Partnered With God?

who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 2 Timothy 1:9 NIV

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10 NIV

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12 NIV

Over the past week or two, the idea of salvation has been churning in my thoughts and having spent time thinking about who is saved and who is not saved, I decided to share my current belief concerning our “mission” in God’s plan for the lost. As always, my thinking is heavily influenced by those I read and in a recent Reflection by Al Maxey, Quid Pro Quo Theology, I was able to better define my thoughts concerning “our part” in the plan of salvation. In Al’s Reflection, he also mentions and article by Dr. Garrett.

I really appreciate the work of Al Maxey and it looks like I need to begin reading more of Dr. Garrett. I mention this because both of these men have spent their lives in the study of scripture and their preparation comes from being in this field of study. My writing is usually off the top of my head and is basically the result of something I have been considering for some time. I find it important to place my thoughts in print as I make conclusions and come to my current position of belief. Hopefully, my beliefs will never get to the point of some I have been around over the years because some have not considered anything new in their belief for many years.

The title of this offering is “Partnered With God” and this past week when considering this thought, I even told people when it comes to saving the lost, we do not have anything to do with the salvation of another person. While I have heard the concept of God’s part and man’s part preached within my fellowship, I currently believe salvation to be something God has given and was planned, as mentioned in the quote above, before time began. I also believe Jesus came to save the lost and He is the one and only one responsible for the salvation offered to mankind.

I have mentioned in other comments how I believe every man, woman and child having lived and those who are still to come will have sufficient knowledge of God and Christ to be capable of responding to God with their heart in a way acceptable to receive the gift of salvation. Most of my years in the church have been spent defining the parameters of who is and who is not a member of God’s family and this was necessary because I/we felt a need or even a commandment of God to go out and SAVE the lost. The idea of all sin being forgiven on the cross was known and at the same time, foreign to us in our thinking. My mind accepted sin being forgiven, if and only if, I recognized the fact and responded in the appropriate manner to cover my sins with the blood of Christ.

Even as I type these words, I am still shackled by the official creed of the Churches of Christ and I am reminded of the writer asking how they shall know if no one preaches to them (my words). My training from childhood has been in the doctrine of each person being responsible for the salvation of another and it has been hard to accept God being responsible and me being nothing more than a tool of God in whatever He has planned.

I can hear the comments running through my mind expressing the sentiment of how many are lost because we have never reached them with the message of Christ. I can hear the burden of those in my past telling me how justified God is for condemning those who have not heard the message because they are sinners and the wages of sin is death. Ultimately, the reasoning results in millions of people having lived with no hope of salvation because MAN was a failure.

While I do not deny this is a possibility, I simply can’t accept God placing the success of His plan in the hand of a failure and in reality, His plan given to us in the bible says Jesus became man to take this burden upon Himself.

How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 1 Corinthians 7:16 NIV

“Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.” John 5:34 NIV

He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.' Acts 11:14 NIV

After considering all just discussed, I think it is important to address so many of the scriptures, a few of which are quoted above, from which the idea of being burdened with this responsibility might have come. The quote from 1 Corinthians seems confusing and yet it reminds us of our inability to understand the saved or lost condition of those even in the close relationship of marriage. Over the years, I have been blinded by the idea of being responsible for salvation and failed to even notice how strongly the idea of not being able to know was being presented.

The message given to Cornelius wants to push us even deeper into the corner of responsibility because we see a comment made concerning the “message through which you and all your household will be saved.” Have I not mentioned in previous writing the belief of mine in Cornelius being saved before Peter ever got to him with this message?

One expression heard often in my past concerned the idea of scripture being twisted by those who were not “real Christians” or members of the Churches of Christ. Since many may not consider me a “real Christian,” I might as well admit the explanation is going to look pretty TWISTED. It might even look the same to those who do accept the validity of Christ working within my life and yet it is how I see what is being said!

I hope I have stated enough times the belief of Jesus completing His mission on the cross and being the only way for us to be saved. I have also stated before how I believe this gives God the ability to use the blood of His son to forgive any and all according to His plan whether it meets the definition of man or not.

The official doctrine of the Churches of Christ would claim, relative to Cornelius, the message brought by Peter would be heard and the response of him and his family to the message in belief, followed by confession and baptism would save him and all his household. Not being a bible scholar, like those mentioned above, I am looking at the words I have to consider and with the help and I believe guidance of the Holy Spirit in my life would ask a simple question. Could this passage not be saying he would simply be hearing of the one who came for him and would be responsible for his salvation on the day of judgment? In other words, When Peter comes to you, you will hear of the one who gave his life and through His blood you will be welcomed by the Father on that day. Read it again and possibly you will see it does not say man brought the opportunity of salvation but rather the knowledge of what is contained in the message. Notice also how Peter tells Cornelius he already knows the message. The only thing missing was knowledge of it including him on judgment day.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. Acts 10:36 NIV

All of this can easily come across as downplaying the role of missionaries in our society and some have even suggested it might be wrong to take the message of Jesus to other nations if they are already considered to be part of the family by God and covered by the blood of Jesus. The official Church of Christ doctrine tells me we are actually taking the message of condemnation to those who reject the message of Jesus if the message we take is not the vehicle by which they are saved.

While I constantly am reminded of how wrong I can be, I believe those becoming missionaries are taking something extremely valuable to those who never have known the name Jesus. In fact, just like Cornelius, we may be taking the message to just the right people. We may be taking the message to the family of God. I know this can sound strange but Romans 3:1-2 would have me believe the only advantage the Jews had over the Gentiles under the Law of Moses was in knowing the oracles of God. It did not make them more or less acceptable to God but only gave them the joy of knowing the promise.

Those of us who know our future with God, those who know there is now no condemnation for those in Christ, have the joy and peace capable of sustaining us through any trial. We have no fear of what will be since we know the end. Those without this message live their lives not knowing what will come next, if anything.

Even while accepting the decision God might have to use us as the “primary” source of responding to him appropriately, I believe we take JOY and we take PEACE!

Salvation is entirely the gift of God and not a burden placed on us where our failure might keep others from being saved.