“If your salvation isn’t based upon your actions or your ability to be and do good then why do you think your sainthood is based on your ability to be and do good?”
(Pastor Les)
Here is a statement I hear a lot: “I am a sinner saved by grace” And, I want to declare, from the beginning of this message, that I believe this is a false statement and in fact, a statement that keeps us bound up in shame and is a statement that opposes the settled and the continuing work of Jesus at the Cross in our lives.
“I am a sinner saved by grace”… is a Religious Easter Egg that needs to be cracked.
If you’re married, do you identify as, “I am single person in a marriage?”
Of course you don’t! You were single and then your status completely transformed into something new. It is an insult to your spouse, to your marriage to identify First as single and then as married. It is also confusing because you are living in a marriage but keep saying you are a single person. In the same way, it is an insult to tell Jesus I am still a sinner because we are saying his work on the cross wasn’t able to transform us, that we are not New Creations and are still tied to our flesh and not Holy Spirit.
“Do you ever call a butterfly a caterpillar?
The butterfly comes from the caterpillar but is so transformed that it has a completely different name. You have been and are being so transformed that God has given you a new name—Son—Daughter—Saint.”
(Pastor Les)