The Fundamental Sin

I've been reading Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings by John Dillenberger. This is a great quote and insight from the author's introduction.

"For Luther, the joy and freedom of a Christian was that in faith he did not need to look to self but only to God for his destiny. From this it followed logically that the fundamental sin of man, that sin which is the foundation of all other sins, is man's attempt to justify himself, his unwillingness to accept that his future rests alone in the gratuitous act of God. it is man's unwillingness to let God be God for him."

This ties in so well with what I've been reading and hearing from Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll.

The default state of the human heart is idolatry: the search for false saviors whom we can control for our own selfish benefits. The essence of religion is "if I, then God." We want to be able to control nature, situations, destinies and fates by knowing the formulas, saying the magic mantras, making the right sacrifices or keeping the right rules. But most of all ,we want God to owe us due to our actions so we stay in control. There's plenty of idolatry in churches under the Christian label. All the "ten steps to a wonderful life" and "how to be a successful __________" books and sermons at least get close to the edge, if not over the precipice.

Gospel spirituality, on the other hand, is all about "God has, therefore I." the Gospel is about response, not initiation. The initiative is always with God; He stays in control. We respond to His gracious initiative. We do not control Him, we respond to his love. How humbling! God is neither male not female: but in a sense, He is so masculine that we are all female in response.

Gospel obedience is love responding to love. it is about pleasing Him, not about having success and a wonderful life. Those may be byproducts, but not the goal.

Thanks be to God for His unimaginable gift!