8 November 2001 Editorial:
Salvation on the Cheap

Larry Kirkpatrick

Snake oil -- want some? There's always someone out there looking for a mark -- a victim, a patsy. There is always someone who thinks that they can beat the clock or defeat the rules by some sneaky means. And when it comes to religion, there is always someone out there pitching a plan for salvation on the cheap.

We know this is a challenge we face, for the self-analysis of the Laodicean is, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17). That is, the Laodicean, in his churchly spiritual context, says he's not buying, that he already has salvation. He has need of nothing. But whether he knows it or not, he has in all likelihood bought-in to salvation on the cheap.

Christianity lived at any time, is costly. The price Jesus paid that counts for all time was more costly than our farthest imagination reaches. Who can imagine what it felt like to be separated from His Father for the first time in eternity, to be wounded for our iniquities, and to be made sin for us. Who could begin to fathom the intensity of Christ's degradation in taking upon Himself the flesh of fallen humanity. And yet while we can format the sentences and codify the thought, in a direct sense we can know but the tiniest of it.

Even that so-small amount though is such that we should be deeply, deeply moved in all the faculties of our being. "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance" (Romans 2:4). Jesus died in my place to heal me. This doesn't involve a coupon.

The Holy Spirit is granted us as a down-payment, as an experiential reminder that the fullness of salvation as promised is still coming. Glorification is, of course, still around the corner. But real healing still comes now.

Salvation limited to an assertion may lead one to feel rich or think one's self rich. But it cannot be enough. The title to heaven must be accompanied by the fitness for heaven. There is no salvation on the cheap.

Perhaps on occasion we forget that we bear fallen natures; that our inclination inevitably bends toward sin, away from righteousness; that crafted with all the hate at his command, our adversary persists in sending us his how-to-be-saved-and-keep-your-sin-too junk-mail. Do we limp intellectually into the ditch where we are inclined to simplify, deconstruct, and rewrite the redemption plan into a version more acceptable to us? Are we not psychologically prone to make the narrow way wider so that faulty points of character still may fit through and accompany us (or so we think) on our walk with Jesus? Of course we are. Our self-analysis is that we are rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing.

By the grace of God we can rise above, that is true. But in order to see that be a spiritual reality in our lives, we must be willing to hear the divine evaluation of our bankruptcy before our God. We must be willing to sacrifice the sacred cows, the easy things, and the slow-motion, business-as-usual, whatever-the-church-does-is-OK notion in order that they may be replaced by God's motion. Things are not always what they appear. Numbers may not tell the whole story. Our evangelism is about preparing people for heaven more than counting up numbers of bodies. And as members and officers of churches, your work and mine is more than to teach a Sabbath school class or to give the offering appeal well; rather, all that we aim to do for the Master should be pointed to preparing ourselves and others for eternity.

Then let us be wary of ourselves and of quick solutions introduced from outside of Adventism. Let us take special care about our understanding and expectations regarding how we are saved. It is time for a retrenchment of studious Bible-examination among us. May we take nothing for granted, and be willing to receive everything that God has granted, must be our prayer.

Pastor Larry Kirkpatrick is an ordained minister of the gospel. Since 1994 he has served in the American Southwest as pastor to several churches. He received his BA in Religion from Southern Adventist University in 1994 and a Master of Divinity from Andrews University in 1999 with a specialization in Adventist Studies. While in Michigan he was employed by the General Conference at the White Estate Berrien Springs branch office. More important than his scholastic preparation has been his immersion in the biblical and Spirit of Prophecy materials. He is author of the 2003 book Real Grace for Real People. Presently he serves as Pastor of the Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists, located near Loma Linda, California. Larry is married to Pamela. The couple presently live in Highland, California along with their two children, Etienne and Melinda.