What Must I Do to be Saved? (Acts 16:31; 2:37)

 What Must I Do to be Saved? (Acts 16:31; 2:37)

When Peter preaches his first sermon upon receiving the gift of the Spirit, along with the other disciples, He preaches Christ, and Christ crucified, and Christ risen again. The question that is posed to him by the throngs is this: Acts 2:37 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” In light of this man named Jesus being both “Lord” and “Christ,” what shall we do?

When Paul and Silas are miraculously delivered from the bondage of prison’s chains and locked doors by a divine earthquake, the prison guard was set to take his life due to the prisoners’ escape. Paul stops him, and the man asks, “What must I do to be saved?” Whether Peter or Paul, and whether a large crowd, the answer to question is quite simple: Believe. Believe in/into/upon Jesus. Throw yourself upon Him because of His sacrifice for you, and because of the mercy that He promises to show those who call upon Him.

Isn’t it really quite simple? We go through life trying this, that, and the other thing - all for naught. We fail to find the meaning for which we are searching, the purpose, the happiness, the satisfaction. All those things are elusive as we try and find for ourselves the key that unlocks what is behind the doors that we cannot find.

But to dive into Christ, so much so that we are immersed in Him (if I can let my Baptist bias slip in a bit), that seems to be last thing, the hardest thing for us to do. Why? Because we want to do it ourselves. We want to do it our way. We find ourselves to be theologically committed to self-salvation.

It is not that we have tried too hard. It is that we have not tried hard enough. If we had supremely struggled to achieve these things and acceptance with God, we would have more quickly come to the end of ourselves. But we live in a culture of half-hearted searching, distracted from the search to look at our phones or go shopping or watch a game. If we had honestly and zealously pursued self-salvation, we would perhaps have found “the last resort” more quickly.

Those gathered around Peter in Jerusalem as he preached were there because they were serious - seriously seeking God through slavish obedience to the Law. And they found that they could not. They needed someone other than themselves to be their Savior. That prison guard in Philippi was trying to have a good life for himself and his family as a prison guard - faithful; hard-working; honest. But the Roman government could not provide that for which his soul yearned. Until, finally, Paul answered his question: “What must I do to be saved?” And, he believed.