Life after salvation

Galatians 2:20-21

After we are forgiven our sins through Christ we will be able to live with the Lord in paradise. After we are saved, does it change how we live in this world?

I think we are to change.

Scripture tells us that when we are saved we are in Christ. We live, not to ourselves, but to Christ. We cannot live to sin and live to be in Christ, for Christ is without sin. Yet, we are told that we cannot be human and be sinless, so we do sin.

The Lord makes allowances for our sin, the Lord offers forgiveness always. It is our will that the Lord asks us for. In the language of scripture we are told to repent. We are only asked to want to be sinless, to strive towards that as our goal.

We are given many instructions about what these goals are to be. Here is a list of some of them: Be baptized, meet with other Christians, pray, give, select Christian friends, grow, serve the Lord, share, praise God, love your neighbor, build others up, do not tear down, accept other without judging, ask that the Lord’s will be done, not our fleshly will.

We are told these things are not to burden us with rules, but to free us to live with the fruits of the spirit in abundance and joy. If they are done reluctantly, like a little boy dragging his feed to obey his Dad, they are only burdens and not freedom.

Romans 8:29 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Corinthians 5:17)

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Corinthians 5:17)

You have touched an important point. Are we saved to go to heaven to be with the Lord? Or are we saved for some grand purpose? I propose that man is saved for two reasons.

1. God's honor and councils. Who is God if one of His creatures - an angel, can force Him to change His course and purpose? If so, His claim to the title of "THE ALMIGHTY" lies in tatters. But NO! He IS omnipotent and His councils will come to pass
2. God's love and sense of responsibility for His creature - Man. You and I, if we had made Adam and saw his abominable state after the fall, would have immediately started anew. But God is God. His every oves shows His glory. And what better opportunity to display His glory than to recover what is totally lost and degraded.

What we call "Salvation" is strictly speaking, a RESTORATION. But because the consequences are so dire, our restoration is called a "Salvation". To understand the scope of our salvation, and this should motivate and give direction to our walk after believing, we must first find out what needs rstoring, and then find out what the original man was made for. If we can discover this, then our walk after salvation (or moment of conversion) should become apparent. Let's reverse the order to shorten the posting.

Man has FIVE major problems.
He is judicially OFFSIDES. He has offended the Living and Perfect God and justice calls for RETRIBUTION. This retribution is to render the man "useless for the intended purpose". The common word for this is "PERDITION". Perdition does not mean annihilation, or cessation of existence. It means that with exquisite suffering attached, you are rendered "useless for the intended purpose". We say that the Titanic was "lost". The Titanic was intended to cruise above the waves with passengers in luxury. Now, it is still a ship, but has become "useless for the intended purpose". The Titanic is all still there, and still a ship, but it lies under the waves and rusts - a heap of ruin. If man is not SAVED from God's RETRIBUTION he face eternity in PERDITION.
His human spirit was supposed to be the home of God, just as the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle/Temple was. The spirit of man is his vitality (Jas.2:26). But it was made to hold the vitality of God - eternal life. Any man who is not born again will suffer an eternal loss. He never achieved what he was designed for.
His human SOUL, the thinking, feeling and deciding organs, are totally corrupted by a lifetime of pandering to the flesh. A man is a SOUL. It is his major part (Gen.2:7). It is this part of man that was supposed to think, feel and decide for God. But all it does is follow the dictates of the flesh.
His body was supposed to be a member of God's glorious corporate House on earth - the Church. But death due to sin, destroys that House as our bodies are its members (1st Cor.6:15). We are His flesh and bones (Eph.5:30). In His very first mention of the Church, our Lord Jesus said that Hades (not hell), the place of the dead, would not prevail against the Church. That is, the Gates of Hades will be forced open to let the souls of dead men out to join with their bodies in RESURRECTION so that God's House, God's Garden for meeting men, God's EXPRESSION on earth, Christ's Body, CAN BE RESTORED.
Lastly, man was made for SUBDUING and RULING the earth. That is, the establishment of a Kingdom on earth where God's type of rule is enforced. If man does not qualifiy for this Kingdom, he has failed, for it was his PURPOSE (Gen.1:26-28).

Thus, being saved by a Substitute from RETRIBUTION is only the first step in a full recovery. There is a sublime process that a man must follow to achieve his recovery. And it takes a lifetime and it is interwoven with God. Paul was converted on the road to Damascus and Baptized three days later. But his knowledge of God's Word was tainted and tinted by the glasses of the Pharisee. Peter and his motley company of fishermen and tax collectors need 3½ years with the Lord to be prepared for Pentecost. But Paul must (i) learn the mysteries of the Church and (ii) UNLEARN Pharisee-ism. This takes 14 years (Gal.1).

Paul must suffer much. Paul must know the power of God to build a Church among the heathen. Paul must learn the power of God to keep him in a shipwreck and from the bite of a viper. And Paul must lean failure as his ministry of building Churches ends in room in Rome. And writing from Rome, in his letter to the Philippians, he recounts how he must strive to gain Christ (3:8-14). He is, unbeknown to him, just over three years from his martyrdom, and he is still striving, keeping his flesh under and applying the cross. But as the last brutal day appears, Paul can say that he had fought the fight and run the race, and the just Judge would award that coveted crown to subdue and rule the earth after his resurrection. His full salvation though, must wait until he is judged by Christ, just after the Rapture.

Everything that happens to us, says Romans 8, is used by God to walk us through the process from beginning to end. Our darkest hours are our refining fire. Our greatest joys are our proof of a God Who cares. A man who has believed in and embraced Jesus Christ is on a road that leads to the four things that God made, and saved, him for:

1. He is to be in the image and likeness of Christ (Rom.8:29) to express and display God
2. He is to be a Bride "up to the standard of" Christ
3. He is to "fence about and bring to order" (lit. Heb.) a Garden where God can meet with man - the Church
4. He is subdue whatever opposes God and His plan, and then bring God's rule over the earth, sea and sky

Is this not so much higher than just going off to heaven to do ... who knows what (there are no scriptures)?

Actually our purpose can be boiled down to two purposes, just as the purpose of Israel could be just two. First, to be saved and to live with the Lord eternally, and the second follows--to have our life reflect the Lord as the Lord lives within us.

.
I chose to start in the book of Acts because that's pretty much where
Christ's apostles began telling his believing followers what to do in accord
with the Lord's instructions as per Matt 28:19-20.

To access my hand book, click the link.

Christ's Ways
_

You have touched an important point. Are we saved to go to heaven to be with the Lord? Or are we saved for some grand purpose? I propose that man is saved for two reasons.

1. God's honor and councils. Who is God if one of His creatures - an angel, can force Him to change His course and purpose? If so, His claim to the title of "THE ALMIGHTY" lies in tatters. But NO! He IS omnipotent and His councils will come to pass
2. God's love and sense of responsibility for His creature - Man. You and I, if we had made Adam and saw his abominable state after the fall, would have immediately started anew. But God is God. His every oves shows His glory. And what better opportunity to display His glory than to recover what is totally lost and degraded.

What we call "Salvation" is strictly speaking, a RESTORATION. But because the consequences are so dire, our restoration is called a "Salvation". To understand the scope of our salvation, and this should motivate and give direction to our walk after believing, we must first find out what needs rstoring, and then find out what the original man was made for. If we can discover this, then our walk after salvation (or moment of conversion) should become apparent. Let's reverse the order to shorten the posting.

Man has FIVE major problems.
He is judicially OFFSIDES. He has offended the Living and Perfect God and justice calls for RETRIBUTION. This retribution is to render the man "useless for the intended purpose". The common word for this is "PERDITION". Perdition does not mean annihilation, or cessation of existence. It means that with exquisite suffering attached, you are rendered "useless for the intended purpose". We say that the Titanic was "lost". The Titanic was intended to cruise above the waves with passengers in luxury. Now, it is still a ship, but has become "useless for the intended purpose". The Titanic is all still there, and still a ship, but it lies under the waves and rusts - a heap of ruin. If man is not SAVED from God's RETRIBUTION he face eternity in PERDITION.
His human spirit was supposed to be the home of God, just as the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle/Temple was. The spirit of man is his vitality (Jas.2:26). But it was made to hold the vitality of God - eternal life. Any man who is not born again will suffer an eternal loss. He never achieved what he was designed for.
His human SOUL, the thinking, feeling and deciding organs, are totally corrupted by a lifetime of pandering to the flesh. A man is a SOUL. It is his major part (Gen.2:7). It is this part of man that was supposed to think, feel and decide for God. But all it does is follow the dictates of the flesh.
His body was supposed to be a member of God's glorious corporate House on earth - the Church. But death due to sin, destroys that House as our bodies are its members (1st Cor.6:15). We are His flesh and bones (Eph.5:30). In His very first mention of the Church, our Lord Jesus said that Hades (not hell), the place of the dead, would not prevail against the Church. That is, the Gates of Hades will be forced open to let the souls of dead men out to join with their bodies in RESURRECTION so that God's House, God's Garden for meeting men, God's EXPRESSION on earth, Christ's Body, CAN BE RESTORED.
Lastly, man was made for SUBDUING and RULING the earth. That is, the establishment of a Kingdom on earth where God's type of rule is enforced. If man does not qualifiy for this Kingdom, he has failed, for it was his PURPOSE (Gen.1:26-28).

Thus, being saved by a Substitute from RETRIBUTION is only the first step in a full recovery. There is a sublime process that a man must follow to achieve his recovery. And it takes a lifetime and it is interwoven with God. Paul was converted on the road to Damascus and Baptized three days later. But his knowledge of God's Word was tainted and tinted by the glasses of the Pharisee. Peter and his motley company of fishermen and tax collectors need 3½ years with the Lord to be prepared for Pentecost. But Paul must (i) learn the mysteries of the Church and (ii) UNLEARN Pharisee-ism. This takes 14 years (Gal.1).

Paul must suffer much. Paul must know the power of God to build a Church among the heathen. Paul must learn the power of God to keep him in a shipwreck and from the bite of a viper. And Paul must lean failure as his ministry of building Churches ends in room in Rome. And writing from Rome, in his letter to the Philippians, he recounts how he must strive to gain Christ (3:8-14). He is, unbeknown to him, just over three years from his martyrdom, and he is still striving, keeping his flesh under and applying the cross. But as the last brutal day appears, Paul can say that he had fought the fight and run the race, and the just Judge would award that coveted crown to subdue and rule the earth after his resurrection. His full salvation though, must wait until he is judged by Christ, just after the Rapture.

Everything that happens to us, says Romans 8, is used by God to walk us through the process from beginning to end. Our darkest hours are our refining fire. Our greatest joys are our proof of a God Who cares. A man who has believed in and embraced Jesus Christ is on a road that leads to the four things that God made, and saved, him for:

1. He is to be in the image and likeness of Christ (Rom.8:29) to express and display God
2. He is to be a Bride "up to the standard of" Christ
3. He is to "fence about and bring to order" (lit. Heb.) a Garden where God can meet with man - the Church
4. He is subdue whatever opposes God and His plan, and then bring God's rule over the earth, sea and sky

Is this not so much higher than just going off to heaven to do ... who knows what (there are no scriptures)?

The trouble is, I think many of us have made our homes down here instead of appreciating that this life is merely a TENT, and like I said, the training ground where we learn the Kingdom principles.

We are caught up in something much bigger than ourselves! We're caught up in a Divine Drama that I want to do my share in and see His Kingdom come! If that means cleaning toilets or preaching to thousands, I'll happily do either knowing that my life is significant and has substance because of Christ! He has redeemed me, and I want to "work out" the salvation that He has already made available to me (Phillipians 2:12).

Apologies for any prickles my statement may have caused.

Thanks, @Deuteronomy, for the welcome, and you are quite right. I joined last year sometime when I was going through a huge transition in my life and couldn’t quite make sense of anything. When I was younger, I found huge comfort and encouragement on a forum site similar to this, so I guess you could say I was reaching out to an ‘old comfort.’😊

But it’s been years since I’ve participated in such things and I’m not as bold as I used to be in ‘putting myself out there’. It’s taken me a while to pluck up the courage and “find my voice”, so to speak! And trust me to, in my first post, hit a nerve and touch on something controversial!!!

I suppose to say that “my life is as significant as Christ’s” could sound alarming—and even like heresy—if taken out of context. But when we consider, like it says in Ephesians 1:22-23, that we, as the Church, are the BODY of Christ, the FULLNESS of Him who fills all in all; that, as it has already been quoted in Galatians 2:20, it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST lives in me, how is my life less significant than His? He is indeed dwelling in His Body, which I am a part of. My identity is no longer an individual one, but my identity is wrapped up in Him; I have been BAPTIZED into HIS Body.

Apologies for any prickles my statement may have caused.

.
There's been times during my twenty-three plus years of internet forum
activity when I've encountered people wanting to know what they're
supposed to do now that they decided to become a Christian.

A mega Baptist church that I attended back in the decade of the 1970's had
a discipleship program that incorporated an outreach booklet called "The
Four Spiritual Laws" authored in 1952 by Campus Crusade for Christ founder
Dr. Bill Bright.

Those guidelines are helpful as far as they go, but they're pretty elementary
and in my opinion inadequate for taking Christ's believing followers to
infinity and beyond, so to speak.

Some years ago, just for the fun of it, I set out compiling a home-spun
catalogue of Christ's instructions from the new Testament that apply to all
his followers regardless of denominational affiliation. In time I realized that
his instructions, accompanied by a little commentary, would make a pretty
good how-to handbook.

I chose to start in the book of Acts because that's pretty much where
Christ's apostles began telling his believing followers what to do in accord
with the Lord's instructions as per Matt 28:19-20.

To access my hand book, click the link.

Christ's Ways
_

I might be able to rule and to reign with Him. Wow!

Apologies for any prickles my statement may have caused.

I knew what you meant. I think most others did too. Consider, your life is so important that God gave His Son for it. We are intrinsically not valuable. But the very God of the universe put a price, and thus a value, on us - an unimaginable value.