This episode places sin issues in their proper perspective in light of the ultimate goal of service to God. Young believers often disqualify themselves for ministry and public service to God because they genuinely feel unworthy based on struggles with sin. While some of these considerations are valid, "victory" over sin must be subordinated to a higher purpose. Romans 13:14 provides the correct approach: "put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts." As the believer identifies with Christ and sees himself through heaven's eyes, desire to become the hands and feet of Christ limits the expression of sin and undermines the "lusts of deceit." Prioritization of the endgame of service to God helps believers progress in sanctification.
Saved for Good Works
This episode places the themes of redemption, sin, and works in their proper perspective. Preoccupation with sin issues is understandable for infants in Christ, but evidence of true saving faith is that service to God and/or "works" that He prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10) become the motivation for life. The episode connects "service to the living God" with the roadmap of sanctification in Eph 4:22-24, where putting off the old and putting on the new self is emphasized as the means of producing good works.
What true repentance looks like
This episode develops the application of true and false repentance based on the parable of the talents, highlighting the Biblical expectation that true believers will not be perpetual infants who see salvation singularly in terms of forgiveness of sins. "Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" is the secure foundation of Christ's work that every believer is expected to build on with 'gold, silver, and precious stone." False repentance never advances beyond preoccupation with sin issues to serve the living God.
Fake Salvation: a look at the wicked, lazy “servant”
This episode focuses on the wicked, lazy servant in the parable of the talents, providing a stark warning that true repentance is marked by service to God bearing fruit. Salvation that doesn't bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance is tantamount to burying the talent of salvation in the ground. The attitude of the evil servant never changes with respect to God: he flatters himself about his superficial salvation experience which is all about forgiveness of sins, but service to the Master is not in view, who is apparently unreasonable for expecting him to sow without seed. This contention contradicts everything the Scripture says about God who provides bountiful gifts, His own Son chief among them. The wicked lazy servant is around the gospel and pays lip service to knowing Christ, but never knew HIm.
Self-centered “salvation”
This episode applies the parable of the talents to the ultimate goal of repentance from dead works which is service to God. The servants with 5 and 2 talents had a proper perspective of salvation, which was to bear fruit pleasing to the master. "Trading" involves wins and losses: a perfect description of the Christian life where we still sin. The servant who is God-oriented is open to at least trying to bring his master profit. The wicked, lazy servant has a distorted view of salvation: God is somehow unfair for expecting a return since He hasn't given him seed to sow with. The servant who buried his talent in the ground is completely self-centered and doesn't even consider service to God as the reason for salvation.
Saved to Serve
This episode reemphasizes the futility of a sin-focused life apart from serving God. Such a misplaced focus explains why many apparently plateau in their Christianity and why most Christians are "unemployed" Christians. While Christians definitely should address issues of sin, the focus of the Christian life is on Christ, abiding in Him, and implementing His instructions. Service to God is the reason God saved us.
Another casualty of sin-obsession: love of neighbor
This episode builds on the last two, in which a misplaced focus on sin distorts the central purpose of salvation, which is to serve the living God. In addition to rehashing the consequences of this misplaced focus, whether one apparently gets the victory over sin or not, this episode addresses how this approach undermines love of neighbor. Being sin-focused and not God-focused gets projected on one's neighbor, potentially leading to a judgmental attitude towards neighbor because the primary lens for the self-absorbed Christian has become victory over sin. A service orientation towards God is much more conducive to love of neighbor.
Focus on Ministry not on Sin
This episode elaborates on the two possible fruitless results of a sin-obsessed life in sanctification, as opposed to a God-obsessed life. The ultimate purpose of the redemption of Christ should be to serve the living God, according to Hebrews 9:14. But if the Christian life becomes mostly about getting the victory over sin, potential ministry becomes the casualty. If one is outwardly successful in self-denial and controlling manifestations of sin, then smug self-righteousness can set in. If, on the hand, the Christian struggles to gain traction over his issues with sin, self-condemnation and even further self-medication can result. In both cases, the misplaced focus on the ultimate ministry objective of the Christian life is obscured. The answer is of course to place sin issues in their proper perspective, and this provides the most enduring motive to holistically serve God.
Cleansed to Serve
This episode challenges believers to become God-obsessed and not sin-obsessed. Since the ultimate objective of the forgiveness of sin is heartfelt, unimpeded service to God, believers err when they make salvation mostly about getting the victory over sin. While this is a noble objective, it should not be the ultimate objective. According to Heb 9:13, the blood of Christ has cleansed our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Forgiveness is the foundation of peace that allows us to serve God more fully. The author of Hebrews even notes that no worshiper in the Old Testament had a totally clean conscience (Heb 9:9), and subsequent service to God was always tinged with sin. But New Testament believers now have a cleansed conscience, and this allows them to serve God more completely. When the ultimate objective of the Christian life becomes service to God, repentance is more readily embraced as the ongoing practice of the believer.
Forgiven to Serve
This episode marks a major transition in the series as we focus on the primary objective of repentance from dead works, which according to Hebrews 9:14, is "to serve the living God." The purpose of salvation is not simply the forgiveness of sins. Initial repentance and faith in Christ results in the forgiveness of sins, but this is really the necessary precondition to effectively serving God. Once forgiven, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1) Now we can run the Christian race, which is not about forgiveness, but finds service to the living God as the ultimate objective.