The Plan of Salvation: Reality not Religion
This new life is not a religious ritual (e.g. just ‘going to church’) but it is
the application of the values and character of God in the affairs of life.
Just as a decision to follow Christ is not the end, so going to a meeting of a community
is not the end but rather a means of sharing life, worshipping God together, and
receiving direction and impartation.
The principles of God, including honesty, justice, truth, morality, humility, compassion,
kindness, forgiveness, caring for others, self-control and modesty, are the true
implementation of the faith in our lives. These qualities must suffuse our work
and family relationships. Activities and outward service without character and right
lifestyle cannot please God; in fact they become repulsive to him (Amos 5:21-24).
Relating to God
When we believe in Jesus then the Bible describes us as being ‘in Christ’. We need
to know and be absolutely convinced that God loves us, that He wants the best for
us, and that He will teach us and guide us.
A main way we learn to know God and his ways is through reading and studying the
Bible, which we accept as being the speaking of God. We have already looked at the
reality of the Bible as the Word of God and we will talk about prayer in a later
lesson. For now start reading the Bible. You could start with one of the gospels
at the beginning of the New Testament. These are accounts of the life of Jesus.
Also be aware that God can and does speak to us in many ways, including directly
to our spirits. He can give us direction, perhaps telling us to do or stop doing
things, to go or not to go to some place. He can assure us of his care and love
for us, or He can correct us from wrong ways and wrong thinking. (Ps 32:8-9)
Growth
We said that believing in Jesus is only the entry into faith. God speaks a lot about
us ‘growing’. Just as a child grows naturally in many ways, physically, mentally,
in social awareness etc., so as believers we need to be continually growing in the
knowledge of God and his ways. Two main ways we do this are:
- By reading and studying the Bible;
- By receiving teaching (formal and informal) in a valid community.
Make arrangements to read the Bible for yourself on a regular basis. The reason
why we keep using the word ‘valid’ to describe a community you belong to is that
if you become part of a church community which emphasizes religion or has wrong
values, regardless of whether they teach from the Bible, you will learn the wrong
things, and not grow as you should.
The War with the World
You will soon find that the values of the kingdom of God often clash in many ways
with the beliefs and practices of the world around us. One particular area of conflict
in our age is that of sexual morality. God makes it very clear that sex is good
within marriage, but is forbidden outside it. Fornication (sexual activity between
two unmarried people), which has become a norm in Western society and is promoted
in films and on TV, is in fact totally wrong. This is not an ‘old-fashioned’ view;
this is God’s viewpoint.
Adultery is also declared forbidden and unclean by God, as is any kind of homosexual
activity and lesbianism. As a believer, you must not engage in any of these practices.
Satisfying sexual desire other than within heterosexual marriage is unlawful in
the Kingdom and will end up harming your life and your personality as well as incurring
the anger of God. You should also stay away from pornography, whether on the TV,
in books, or on the Net (1 Corinthians 6:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-7; Colossians 3:5).
The Clash Within
It is a matter of experience with all of us that we experience an internal war.
Sometimes our conscience is telling us one thing but there is a desire within us
that tries to push us against what we know to be right. God talks about this as
the war between the spirit and the flesh.
The key to victory is what we set our minds on. We need to focus our minds on what
is good and avoid focusing on what is evil (Romans 8:5-6). This is true not only
of sexual morality but in many areas.
We must not harbour grudges or desire for revenge for example, but focus on forgiveness.
In Christ we have the strength to do this. God will not command us to do something
impossible, but the Holy Spirit (who is also God) will help us.
The War with the Powers of Darkness
There is a real devil; in fact, there are structured invisible powers of ‘darkness’;
that is intelligent beings who produce ignorance and blindness in human beings on
both an individual and societal level (Eph. 6:12). However, God says clearly that
we have been removed from the power of darkness (Col. 1:13). When we come
to Jesus we are now in His Kingdom and we are not under the power of Satan or evil
powers. In fact, when Jesus died He destroyed their power
over us (Col. 2:15). Nevertheless Satan does attempt to attack
us, through doubt, fear, immorality, deception, and other ways. Therefore, while
we do not live in fear, we do not live carelessly.
We are careful to avoid religious deception (e.g. going to extremes, being weird
or ‘spooky’). Furthermore, part of our growth is perceiving and escaping the false
values and ideas that permeate society and have affected our own thinking.
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