We are Saved

 I have a friend who owned a Martin guitar for over thirty years. After years of use, it had some issues, so he took it to the shop. They told him, because of its age, that model was extremely valuable - a classic. They said he really ought to stop playing it and keep it protected in its case.

My friend loved that guitar because it played so well. He didn't buy it because he wanted to own a valuable vintage Martin and keep it safely stored away. So he kept playing it. That guitar was valuable sitting in the case, but he valued it because of what he could do with it. There's a difference between something simply being valuable and something being useful.

We understand that we have tremendous value in God's eyes. But sometimes we can become so focused on being 'saved', being protected, being comfortable and 'just being part of the church' - that we forget that God didn't save us simply to put us somewhere safe and leave us there. We need to remember, we are saved...

I. For a purpose

Why did Jesus come? Why did He call His disciples? And, perhaps most importantly for us, why did He save us? The Bible doesn't present salvation as simply being rescued from something; we are also saved for something. Jesus calls us to follow Him, and when we follow Him, He gives us a purpose that goes beyond ourselves.

The majority of Bible passages I want to look at this morning are from the book of Mark. And the overarching theme of Mark paints the picture of Jesus as Christ, the servant. And what do servants do? Servants work to meet the needs of others. The Bible shows us that Jesus came...

A. With a purpose

Jesus didn't simply show up in history and then figure out what He was going to do. His coming was planned and prophesied. It was part of God's purpose from the beginning! Jesus came into the world for a reason... Jesus ultimately came to die for our sins and rise again, but He also spent years living among mankind. He spent time teaching, healing, serving, and training His disciples so that they could continue the mission after He was gone. We read this in Mark 1:16-17 (NIV)...

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. (17) "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

From the very beginning, there was a purpose attached to following Jesus. Jesus wasn't simply collecting disciples so that He would have a crowd around Him. He was calling people who would eventually become part of the work He had come to accomplish. And we see that throughout His ministry.

Jesus taught in the temple and in the synagogues, but He also went where people were. He spent time with people who weren't necessarily the people the religious leaders thought He ought to be spending time with. We read this in Mark 2:16-17 (NIV)...

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (17) On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

And one of the tax collectors that Jesus spent time with was named Zacchaeus. His story isn't included in the book of Mark, but Luke includes another insight Jesus gave that puts an even finer point to it in Luke 19:10 (NIV)...

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Now, when the Bible uses the word "lost", we need to understand what that means. Calling someone "lost" doesn't mean that Jesus considered that person worthless or somehow less valuable than someone who already knew God. In fact, the reason Jesus came to seek the lost was because they are valuable to God. "Lost" describes their condition, not their value.

And that matters for us, because the church is made up of people who have been saved by Jesus. But - the church isn't simply a gathering place for saved people to just enjoy being saved. We absolutely need the church. We need worship. We need fellowship. We need teaching and encouragement. We need to take care of one another and we need to grow together.

All of those things are important - but we also need to remember that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. We're not saved simply for our own benefit. We are saved for a purpose. Jesus came with a purpose, and Jesus calls us...

B. Into His purpose

Jesus didn't simply have a mission Himself; He called His followers to become part of that mission. And that means that following Jesus is going to require something from us... Let's look at Mark 8:31-34 (NIV)...

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. (32) He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. (33) But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

(34) Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Jesus was obviously upset and plain spoken here. He didn't want Peter to think for a moment that Peter had any authority on this subject. Jesus rebuked Peter and then turned to everyone in shouting distance and said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Jesus doesn't ask me - Jesus tells each of us, 'deny yourself'. It's not really about my comfort or desires or wants – it's about complete surrender and following Jesus. Jesus doesn't say, "If anyone would come after me, he should make sure Christianity fits comfortably into his existing plans." He says, "Deny yourself." Jesus calls us to follow Him.

In fact, after this confrontation in chapter 8, just six days later, in chapter 9 - Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah appear, and Peter starts talking about what they ought to do. And then we find God the Father stepping in and making His opinion known in Mark 9:7 (NIV)...

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"

This was not a negotiation! However well intentioned those disciples may have been - Jesus was in charge! And if we're going to be His followers, we submit our will to His.

That's important when we start talking about what the church is supposed to do and to teach, because we can very easily start with ourselves. We can ask, "What do I want the church to be?" "What kind of music do I like?" "What programs do I want?" "What would make me happy?" And those questions aren't necessarily evil questions, but they're not the first questions Jesus tells us to ask.

Jesus says, deny yourself and follow Me. Then, in Mark 9:35, Jesus gives us another picture of what that looks like...

Mark 9:35 (NIV)

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

That's the life Jesus calls us to. We must be servants. And that isn't just a message for elders or preachers or people who've been given some official ministry title. It's not simply a leadership principle. It's a Christian principle. We are saved, called into His purpose...

II. To live that purpose

If we belong to Jesus, we are servants. And servants don't begin with the question, "What do I get out of this?" They begin with, "How can I serve?" That brings us to a very simple way of thinking about what Jesus is calling us to do. And notice I said, 'simple' not 'easy'. God first. Others second. Me third. We are called to put God first, and...

A. Others ahead of ourselves

And that can make us a little uncomfortable, if we're honest. It makes me uncomfortable. But this doesn't mean that God doesn't care about you. He absolutely does! He loved you enough to send Jesus to die for you! But Christianity isn't supposed to be organized around 'me'. We read this in Mark 12:28-31 (NIV)...

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" (29) "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

(30) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (31) The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

God first. Others next. Then me. That's the framework Jesus gave us. And that's exactly what Jesus had been teaching throughout Mark. He calls us to deny ourselves. He calls us to serve. He tells us that the greatest person in His kingdom is the servant of all. And He gives us His own example by being that servant!

One of the dangers we face as Christians - if we're not careful - is that we can almost turn the church into something that exists primarily to meet our needs... And certainly the church should care about our needs.

If you're hurting, if you're struggling, the church should care. If you're lonely or grieving, the church should care. But if all of our attention becomes focused on what the church is doing for me, we've lost something important.

Jesus saved us so that we could become like Him. And becoming like Jesus means becoming servants. It means being willing to give up some of our preferences for the good of someone else. It means being willing to serve people who aren't like us. It means being willing to reach outside our comfortable circles. It means being willing to ask "What does God want, and how can I serve other people?"

That doesn't mean that every decision the church makes should be based on whatever will make the largest crowd happy. Jesus never did that. Jesus didn't lower the standard of discipleship simply because He wanted more people to follow Him. In fact, some of the things Jesus said probably made it harder for people to follow Him.

He talked about sacrifice. He talked about money. He talked about sin and self-denial and 'taking up your cross'. He wasn't trying to make the Gospel more attractive by removing everything difficult from it. He simply told people the truth and called them to follow Him. And that's still our responsibility.

We don't have the authority to change Jesus' message because we're afraid somebody might not like it. Our job is to love God, love people, and faithfully point them toward Jesus. We are...

B. Called in to go out

We are called in to the Church, the body of Christ, to go out. Jesus calls us in. He saves us. He brings us into His family. He teaches and strengthens us. He gives us one another - for help and encouragement and then He sends us out.

That's what He told those first disciples, 'Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.' Come in. Go out. At the end of Mark's Gospel, we find this charge from Jesus to His disciples in Mark 16:15 (NIV)...

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

- But the verses 9-20 of Mark chapter 16 aren't actually found in the earliest known manuscripts of Mark that we've discovered to date. So, just to be very thorough, I want us to also look at one more passage outside of Mark this morning to reinforce this call to GO.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Evangelism, 'witnessing' has probably become more difficult in some ways than it was twenty or thirty years ago. There are conversations that people are less comfortable having, and there are biblical beliefs that can be received very differently depending on the world view of the person we're talking to. But the answer isn't to stop 'going'. The answer isn't to stop telling people about Jesus.

And that's what our BLESS campaign is all about! It's about looking at things differently. It's about realizing, it's not our job to make someone believe or to convict their heart - that's the work of the Holy Spirit! Our job is to go out and be a blessing to people, to form relationships that will draw people to Jesus!

The Holy Spirit is far more capable of working in somebody's heart than we are. Our responsibility is faithfulness. God handles the results.

And that's why this mission belongs to the entire church. Every Christian has been saved by Jesus, and every Christian has been called to serve Jesus. We don't all serve in the same way, but we all serve the same Lord. And we all have the same mission - called in to go out.

So What?

Sometimes we look at ourselves and think, "I'm not the right person for the job." "I'm too old." "I'm too young." "I don't know enough." "I'm not talented enough." "I've made too many mistakes." "I'm not the kind of person God could really use." But God has never asked you to be somebody else. He asks you to be faithful with what He's given you.

- Back to that Martin guitar. My friend knew that guitar had value. He understood what the people at the shop were telling him, and he wasn't careless with something that was precious. But he also understood that the guitar's purpose wasn't simply to sit in a case and be preserved. He wanted to play it. He wanted to take it to church on Sunday morning and use something he loved to help other people worship the God he loved.

And just like that old guitar, the fact that something has some wear on it doesn't mean it has no value or no purpose. In fact, sometimes the wear is part of the story. The scratches tell you that it's been played.

The years tell you that it has been used well.

God knows our value far better than we do. God doesn't need us to be perfect instruments; He wants willing instruments. God didn't save us because He needed us. But He chooses to use us. And that's an incredible privilege. So the question this morning isn't simply, "Am I saved?" But more importantly, "What am I doing with the life God saved?"