Scripture: Romans 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 3:23 Series: 2022
Opening sermon in the Lenten series ‘The Rescue,’ using the 2018 Thai cave rescue documentary to reframe salvation as God’s merciful reaching down to rescue people who cannot save themselves. Drawing on Romans 10 and John Wesley, Wilson argues faith is the condition and grace the source of salvation, critiques sinner’s-prayer/Romans-Road and even ordo/via salutis schemes for working only retrospectively, and insists salvation is a present, ongoing transformation that begins with admitting our need.
Illustrations: thai-cave-rescue, sinners-prayer-romans-road, addict-first-day-sober, this-is-fine-dog-meme, stuck-on-roadside
March 6
What is Salvation?
Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him. All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved. Romans 10:9-13
The Rescue is a movie on Disney + about a cave disaster from 2018 in Thailand. A soccer team of 12 and 13 year olds were exploring with their coach when the monsoon started early and rain began to flood the caves. The movie is not apologetic in nature, but a documentary set in a mostly Buddhist country, so if you watch it all the way through, there are going to be some Buddhist prayers. This is not Pastor Wilson advocating those practices. Instead, I want us to watch the trailer together because i think this story can really help illustrate what is going on in the life of faith and the heart of God’s gift to us on the cross.
(Play Trailor)
We are starting a new sermon series for Lent called The Rescue. Christians have spoken of salvation and how Jesus saves us for a long time. Different churches you attend will have different understandings of salvation. We don’t often use the language of rescue in churches, and in that freshness of language and the story of the Thai Cave rescue, maybe we can come to a different understanding of what Christ has done and what Christ is doing still for us. What I hope to show through this series is the who, what, why, when, and how of salvation, because God’s love for us is not just a one time thing but an all-time thing. We have to begin with the what: what is salvation?
John Wesley offers clarity in a sermon on Ephesians 2:8 which is a verse that says, “you are saved through faith.”
Wesley writes,
The salvation which is here spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness. It is not the soul’s going to paradise, termed by our Lord, “Abraham’s bosom.” It is not a blessing which lies on the other side death; or, as we usually speak, in the other world. The very words of the text itself put this beyond all question: “Ye are saved.” It is not something at a distance: it is a present thing; a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, ye are now in possession of. Nay, the words may be rendered, and that with equal propriety, “Ye have been saved”: so that the salvation which is here spoken of might be extended to the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul, till it is consummated in glory.
It is not just a future thing but a now thing. So what should we do? Paul is fairly clear in Romans 10 about what we need to do to be saved. As John Wesley, the founder of Methodism puts it, Faith is the condition of salvation. Grace is the source. Faith is not an act in itself. It is not a work because you cannot earn your salvation. There’s a work of faith. There’s not a thought. There’s not an energy expense in that degree of faith because its source is in God’s grace and solely in God’s grace. Faith is the assurance of God’s love and the direction of our life towards God. Faith is the way we posture our lives and our souls towards the world or towards God.. So if faith is the condition of salvation and grace is the source of salvation, why do different denominations talk about salvation in different ways? There are a number of churches in this country. Some of you may have been involved with some where salvation has to do with praying the sinner’s prayer. And once you pray the sinner’s prayer, you’re good. And if you don’t pray it, whether or not you are baptized, whether or not you’ve been a part of the church or any church, you still have to pray these words. So this prayer is not in the Bible. There’s no direct mention of it in the Bible. As well, some people are taught this method of evangelism called the Romans Road, which highlights these steps within the book of Romans, starting usually with Romans 3:23, “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all sinners. We cannot save ourselves. But through Christ, we are offered life with God. In the 17th century, there were different writers who formed what eventually became known as the ordo salutis or the order of salvation. John Wesley has a sermon titled The Way of Salvation and some scholars, instead of saying ordo salutis speak of the via salutis. Basically saying that there isn’t a brick by brick method to be saved. It’s a way. It’s a path. I think both of those kind of missed the point. All of these means of understanding salvation work retrospectively. That is, they work looking back on our life. They don’t work looking forward because they don’t spend enough time with the need itself.
Movie
I’ve been stuck on the side of the road. I’ve never been stuck in a cave. The reason why I was struck by this movie and this story is that it illustrates this concrete need of these boys and this coach to be saved. They are trapped. They are trapped and they need help. They cannot save themselves. In some ways they are their worst enemies in being saved. They are the ones who actually limit their salvation, not because of where they are or how they got there because of how hard it is going to be to get them out of there. And you can’t train a 13 year old, how to scuba dive in a cave, let alone cave dive Day. There is a need. They need rescue. The scriptures reveal to us about who we are and who God is, and that we are in need. There is brokenness in this world. And the brokenness in this world is not between the church and others. It’s not between us and them. The brokenness cuts down right to the human heart. The brokenness starts right here (pointing to chest). We have to admit a need for something before we can be rescued for something else. You have to admit that you’re lost before you’re willing to be found. So how do we admit that? How do we admit we’re broken? Is it by our own effort or strength? By no means.
Grace
It is by grace that we see even our need. God’s grace has been with us the entire time. God’s grace is the one who convicts us and shows us this. We still are free to deny it. And we still are free to say that. “No, we’re okay. We can save ourselves or we don’t need to be saved. We’re fine.” It’s like the meme of the dog and the burning building. This is fine. We need to be able to name what we are saved from, in order to describe what we’re going to saved for. Save, salvation, and rescue are transitive verbs. They need an object. There was no such thing as salvation as such or a rescue as such. You rescue people from something, you save people from something, And yet God does not stop there. Bible scholars and theologians talk about justification, being made right with God. In the Wesleyan tradition, we talk about prevenient and grace, that is the grace that comes before. We are aware of the grace that reminds us that we are loved, that convicts us of our sin and need for repentance and conversion. Justifying grace is the grace that makes us right with God and offers and opens up the possibility of righteousness with God. This is where a lot of traditions that talk about the sinners prayer stop. They say that they’re justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, which gets into what’s called atonement theory, which we’ll talk about more, but basically which covers the question: why did God have to die? Why did Jesus have to die? How does the cross save us? How does Jesus save us? This is really important stuff. But God doesn’t stop there. God doesn’t make our souls right And then leave us alone to fall back into those habits. Just like if you’re an addict and you’re sober for one day, your journey is not over. Yes. That first step is often the hardest, but the first step is not the last step.
It’s like even in this cave in Thailand, The first step really is admitting our need for rescue. The second step is getting to the point where we can be rescued. This is what we’re going to show next week, when they actually find the boys and find out where they are. And then after that, it’s the actual process of being rescued and transformed into free and living people who are able to continue to grow into who God created them to be. Not just in the future. Here and now. Here and now change your life. Here and now start living for others. What is salvation? Salvation is God’s merciful reaching down to us to pick us up from our muck to stand upright, to be ambassadors of God in this world and for all eternity. It is not based on what you do. It’s not based on who you are. It is based solely on the grace of God found fully in Jesus Christ offered for us. In this Season of Lent, may you discern and you pray about where you are and what needs you are in. May you seek to receive the grace to admit those times when you are still in need of rescue to ask God to swim up into that cave to give you peace.
Let us pray, Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.