A Little More To It

I just read a note on FaceBook that said, "What DO I DO to be saved? You’re 2000 years too late - It was all DONE for you by Jesus on the Cross. ‘IT IS FINISHED!’ John 19:30 Rick Warren.”  We read this and some want to shout “WHAT?!”  Others want to shout, “YES!”  Still others want to mumble, “Who cares?”

We know, don’t we, that Jesus did what needed to be done to see to it that the way to heaven was opened for us.  There is nothing left for us to do to open the way.  At the same time, some sort of response from us is essential.  We cannot access the salvation that is in Christ Jesus without doing something.  Even the faith only people believe we have to have faith.  Faith is something, isn’t it? 

I know that Paul was inspired by God to write what he wrote in the various letters of the New Testament, but still I believe he knew more about God and His eternal plan for us than I know.  Yet, when he was asked by the Philippian Jailer, “What must I do to be saved?”  The Jailer wasn’t told he was too late, he was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Then he and his family were taught more about Jesus Christ and they asked to be baptized into Christ, which was done in that very night.

Simplistic statements like Rick Warren’s lead to arguments and division rather than deeper understanding.  To say that there is more to say than Rick’s statement is not (generally) a knee-jerk reaction, it is a reasonable thing to say.  There is more to it, otherwise God spent a lot of time having men write the Bible than He needed to.  Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of your word is truth” (ESV; NASB; ASV).  Does this mean you just grab a passage and say that is the truth or do you take the sum of what is said and call that truth? 

Yes.  Jesus condemned sin in the flesh and opened the door to heaven, but He also said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”  So His dying wasn’t all there was to it, even though it was all we needed Him to do.