Christian Concepts

Bringing your Potential to Light

Matt Pavlik

Sean’s Bicycle

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Sean loved the bicycle he got for his 7th birthday. It was his favorite color: red.

He rode it everywhere he went in the neighborhood. He especially like to ride his bike to the local store where he could purchase his favorite treat.

One day, upon exiting the store, his bike wasn’t there. He looked around hoping he had simply forgotten where he parked it. But it was clearly not there. His stomach dropped what felt like ten inches and he felt like he wanted to puke.

Of course, Sean was upset about his bike. But that wasn’t the only reason for his distress. He started walking home. The closer he got, the slower he walked. His feet wouldn’t move any faster.

“Someone took my bike.”

His mom, already stressed from the day’s activities, responded in her predictable way, “What? How could you be so irresponsible? How could you… well, you’re not getting another one. Go to your room until your dad gets home.”

Sure enough, his parents punished him for being “lazy.” Not only did he have to cope with losing his bike, but he also had to endure his parent’s hot anger and being grounded for two weeks—a true triple-whammy.

His teen years were filled with more dread. He believed he was “messed up” and carried a heavy anxious feeling with him. He frequently muttered under his breath, “yep, another perfect messup by Sean.”

Sean turned to food to manage his uncomfortable feelings. “I feel better when I eat. Or, at least I don’t feel so bad.” Inevitably this led to weight gain. Unfortunately, this left him open to unkind words from his peers. They snickered and made funny noises behind his back and sometimes even in his face. This quickly became too much for Sean to manage with food alone.

The problems intensified. Sean fought back when picked on. This was only verbal jabs at first, but eventually the depth of his pain produced a physical reaction he didn’t know how to control. The trouble at school only made matter’s worse at home.

Sean entered into a negative cycle that seriously picked up steam during his high school years.

Sean’s story will continue next week as I spend time teaching about healing emotional wounds.

Is Grace Cheap or Costly?

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As Christians, are we under the law or are we under grace? If we are under the law, we are obligated to obey the whole law to achieve righteousness (see Galatians 5:3-4). If we are under grace, we have no obligation to obey the law (to achieve righteousness).

The whole purpose of Christ’s sacrifice was to move us out from under the requirements of the law and into grace. But without obligation, some people will take advantage of this. Doesn’t this make grace cheap?

If someone thinks they can outsmart God, then they are already deceived and hopeless. Salvation isn’t a tradeable commodity. If you find a free movie pass, you can use it to get into a movie theater even if the pass wasn’t intended for you. But a “salvation pass” doesn’t work that way.

God issues a salvation pass to the specific person. The pass is bound to that person’s heart by faith. No one else can use it.

If a person tells God he believes in Him so he can acquire a pass, and his heart isn’t in it, he is only deceiving himself. His heart isn’t in it, so it won’t work. He isn’t a new creation. He doesn’t have a new heart. No one can steal from God. No one can trick God into giving out a salvation pass.

I used the following image in my book, Confident Identity, to show the contrast between someone who only changes on the outside (conforming) versus someone who is changing from the inside (transforming).

God is about internal change, not shortcuts or appearances. For those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we have a new heart. We are under grace. We really don’t need to meet the demands of the law because Jesus already did that for us (Romans 8:1-4).

Amazingly, God made the offer of grace while we were still enemies of God.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

-Romans 5:10

If we received grace as enemies, certainly we are saved after we have been reconciled and are now friends with God.

But the question still remains: can a Christian take advantage of God’s extravagant grace? Yes and no. Yes, in the short-term day-to-day living we depend upon God to pay for our sinful choices. No, in the long-term, we have a new heart and we won’t keep on willfully and carelessly sinning (1 John 3:6). This is because you have been set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Paul makes this all clear in Romans 6:

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

-Romans 6:14-15

Therefore, you can both:

  1. Be saved having God full grace and righteousness which includes eternal life (Romans 5:21), and,
  2. Be accountable to grow spiritually and make the choice to stop sinning (see all of Romans 6 for the complete context).

In fact, the only way you can conquer sin is to be genuinely saved and continue to depend on God’s grace. You don’t have to worry about being lazy because you’re relying on God too much. There’s plenty of work to go around as you resist sin and choose righteous living.

Look at how you relate to God. Is your attitude still one of the old code (the law)? You do wrong. God removes His grace. You suffer. You must clean up your act before you can be assured God accepts you as a member of His family.

I hope your attitude is of the new code (grace). You do wrong. You feel bad for your behavior. You cry out to God as your Father. He works with you, His child, to correct the problem. There’s always a way forward in this scenario. There’s always a loving security.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

-Romans 8:14-15

The grace you have removes the need for fear. It didn’t cost you, but it did cost Jesus. That cost allows you to have a pass with your name on it.

How To Work Out Your Salvation

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Does Philippians 2:12 mean that you can lose your salvation? No, it doesn’t. This becomes clear when you consider the immediate context and the rest of the Bible.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

-Philippians 2:12

People with a law-based mindset define “fear and trembling” in its most negative connotation. They do it to maintain leverage and control. If a wife fears her husband’s sin, she might be tempted to manipulate him (not in love) by telling him that if he don’t stop sinning, he might lose his salvation.

But this only sets up a state of constant anxiety. Can Paul be writing to Christians with such a positive message in Philippians, but then throw in such a negative statement? Certainly not. The Bible uses the phrase “fear not” (or “be not afraid”) over 100 times. 1 John 4:18 is against this kind of insecurity.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18

Fear has two different meanings or contexts. You can “fear” when something terrible is likely to happen. This kind of fear occurs as you rely on yourself. You can also “fear” when you are dependent upon someone else. You can fear being abandoned. To not fear in this situation means you must trust.

“Don’t go near the cliff, you might fall.” For the non-Christian, they are already at the bottom in the sense that they don’t have salvation. If they manage to climb up the face of the cliff under their own power, they should fear falling.

However, the Christian, at the point of salvation, gained “anti-gravity boots” that lifted them up out of the canyon. They can walk anywhere and won’t fall (as in losing their salvation, not as in never sin). The boots are powered by faith.

Paul’s use of fear means to pay attention, be alert, take personal interest in, take it seriously. You can only do this if you are humbly dependent upon God. A prideful attitude would be fearless, careless and boastful. But eternal life and its accompanying faith are a free gift so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Let’s return to the main verse in Philippians and read further:

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

-Philippians 2:13

Therefore, you should be humble as you work out your salvation, as you see it unfold before your eyes, because God is the one who is doing the work, for his great purposes. Don’t take credit for your salvation. Recognize you are dependent upon God. Even though you have eternal security, you aren’t self-sufficient. Your eternal security is possible only because of God’s love and power. Your fear and respect for God should point out you can’t depend upon yourself. This should move you closer to God, to know and receive His love.

Someone who isn’t a Christian might get the wrong idea: I can take my eternal security and abandon God. But eternal security and God are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other. If you have God, you have eternal security; if you have eternal security, you have God.

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You can’t be a little bit pregnant. You’re either pregnant or you’re not.” The same can be said for salvation. “You can’t be a little bit saved. You’re either saved or you’re not.”

Remove the Roadblock to Security

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Without a standard to keep people honest, they might get the wrong idea: You can sin all you want and it doesn’t matter. They advocate that it is possible to lose salvation. The possibility of losing salvation becomes the incentive to keep us from perpetual sin. They would say that rules and consequences keep a person honest.

Some people panic when they have nothing to do. They feel their life is pointless if they aren’t carrying their own weight. They require having a fear of failure hanging over their heads because it drives them forward. They need to earn their passage in life. They resist accepting any gift.

The need for the fear of failure is really avoiding the fear of trusting someone else for the security of your life.

Other people flee the demands of obedience. They want freedom on their own terms. They want God’s provision but not God. They quickly receive any gift but lack respect to the giver.

The need to have resources stockpiled with no strings attached is really avoiding the fear of trusting someone else for the security of your life.

Both kinds of people seek control over their own life. Both want independence from neediness. The responsible person tries to earn their own way by being good. The irresponsible person tries to secure their freedom through any means necessary (often by being bad).

Being responsible for your own load is a mark of maturity. The young son in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) learned this lesson well when he was willing to work as a hired hand for his father. He understood he had taken advantage of his father and wanted to repay his father. Fortunately for him (and you and I), his father confirmed his unconditional love for the younger son.

The older son had the responsibility (“I’ve never disobeyed you”) but he lacked the humility to receive the father’s invitation. The older son wanted to continue to rely on self-effort. The younger son, when he left his father, wanted to rely on self-indulgence. When the resources ran out, he switched to self-effort (“Make me your hired hand”), but quickly accepted his father’s correction; he accepted the ring of sonship and the invitation to the feast.

Both self-indulgence and self-righteousness attempt to provide for self and avoid dependence upon God. So long as you’re depending upon God’s righteousness, you can be sure of your salvation. We can see that eternal security depends on the faith, trust, and hope you place in God. Those who worry about losing their salvation are stuck in a moment of time. They can feel no hope because they are focused on fear rather than on God.

Years ago I went repelling for the first time. Somehow I intuitively understood that to descend to the bottom, I had to lean all the way out from the edge of the cliff. Without a rope and a secure anchor, this would result in a much faster (and deadly) descent. But trusting in the anchor and leaning all the way out made for a pleasant descent.

The same is true for your life as a Christian. You must put all your trust in your connection to God, otherwise, you won’t feel or be secure in your life.

The Tipping Point

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Let’s review a major point before I go on to directly address a scripture that seem to imply it’s possible to lose salvation.

Whether you believe in eternal security or not, most people can see that the Bible maintains a tension surrounding salvation. It’s as if the Bible asks everyone, “Are you saved? Are you sure? Are you really sure? Do you have any doubts?” This is a good line of questioning for reasons I’ll explain in a moment. But first, how would you respond to such questioning?

If you hold onto a lot of anxiety, these questions will stir up considerable fear and doubt. As you push past the tipping point, you’ll find insecurity. You might think, “Maybe I’m not saved. Maybe Jesus doesn’t care about me. Maybe I’m beyond God’s love. Yes, I’ve fallen away and my situation is hopeless.” This is also helpful, provided you don’t stop in hopelessness.

God wants you to feel secure in His love. If your heart has impurities like anxiety, doubt, and fear, He will want to work out the impurities. As this happens, your faith and confidence will grow. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians should convince you that it’s okay to have a goal to become more confident in your faith.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

To be more confident in your faith is only humility as you trust God more. But to be more confident in yourself, in what you can do without God, is only pride. In this context, I present to you a difficult passage for many Bible readers.

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Hebrews 6:4-6

Is this saying it’s possible to fall away from a believing faith with no return path possible? No. Here’s why.

Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians (read more about this). They were raised under the old way, the law. They converted to the new way, faith in Christ. However, they were tempted to return to their old, familiar ways. They doubted the simplicity of the Gospel. In a moment of weakness, in their insecurity, they considered turning back to the OT (or fall away from the NT).

In Hebrews 6, Paul reiterates that there is no turning back. The only way is the way forward is by faith in Christ. Returning to Egypt is futile. “If you come this close to the truth, but reject it and choose to keep looking elsewhere, you won’t find another way.” Paul is emphasizing an all-or-nothing truth. You’re either all-in or all-out. There is no in-between.

You must choose which way you’ll tip. The purpose of such scriptures is exactly to sort out the issue. You must know whether you are saved or not. So which is it? State it loud. State it bold. State it confidently.

Any doubt or concern is proof you’re not one of the ones who fall away. The following verses apply to you (more on this):

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:9-12

God bless you with, “full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish.” Have unhindered energy to pursue the things of God. Amen.

What Is Eternal Life?

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What exactly is eternal life? If you’re thinking about living your current life forever, you probably have the wrong idea. Your current life has pain and suffering mixed into it. True eternal life is improved in both its quality and its quantity (see here).

Beyond this, Jesus speaks a clear definition as He prays to the Father.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17:3

This makes sense, doesn’t it? Only a few chapters earlier Jesus proclaimed He is life.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

To know Jesus is to have eternal life: Life to the fullest. Abundant life. Life you can begin to experience now but won’t fully experience until this time on earth has passed. In this context, we can say that knowing Jesus is having an ongoing relationship with Him. In other words, you don’t have to know Him completely to have eternal life. You only need access to the way. You’ve received eternal life (it’s done); you’re receiving eternal life (as you know Jesus more and more), and you’ll receive eternal life (when you leave your current physical body).

If you know Jesus you have eternal life, not temporary life. Eternal life is unending in duration but it is more. You have abundant life, not insufficient life. Eternal life is the fullest sense of life. You can live the high life. The worldly definition of high life is an extravagant or luxurious style of living.

Jesus is inviting you into the spiritual high life. The spiritual high life is to have spiritual eyes which enable you to see and know God’s spiritual realities. You can grow in knowing God’s goodness, experiencing the full depth and breadth of eternal life.