To reach people in our day, the gospel will have to be distinguished from moralism, because moralism is what most people outside the church think Christianity is all about – rules and standards and behavior and cleaning yourself up. Millions of people, both inside and outside the church, believe that the essential message of Christianity is: “If you behave, then you belong.” From a human standpoint, that’s why most people reject Christianity.
The gospel is neither conservative nor liberal; and at the same time the gospel is both liberal and conservative. This causes a lot of confusion to folks both inside and outside of the Church.
On the one hand, the gospel is conservative because it declares that there is such a thing as right and wrong, and that there are benefits from choosing right and consequences that accompany wrong. Each person is responsible for his or her own actions and attitudes. These are very conservative principles.
On the other hand, the gospel is the free gift that is given to those who have not earned it and cannot afford it. In fact, we are told the gospel is the riches of Christ redistributed to those who admit their spiritual poverty. Isaiah says it is like being invited to a party, but the only ones who can come are those who cannot pay, or who are humble enough to admit whatever riches they think they might have are not valid currency. (Isaiah 55.1-2) These seem to be very liberal ideas and images.
Both are true. Equally true. Both are essential. Leave out one side or the other and you create a “different gospel” – which, as Paul says, is really no gospel at all. In fact, Paul tells us that anyone trying to pass a counterfeit gospel should be ( and will be) anathema – repeatedly destroyed over and over for all eternity. (Galatians 1.6-9)
I would suggest, even insist, that both Conservatism and Liberalism are false worldviews and offer counterfeit gospels. The gospel is not a compromise of liberalism and conservatism, nor is it merely a middle way. The gospel is the expression of God’s very nature and plan. It is therefore, THE Truth, because God himself – and God alone – is Truth. And it is eternal Truth because God, who is Truth, is eternally God.
What both Conservatives and Liberals have done, at least those who operate as if these philosophies are the supreme ideologies, is to carve off portions of the Truth that meet their personal preferences at the expense of the valid point of the other. Both begin with as a reduction of the gospel Each then proceeds to build their respective worldview upon these faulty foundations of a corrupted gospel.
We begin to escape the confusion when we recognize our own propensity toward either Conservatism or Liberalism, at the expense of the other. We begin to overcome our limitations when we recognize the whole gospel alone is the Truth, and then commit to a lifelong pursuit of excavating the depths and complexities of the gospel, while at the same time venturing to live out all the implications of the gospel in every aspect of our lives.
Whether theologically or politically, conservatism and liberalism are impotent to effect real, enduring, or godly change. But the gospel, undiluted and undistorted, is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1.20-25)
Sin is a spiritual and moral malignancy. Left unchecked it can spread throughout our entire being and contaminate every area of our lives. Even worse, it will often metasticize from us into the lives of others around us.
Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives.
Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin, that consciously they see little need for justification. Below the surface, however, they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure. Many others have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification….drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity…their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience.
Few start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude.
~ Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life
Jerry Bridges communicates the gospel accurately and clearly in less than 30 seconds.
“As we come to Christ…empty-handed, claiming no merit of our own, but clinging by faith to His blood and righteousness, we are justified. We pass immediately from a state of condemnation and spiritual death to a state of pardon, acceptance, and the sure hope of eternal life. Our sins are blotted out, and we are “clothed” with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
In our standing before God, we will never be more righteous, even in heaven, than we were the day we trusted Christ, or we are now.
Obviously in our daily experience we fall far short of the perfect righteousness God requires. But because He has imputed to us the perfect righteousness of His Son, He now sees us as being just as righteous as Christ Himself,”
Perhaps the two of the most effective enemies of the gospel within the Church in North America are the twins: Moralism and Legalism. While there are other enemies at work, such as Relativism and Licentiousness, these are far more obvious in their opposition to the gospel. Moralism and Legalism, however, are so potent, especially among conservatives, because they stealthily fly under the radar. In fact, they are such subversives that they are often embraced as if they are part of the gospel, or at least partners with it.
Here is something Tim Keller offers to combat these sneaky, deadly foes:
Some claim that to constantly be striking a ‘note of grace, grace, grace’ in our sermons is not helpful in our culture today.
The objection goes like this: “Surely Phariseeism and moralism is not a problem in our culture today. Rather, our problem is license and antinomianism. People lack a sense of right or wrong. It is ‘carrying coal to Newcastle’ to talk about grace all the time to postmodern people.”
But I don’t believe that’s the case. Unless you point to the ‘good news’ of grace, people won’t even be able to bear the ‘bad news’ of God’s judgment. Also, unless you critique moralism, many irreligious people won’t know the difference between moralism and what you’re offering.
The way to get antinomians to move away from lawlessness is to distinguish the gospel from legalism. Why? Because modern and post-modern people have been rejecting Christianity for years thinking that it was indistinguishable from moralism. Non-Christians will always automatically hear gospel presentations as appeals to become moral and religious, unless in your preaching you use the good news of grace to deconstruct legalism. Only if you show them there’s a difference–that what they really rejected wasn’t real Christianity at all–will they even begin to consider Christianity.
“Liberalism says that the gospel won’t work unless the message is changed. Some evangelicals say that the gospel won’t work unless the method is changed. But biblical Christianity believes that the gospel will work, and that God has given us both the message and the method.”
Recent discussion about Judgement and Hell, spurred largely by a recent book by Rob Bell, have prompted many to rethink what they believe – what Scripture teaches – about this subject. Among them, Francis Chan in this video titled Erasing Hell.
I had thought I was done with this thread, but Chan’s reflections warrant hearing.
GRACE & PEACE 