What Has God's Salvation Accomplished?

In the last module, we focused on God's uncommon pursuit of his people. The timeline, the cost, the intentionality of it, his very name - in every way, God has demonstrated himself to be our Savior.

In this module, I want to go deeper into this. We're going to explore the question, "What has God's salvation accomplished for us?"

In First Love, I am attempting to be very disciplined in focusing on who God is. But here's the problem: God is very focused on loving us. He is our First Love!

To honor God is, in part, to consider what God has done for us.

The theologian Fred Sanders says that, "the good news of salvation is ultimately that God opens his Trinitarian life to us." He also writes, "God does not give us some thing that makes us blessed, but he blesses us by giving us himself."

Because our First Love has given himself to us, part of loving our First Love is understanding what he has done for us.

Unfortunately, sometimes Christianity is presented like a vending machine. You say your prayers, you get something from God. Each week you bring your tithe to church and the preacher dispenses some benefit of the Christian life. There's this transactional mentality to the discussion.

And it is disconnected. One week, you learn about forgiveness. A month later, you consider the Holy Spirit. We have to break it up - we're limited. But here's the thing: God's work is continuous, unified, and complete. Our awareness of what it means to experience the Trinitarian life of God is partial, fragmented, and distracted, but that doesn't mean we aren't benefiting from this relationship with God all the time.

What I want to attempt in this module is to bring together many aspects of what it means to be united to God, and what it means to be saved.

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. You are great, and greatly to be praised, and your greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. You are good to all, and your mercy is over all that you have made.

In Christ's name, Amen.

(Psalm 145)

Make a list of the ways God has saved you—not just from sin, but from specific struggles, fears, and circumstances.