May 13, 2007: Salvation Is Enough

Is salvation enough for you?

I mean, if God does nothing more for you than save your soul, will you love him for that? Will you worship him for that? Will you submit to his will and remain steadfast if he does nothing more for you than save your soul from hell and give you eternal life?

Here is why I ask. I get the impression from some sermons I've heard and Christian books I've read that our faith is sometimes "sold" as a solution to problems that go way beyond the fundamental horror of separation from God. Many sincere believers seem to have absorbed this padded teaching without realizing it. It is as though they have been taught to be discontent with mere salvation. They take that for granted, and feel they have a right to expect a lot of other things too - things that God never promised them.

Miraculous healing, for example. I just read a missionary's report about a Nigerian medicine man who abandoned Christianity because, as the missionary reported, "his primary interest was in spiritual power. And if there was no greater power among the Christians than he already possessed, then why join them?" Why indeed. Perhaps to get saved? Is salvation such a shabby, pale, pathetic thing that it cannot compare with the gold treasure of being able to stun people with miracle power? Coming to Christ pleases God and brings forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Isn't that good enough? (It wasn't enough for Simon the Sorcerer, who in Acts 8:9-20 likewise expressed a "primary interest in spiritual power." Peter told him to go to hell.)

What angered me, what had me ready to fling the missionary's book against the wall, was the fact that he sympathized with the medicine man! He agreed that Christianity was pretty pointless if it wasn't miraculously powerful. He wrote, "The Nigerians 'knew' that whatever power Christianity brought it wasn't adequate to deal with such things as tragedy, infertility, relational breakdowns, and troublesome weather. It didn't meet many of their deepest spiritual needs...Though we talked a great deal about spiritual things, the Nigerians understood most aspects of spirituality much better than we did." Oh no, no, no, no. Missionary, you're the one who has the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're the one who understands that the "aspect of
spirituality" that matters is our alienation from God and the reconciliation he has provided through his Son. As for the other four things you mentioned, you would have been wiser to say: "Tragedy? Expect it! The New Testament is the story of one tragedy after another befalling the people of God. Infertility? Some of you will be
childless. Relational breakdowns? Some of you will be evicted from your families for following Christ, others will find yourselves married to beasts who molest your children or give you AIDS. Troublesome weather? Jesus did calm a storm once, but St. Paul couldn't (Acts 27:14-27) - and though Agabus could predict a famine (Acts 11:28), he could not stop it, and neither can we. The rain falls at God's mercy. Whether it falls or not, whether you eat or starve, you must serve God and believe in his Son."

That is the kind of faith we're after - one that trusts God when the mountain of trouble doesn't go away. We must stay on message: Jesus Christ and him crucified, the hope of eternal salvation. Salvation even when it is accompanied by nothing is still a great gift - glorious, undeserved - and anything given us beyond that is grace upon grace. To expect more is dangerous; to demand more is folly. And to teach prospective believers that they will also have health or success or inner peace or better family relationships or a greater circle of influence is to tempt them to renounce Christ when it turns out that they don't get those things, and they conclude that Christianity "isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Be content with your salvation. Feeling you have a right to more than that is like saying, "Hmmph. 'Eternal undeserved bliss in presence of God.' Big deal. Is that all I get?"