Last week I posted tweet from Tim Keller on my Facebook
page that caused an interesting comment from a former college friend. Here was Tim Keller’s tweet:
Christians believe we are saved not primarily by following what Jesus said but by believing in what he did.
This seems so simple, but in my experience as a pastor it
tends to be something only accepted in theory, as a theological abstract, but
not where it counts in real life. One of
my college friends even asked this question after reading it and the comments
of others in response:
When I read James 3:2, I feel relief ("We all stumble in many ways" NIV). But then I read I John 3:9 "No one who is born of God will continue to sin" and I'm like, I'm doomed. Verses like I John 3:9 make it hard to accept that I'm saved by accepting/believing in Christ's redemptive work on the cross, even though I feel like that is enough, given John 3:16-18... Or I am indeed saved if I accept/believe it, but I must not truly accept/believe it yet, if I still sin. Am I missing something in the context of I John, or...?
What a powerful, heartfelt and
very important question (You can see the helpful responses on my Facebook page
if you want.). While it isn’t always
worded like this, I hear questions like this all the time. I wrote about this kind of thing before
because I believe this type of thinking is spiritually debilitating.
On the one hand, people are sometimes driven to what I
call “belief-centered religion.” The
foundation for being right with God is getting all my beliefs right. The problem is that this either produces
spiritual arrogance because I am so right and others are so wrong. It also produces fear because somewhere deep
down I think I might not always be right and if I am wrong somewhere maybe God
won’t accept me. In either case, my
doctrinal position gives me a false understanding of my right standing with
God.
On the other hand, people are sometimes driven to what I
call “behavior-centered religion.” The
foundation for being right with God is my moral or righteous behavior, the good
deeds that I do and the sins I avoid doing.
The problem is that this either produces judgmentalism, because I
quickly find myself comparing and contrasting my behavior with others and judging
myself to be superior. It also produces
tremendous guilt because deep down I know the places where I haven’t measured
up and I am filled with guilt and shame about it. In either case, my performance or lack
thereof gives me a false understanding of where I am with God.
Both of these approaches are so false. The Bible is clear about. Our theology as Christians is clear about
it. Our sermons and our lessons are
clear about it. But the problem is that we end up believing in grace in theory, but not in reality.
So what’s the problem?
Why do we find ourselves practically trying
to justify ourselves before God by so many other ways that will never work rather
than the simple means offered to us through Christ in the Gospel (Ephesians
2:8-10, Romans 5:1-11, etc.)?
