Biggest Obstacle

From Tim Challies

Beware the Sin of the Good Guy

From Tullian Tchvidjian:

The Bible makes it clear that self-righteousness is the premier enemy of the Gospel. And there is perhaps no group of people who better embody the sin of self-righteousness in the Bible than the Pharisees. In fact, Jesus reserved his harshest criticisms for them, calling them whitewashed tombs and hypocrites. Surprisingly to some, this demonstrates that the thing that gets in the way of our love for God and a deep appreciation of his grace is not so much our unrighteous badness but our self-righteous goodness.

In Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels, I retell the story of Jonah and show how Jonah was just as much in need of God’s grace as the sailors and the Ninevites. But the fascinating thing about Jonah is that, unlike the pagan sailors and wicked Ninevites, Jonah was one of the “good guys.” He was a prophet. He was moral. He was one who “kept all the rules”, and did everything he was supposed to do. He wasn’t some long-haired, tattooed indie rocker; he was a clean-cut prep. He wasn’t a liberal; he was a conservative. He wasn’t irreligious; he was religious. If you’ve ever read S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, than you’ll immediately see that the Ninevites and the sailors in the story were like the “greasers”, while Jonah was like a “soashe.”

What’s fascinating to me is that, not only in the story of Jonah, but throughout the Bible, it’s always the immoral person that gets the Gospel before the moral person. It’s the prostitute who understands grace; it’s the Pharisee who doesn’t. It’s the unrighteous younger brother who gets it before the self-righteous older brother.

There is, however, another side to self-righteousness that younger-brother types are blind to. There’s an equally dangerous form of self-righteousness that plagues the unconventional and the non-religious types. We “authentic,” anti-legalists can become just as guilty of legalism in the opposite direction. What do I mean?

It’s simple: we become self-righteous against those who are self-righteous. We become Pharisaical about Pharisees.

We Shrink to Our True Size

“Every time we look a the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.”
 
                              — John Stott, The Message of Galatians

HT: Of First Importance and Rick Ianniello

"Jesus + Nothing = Everything "

Late in 2011 Tullian Tchividjian has a new book new book coming out entitled  Jesus + Nothing = Everything.  This will definitely be on my wish list.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything is the equation that Tullian Tchividjian took away from a year of great trial and turmoil. In his new book he describes the bitter divisions that soured the beginning of his pastorate at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, and the personal anchor that he found in the overwhelming power of the gospel. The book of Colossians, in particular, forms the basis of Tchividjian’s call for Christians to rediscover the gospel and continually reorient our lives around Jesus.

Tchividjian insists that many who assume they understand the gospel fail to actually apply its riches to their lives. He takes particular aim at self-righteousness that emphasizes moral behavior while ignoring gospel indicatives. In contrast, Tchividjian delivers a strong grip of the gospel and the radical freedom and peace that are only then possible. This book delves into the profound theological truths of the gospel, yet the message is intensely practical—Tchividjian sounds the call for believers to lean hard on Christ in every area of every day.

The title itself is a message worth remembering!

Self-Righteousness: Premier Enemy of the Gospel for the Good and the Bad

The excerpt below is from The Double-Reach of Self-Righteousness by Tullian Tchividjian:

The Bible makes it clear that self-righteousness is the premier enemy of the Gospel. And there is perhaps no group of people who better embody the sin of self-righteousness in the Bible than the Pharisees. In fact, Jesus reserved his harshest criticisms for them, calling them whitewashed tombs and hypocrites. Surprisingly to some, this demonstrates that unrighteous badness is not the only threat to gospel advancement. Self-righteous goodness is equally toxic....

....it’s always the immoral person that gets the Gospel before the moral person. It’s the prostitute who understands grace; it’s the Pharisee who doesn’t. It’s the unrighteous younger brother who gets it before the self-righteous older brother.

There is, however, another side to self-righteousness that younger-brother types need to be careful of. There’s an equally dangerous form of self-righteousness that plagues the unconventional, the liberal, and the non-religious types. We anti-legalists can become just as guilty of legalism in the opposite direction. What do I mean?

It’s simple: we can become self-righteous against those who are self-righteous.

Many younger evangelicals today are reacting to their parents’ conservative, buttoned-down, rule-keeping flavor of “older brother religion” with a type of liberal, untucked, rule-breaking flavor of “younger brother irreligion” which screams, “That’s right, I know I don’t have it all together and you think you do; I know I’m not good and you think you are. That makes me better than you.” See the irony?

In other words, they’re proud that they’re not self-righteous!

 There's more at the link!

Escaping the Performance Treadmill

"That’s why we need to intentionally bathe our minds and hearts in the gospel every day. Remember, we need the gospel not only as a door into an initial saving relationship with Christ, but also . . . to keep our daily lives from becoming a performance treadmill. As we rely on Christ’s righteousness in this manner, far from leading to a license to sin, it actually motivates us to deal with the sin we see in our lives."

–Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington, The Bookends of the Christian Life (Crossway 2009), 39-40

HT: Dane Ortlund and  Already Not Yet

What Do You Repent Of?

"The religious only repent of sins. The irreligious don't repent at all. Christians, however, repent of both their sins and of their self-righteousness."

Tim Keller, Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything, page 15

Three Ways to Relate to God

"People tend to think there are two ways to relate to God - to follow him and do his will or to reject him and do your own thing - but there are also two ways to reject God as Savior.  One is the way already mentioned: by rejecting God's law and living as you see fit.  The other, however, is by obeying God's Law, by being really righteous and really moral, so as to earn your own salvation.  It is not enough to simply think there are two ways to relate to God.  There are three: religion, irreligion, and the gospel.

In 'religion,' people may look to God as their helper, teacher, and example, but their moral performance is serving as their savior.  Both religious and irreligious people are avoiding God as Savior and Lord.  Both are seeking to keep control of their own lives by looking to something besides God as their salvation.  Religious legalism/moralism and secular/irreligious relativism are just different strategies of 'self-salvation.'"

           - Tim Keller, Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything, page 15

Shrinking to Our True Size

“Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.”

—John Stott, The Message of Galatians (London: IVP, 1968), 179

Hat Tip: Of First Importance