In part three of step three
(wow... this is getting complicated... gotta love models :-), I want to explain
why it is typically important to remember the gospel before going out and doing
works, and then I want to give two examples of what I'm talking about.
Why Rehearse the Gospel?
It seems that the reason Paul
felt compelled to begin "practical" arguments against sin or for good
works by pointing to the gospel was due to the human tendency to misorder
things. Evangelicals are taught from birth that they could never earn their
salvation, but how many of us still try? If you ask 10 people who claim to be
believers how they're making it to heaven, I'd bet that 5 of them would say
something like, "I'm just working hard to get to heaven." (yes, that's
a reference to an Alan Jackson song -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV292aZuYEo).
Remembering or rehearsing the gospel
combats our human tendency to think that we can earn our salvation (justify
ourselves) or pay God back for what He's done for us. I try to point out
how crazy this is to my students with the following example: If you eat 3 meals
each day and there are 7 days in a week and 52 weeks in a year, by the time
you're 18 years old and move off to college to start your own life, given the
conservative estimate of around $2 per meal, your parents have provided almost
$40,000 in food for you. This is not to mention the power bills, cell phone,
insurance, school supplies, extracurricular activities, clothes, shoes, and on
and on. I've heard that it takes over 100,000 to raise child to the age of
eighteen.
Now imagine that child trying to
EARN his right to be a part of the family by being obedient. How many loads of
laundry does he have to do to earn his parents love? Maybe worse, what about
the child that would try to PAY BACK their parents for all the meals and
clothes that they provided? How many plates does one have to wash in order to
pay back $40,000 worth of meals? He can't do it! And even if he could, his
parents wouldn't want him to because that's not the point. They love him and
give him these good things as an overflow of their love.
In the same way, the child should obey out of respect for who his parents are
and out of gratitude for what they have done for him... not out of an effort to
earn or pay back anything.
If we can't easily calculate the number of chores we'd have to do to pay our
parents back for 18 years of food, clothing and shelter, we have to ask the
question....
"How many good works do we have to do to EARN salvation or
PAY BACK the salvation we've already received?" There should be
freedom in this statement:
WE CAN'T DO IT! We never could… even
if we wanted to. And the amazing thing is that God doesn't want us to! He simply
wants our obedience to be a RESPONSE to what has already been done for us.
Do you see the power in remembering the gospel? Yes, it is painful to often
remind yourself of your own lostness and hopelessness without Christ, but it is
overwhelmingly glorious to consider the fact that He has overcome this
helplessness through the cross and resurrection... this is GOOD NEWS!
Remember the gospel.
Before you get to DOING. Remember what's been DONE...
and then your DOING will be as it should...
a grateful response to what's already been DONE.
I am all but fully convinced
that this is the ONLY WAY to overcome habitual sin the life of the believer.
Remembering the gospel disarms the power of sin in a way that no other thing
can; and when sin loses its power, it loses its control... but that's probably
another post for another day.
Example – The Struggle to Stop Sinning
Let's say you’re caught thoughts
of inadequacy. You beat yourself up because of every little thing that you
think or say that's not right. The
COMMAND (step 1) of God is to not
feel unnecessarily or overly inadequate but rather to be humble before a holy
God and allow Him to lift you up while casting all your cares/worries upon Him
(1 Pt. 5:6-7).
The typical Christian response
to the one who feels inadequate would be: "Remember that you are created
in God's image," and, once again, this is not wrong... just incomplete.
Yes, the fact that you are created in God's image does say a lot about how God
values you. But, the reality is that you have rejected His good pleasure in you
by going your own way. You have rebelled against Him, as have I. Because of
this rebellion, your whole life is broken, even your mind. So, one symptom of
this brokenness is your feeling of inadequacy. The solution is found in the good
news of Jesus. He nailed all of your inadequacy and all of the things that make
you feel inadequate to the cross so that they are now powerless before you. They
are not the truth anymore. They are lies from Satan and your fleshly mind.
Jesus has loved you with an everlasting love, and that is why He did what He
did for you. Not only has your inadequacy been placed on Jesus, but all of
Jesus'
adequacy has now been placed on you. That is good news! And finally,
you can look forward to the day when even the temptation to feel inadequate will
be thrown into hell and you will never have to struggle with it again.
Two more powerful truths to walk
in are the fact that even in (and I would say especially in) your moments of
feeling inadequate now, you can trust that Jesus is praying for you (Heb.
4:15-16), and He has given you the church (brothers and sisters in Christ) to
walk alongside you. They can be the hands and feet of Christ, encouraging you
and reminding you of the truth when all you seem to hear are the lies.
Example – The Struggle to Be
Obedient.
You know that you need to
control your tongue. The
COMMAND in James 3 is to control your tongue,
yet James says, "No human being can tame the tongue" (3:8). So, what
do we do? Give up? Surrender to sin? I don't think so. Obviously, I would agree
with James. No
man can tame the tongue. But the Holy Spirit of God
in
man supernaturally can. So how do we get to the point of believing this
and walking in it?
First, we recognize, with James,
that in our flesh this is impossible (back to the concept of need - this is
always the first step). This is a picture of our fallenness due to sinful
rebellion. It is a hopeless situation without outside intervention, but that's
what Jesus is. He came to the earth and never spoke a cruel, cutting, or
sarcastic word. He never spoke foul or hateful language. His death on the cross
paid the penalty for all of our sinful words, which disarms their power. They
do not condemn us, even when we speak them now. On top of this, we have been
given the very righteousness of Jesus, so it is not only as if we've never
spoken an evil word, but it is (in the eyes of God) as if we have always spoken
the right words. We are righteous in His sight! Now we have been made new
creations (2 Cor. 5:17), filled with the Holy Spirit, and God begins the
process of unveiling who we are in Christ... ie... those who always speak
rightly. This change of heart also compels us to confess and ask forgiveness of
those whom we've harmed with our words. You see... obedience flows out of the
gospel! What we do is an overflow of what's already been done.
Before... I was trying really
hard not to say curse words or hateful things, but I always failed at this and
continually felt discouraged by my failure.
Now... I stand fully accepted as
one who never has said a curse word or a hateful thing... and that compels me
to never say curse words or hateful things.
This difference is subtle but
incredibly profound!
