I've been reading the book The
Explicit Gospel by Matt
Chandler. In Chapter 11, Moralism and the Cross, Chandler gives us
some distinctions that I have found very helpful. Churches today are
plagued by a religious belief called moralistic, therapeutic deism.
This phrase was coined by Christian Smith in a book entitled, Soul
Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.
The term basically means that
God wants us to be good and happy and he basically stays out of our
business unless we need his help in being good or in making us happy.
Preaching
and teaching in the church that pushes moralistic teaching without
the underpinnings of the Gospel is dangerous because it separates
moral living from the power and motivation of the Gospel. Chandler
writes, “By taking the cross out of the functional equation, moral
therapeutic deism promotes the wrong-headed idea that God probably
needs our help in the work of justification and most certainly needs
us to carry the weight of our sanctification, as well. The result is
innumerable Christians suffering under the burden of the law's curse
because they have not been led to see that gospel-centered living is
the only way to delight in the law.” (Page 209)
In the
Christian life, we don't just stand still hoping for growth. On the
other hand, we don't pursue growth through human effort either.
Somehow we need grace-driven effort. Chandler asks this question,
“What is grace-driven effort, and how is it different from the
motivations offered by moralism?” He identifies five
characteristics of grace-driven effort that revolve around Christ's
saving performance for us rather than around religious performance. I
found these five points very helpful in distinguishing the efforts we
make as a result of grace and those which come from our own human
effort. My intention is to summarize them here. I would highly
recommend your reading Chandler's book in its entirety. His
discussion of the five grace-driven characteristics begins on page
210.
1. The
Weapons of Grace. Chandler writes, “When you're walking in
moralistic deism, trying to earn God's favor, and your access to God
is built around how well you're behaving, then you are motivated to
obey by the hope of acceptance through your behavior.” The
results of this kind of thinking makes you believe that your cancer
is a result of not having had long enough devotions, for example.
Chandler
divides this up into what he calls weapons of grace:
a. The
blood of Christ. The blood of Christ has washed away all of our
sins. Our acceptance is based on Jesus' blood and not our
performance.
b. The
Word of God. You need to use the Word of God to combat the
condemnation the devil will throw at you.
c. The
promise of the new covenant. Under the new covenant we have been
perfected and sanctified “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10.
2.
Attack the root of the sin. Moralism works on the outward expression
of sin, whereas when grace is at work, it attacks sin at the heart,
at the level of motivations and affections.
3.
Fear of God. “Grace-driven effort fights for a reason that goes
beyond a clear conscience and an emotional peace.” People “are
not broken up because they have sinned against a holy God. They are
broken up because their sin is costing them something.” (Page 215)
4.
Dead to Sin “Grace-driven effort doesn't just forsake sin but is
absolutely dead to
it.” (page 216) Becoming dead to sin results from spending more
time gazing at the Savior. The more we see Jesus Christ in the pages
of Scripture, the less powerful sin will be in our lives.
5.
Gospel Violence “Grace-driven effort is violent. It is aggressive.
The person who understands the gospel understands that, as a new
creation, his spiritual nature is in opposition to sin now, and he
seeks not just to weaken sin in his life, but to outright destroy
it.”
These
five concepts that distinguish grace-driven effort from plain old
human will-power will help us grow in grace in a way that frees us
from the bondage and guilt we so often feel when we don't measure up.
God has forgiven us. There is no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus. Under that umbrella of no condemnation, we can “work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who
works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:12-13)
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