Salvation | What It’s All About

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” The lament came from the lips of Charlie Brown in the animated Christmas classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charles Schultz’ lovable gang of kids and a dog subtly offer answers to that question throughout the thirty minute extravaganza. Who would have guessed the question was about salvation?

We still try to provide answers to Charlie Brown’s question today, don’t we? Some see that the holiday is about family. People want to be together with family for the holidays. Good Housekeeping magazine says, “The holiday season is about so much more than festive décor and indulging the gimme gimmes – it’s a time to focus on celebrating family, friends and the little moments that bring you joy.”

Others see Christmas is about giving. According to USA Today Christmas is the time of year “when nonprofit organizations have made the biggest push in terms of fundraising appeals.” Causes.com says that 34% of Americans are more likely to make contributions during the holiday season. Amounts of giving on their website increase 42% during November and December.

For some, Christmas is about marketing and big business. Since 2018, holiday retail sales have surpassed $1 trillion annually. Retailers generally make about 40% of its annual profit between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The term Black Friday comes from the concept that most retailers operate in the red until they finally break through to profit on the busiest shopping day of the year.

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

When the Charlie Brown Christmas special made its debut on CBS television on December 9, 1965, many wondered how it would be received. The show’s producer, Lee Mendelson had negative feelings about the finished product, thinking the pace was too slow, the music wasn’t fitting, and the animation too simple. Lead animator Bill Melendez, embarrassed by the work, replied, “My golly, we’ve killed it.”

The program premiered on a Thursday evening, pre-empting “The Munsters” and was the second most-watched show, behind only NBC’s “Bonanza.” It was estimated at the time that 15,490,000 homes had a television tuned in on the program. The Washington Post wrote the next day, the “natural-born loser Charlie Brown finally turned up a real winner last night.” The Weekly Variety proclaimed that it was “fascinating and haunting.”

Linus steps to the microphone in the center of the stage. The shy, quiet lad suddenly is shy no longer.

“For unto us is born this day, a savior.” Linus had it exactly right. Christmas is about salvation. But what is salvation anyway?

The first thing that must happen in the salvation process is someone needs to tell the story. There is no shortage of people telling stories today – even the Christmas story – but there is more to story-telling than just telling, isn’t there?

A Salvation of Faith

Paul writes that “faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of God” (Romans 10:17 ESV). Faith seems to be one of those religious words that is defined by religious words, but it doesn’t need to be so. Faith, simply put, trusts that things will work out how they are designed to work out.

We put faith in lots of things outside of the religious arena. When I sit in a chair, I have faith the chair will hold my weight and not collapse. If I fly in an airplane to see my grand-daughters, I have faith the plane will travel safely through the air and take me to Florida. The moment I flip on the light switch on the wall, I have faith the lights will turn on.

My father was an electrician by trade. I understand that inside the wall, connected to the light switch are wires that lead to a metal box of circuit breakers for the house. The circuit breakers are connected to wires outside the house that bring the power of electricity to my home. I have no idea how it works, but I have faith that it does.

Faith Means High Probability

Faith in the chair, and the plane, and the light switch occurs because the right thing has happened time and time again. It doesn’t remove every doubt about the outcome, but my trust has an incredibly high level of probability.

What happens before faith – the trigger that makes faith more than just belief (even the demons believe) – is the understanding of personal need. Call it what you will: an understanding of sin, a desire to repent, or a conviction regarding personal sin. It really just comes down to that definition of faith again. Faith in Jesus means trusting Him to get us to heaven, to “save” us because that was what He came here to do. I “get” that I am not good enough to get there myself. My perception in realizing I cannot do enough good deeds to force God to let me in leads me to accept certain facts.  The only way I am getting into heaven is by a free gift offered to me by God through His Son Jesus.

There is religious theology that can explain how that happens. There are big words that are used to describe big concepts which need big explanations. Understanding the theology is not necessary to substantiate faith. If I am curious, or philosophical or theological or a learner, I might want to pursue its knowledge, but the “faith of a little child” smiles he’s been given a free gift.

A Plan of Salvation

When I was younger, I learned there were five-finger steps in the plan of salvation – HEAR * BELIEVE * REPENT * CONFESS * BE BAPTIZED. We talked about hearing. We discussed that it takes faith, which is more than just belief. Let’s talk about the next two steps, repenting and confessing.

The Bible often uses different words to describe the same thing. The Hebrew language is filled with a type of poetic style known as parallelism, saying the same thing in more than one way to emphasize a point and to make it clear. The book of Proverbs resonates with such Hebrew poetry. If faith trusts that God’s plan of salvation occurs through His Son, then view repentance and confession describe the same thing.

Repent & Confess

When a person repents, they are heading one direction and they choose to stop going that direction and begin heading another one. If I place my trust in Jesus to get me to heaven, repentance says “I am going to stop going in a direction where I do what I want to do. Instead I will go the direction that Jesus says I should go.” Technically, leaving a path of sin to a path of faith is an “about face.”

The word “confession” literally means “to say the same thing.” I confess that I am a sinner that is not good enough to get to heaven on my own. I confess the only way I can get there is if Jesus helps me get in. Confessing that Jesus is my savior means I am saying the same thing about me and sin that God says.

Most of the time when I have heard the plan of salvation, it gets a little fuzzy at this point. The next step says to be baptized, but baptism signifies different things to different people and churches. Many people were baptized as an infant – a ritual affirming the parent’s commitment to raise the child in a Christian home. The New Testament presents baptism as an act in response of faith. Peter steers early believers toward repentance and baptism.

The Point in Time When Salvation Becomes Real

Many statements of the plan of salvation will then include something to the effect of “living the Christian life.” While not saying that works get you into heaven, the emphasis is upon continuing to show evidence of faith and repentance in your life.

I like to describe the plan of salvation in really simple terms. If you want to be saved, you need to have faith and to be faithful.

What does it mean to be faithful? Being faithful seems to go in two directions. First it means not to waver. If I faithfully stick to my diet, I don’t eat lots of desserts one day and starve myself the next. It means I hold to my diet all the time. So then it also means I do the right thing.

A young man asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” In essence he asked, “What is the right thing to do?” Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.” What does it mean to be faithful? It means to do those two things to the best of your abilities.

Where does baptism fit into all of this?

In the Jewish religion, baptism was a response of faith to show that a clean, fresh start was taking place. It was a moment in time when commitment to God became real. In a sense, baptism fulfills that role for us today. Baptism occurs because of faith. We never enter into baptism without first trusting in Jesus. The act of baptism doesn’t save us. Baptism captures the moment in time when God agrees to meet us. This is where it all begins.

Baptism is no longer a promise of my parents to raise me right. It is my statement that says “This faith is really mine now.” How do I prove that? I love God with all my heart. I love my neighbor as I love myself.

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

The spotlight whispers its shadows upon a Linus without a blanket.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: “Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:11-14 KJV).

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.