Work Won’t Save You

Before I was a pastor I was a youth director. I worked for a church in San Clemente, California and I was responsible to teach the faith to the youth. We would organize youth group activities, fun outings that would bring the children and teenagers together. Then we would use those outings to teach deeper lessons about faith and God. 

One such outing we made was to a roller skating rink in Fountain Valley, California. We were there meeting up with a couple of other youth groups. The roller skating rink was a lot of fun. It had neon, strobe, black, and more kinds of lights. They played music that was loud and super popular. There was an arcade with the coolest video games. The people that were there were dressed cool, and they were so good at skating! Many of the youth in our youth group were new to skating and so they were scared to get out there. That’s where my job kicked in.

I did my best to show everyone that you did not have to be an expert to have a good time roller skating. This wasn’t hard to do, because it was obvious that I was far from an expert at roller skating. I got out there with my wobbly knees and made my way around the rink without falling. This helped to encourage the more timid youth to give it a try. 

Meanwhile there were some very talented and aggressive skaters that whipped around us and weaved through our group. At one point I was a little off balance and struggling to not fall over. At that precise moment I felt a swoosh of air as another roller skater passed me, and I also felt the smallest of nudges, but it was just hard enough that I lost my balance and I fell hard on my behind. I quickly got up and looked at who had passed me, he looked over his shoulder and laughed. It was one of the really good roller skaters and his friends laughed with him as they pointed at me. 

Obviously I was not a super strong roller skater, and for a moment, I felt as if I was not a very good youth worker at all. I was trying to work at teaching the youth how to skate, and I was failing at that work. One of the other youth directors talked to me to try to help me feel better. Her church was located in Fountain Valley not far from the roller rink. She said to me, “Did you know that the motto for Fountain Valley is, ‘A Nice Place to Live’? The thing is, if you have to put that on a sign to tell people, then it’s probably not as true as you’d like it to be.” I chuckled and it did make me feel a little better.

You are Saved by Grace

It’s true. If you have to make a point to tell people to be nice, then they probably aren’t all acting nice all the time. Consider Paul’s letter to the Philippians. He says that if you get anything from Jesus, be of one mind and one heart. Think of others and not just yourself. If Paul had to write these things to the church in Philippi, then you can imagine that there must have been division. Paul inspires the church by focusing on the gorgeous work of Jesus the beloved. 

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

Jesus was so full of unconditional love and beauty that he came down from heaven to spend time with you and save you. He teaches you how to love, and he gave his life for you, to save you, that you might have life. Jesus’ work is powerful enough to save us. Jesus loves you with grace. You are sav