Why did Jesus die?

Why did Jesus die?

Most of us would say, “Jesus died to save us from our sins.” What would you say if I told you that was not entirely correct? Oh, don’t get me wrong. Our sins are forgiven, and they are forgiven only because of Jesus saving work on Calvary. But is that all? Does that describe the whole picture? What does Jesus save us to in the process of saving us from something.

Jesus died to empower us to good works. We were trapped in sin. We longed to do those very things the law of God commanded us not to do (Romans 7:7ff). We now have the possibility of good works.

Do we do them? NO! You and I both know that. We are still trapped in Romans 7. We long for a way out. In fact, we do not actually become aware of our sinfulness until the Holy Spirit begins the work of salvation in us. We have no awareness on our own. We have no desire to shelter the homeless, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to protect the orphan, to visit those in prison, etc.

John Austin Baker goes so far as to say that if we seek heaven only as a refuge from what we perceive hell to be, we might not comprehend either one. He describes heaven as that place where we finally attain the perfection in love that the Spirit as caused our own spirits to thirst after.

Hell is not the place of fire and torment as we see so often depicted. Hell is that place where we know we will never become the people God intended us to be! Mr. Austin argues that until we stop pursuing eternal life and, instead, pursue the infinite goodness, we will be eternally frustrated and have doubts regarding both. Once we take on the good works of Jesus Christ, not as an end to dodging hell, but simply out of the new love Christ has put within us, then that love grows and puts us more securely on the path to eternal life as well.

We are not saying that ones is not saved until that point. We are saying that one will always question their own eternal destiny until the reach the point where the eternal destiny does not matter as much as living for Christ in the here and now, doing the will of Christ out of the love of Christ helps us to fully experience the salvation of Christ. Could that possibly be what James was saying all along!?

Pastor Craig