; we become free.

The phrase being saved in the Christian tradition carries with it the obvious assumption that someone is in need of rescuing.

It implies that one needs to be freed from imminent danger; that a life is imperiled; that dreams, hopes, and aspirations are all very near to being crushed and lost.

Being saved in the Christian faith is really a two part experience; being saved from something and being saved to something.

To be saved means turning away from a life that is without God; one which is focused solely upon ourselves. It means giving up the obsession with our needs, our wants, our pleasures, our comforts, our importance, our egos, and our power. It means being freed from an obsession with ourselves.

If my world begins and ends with me, then no one else, including God, is likely to get in. So, being saved means being saved from the obsession with ourselves and the need to secure ourselves.

Being saved from also means being saved from destructive patterns of life — things that destroy us instead of build us up. Some of those common destructive elements (which we call sin) are alcohol, drugs, sexual misuse and abuse, intolerance, lust for power, the headlong pursuit of money and possessions, and so many others.

Involvement in such patterns usually comes from a need to fill a void in life; to cover a feeling of inadequacy. But, when God becomes a part of our life, we realize that a focus on self is not a full life and that we don't need to focus on ourselves.

We understand that self-focus alone has no future and offers nothing to build up anyone else or to advance the great causes of humanity.

But being saved from our selves also means that we are saved to a life that is the exact opposite. Such a life says that seeking to know and to do the will of God each day, each moment, is a greater priority than our own will, that being one of the people of God is more important than anything, that giving and sharing are better than taking and accumulation. Our lives are changed by God to lives that affirm others, lives of healing and wholeness.

And lastly, being saved means that we have awakened to the wondrous opportunities to share each day with our brothers and sisters and to see with a sense of wonder, and curiosity and expectation what God is doing in our lives together.

Most people who are rescued — who are pulled back from the brink — they begin to evaluate their lives, take stock, and find ways to improve their lives; it is a wake up call.

We believe that being saved is, in essence, God's wake-up call to us.

Eldon J. Simpson, Pastor