The above is perhaps a little simplistic, but in essence it sums up the western Christian understanding of salvation.
The problem is that one can find no reference whatsoever to this understanding of salvation in the New Testament, the early church or in the unbroken, historical continuation of the early Church - The Orthodox Church. Nobody is claiming to be a Christian because they have invited Jesus to be Lord of their lives; or in modern evangelical parlance, nobody says they are a Christian because they have Jesus in their heart.
To be a Christian in the early church, and in the Orthodox Church today, means something decidedly different.
To be a Christian has always meant being a member of the legitimate body of Christ (The Church). The Church is the new Israel. In the Church one partakes of the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments). One becomes a member of the Church via regenerative baptism and is then immersed in the spiritual treasures available in the continuos yearly cycle of feasts and fasts for the remainder of one's earthly life. By partaking in the mysteries, one seeks union with God, the final goal of every Christian.
In Evangelical circles (my own previous experience with Christianity), the focus is on being rescued from hell. Once one is "saved", the rest of one's time on earth is merely a matter of faithfully waiting for Christ's return. This often leads to boredom as the evangelical Christian lacks much to do, spiritually.
For the Orthodox Christian, salvation is literally union with God by becoming a partaker of the divine nature. Jesus Christ, the second person of the trinity, came to earth and became a human being with a human will. By living a sinless life and defeating death through his resurrection, fallen man can be redeemed through Jesus' body and blood. In the mystery of the Eucharist, man can eat and drink life itself - the very body and blood of Christ. By doing this regularly and by submitting in humility to the authority of the Church that Jesus himself instituted, man co-operates with God and partakes of the divine nature. Neglect or abstinence from the Eucharist brings death. Christ himself stated that "unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have no life in you".
The fact is that the true body of Christ has always gathered around the Eucharist. The Eucharist has been and continues to be the central focus in worship. Modern evangelicalism, cut off from any connection to the early church, has thrown out virtually all remnants of historical, sacramental worship and has reduced salvation to legalistic formulae. The sermon has long-since replaced the bread and the wine.
