To Do or To Die?

So much of what I have heard over the years and often continue to hear from church pulpits is what I can do to become a better Christian, or how to grow in Christ, which on face value sounds good and which is also what I want to hear.  I want to know what I can do to become more like Jesus, closer to God, a better Christian who doesn't sin so much.  I want to become spiritually mature.  And sermons on self discipline, self improvement, with tools to make this happen, in the past, have made me satisfied, to a certain extent.  Knowing that all I need to do is meet with other believers, read my bible, pray and spend time with God getting to know him seems fairly straight forward.  Practising the disciplines that Jesus and his disciples lived would surely help me in becoming more righteous, and pleasing to God.  At the very least it would help me feel less guilty knowing I was doing something to contribute to becoming a godly Christian.

The danger with self improvement and becoming disciplined in the processes is that we become fixated on just that - SELF improvement and doing the things that we think will make us become more mature or more spiritual (as if that can actually be measured!).  We genuinely strive to do the best we can, and our desire is to become more like Christ.  Yet we fail miserably and we know it.  Still we confess our sin and continue on the journey of self improvement "with God's help".  It's a struggle, and we become burdened, disenchanted, discouraged and disappointed in ourselves and God.  This is because we have got this whole thing flipped inside out, upside down and totally backwards!

Wanting to become more like Christ, more spiritually mature and practising spiritual disciplines is not in itself wrong. However, believing that the right behaviours help us improve, become more spiritually mature and would move us toward God, sets us on a path where the focus of the Christian faith is about the growth of the Christian and not about the work of Christ. Instead of the Bible speaking about the beauty of God and the story of Jesus it becomes just a book of history, poetry, a narrative, rules to follow and an instruction manual for life.   Even worse, Jesus becomes our great example instead of our righteousness and redeemer.

"Martin Luther said, “Remove Christ from the Scriptures and there is nothing left.” The emphasis of the Bible, in other words, is on the work of the Redeemer, not on the work of the redeemed. As important as how we live is, the spotlight of Scripture is on Christ, not the Christian. “The Bible is not fundamentally about us. It’s fundamentally about Jesus.” (Tim Keller)"  

TULLIAN TCHIVIDJIAN |8:12 AM CT What Does It Mean To Be Biblically Balanced?  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2012/05/28/what-does-it-mean-to-be-biblically-balanced-2/

We forget that our sinful nature cannot be reformed or retrained or improved.  It has to be and can only be put to death, killed, crucified.  We forget that Jesus has already done this and that HE is our righteousness and that when we fix our eyes on him, he is all we need.  We cannot do anything to get closer to God. It is He who comes to us. It is He who makes us righteous.  It is He who makes the change within our heart.  Hebrews 12 says Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith!  When we stop fixing our eyes on him, and start focusing on ourselves and what we must do, we don't grow or become more mature, we actually begin to shrink.

Tullian Tchividjian states in his interview on What is Christian Growth?, "When we stop fixating on our need to improve, that is what the Bible means about improvement.

When we stop obsessing over our need to get better, that IS what the Bible means about getting better." http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2012/05/24/what-is-christian-growth/ 

So does this mean that we don't do those things that we call 'spiritual disciplines' and 'good works'?  Of course not! We do them not because we can become like Christ, but because of who we are in Christ.  Spiritual disciplines remind us of what Christ has done, what is real, who we are, who has us. We don't need to fear rejection or disapproval because Jesus has taken care of everything and there is no condemnation for those in Christ.  We can live our lives not in fear of the law but in the freedom of the gospel.

The Difference Between Law and Gospel by Jacquie Sebbage Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I started reading ‘Surprised by Grace’ byTullian Tchividjian recently & had only read a couple of pages when I realised that my understanding of Law & Gospel hadn’t always been as it is now and it has really only been changing I guess over the last 6months. I’ve found that I understand it now. Perhaps not in its entirety or true depth, but it does actually make sense. Plus I don’t think I really understood the gospel until I really understood the Law.

I remember reading & hearing those words in Romans 7, Paul talking about the Law and it always confused me, and I didn’t ask qtns about it because it was like I should already know, after all I was brought up in the church. I don’t remember anyone having explained what the Law was – it was always stated the law this & the law that – the Law was a set of rules that needed to be followed & the Pharisees did that well, but we shouldn’t be like them. I didn’t get that the Law was good. I did get that the Law was to show sin (well I believed it, perhaps not “got” it), but didn’t understand how. Paul was just totally confusing.  I also used to think I had the gospel confused – perhaps the gospel was something else other than Jesus dying for our sin etc. I always thought I was missing something. There was the “gospel” and the “good news” and so much “churchese” or theological talk – I thought people were talking about different things, but it was all actually the same thing! 

Now I read it and can’t see how I didn’t see it before, yet I am still close enough to remember how confusing it all was– WE NEED TO TEACH THIS CLEARLY TO OUR KIDS & the ‘young people’ in the church.  Heck, EVERYONE!  

How did we get the message that the gospel is only for the unsaved and not for those who are saved?!  Is it our own blindness & self-righteousness that has got in the way? I don’t believe it is just me who has been trapped in this lie.    

We need the Law AND we need the GOSPEL.  We need to know the commands of God and that he demands perfection.  The Law shows us that we cannot meet these demands.  However, the Gospel shows us that those demands have been met in Jesus Christ.  We need to hear the Gosepl every day of our lives.

John Bond, Senior Pastor of Lifestreams Christian Church, stated recently in his series on The Passionate Disciple, "I think the whole purpose of this journey and the wrestling with these commands and this teaching is to bring us on our faces before Christ, for Him to show us what that looks like. Because the picture is, and I don’t want you to forget this, He’s the goal. The goal is not even the lost or the poor, the goal is Christ. We want Christ, and He is the centre that drives us. And that’s the whole beauty of this thing because when he’s the centre, then anything that even begins to seem like sacrifice is no longer sacrifice, because the One who died on a cross and rose from the grave and ascended on high and has given eternal life freely to us, He’s the goal."

The goal is Christ!  It is Christ who saves us from the demands of the law.  It is Christ who enables us to do his work.  With Christ all things are possible.