HAVING BEING SAVED

Some years ago, my late father-in-law ordered a pickup truck in the Springfield factory where he worked. With the work order in hand, the truck yet to be built was scheduled for the assembly line. On the day that it was to be manufactured, the company encouraged him to take some time and follow his truck through the process of being made. Part by part, step by step the International Harvester came together. I do not think he got to drive it home that day, possible there were a few last minute inspections before it was cleared. However, what a rewarding experience to see it all come together before his eyes. And with the future owner standing there, you can be certain that the workmen made extra certain that it was no typical Monday or Friday vehicle as there used to be in that time!

Not everyone has had such a treasured experience in their lifetime, or at least at first thought you believe so. However, if we consider the greater calling of salvation, we are having a glorious process of being saved. Even before time, our souls and salvation were planned and at the proper moment in history, we were born, grew up and prospered as the Lord allowed. And all the while, there by our side God's Spirit overlooks the process. Now I do not believe that mankind's industrial assembly line does justice to the Spirit crafted process of being saved. After all, the vehicle in our opening illustration had no choice but to follow the assembly line.

Humans, like ornery sheep are a different species altogether. Teachers sometimes have a major chore, just getting a dozen teenagers from one end of the hall to the other. Once, my little flock of a dozen ewes, ram and eighteen lambs found their way out of the pasture, down the hill to the neighbors. At least they had the good sense to stand by the neighbor's back porch and bleat for help. Since I was home by myself, I walked down the road with a bucket of oats. I'm not certain if they were happier to see me or the oats! But, once I had their attention, they followed me through the fields back to the safety of their barn which they had lost sight of hours before.

I have always wondered what went on in their minds? Did they miss the safety of the barn, was it a little too much past mealtime, or did they sincerely yearn for the company of their shepherd? These questions, while absurd to all but animal lovers, do illustrate a problem that many pastors would like to have answered, but still must wait until the last day to know the state of their flock's souls.

In the process of teaching the vital doctrine of Effectual Calling, our catechism rightly concludes the matter by pointing us to further doctrines so that we know it is all part of a greater plan for salvation. The Westminster authors would certainly teach us that not everyone who experiences an outward call comes to faith. Like my onetime flock of sheep, many people in this life only yearn for a safety net. They are more anxious to avoid the pit of hell then they are in knowing the Great Shepherd of the sheep.

Others, like the rice bowl Christians in colonial enclaves along the Chinese coast in the last centuries, would come to Christ as long as the missionary provided food and shelter. When the Boxer rebellion made the life of Chinese Christians difficult at the turn of the century, a lot of sheep hurriedly left the Christian fold and found other, less risky ways of filling their rice bowl.

With sheep, there have been rare occasions when I almost suspected that an orphan lamb just might prefer the company of his master to that of the flock. We had one such lamb, who would scurry under the fence and come up on the porch to lounge with the cats who were handy for the first person to come by and scratch their ears. That lamb grew up to be a ewe and finally learned to stay in the pasture. For several years, every once in a while, she would come up behind me and nudge my hand for a little scratch behind the ears, then she would trot off to join her friends.

In which of these three examples would you classify your interest in the Great Shepherd of the sheep? Are you here today because you don't want to go to hell? Are you here today because you enjoy the intellectual food of our Reformed table. Or more correctly, are you here because you earnestly desire the company of Jesus Christ? This is the essential question, the other two are blessings that flow from the faith once received by the saints! In case I have caused any consternation about your personal calling, let me go on to prove your salvation through the process in which we are all involved.

One means by which you may know your heart yearns for Christ alone is in your understanding of justification. By this doctrine, we mean the act of God's grace to forgive your very nature that causes you to sin. "But, but, but" - many exclaim in our time, they would rather have a religion without the necessity of humbling themselves before the awesome, holy throne of God. Far too many people think too much of themselves and then have the chutzpah to expect the God of heaven to agree with their inflated opinion. A few years ago, one magazine decided to take a survey of its readers to determine the most beautiful woman on television. Kathy Lee used her talk show to encourage her viewers to vote for her. And so, surprise, guess who took first place in the survey. Funny, the magazine didn't bother to run the survey again the following year! I wonder why? Now that is similar to the kind of spiritual chutzpah we are talking about here!

I know a lady who left the church of her you to take her family to an uptown trendy congregation where sin is never mentioned. She told her friends that she didn't want any of her children growing up with the guilt that she had had to carry! That makes for an interesting and enjoyable religion, but it is hardly what we would call a saving faith. Justification is a necessary part of the Christian faith.

A second means by which you may know your heart belongs to Christ is in your understanding of how you belong to the family of God. This doctrine is called adoption. By this we mean that even though we are humbly born, because of God's grace we are adopted into the heavenly family. Jesus Christ is the first fruits of God's providential plan to call a great number into His presence for all of eternity. How many of you have ever desired more wealth than the Lord has allowed you? I dare say, some of you have probably bought lottery tickets with that dream in mind. If you want to know the odds of winning, they are the same as getting hit by lightning on a golf course. I met a man this summer who told me he had been hit by lightning twice in his life. I have seen and known of him for years and always wondered about his physical condition. At least, through it all he came to know the Lord. So the next time you have a yen for hitting it big, may I encourage you to grab a metal golf club, head for the nearest golf course during a rain storm. Then go out in the middle of an open space, hold up your club and hope for a blessing!

Yes, you can laugh at that, but wealth untold is not to be for most of us in this life. Instead, our hope is in heaven. And our hope is fruitful because we have been adopted by grace into the owner's very own First Family! And in God's family we won't have to pay $100,000 a night to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom either! Are you content with the place in life that God has given you, do you trust Him for your future better life in heaven? It is yours if you have been adopted!

A third means of knowing if you are counting on Christ alone is in the course of your life which the scriptures call sanctification. Now sanctification is also part of this salvation process, whereby we are renewed and enabled to become better people than we sometimes want to be. Here you may find comfort in the subtle changes in your life as you grow in grace and more and more put on the mind of Christ. Now, I know, it is not an easy process. For every two steps forward, there is a slip, a fall and maybe even a tumble back down the stairs. Yet, if by the grace of the Spirit we follow His call to come further up and further in as C.S. Lewis describes the heavenly invitation, then we are on the proper course. It isn't a twelve step program like the current crop of counselors like to think. No indeed, God begins a new work in our lives, forgives us, adopts us into his family, and helps us day by day as we work within the limits of His household rules and regulations.