The power and the point of our salvation is Christ.

Hebrews 12:2, Ephesians 1:1-14, Galatians 2:6.

The  church of the Western world is the product of an unbiblical soteriology. We are a church which wants the benefits of Christ (forgiveness of sins and eternal life), but we do not want the benefactor: Christ . However, the entire Bible is presented the other way around. If I have Christ, then I have all the benefits. Christ Himself is my reward; because in Christ I get God, and having God is the deepest and most desired treasure. We want a Christ who keeps us from eternal damnation, but one who does not sit on the throne of our lives nor satisfy our souls…..and we have successfully created this kind of Jesus, a Jesus who is ultimately secular, who looks like us, sounds like us, loves like us, and loves what we love. Foolishly, we think this “Jesus” we have invented is able to save us from the fires of God’s righteous eternal Judgement. This is horribly dangerous and completely incompatible with the Scriptures from start to finish. Yet we are persistent in our belief in this false-Jesus as we trade hours of time with God in His word, in prayer and with God’s people, for hours of time in entertainment, pleasure and idleness.

Could it be that the Jesus that we have created actually “saves” us from actually believing in and trusting in the Living God? Could it be that the Christ of the New Testament (the only Jesus there has ever been) actually threatens our unbelief and therefore we must drown Him in our own pride and idolatry?The issues and problems we are seeing here in the church in the west have been growing under the surface for a great deal of time. It is our unwavering commitment to a man-centered “gospel” which pedals the benefits of Christ, without calling people to God who is Christ Himself.  It is Soteriology in a vacuum divorced from the glory and and supremacy of Christ, “The Founder and Perfecter of our faith” Hebrews 12:2. Lest we forget, our salvation is aimed at the glory of Jesus. He Himself is our salvation. Here is why Paul continually stresses two words in Ephesians 1:1-14: “In Him”.

The power of our salvation is Christ and the point of our salvation is Christ. The church in the western world has successfully removed Christ as both the power of our salvation and the point of it. This is why we should expect to see and do see churches full of unsaved people who do not and will not follow, love and worship Christ. What we in the western church want is God’s grace without the glory and grace of discipleship. We want Salvation without eschatology glory of Jesus. We Jesus to keep us from hell, but not a Jesus who makes us worthy of Him. We want Christ as Savior, without Him being God or Lord. Yet, there is no other kind of Jesus.  Jesus is Lord because God says so, no matter if we say it or acknowledge it. It is this Jesus who alone is able to save, and it is This Jesus alone who we are called to follow (Mark 8:34 – 9:1).

It is only in the church in the West (the richest and most comfortable church in the world, with access to the most resources) that there could be a massive fallout over something that God has clearly and decisively put to death: Race and ethnicity. Here in the west, while the church is bursting at the seems in other countries much more hostile to the Gospel, we here in the west have the audacity to be pre-occupied with something as trivial as race. How sad for us. This is nothing other than the shame of our self-love, self- absorption and unwavering indulgence of secularism. It is direct result of our unbelief in the God who is barreling toward us to get all the Glory He so richly deserves. Here in the west we are unwilling to call people to follow Jesus to the cross. We are unwilling to call people to follow Him at all. We have allowed the church to be filled with self-reliant, self-righteous secular people, instead of Christians.

May God grant us repentance and faith In Christ, for When He comes, He will show no partiality (Galatians 2:6). (edited)