I would like to preface this study with a few comments before we start…I’ll start with a question. My question is this; What do we actually know about our salvation? That is not a difficult question to answer as the Christian religion simply puts it as written in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. But is that really all there is to it. The correct answer is yes. It is the word of God and the simple act of believing those words in the most humble and truest form of innocent faith is quite enough to make it so. So does that make me a Christian, a true believer? Well that depends, did you really mean it when you said it?
In those words, there is nothing of baptism, or of works, or of prayer. But being a Christian has a much deeper responsibility than those words seem to say. As simple as the phrase is, there is much more to it than we realize. “Believing in him” carries with it the belief that “he died for your sin” God came to this earth in human form so that he might die to save your soul” and “ God promises to remember your sin no more” and That “you will repent of your sin.” And that You will love God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. And thy neighbor as thyself. How is that to be accomplished? Here we have a conundrum.
There is a decision to be made, and it is perhaps the easiest decision that you ever will be required to make, and quite honestly it is a decision that one does not have to make. No one can force you to make it, and no law says it is something that you must decide. So what is it? Well you know what it is don’t you. We are discussing it as we study this book of Colossians aren’t we. Paul is telling these people of the Colossian church that they must decide who or what it is that they are going to believe.
And here it is as simply put as this story. A woman was leaving a grocery store with two bags of groceries, making her way to her car when all of a sudden, a deadly Cobra snake appears in her path, she walks swiftly around the snake which follows her, she then picks up her pace, and the snake also speeds up, chasing her. What has she done to deserve this, she just wants her groceries, and wants to be left alone. Yes, that is what we all want, our desires and needs met, and to be left alone. How best are our needs and desires met? Well, what do you think so far? How are our needs and desires met? They are met in many ways, and when they are met, we become satisfied, do we not? Yes we do, satisfying our needs and desires is what life is about wouldn’t you agree? Well, this woman is now faced with the decision to stop running from the snake, (David is facing Goliath,)because she is at her car now. What does she do ? She stops and the snake coils at her feet waiting to strike. This woman is as good as dead if this snake strikes her.(Goliath is threatening David) Suddenly a man appears in front of her with an axe with which he will kill the snake, but the woman is frozen with fear and is not moving. There is a moment of extreme drama as the man says drop the groceries.(David prepares his sling) The woman says but these are my groceries, and I need to have them. Another word from the man. (David makes his move), Drop the sacks, we can get more later. Suddenly the woman drops the sacks of groceries, the snake then strikes at the sacks, and not at the woman. The man cuts the head off the snake. It cannot be re attached. (David then removes the head of Goliath)The snake although still wriggling is dead. The man says Ok lady, you are safe now, I will gather the groceries and put them in your car and you can go, You may have to get more eggs and milk but your life has been spared.
We just need to let loose of the stuff that is placing our soul in danger, The sins we are in bed with, the desires and needs that we think are so essential, the things we possess and worship. Oh yes, there are still snakes and Goliaths in our world, but the threat to our souls has been resolved, the head cannot be reattached. The very things that are placing our souls in jeopardy have been removed from us and cannot be used against us Jesus has cut the head off of our sins, they can no longer threaten our souls.
In another instance....
Sometimes we have to let go to get back -- give away to receive again. In Exodus, Moses' mother, after three months of hiding baby Moses from the Egyptian authorities, determined that she could no longer protect her child. She made a little ark, a basket covered with bitumen and pitch, put it in the reeds of the Nile River, and hoped that Pharaoh's daughter would find it. She let go of her child, and she let go of her son.
But God sovereignly took care of the details. When Pharaoh's daughter heard Moses crying, she sent a servant to collect him. When she saw him, she was moved with compassion. She took Moses into her own home. Then Meriam, Moses' older sister, who had been watching from afar, popped out and offered, "Would you like me to find a Hebrew woman to nurse this child?" Yes, please.
Pharaoh's daughter then paid Moses's mom to take care of baby Moses. She let Moses go and received him back again. She let go, and she got back.
This is the way of Christ. He calls us - if we have an overemphasis upon caring about what our families think and how our families define us - to let go. He calls us - if we are overly interested in self-definition and looking inward to find out who we really are - to let go. And as we let go and begin looking up to God, we get back and find out who we really are. And we get a real family from him.
Sometimes we have to let go to get back from the Lord.
