Hearts More Deeply Gripped By Reality

"At the root of all our disobedience are particular ways in which we continue to seek control of our lives through systems of works-righteousness.

The way to progress as a Christian is to continually repent and uproot these systems the same way we become Christians, namely by the vivid depiction (and re-depiction) of Christ’s saving work for us, and the abandoning of self-trusting efforts to complete ourselves.

We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ-crucified, so that our hearts are more deeply gripped by the reality of what he did and who we are in him,"

— Tim Keller, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (New York, NY: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), page 61

HT: Of First Importance

Abandoning the Effort

"At the root of all our disobedience are particular ways in which we continue to seek control of our lives through systems of works-righteousness.

The way to progress as a Christian is to continually repent and uproot these systems the same way we become Christians, namely by the vivid depiction (and re-depiction) of Christ’s saving work for us, and the abandoning of self-trusting efforts to complete ourselves.

We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ-crucified, so that our hearts are more deeply gripped by the reality of what he did and who we are in him."

— Tim Keller  Galatians For You

HT: Of First Importance

I’m Broken. I Need Jesus. The End.

I needed to read this. I live this. You probably do too.  The Incessant Whisper by Pete Wilson:

I think most of us begin our Christian journey with this simple truth.

I’m broken. I need Jesus. The end.

However as we launch out on this new journey it doesn’t take long before we begin to hear this growing and incessant whisper that says, “Try harder, do more.”

Sing more.Memorize more.Journal more.Preach more.Pray more.Evangelize more.Serve more.

This approach can look quite spiritual to those around us; however, it’s often rooted in a inner conviction that our worth as a Christian is dependent upon our ability to outperform those around us. Behind this spiritual facade is a fragile and insecure heart desperately attempting to get God to love us more.

The cross isn’t something we start with and then move on from. The cross isn’t just the starting line of our faith, it’s the centerpiece. Grace isn’t something we need just for salvation, it’s like air for the believer.

So today when you hear that whisper in your head that says “Try harder, do more,” go back to this.

I’m broken. I need Jesus. The end.

Moral Sinners

"The devil does not particularly care whether we are moral or immoral. What concerns him very much is only whether we are close to God. The devil casts us into immorality because it darkens our mind’s eye [“nous”] and thus takes us far from God. However, he is careful because sin can push us to repentance, and then he would lose us. Even virtue is a useful tool to him, and he has often used it to draw many people away from God. His most secure prisoners, after all, are those who are morally irreproachable but also have a grand idea of themselves. And unfortunately there are many of them.”

“We do not have the right to hide the truth just because we are too weak to put it into practice. We are obliged to confess the truth and at the same time admit that we do not do what our Lord has commanded.”"

~Alexander Kalomiros: Nostalgia for Paradise

HT: The Handmaid

We Need More Naughty Preachers

"I think good preachers should be like bad kids. They ought to be naughty enough to tiptoe up on dozing congregations, steal their bottles of religion pills, spirituality pills, and morality pills, and flush them all down the drain. The church, by and large, has drugged itself into thinking that proper human behavior is the key to its relationship with God. What preachers need to do is force it to go cold turkey with nothing but the word of the cross—and then be brave enough to stick around while it goes through the inevitable withdrawal symptoms."

             -Robert Farrar Capon

HT: IMonk

Reacting to the Threat

"...the gospel is more threatening to religious people than non-religious people, Religious people are very touchy and nervous about their standing with God. their insecurity makes them hostile to the gospel, which insists that their best deeds are useless before God. One of the ways we know that our self-image is based on justification by Christ is that we are not hateful and hostile to people who differ from us; one of the ways we know that our self-image is based on justification by works is that we persecute."

        - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 128

Go Back Again and Again

"..the root of all our disobedience is particular ways in which we continue to seek control of our lives through systems of works righteousness.

The way to progress as a Christian is continually to repent and uproot these systems in the same way that we became Christians - by the vivid depiction ( and re-depiction) of Christ's saving work for us, and the abandoning of self-trusting efforts to complete ourselves. We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ crucified, so that our hearts are more deeply gripped by the reality of what He did and who we are in Him.."

         - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 69

We Love to Be Our Own Saviors

"..the biblical gospel - Paul's gospel - is clear that salvation, from first to last, is God's doing. It is His calling, His plan,. His action, His work. And so it is He who deserves all the glory, for all time.

This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity  we love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you'll experience blessing now). The gospel comes and turns them all upside down. It says: You are in such a hopeless position that you need a rescue that has nothing to do with you at all. And then it says: God in Jesus provides a rescue which gives you far more than any false salvation your heart may love to chase."

         - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 17

Start Working From Not For

"To make this as simple as possible, let me say it this way: Justification is all about Jesus. Jesus' work, not our works, saves us. Jesus' Life, not our works, saves us. Jesus' life, not our own life, is our hope. Jesus' death, not our religious works , is our payment. Jesus alone forgives sin. So, we're to repent of our sin to Jesus. Jesus alone gives righteousness. So we trust in Jesus for our justification. Our justification is not accomplished in any part by our own work, morality or religious devotion.  Justification is accomplished by Jesus plus nothing, and Jesus plus anything ruins everything.....

...You are free to stop working for your righteousness and start working from Jesus' righteousness."

-Mark Driscoll,   Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ, page 144

Stunned Awe

"Salvation is not primarily about doing something for God. Salvation is about knowing what God has done for us - and sitting in stunned awe of it."

- J.D. Greear, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary, page 209

Performance Driven or Grace Motivated?

Great teaching on the danger of being performance driven vs. grace motivated from Jerry Bridges: 

Evangelicals commonly think today that the gospel is only for unbelievers. Once we’re inside the kingdom’s door, we need the gospel only in order to share it with those who are still outside. Now, as believers, we need to hear the message of discipleship. We need to learn how to live the Christian life and be challenged to go do it. That’s what I believed and practiced in my life and ministry for some time. It is what most Christians seem to believe.

As I see it, the Christian community is largely a performance-based culture today. And the more deeply committed we are to following Jesus, the more deeply ingrained the performance mindset is. We think we earn God’s blessing or forfeit it by how well we live the Christian life.....

......So I learned that Christians need to hear the gospel all of their lives because it is the gospel that continues to remind us that our day-to-day acceptance with the Father is not based on what we do for God but upon what Christ did for us in his sinless life and sin-bearing death. I began to see that we stand before God today as righteous as we ever will be, even in heaven, because he has clothed us with the righteousness of his Son. Therefore, I don’t have to perform to be accepted by God.

Now I am free to obey him and serve him because I am already accepted in Christ (see Rom. 8:1). My driving motivation now is not guilt but gratitude. Yet even when we understand that our acceptance with God is based on Christ’s work, we still naturally tend to drift back into a performance mindset. Consequently, we must continually return to the gospel. To use an expression of the late Jack Miller, we must “preach the gospel to ourselves every day.” For me that means I keep going back to Scriptures such as Isaiah 53:6, Galatians 2:20, and Romans 8:1. It means I frequently repeat the words from an old hymn, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

         - Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Hat Tip:  Take Your Vitamin Z: Are You Performance Driven?

The Great Exchange

Here's a simple explanation by Mark Driscoll of "the great exchange" - Christ's righteousness for our unrighteousness.

This is the center of the Gospel - and so many Christians do not really get it!

More Gospel Tweets

More Gospel Tweets from Tullian Tchividjian

• The gospel tells us that what God has done for us in Christ is infinitely more important than anything we do for him.
• The world says the more independent you become, the freer you’ll be; the gospel says the more dependent you become, the freer you’ll be
• The Gospel frees us from trying to impress people, prove ourselves to people, and make people think we’re something that we’re not.
• Isn’t it ironic that while God’s treatment of us depends on Christ’s performance, our treatment of others depends on their performance?
• We need God’s gospel rescue every day and in every way because we are, in the words of John Calvin, “partly unbelievers until we die.”
• Believing fully the truth that “salvation belongs to the Lord” means that you place ultimate trust in Christ’s efforts, not your own.
• Daily sin requires a daily distribution of God’s grace
• The hard work of sanctification is the hard work of constantly reorienting ourselves back to our justification.
• Grace can be defined as unconditional acceptance granted to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.
• The law tells us what God demands from us; the gospel tells us what God in Christ has done for us because we could not meet his demands.
• Being justified by God and made acceptable on the basis of Christ’s righteousness not only pardons us for the past but empowers us for the present
• Paul never uses the law as a way to motivate obedience; He always uses the gospel.
• The gospel teaches us that being a slave to Christ is the essence of freedom, while being free to myself is the essence of slavery.
• When you understand God’s grace, pain leads to freedom because deep suffering leads to deep surrender!
• When we depend on things smaller than Jesus to provide us with the security and meaning we long for, God will love us enough to take them away.
• The gospel is the good news that God rescues sinners. And since both non-Christians & Christians are sinners, we both need the gospel.
• The gospel grants Christians one strength over non-Christians: the strength to admit they’re weak.
• The gospel frees us to realize that while we matter, we’re not the point.
• The Gospel alone can turn us into people who give everything we have because we understand that in Christ we already have everything we need
• The gospel isn’t just the power of God to save us, it’s the power of God to grow us once we’re saved.
• When we transfer trust from ourselves to Christ, we experience the abundant freedoms that come from not having to measure up.
• The gospel makes wise those who know they’re foolish and makes fools out of those who think they’re wise.
• It never ceases to amaze me that God’s love to those who are in Christ isn’t conditioned on how we behave but on how Christ behaved for us.
• Sin turns you inward; the gospel turns you outward. Sin enslaves you by making you big. The gospel frees you by making you small.
• In the gospel, God comes after us because we need him not because he needs us. Only the gospel can free us to revel in our insignificance.
• Mt. Sinai says, “You must do.” Mt. Calvary says, “Because you couldn’t, Jesus did.” Don’t run to the wrong mountain for your hiding place.

Defined by the Cross

Here's  a needed piece of good counsel - Define yourself by what Jesus did on the cross, not what you do on Sunday.

"Though we all know this is true, we often struggle to believe it when it counts. To see change happen, we must do what it takes to write this gospel truth on our hearts, so that it is ready when we need it most. As we grow in our ability to use the gospel in daily life, we will be better equipped to fight the enemy’s lies."

The context was a discussion of preachers who evaluate their ministry success by attendance numbers, but the advice is good for any of us.  Our self definition and identity must be sourced in Him and His actions, not our own actions (good or bad). 

This is a freeing thought!

From:  Justification by Attendance « Church Planting for the Rest of Us: