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.)?
When the religious leaders, thinking to trap Jesus, asked what is the greatest commandment, He answered saying "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
ReplyDeleteIn 1Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul gives us some pretty clear details about loving our neighbor.
At the end of the day it is the Love of God for us, in us, and through us that makes us right with God. Study of God's Word helps us get to that one understanding - not just with our mind, but in our heart! If being right with God depended on anything we do or don't do, then why did Jesus have to die on a cross?
Not by power nor by might, but only by His Spirit are we able to love as Christ loves. Perhaps we make it harder than it really is with all our theology. Little by little, day by day, by His Spirit, we learn what love really is; how to receive it, how to walk in it, and how to give it away to others. Be Blessed in Jesus name!
Jim, contemporary American Christians are continually out of balance. We either write off our teachers and theologians as hopeless academics - though Paul was perhaps the greatest theologian who ever lived, or we write off people who want to experience God as 'charismatics' (and we have made that a dirty word!) or some such. We emphasize works OR grace, etc., etc. The truth is - if we pay acreful attention to Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation - our Lord is the one who judges BOTH mind AND heart!
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, we err when we embrace 'a form of godliness' but 'deny the power of it.' On the other hand, we equally err when we pursue 'zeal without knowledge.' I grow so weary of the false dichotomy that is continually embraced by both church members and - yes, Jim, I'm afraid so - church staff as well.
A Christian cannot be fruitful in life without knowing Scripture - period. It is impossible. The inspiring Spirit did not breathe out idle words! What an offense to a Holy God to dismiss or neglect the parts of His Revelation that WE deem 'insignificant'!
Likewise, a Christian cannot be fruitful in life apart from the application of Scripture in loving God and neighbor. Faith without works is dead - period. If there is no fruit in my life, no growth, no progression - I might want to reexamine my profession.
Finally, a Christian cannot be fruitful in life unless he/she is continually aware that everything is God's grace - even my crowns end up at Jesus' feet! The works I work were prepared for me by God (Eph. 2:10)! I will never have perfect theology nor perfect love this side of glorification, but God knows that I am dust and Christ has made a way for me to come boldly to His throne of grace to receive mercy!
That's my 2 cents. Let's constantly read, study, meditate on, internalize, discuss, debate, speak, apply, live - Scripture, which God has exalted above His Name (Ps. 119). Simultaneously, let's praise, glorify, live for, exalt, testify to, and work for the One that Scripture leads us to.