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Do You Really Want to be Saved? #4: The Conversational Matrix and “The Twos”
A sermon by Pr. Larry Kirkpatrick, February 14, 2004, Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church
[The Conversational Matrix Chart may be downloaded here. It is a one page PDF format file.]
Four weeks ago we began a little series. We took the idea many people would express if asked the question, “Do you really want to be saved?” (they would say “Yes!”), and decided to think about meanings.
When we say we want to be saved, what are we really saying? Really, we should be talking about the kind of behavior we want to model here-and-now, a behavior that we will continue in for all eternity. We have to ask ourselves then, what is the claim I am making here-and-now (and am I making it convincingly)? Because if I support God's plan to govern the universe this way for all eternity, and I plan to live in such an environment for all eternity, and I am committed to living that kind of unselfish behavior for all eternity, if I am looking to make a case for that way of living for all eternity, if I am modeling now the behavior that I believe we should all live-out for all eternity, then what am I saying? I am saying that I am committed to Heaven doing something to me here-and-now, to God changing my basic moral alignment. I am saying that I want my life here-and-now to be a window into a different kind of world.
In short, you cannot say that you really want to be saved, that you really want to become unselfish and stay that way for all eternity, and then live in the here-and-now without reference to that. You cannot just offload the implications to some vague time in the far future. You have to live today very much as you plan to live in eternity-future. Not only is it well to get used to that way of living now so as to have a less difficult transition to the kingdom one day, but of yet greater moment is how your personal life affects the credibility of the message you send to others. Suicide bombers back up what they believe by what they do. And they do not have the Holy Spirit. You and I, if we really have a connection with God have a power available to us that is beyond measure. We must live this way even now, and God is ready to empower us to do that. So we need to actually be doing that all the time. Then we need to go out into God's world and talk to the people.
Our Scripture reading sheds some light on this question: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” So. When would that be? When would be the time when the living sacrifice is offered, when our minds are to be transformed, when we are to be proved?
The Interviews
Let's suppose for a few moments that we were interviewing several people and asking them questions related to our thesis. What might we learn? No realize, I've made-up these interviews on the basis of each theological system. In a way each one is a charicature. Nor are these intended to make fun of anyone or to suggest that becoming unselfish is not something a believer in another faith would desire. But in other systems of understanding Christianity, can such a goal even fit? So hear my disclaimers, and be thou not offended. They are a tool to make a point.
The first fellow to come along is Mr. Catholic…
[Pastor] “Mr. Catholic, can we ask you just a few questions?”
[Mr. Catholic] “Yes, sure.”
[Pastor] “OK, Do you really want to be saved?”
[Mr. Catholic] “Why yes, of course.”
[Pastor] “Do you realize that one part of what being saved means is to live from now onward through all eternity in a totally unselfish environment? Do you really want to commit yourself to that?”
[Mr. Catholic] “Yes, no problem. Won't that be wonderful!”
[Pastor] “Another question if I may; Are you willing to, on God's behalf, let your life be a model of His unselfish eternal government from today onward? To seek to become a changed, unselfish person in this life?”
[Mr. Catholic] “Well, I think unselfishness is all good and well. Certainly it is something to be sought for and to express in our lives day-by-day. But really, aren't you taking this too far? You're forgetting that we are guilty for Adam's sin. No matter what we do our lives are going to come up short. We can do a lot of this through the sacraments of the church in our present humanity. But we have to wait until God changes our vile bodies into incorruptible bodies. If my life doesn't quite measure up, I have any number of saints whose excess merits I can draw upon. They will make up for my deficits. And if that doesn't work, I can spend some time being purified in purgatory. Then I will be unselfish. Good day.”
Next, we visit with Mr. Lutheran…
[Pastor] “Mr. Lutheran, can we ask you just a few questions?”
[Mr. Lutheran] “Yes, sure.”
[Pastor] “OK, Do you really want to be saved?”
[Mr. Lutheran] “Yes sir.”
[Pastor] “Do you realize that one part of what being saved means is to live from now onward through all eternity in a totally unselfish environment? Do you really want to commit yourself to that?”
[Mr. Lutheran] “Yes, indeed.”
[Pastor] “Another question if I may; Are you willing to, on God's behalf, let your life be a model of His unselfish eternal government from today onward? To seek to become a changed, unselfish person in this life?”
[Mr. Lutheran] “I'm afraid you're mistaken. There is no way we can really do that. What you need to understand is the bondage of the will. Because of the fall, man's will is totally depraved. There is nothing good in us for God to plug His power into. He will simply count me as being righteous even though my best achievements are tainted. This is not to say I should live indifferently to sin. No, I should flee from it! But you can't be serious about our modeling selfishness here in this life. Good day. ”
Next, a visit with Mr. Evangelical:
[Pastor] “Mr. Evangelical, can we ask you just a few questions?”
[Mr. Evangelical] “Yes, Indeed. ”
[Pastor] “OK, Do you really want to be saved?”
[Mr. Evangelical] “Why yes.”
[Pastor] “Do you realize that one part of what being saved means is to live from now onward through all eternity in a totally unselfish environment? Do you really want to commit yourself to that?”
[Mr. Evangelical] “Yes, indeed.”
[Pastor] “Another question if I may; Are you willing to, on God's behalf, let your life be a model of His unselfish eternal government from today onward? To seek to become a changed, unselfish person in this life?”
[Mr. Evangelical] “Um, wait. I thought that Jesus died on the Cross. That satisfied the penalty for sin, right? After that, everything is done, everything is an add-on, an after-thought. There is no reason for me to labor like that. You are a legalist! You are trying to get me to buy-into a works salvation!”
Next, we visit with Mr. Mainstream Adventist:
[Pastor] “Hello Mr. Mainstream Adventist, can we ask you just a few questions?”
[Mr. Mainstream Adventist] “Yes, sure.”
[Pastor] “OK, Do you really want to be saved?”
[Mr. Mainstream Adventist] “Yes.”
[Pastor] “Do you realize that one part of what being saved means is to live from now onward through all eternity in a totally unselfish environment? Do you really want to commit yourself to that?”
[Mr. Mainstream Adventist] “Fine.”
[Pastor] “Another question if I may; Are you willing to, on God's behalf, let your life be a model of His unselfish eternal government from today onward? To seek to become a changed, unselfish person in this life?”
[Mr. Mainstream Adventist] “Um, why? Jesus died on the Cross. When the second coming arrives we will be changed. In the meantime we should as a general rule be obedient to God, just as long as we don't become legalistic though.”
The different people you speak with will come up with different reasons why they needn't become unselfish here-and-now. The bottom line is that for most Adventists, there is no reason in their minds why they should try any harder to be unselfish than anyone else. Does that get our attention?
When we see the gospel as being all about God exacting punishment from sin, essentially the Roman Catholic model, and then Jesus dying on the Cross as our substitute, and when we at that point make that what salvation is, everything afterwards is anticlimax, extra, add-on. Yes, Jesus does die in our place; yes, sin must be atoned for. But the biblical model of what the plan of salvation is, is all about transformation. It is the problem of man's Fall that heaven seeks to solve. Nor should we veer away from this into a heavenly parent scheme where we focus on God's love for us, and take the Philip Yancey model. Whether it is that or the sterner model of God, in which He stands sword of justice in hand ready to vigorously smite Jesus in our place, or any other view that makes its primary thrust that which is apart from transformation, we have a problem.
These should be seen for what they are: aberrations, attempts to understand the gospel in some way that takes man out of his place of activity in God's world and relegates him to the sidelines. He's not in the video, he's a passive viewer of the video. He can sit and watch between bathroom breaks when he uses the pause button. It doesn't matter to the devil which trap we trip, just so long as we are caught.
Three Different Ways of Saying “No.”
Take a look now at this chart we've distributed. I almost didn't pass these out because I don't want you to be distracted. Really, this chart isn't that important at all. There is a lot of information here, but let me simplify all this. What all this more or less boils down to, is that people generally have three different ways of saying “No” to unselfishness now. It is an ideal that is either impossible, unimportant, or unnecessary. And the underlying reason for these three different kinds of “no” all goes back to an old wooden Cross. You see, the popular view is, when Jesus died on the Cross, that was it. That was the penalty payment, the ransom for sin. Salvation all boils down to that. Jesus dies on the Cross. We accept that intellectually, as a fact; and the transformation intended in the gospel all becomes superfluous.
It is Impossible
Those who will say that living unselfishly now is impossible are up against the roadblock that says man is totally depraved. At the Fall he sank so low that he is incapable of really being changed. God has to give him a slip of paper that says you are accounted righteous, and then you is saved. Of course, we should also be transformed, but because of the totally depraved nature we have, little is expected. Passages like Romans 3:8-10, 18; 7:18 show that we are sinful, that there is nothing good in us. So, our being changed is understood to be impossible.
It is Unimportant
Those who will say that living unselfishly now is unimportant will focus on God's sovereignty. They may quote passages like Romans 9:11-23, asking who are we to meddle in God's affairs. He is the king of the Universe, we are mere sin-damaged goods. He knew us before we were born, He selected some of us to be saved and some of us to be lost—all before we had done anything.
It is Unnecessary
Those who will say that living unselfishly now is unnecessary are focused on the idea that Jesus did everything necessary for our salvation already at the Cross. There is the real problem too. All three of these ways of saying “no” are based on an idea that makes everything after Calvary superfluous.
A Stronger Outline of the Problem
So I have some very good news for you. Yes, you are staring at the little chart piled high with information. It looks complicated. But let me uncomplicated it for you. Completely. When you are talking with people, and you ask them the question, “Do you really want to be saved? And follow up with the idea that really wanting to be saved means modeling an unselfish life before the universe today, what you need to do is focus on clarifying the problem and the solution. There is really only one approach here, adapted to different situations. So the last half of our talk today will give you some conversational hooks to use that people you talk to may never before have heard.
The Twos
As we said, we need to find ways of more clearly helping people understand what the problem is. Then the solution will be much more understandable. And one way to do that, to “keep it simple,” is to tell the story in terms of “the twos.” Consider, as you hear the following, if these are not simple ways you can open people's minds to the work that Jesus wants to do in them, even as He worked for them by dying for them on the Cross. Are these helps you can use in your conversations?
Two Sacrifices
How many sacrifices are there? Now the Bible has a whole variety of offerings: peace offerings, trespass offerings, burnt offerings, and so forth. But how many kinds of sacrifices are there? There are two. The dead offering, the one that is slain, the one whose gift is a life ended; and the living offering, the one that is resurrected, the one whose gift is a life newly begun.
The death offering is mentioned here in Romans 6:3: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” Jesus died for us, in our place. First Corinthians 15:3 “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” But there is another sacrifice. Turn with me to Romans 12:1, 2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Now when can you offer that offering? Only with the Holy Spirit working inside of you; only after you are risen in new life with Jesus Christ; only when you are joined with Him in His resurrection. But both offerings must be made. One is done outside of you, one is done inside of you. One is done by Christ outside of you on the Cross, one is done inside you by the Holy Spirit in your flesh. And there is a parallel between Jesus' death on the Cross with your personal choice to die to the tendencies of your flesh. One grants you a title to life, the other takes you through a process of transformation.
Two Altars
How many altars are there in God's Sanctuary? Two. Remember, God's sanctuary, or wilderness tabernacle, was central to the Hebrew nation. There were two parts to the sanctuary: the outside parts and the inside parts. Outside were the tapestries that marked off the boundaries of the courtyard. Within the courtyard were the Bronze altar at the east end, and the tabernacle tent itself at the west end.
Where were the altars? The bronze altar, the one that especially parallels Jesus' death on the Cross was the most imposing feature in the east end of the courtyard. There, the guilty brought his offering, laid his hands upon it and confessed his sins, in symbol transferring them to the animal. Next he killed it with his own hand, sacrificing it for his sin. The blood of the animal represented life (Leviticus 17:11). In Leviticus chapter four the priests put the blood in two places. Where? At each of the altars of the sanctuary. Inside the sanctuary he sprinkled it seven times towards the curtain separating the most holy place from the holy place, and he also put the blood on the altar that was inside the sanctuary—the incense altar. Outside, he put the blood on the horns of the bronze altar there in the courtyard, and he also poured out the left-over blood on the ground next to that altar.
Each of these altars was all-important. The altar outside in the courtyard foretold the work that Jesus would do for man by giving His life in sacrifice upon the Cross for him. The altar inside the tabernacle foretold the work that Jesus would do for man as our high Priest. He would serve also as our go-between, our Mediator. As the priest did His work at the incense altar inside the tent, inside the temple of God in the desert, so Jesus as our great high Priest does His work inside of us, in our body temple, through His Holy Spirit. Without the Cross there would be no work done at the incense altar. Without the incense altar, there would be no work done inside us, no transformation to change us. When we stop at the Cross, we are still out in the courtyard, still out at the east end of the courtyard. Actually, the bronze altar out there was said to be “at the door of the tabernacle” (Leviticus 4:7, 18). It's really not; at least it is some distance away from the tent. But the whole sanctuary is funneled toward the tent and the west end. That's why the sanctuary is not merely a square courtyard with curtains and a bronze altar in the middle. The Cross is the parallel to the bronze altar. Therefore, the Cross, as wonderful, as all-important as it is, is only “at the door of the tabernacle.”
Two arks
Now, another question: How many arks were there in the Bible? Two. The one is very famous; it is the ark that God asked Noah to build. An ark is basically a big box. Noah's was a very big box. God made that ark for what reason? To protect that which is precious, to transport people from one world into another, to move them out of the world overrun by sin and into a world where there was opportunity for a fresh beginning.
When the ark was nearly complete, what did Noah's neighbors do? They laughed and scoffed at him. Until they saw the animals coming toward the ark in pairs. That was difficult to explain! And what did Noah preach! He was a preacher of righteousness. Doubtless he preached to that hardened horde over and over again urging them to come into the ark, toward God's protection, to a place of safety. But only eight people took the ride. Only eight people entered the ark. Only eight people trusted their safety to God, and came in out of the judgment about to fall upon sin.
But there were two arks in the Bible.
The other ark, the one few consider, was in the wilderness sanctuary, the wilderness tabernacle, the temple of God if you will. Now remember again, that sanctuary was a rectangle oriented west-east, with the door at the east end. At the east end of the courtyard was the bronze altar. But this crucial place of sacrifice was only “at the door of the tabernacle.” The tent, or tabernacle, had two apartments. The doorway into the tent took you from the east toward the west. You went through the veil-doorway into what was called the “holy place.”
There were various items inside this portion of the tent, but the most westward one was the incense altar. It was at the west end before the inside veil that divided the two apartments. And just behind that veil lay the second apartment, called the “most holy place.” And inside that most holy place apartment was one last item: the other ark.
What was in that ark? The first ark had carried precious cargo, people and animals that God desired to preserve. This ark carried something very precious indeed: the tablets upon which were inscribed the Ten Commandments. There, at the center of the most holy place was the ark holding the law of God, His character put into shorthand. That law is the royal law, the law we might call the law of unselfishness. Because God is love (1 John 4:18), and He is agape love, that unselfish variety of love.
God always wants us to move toward that. We are, after all, designed in His image, made to be like Him in our own way. We were designed to be holy and happy for eternity. That means we were designed to be unselfish for eternity. He wants that for us. He will not be satisfied until His original purpose of goodness toward us is reflected in our experience.
The ark is there, the law is there, to help us, to protect us. He wants to draw us toward His ark. The whole sanctuary system is there to help us become unselfish. Not less-selfish, but to produce unselfish people. The 144,000 group are to be completely unselfish, every one of them. They are representatives in the world of a way of life that is not of the world. Their mission is to move toward the ark. God would not have His people linger only “at the door of the tabernacle.” He wants us to come in, to come westward, to come not just to the first altar but to the second, and not just to the second, but to the ark itself, to enter beyond the veil. To take that step we've always imagined and placed off into the vague future somewhere, that step across the line into the world of unselfishness.
It waits.
And we wait.
Brothers and sisters: Why wait?
Two Characteristics
For some reason, we have always connected God's law there in the ark with His justice, and Jesus' death on the Cross for us, with God's mercy. Isn't that true? But let me ask you, when Jesus died at the Cross, was that mercy or justice? Yes, it was mercy toward us, us undeserving transgressors. But Jesus experienced justice. Jesus died a ransom for our sins. He paid the penalty. I say to you, in a way we have had it backwards. The Cross was where justice was exacted.
The law of God, the west end of the sanctuary where He has longed to draw us, the transcript of His character, which is both justice and mercy, should we not also view that law as mercy? Which characteristic would you generally place side by side with unselfishness: justice, or mercy? It is true; they both go there. But why does God exact two sacrifices? Why is one work accomplished outside in the courtyard and one work accomplished inside in the tent? Why does God put into His sanctuary two altars? Why does the Bible contain two arks? Why does God funnel everything in the sanctuary system toward the west end, the incense altar, the veil, and the ark beyond? Why is the bronze altar in the courtyard only “the door of the tabernacle”?
Which would be more merciful? The square sanctuary composed only of the courtyard, the gospel stopping short at the Cross, Jesus dying there in our place as substitute and us only being accounted as changed but not actually changed? That might be justice, so far as the fact that Jesus was slain for our sins, but is it real mercy toward us? To leave us without help and still subject to, in bondage to, our broken, selfish natures? Is the one-altar system merciful to us really?
Or…
What if God's design makes His law of unselfishness the goal? What if God plans to draw us toward the ark? What if the living sacrifice is connected with the incense altar, is connected with the recreation of a people who live unselfish lives at time's end? What if being enabled to come into harmony with God's law—being enabled to come into harmony with God's character—is mercy after all? What if we've had it backward, and the Cross represents justice and God's law represents mercy?
Now the law can't give life. Jesus only could pay the penalty that was needful. We can't imagine what that cost Him. But I propose to you today that the whole sanctuary system is merciful. It is a means of creating unselfish people. But in order for it to work, in order for us to be drawn into the closest communion with Jesus, we cannot linger about at the Cross only, “at the door to the tabernacle.” We must come inside where our great high Priest today ministers for us. His plan is to help us become unselfish. It is the most merciful thing He can do.
The Exchange
Hear now 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” I hope you heard the contrast. God came out from heaven in Jesus, and became a human, as human as we are. He lived an unselfish life in flesh that clamored to have its way, but He wouldn't give it its way. And all unselfish He descended to earth, He humbled Himself to a human body, He went yet all the way to the bottom rung of the ladder, and took the form of fallen man. He touched down in the dust of a degraded world.
He laid aside His divine power. He emptied Himself, and lived as we must live. And he walked all the way from the manger to the Cross. At the Cross He offered His sinless life in sacrifice for us. But the Cross was not the end; it was the beginning. The Cross was crucial; without it there would be absolutely no salvation for us. But the Cross, as unspeakably crucial as it is, is only the doorway to the tabernacle.
What did Jesus do? “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” The Father permitted Jesus do this. He went to the Cross, He offered His life in sacrifice for us. He became sin for us, He took our punishment. The wrath of God against sin was executed against Him rather than us. He came down from heaven and did that hard work at the bronze altar. All to open the doorway to the tabernacle for us.
All this, so “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” It was not in vain that He became sin and died. It was to make possible our transformation. God's true mercy is expressed in a gospel that transforms people, not merely one that executes wrath upon them. If He became sin for us, if He took on for us the ultimate punishment due our unselfishness, and if we are to be made the righteousness of God in Him, if we are to take on His ultimate unselfishness, then the gospel is transformative. Then the age of future unselfishness can begin in us now. Then the question, “Do you really want to be saved?” becomes a question of what heaven is doing in us right now, not mere pie-in-the-sky that heaven plans to do for us later when God gets around to it.
If there are two sacrifices (of death and of life), then when are we to make the living sacrifice? Right now. If there are two altars (the bronze altar outside in the sanctuary courtyard and the incense altar inside the tent), then when are we to have the internal work done? Right now. If there are two arks (Noah's box of protection and God's box of protection inside the sanctuary), then when are we to move toward His protection and character? Right now. And why do we linger at the Cross, the place of justice, when God's mercy, the character of God, the unselfish character of God, is what He wants us to move toward? Why did Jesus do all this? “That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” What are we waiting for?
Conclusion
In conclusion, let us not forget that the Christian is asked to make a living sacrifice, not with the motivation of doing so to be saved, but with the motivation of modeling God's unselfish kingdom in a world that is looking for such a model. People, even sometimes Seventh-day Adventist people, slip into excuses for putting unselfishness off into the future. Why? Because certain views of salvation make everything end at the Cross. In those systems, nothing after the Cross can be so important. To our suggestion that people live unselfishly in the here-and-now, they have a variety of “no” answers to give us. But in the Bible we find “The Twos,” one way of thinking about a bigger answer. The gospel is transforming. May these insights be a help to us in our conversations with others, simple ways of showing a larger picture, so that the world can think again about becoming unselfish right now. Jesus became something for us, that we might become something for Him: representatives—windows— into another world. If can't see out through your window, they probably can't see in. So get the Windex and go to it!
