The Beauty of Salvation (14)
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 2 Corinthians 1.19-22
It is not uncommon for us to think of salvation as our story of how God has worked in our life—our testimony. This is altogether proper; every believer must be ready, as a witness for Jesus, to testify concerning the work He has done in our lives.
At the same time, we must never lose sight of the fact that salvation is, in the first instance, God’s story. Salvation is the story God is telling of and to the world. Our story will only be valid to the extent that we understand it from within God’s story, that is, from salvation as He tells it.
David Bentley Hart reminds us of the parameters and purpose of that story: “It is only in fulfilling—indeed, in being the substance of—[God’s] covenant that Christ makes the story that God tells concerning creation triumph over the false and violent stories that sinful humanity tells of the world.” That is, the story God is telling in Jesus Christ is of the restoration of all creation through a people who possess and are realizing His great and precious promises through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1.2-4). By virtue of our gladly surrendering to Jesus, we are transferred into a Kingdom which is the centerpiece of God’s work of renewing the cosmos.
We are not merely the beneficiaries of Christ’s salvation; each of us has a role to play in bringing that salvation—God’s story—to greater fulfillment by the good works we do within the calling God has appointed for us. God is rescuing His creation from the violent stories human beings tell about it into the peace and joy of His salvation. This story is the story we tell of what God is doing in and through us in our part of His world.
Our testimony, therefore, must find us saved, forgiven, and eagerly at work in God’s story making all things new in Jesus Christ.
Resources for being and making disciples
We can begin to recover our witness for Jesus by gaining a clearer vision of what it means to be His disciples, and hence, what disciple-making involves. As we reprise our series of excellent conversations with Dr. Mike McQueen, consider your own vision and calling as a disciple of our Lord.
Other columns of interest: This week: In our ReVision column we look at the Church as people in ministry and how that is realized. Our Read Moore podcast is working through our book, The Kingdom Turn. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we continue examining the state of pastors and churches during the period of the Celtic Revival, using contemporary witnesses. And in our Scriptoriumcolumn we are working through the sermon on the mount. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
The Ailbe Bookstore: All the books in The Ailbe Bookstore are now available at no charge. Only pay postage. We need a better vision of what the coming of the Kingdom of God entails. Our book, The Kingdom Turn, offers a full and practical explanation of what we should be seeking as we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Order your copy by clicking here for the free book or here for the free PDF. Discipleship entails discipline, and our free book, The Disciplined Life, can help you in making the most of the time God gives you each day. Understanding the times better will help us in knowing what we as God’s people should do. Order your copy of Understanding the Times by clicking here for the free book and here for the free PDF.
Resources for Shepherds: I encourage you to follow Ailbe Brother A. D. Labuschagne’s series on worship in the Insights column. Writing from South Africa, A. D.’s latest column calls us to worship God as living sacrifices.
From the Celtic Revival
State of the Churches in the Time of the Celtic Revival
But hear too the blessed Zechariah, the prophet, warning you with the Word of God…“they made their hearts immovable, so as not to hear My Law and the words which the almighty Lord sent in His Spirit and in the hands of the former prophets…My wrath is piled up on the shepherds, and I shall punish the lambs.”
– Gildas, The Ruin of Britain
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”
– Matthew 24.12
Surely this is as great a word of condemnation as can be levied against any pastor, that one maintains an immovable heart “so as not to hear My Law”. Through Zechariah the Lord condemned the shepherds of Israel because they refused to hear His Law or to learn from the prophets who had gone before them. Gildas applied this to the shepherds of Britain in his day. No wonder they had no love for their sheep, but only saw them as a means to their own aggrandizement. Follow this whole series by subscribing to our Crosfigell teaching letter.
Resources from the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD)
It can be fun reading about the saints of Ireland during this period. Hagiography is a blend of history and story-telling, which fits perfectly with the Irish imagination. Our book, Lives of Irish Saints, uses as its basis the important early-20th century work of Charles Plummer and presents some of the leaders of the early period of the Celtic Revival. You can download it for free by clicking here.
T. M. Moore
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
