Jesus Fame

We’re saved by grace, not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This is not only a scripture nearly every Christian knows and loves it’s a doctrine that the evangelical church holds extremely tightly to, and for good reason .

However it’s one that we often don’t take far enough.

It seems most of us have an intellectual belief in “by grace alone” salvation but a works driven practical theology that leads us to believe that while I “enter” the door of Christianity through the gospel, in order to make myself at home I must perform up to a certain level. In other words my position as a Christian is a work of God’s unconditional grace, but my progress or growth as a Christian is a work conditioned upon my effort.

This works driven “sanctification” (the progress of being made more like Jesus) appeals to our fallen proclivity toward rules and pragmatism.

We really love rules, as Justin Holcomb wrote recently,

“rules make sense because they give us conditions. In essence, you could say we are natural-born legalists. It goes like this: if you do a, b, and c, you will get a reward. But if you break the rules, a bad result will follow. Rules give us a sense of control because if we can make good on those rules, then we can stay in control and master our destiny. But God’s economy is different. God, in the gospel, says you get exactly what you don’t deserve. Grace.”

Christianity isn’t about rules, it’s about the gospel. The good news that while you are more sinful than you could ever possibly conceive you are more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.

Most of us were raised with the understanding that if we obeyed we would be accepted, and if we didn’t play by the rules we would be rejected. Therefore we take this paradigm into our relationship with Jesus, thinking that if I can just obey and follow the rules I will be accepted. But Jesus’ gospel (good news) declares just the opposite; it doesn’t tell us to obey so that we will be accepted, it compels us to obey because we’ve already been accepted.

So then how do we grow? How do I take the truths of the gospel and practically work them out in everyday life. Too often this question misses the point because we’re looking for somebody to give me 3 steps to Christian growth,  a “get holy quick scheme.”

So what is the point?

Simply put the point is Jesus. If our growth as Christians involves more consistent victory over sin and a lifestyle of bringing God glory with our thoughts, actions, and attitudes then it’s critical that we recognize that this can never be achieved by working hard or following the rules, because what we’re talking about here is worship, it’s about the worship of a Person not a system or a program. If I want to live like Jesus (the goal of Christianity) then I need know Him, and it starts with recognizing that as a Christian I already know Him, as Paul would say, “I’m in Christ”. It’s this relationship that then shapes my growth and progress as a Christian. Herein is the key to Christian growth, transformed affections. Once I’ve tasted of Jesus and His overwhelming love and acceptance I can then properly eschew sin not as a legalist looking for moral acceptance, but as a Christian who realizes that whatever that sin is offering me at the moment pales in comparison to what I already have in Jesus.

Here is where growth is found and cultivated. It’s about worship, we worship into sin (the lie that a person, idea, or thing will bring me ultimate satisfaction) and we worship out of sin (the truth that only Jesus can bring me ultimate satisfaction). When I grasp this reality it helps me to see the why behind the what of my sin, giving me the freedom to run after Jesus instead of any number of counterfeits.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

For further reading on this I highly recommend Jared Wilson’s new book Gospel Wakefulness

You can read chapter 7 of this book, where Jared talks about Gospel-Driven Sanctification here for free!

*Thank you Dr. Tim Keller for helping me to understand many of the truths contained here.

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What is the point of the Bible? When the Holy Spirit spoke to and inspired the 40 men who wrote the 66 books of the Bible, what was the point? Was it to give us a road map for life? An answer book to all of life’s issues and dilemmas? Is the Bible about you or is the Bible about Him?

Tim Keller addresses this question in this video.

Steve McCoy from Reformissionary posted this message from Pastor Tim Keller. The thrust of the message is about how evangelical churches need to unite to create a gospel movement.

It’s fairly short and it is tremendous…

Listen here

How do people change? Do you just say a magic prayer and poof you are  a different person? Well in one sense the Bible does declare that everyone who is in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) but if this is true why do I see so much of the same sinful habits in my life? Why are our churches filled with people who have made professions of faith but haven’t changed anything but their music collection?

I think the answer is quite simple. Our lack of change as Christians is simply a result of our failure to appropriate the gospel as our only hope for change. Too often the gospel is presented as the front door for the Christian life, it’s the means by which I’m forgiven for my past sins. Justification is understood as freeing me from the penalty of sin, defined by “just as if I’d never sinned.” While this definition is true, it doesn’t go deep enough. If justification is simply freedom from the penalty of sin, then I’m no better off than Adam, forced to live a perfect life in order to have eternal life. This truncation of the gospel is exactly the reason many Christians don’t change. The front door understanding of the gospel cuts me off from the very power to see transformation in my life. For Jesus not only died the death I should have died, but he lived the life that I could never live. Therefore when I understand that Jesus lived a perfect life (Matt 26:39; John 8:29) in my place it frees me to unlock the power of change in my life. It allows me to attack the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’, getting to the heart of my sin instead of simply modifying the behavior.

All sin is a gospel issue, therefore when I sin I shouldn’t only ask for forgiveness, but I should evaluate why I did what I did so that I can apply the gospel to that sinful impulse. This robust view of the gospel allows me to find my identity not in what I can do for God, or what have or haven’t  accomplished with my life, but in the perfectly successful life Jesus lived in my place. You might call this “gospel identity”. In addition to this gospel identity the key to unlocking gospel transformation in my life is also found in gospel affection. In other words I must find greater pleasure in Jesus, and what He’s offering me (life) than in whatever sin I’m being tempted to engage in (death). When Adam sinned, he foolishly believed that what the forbidden fruit offered him was better than what God was offering him; this has been true of every sinful decision ever since.

In order to see gospel transformation in our lives; we must see the gospel not simply as the abc’s of Christianity but as the a-z of Christianity (Tim Keller).

For more on this subject I highly recommend the book “How People Change” by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp