Don’t Miss the Ultimate Benefit of Christianity’s “Salvation”
“Daddy, if I don’t trust Jesus, will I go to h, e, double, hockey stick?”
Bedtime routines can become theological sessions but this was no routine question. My 8-year-old girl was asking a crucial question about the nature of salvation and its impact on one’s eternal destiny.
I answered her first by simplification by honoring her “Yes” or “No” question. “Yes, it is true that if someone does not place their trust in Jesus, they will not spend eternity with God.” I then zoomed out for integration to give her as holistic of a picture as I could give her.
We talked about the nature of heaven and hell. Why we don’t have to fear hell if we trust Jesus. And then we talked about why heaven is so great in the first place, which led to us talking about the greatest benefit of trusting Jesus for our salvation.
There Are Many Benefits
According to John Stott, a brilliant Anglican preacher and Bible scholar, the Bible proposes an artistic taxonomy of viewing Christian salvation with substitution at the foundation.
Stott references the many angles of salvation and their benefit:
Propitiation (Temple Rituals) communicates that God’s just wrath is satisfied in the work of Jesus on the cross.
Redemption (Marketplace Transactions) demonstrates how God purchases us back from the slavery of sin and its penalty.
Justification (Court Proceedings) is God declaring us as morally “righteous” in His sight because of Christ’s work, thereby releasing us from a guilty sentence.
Reconciliation (Family Relations) is God chasing us down and welcoming us into his own family as His now adopted children.
These are incredible benefits. We’re brought from a position of cosmic enemies to that of friendship. We’re no longer held as captives of sin but delivered and empowered to live according to His ways which help us experience an abundant life. Our sins are no longer held against us in the court of heavenly law. We’re now given the identity as children of God.
And yet what if I told you these are still not the greatest benefit to what Christianity calls “salvation?”
The Ultimate Benefit of Christian Salvation
Jesus described a Christian’s salvation with precise language.
He said, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3)
Jesus defined salvation as knowing God. This knowledge is broader than intellectual assent. Jesus is describing experiential knowledge. He is talking about relationship and connection with the source of all life.
We have to see the implication here: Salvation is not simply that we get something from God. Salvation is that we get God Himself!
According to Jesus, eternal life is not simply the benefit of forgiveness of sins, but that we get God as the result of that forgiveness. Salvation is not simply that we get a ticket out of hell, but that we get to enjoy God in relationship with Him forever.
N.T. Wright put it this way, in his work Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, “Salvation is not simply about going to heaven when you die. It is about being raised to life in God’s new world, and knowing God as a friend and companion now and forever.”
This may feel like a slight nuance, but it’s a slight nuance with radical implications.
Let’s go back to Stott’s salvation imageries for a moment:
The ultimate benefit of propitiation isn’t simply that God’s wrath is satisfied, it’s that a relationship is now possible between sinful humans and the good God of justice.
The ultimate benefit of redemption isn’t simply we’re no longer slaves to sin but that we can carry out the desires of our God who we now belong to.
The ultimate benefit of justification isn’t simply that we’re declared “righteous” but that we know and have a relationship with the Judge who now advocates for us.
The ultimate benefit of reconciliation isn’t that there’s simply peace in the relationship, but there can now be delight, intimacy, and joy.
God Himself as the ultimate benefit doesn’t simply reframe our view of salvation, it ignites the pursuit of our great treasure: God Himself.
Some Implications
1. Do you view your salvation as a past privilege or a present experience?
Do we only talk about salvation in past terms?
“I remember when I trusted Jesus and I received forgiveness of sins.”
“I gave my life to Him and now I’ll go to heaven.”
Or do we also view our salvation in relational ways?
“I gave my life to Jesus, I received forgiveness, and now I have Him.”
“Because I trusted Him, I get to enjoy God now and forever.”
The angle we choose and the lens we use will shape our worship today. It will alter the way we express our faith. We can limit our experience to a reclamation project of the awe we once had or we can step into the awesome reality today of having a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. We can reduce it to the gratitude for what God did for us “back then” or we can also boldly step into what God may have for us now.
2. Are you communicating the ultimate benefit or stopping just short of it?
Whether you’re a pastor who preaches every Sunday or someone wanting to share your faith with your neighbor, what nudge do you give about the salvation of Christianity?
Are you nudging people to God Himself? Or are you only nudging people to a benefit that God gives? Do people get the impression that God simply provides something awesome for us? Or that God gives us Himself?
John Piper asks a harrowing question in his book “God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself”:
“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?”
According to the Bible, Piper’s description would not be heaven, but hell, since it would be devoid of the presence of the greatest treasure of all.
Will we help people see Jesus as our ultimate satisfaction?
God is the gospel.
God is the ultimate good news.
The best Christianity has to offer is God Himself, and there could be no greater benefit.
