6/26/24
Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why did God save me?”
Our automatic answer is because He loves us — which is, of course, absolutely the truth. God loves the whole world — we all learned that in Sunday School: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Others will say that God saves us to demonstrate his sovereignty. That is, God has supreme power or authority over all of his creation, and pre-determines who is saved (and, although they often don’t like to say it, who is not!). There is nothing good in us (they call it “total depravity”), so we are incapable of doing anything to save ourselves, but God in his sovereignty chooses to save (“unmerited favor”) some (“limited atonement”) and condemn the rest. That’s called predestination, and we’ll demolish that on July 7! (Do you see how complicated theologians can make things? Sheesh!)
I think most people are satisfied saying they were saved “to get fire insurance and heaven assurance.” And so they make some profession of faith to escape the flames of hell, but never move beyond the initial step of faith. They’ve got all they need (and probably all they want).
There’s at least a grain of truth in all of those views, but it’s certainly not the complete picture!
From our time in Romans 8, so far, I hope we’re beginning to see that God has a purpose for us as believers and for the church as a whole that is greater and more glorious than any of these views. I’m hoping we understand that better now after looking at the first 17 or so verses of Romans 8. God’s Spirit dwells in us and God wants, through the Spirit and through our own intentional actions, to remake us into sons and daughters who live lives pleasing to Him.
But wait! There’s more! The plan doesn’t stop there!
We are indeed saved because God loves us, that’s not where it ends. God saves us to be part of His great reclamation project for the whole lost and corrupt world. God is recreating the world, and He wants us to be part of the project.
In Numbers 14, we read that the people rebelled against God and in their fear wanted to make a bee-line back to bondage (even after seeing God’s miracles over and over). Moses interceded for them and God said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked; nevertheless — as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord — none of the people . . . shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it.”
Did you hear that? Amidst the drama of God’s anger, God’s final intention can easily be overlooked: “The earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.”
The Promised Land of Canaan was just stage 1. “And as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” — that’s where the promise is headed.
Canaan was just the beachhead.
We just celebrated the 80th anniversary of the allies landing on Normandy. When they landed in Normandy, did they stop? What was their goal? Just to get the Nazis off the beach? No! To rid the world of the Nazis.
So, think of the Promised Land — the 150 miles long (that’s the distance from Athens down to Clanton) and 75 miles wide (that’s from Athens to Scottsboro) strip of land — as just the beginning.
The Promised Land was God’s “Normandy.” God’s plans for his people and for the world may have started there, but they certainly didn’t stop there!
The first hint of God’s plans are, of course, back in Genesis 12, with the promises to Abraham: “in you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Numbers 14 elaborates on God’s plan to fill “all the earth with the glory of the Lord.” The prophets looked forward to a time when: “. . . the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 14), and in Isaiah 11, when Isaiah writes about the wolf lying down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them, we read, “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” In Psalm 2:8, God promises the Messiah, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”
So really, when we talk about the Promised Land, it should really be more than just that little strip of land on the shores of the Mediterranean, Israel; the whole world is really the Promised Land.
Well, you might say, isn’t God going to do all that when Jesus returns? Yes, He is. But what about the meantime? That’s where we come in.
Think about the last words of Jesus to his disciples before his ascension: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Promised Land was just the beginning! The whole earth filled with God’s glory — that’s the goal.
And God’s plan is to accomplish this through us — His sons and daughters — filled with His presence, taking the message of God's love to the ends of the earth through our lives and through our words. In other words, through loving God . . . loving others.
Funny, no matter how grand the plan, it always comes back to that.
Blessings,
Pastor Terry