Tag: Tim Keller

Tim Keller on the Gospel versus Moralism

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

I recently picked up Tim Keller’s new discipleship DVD Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything (Zondervan) [watch the trailer here]. It looks excellent, and I was struck by his description of the Prodigal Son parable and the 3 ways to live.

Here is a brief summary of his 3 ways to live:

  • Religion: I obey, therefore I am accepted by God.
  • Irreligion: I don’t need to obey anyone but myself.
  • Gospel: I am accepted by God at an infinite cost to Jesus Christ, therefore I obey.

I also stumbled across a brief online article adapted from Keller’s teaching on how the Gospel is the key to change. I thought I’d share an excerpt on how the Gospel counters this religious way to be your own savior. It’s the Gospel vs. Moralism.

Jesus lived the life we should live. He also paid the penalty we owe for the rebellious life we do live. He did this in our place (Isaiah 53:4-10; 2 Cor 5:21; Mark 10:45). We are not reconciled to God through our efforts and record, as in all ther religions, but through his efforts and record. Christians who trust in Christ for their acceptance with God, rather than in their own moral character, commitment, or erformance, are simul iustus et peccator (Latin) – simultaneously sinful yet accepted. We are more flawed and sinful than we ever dared believe, yet we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope at the same time.

Without this unique understanding of grace-salvation, religions have to paint God as either a demanding, holy God who is placated by back-breaking moral effort, or as what C.S. Lewis calls “˜a senile, old benevolence’ who tolerates everyone no matter how they live. The problem is that if I think I have a relationship with God because I am living morally according to his standards, it do s not move me to the depths to think of my salvation. I earned it. There is no joy, amazement, or tears. I am not galvanized and transformed from the inside. On the other hand, if I think I have a relationship with God because the Divine just embraces us all, no matter what how we live”” that also does not move me to the depths. I simply have the attitude of Voltaire, who, on his deathbed famously said, “Of course God forgives””that’s his job.” Any effort to take away the idea of Christ’s substitutionary atonement and replace it with a moralism (i.e., being moral, working for others, imitating Jesus) robs the gospel of its power to change us from the inside out.

The gospel is, therefore, radically different from religion. Religion operates on the principle: “I obey, therefore I am accepted” . The gospel operates on the principle: “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey.” So the gospel differs from both religion and irreligion. Not only can you seek to be your own “˜lord and savior’ by breaking the law of God (i.e., through irreligion), you can also do so by keeping the law in order to earn your salvation (i.e., through religion). A lack of deep belief in the gospel is the main cause of spiritual deadness, fear, and pride in Christians, because our hearts continue to act on the basis “I obey, therefore, I am accepted.” If we fail to forgive others–that is not simply a lack of obedience, but a failure to believe we are saved by grace, too. If we lie in order to cover up a mistake–that is not simply a lack of obedience, but a failure to find our acceptance in God rather than in human approval. So we do not “˜get saved’ by believing the gospel and then “˜grow’ by trying hard to live according to Biblical principles. Believing the gospel is not only the way to meet God, but also the way to grow into him.

Let me know what you think. I think Tim Keller has struck gold here. This is what legalism really is at heart. It’s a moralism which strikes at the root of the Gospel.

The Gospel’s Work in Believers, Conclusion

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

Continued from part 2.

We have seen that the Gospel has many purposes for believers beyond initial conversion. It is as much for believers as unbelievers. I’d like to start this final post by quoting Tim Keller once more at some length. (I should mention that the quotes from Keller in this series come from this online article.)

…the gospel is not just for non-Christians, but also for Christians. This means the gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of the Christian life. It is not accurate to think “the gospel” is what saves non-Christians, and then, what matures Christians is trying hard to live according to Biblical principles. It is more accurate to say that we are saved by believing the gospel, and then we are transformed in every part of our mind, heart, and life by believing the gospel more and more deeply as our life goes on.

If we think of the gospel as only pardon or forgiveness of sins, we will trust in God for our past salvation, but will trust in our own present strivings and attainments for our present relationship with God…  the entire Christian life is a life lived (in a continual present progressive) by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20) …we must continually remind ourselves of our status as legally righteous, adopted children of God.

Applying the Gospel to Yourself

It’s time to get more practical, how can we live in light of the Gospel? How can we apply this Gospel-power, that is at work in us believers, to our lives?

1. Live in the light of what is supremely true.

The only remedy for sin is Christ. We are accepted by God because of His sacrifice. This world is passing away while God’s promises offer hope for eternal life.   The sin we so enjoy offers a false pleasure which offends our God and injures us. Even though we can’t see it, God’s word and the glorious city of Heaven, the New Jerusalem, is more true than the reality we endure each day. We need to live as if we really are citizens of a Heavenly country.

For this point, I like to think of Abraham as described in Hebrews 11. He was living for a heavenly city, which He didn’t physically see. He was living in light of a glorious inheritance which he only could hope for, not truly experience in this life. He is our pattern, we are citizens of a Heavenly Kingdom on a pilgrimage through this life. We need to live in light of what is supremely true.

2. Become what you are.

John Piper explains this point well (in When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy):

One of the ways the Bible talks about our action in relation to our standing in Christ is to command us to become what we are. For example, using Old Testament ceremonial language Paul says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened” (1 Cor. 5:7). In other words, become what you are. You are unleavened (sinless in Christ); therefore become unleavened (sinless in practice). You have already died with Christ (Rom. 6:5-6); therefore “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). You have already been made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5); therefore, “seek the things that are above” (Col. 3:1). You are already holy in Christ (Col. 3:12); therefore “be holy in all your conduct” (1 Pet. 1:15). You already are the light of the world in Christ (Matt. 5:14); therefore, “let your light shine” (Matt. 5:16).

3. Keep your Indicatives and Imperatives straight.

This is basically a reiteration of the point above. You’ll have to forgive me but I get excited about this: something about saying indicative and imperative together so appeals to the intellectual in me!… The indicative is the statement about what you are in Christ, the imperative is the commands for what we should do. To put it another way: Indicative is Be, and Imperative is Do. In the New Testament, every Do is firmly rooted in a Be. Ephesians and Romans split nicely into two sections Eph 1-3 builds the basis for the commands in 4-6. Romans 1-11 builds the gospel basis for the commands in 12-16. Other books, like 1 Peter, intersperse commands and statements together. Titus 2 illustrates this well, the commands for how to live in vs. 1-10 are connected to the Gospel reality in vs. 11-14 by the word “for” (gar). Because we’ve been forgiven and given the Spirit, we will want to obey God’s commands, not to gain favor with Him, but because He has so blessed us.

4. Preach the Gospel to yourself.

Perhaps the best way to let the Gospel impact you day to day is to constantly remind yourself of the truth of the Gospel. I have a lot of quotes on this point, but they have really helped me and perhaps we can share with one another how to practically live out this point better.

D. Martin Lloyd Jones used to use the phrase “preach the gospel to yourself” often. Piper gives a few insightful quotes from Jones’ most famous book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures. Jones is commenting on Ps. 42:5: “Why art you cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance” (KJV).

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take these thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself…. You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: “Hope thou in God” instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way, and then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done, that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: “I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.”

We need to encourage our own self to believe the Gospel on a daily basis. Jerry Bridges has much to say on this topic. From The Discipline of Grace:

…preaching the gospel to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in need of God’s grace….It helps us to consciously renounce any confidence in our own goodness as a means of meriting God’s blessing on our lives. Perhaps more importantly, though, preaching the gospel to ourselves every day gives us hope, joy, and courage. The good news that our sins are forgiven because of Christ’s death fills our hearts with joy, gives us courage to face the day, and offers us hope that God’s favor will rest upon us, not because we are good, but because we are in Christ.

These three posts have now come to an end, but life goes on and our need for the Gospel’s power will always remain. I pray we all are encouraged and spurred on to let the Gospel transform us. How are you doing that now? And does anything in these posts ring true for you? Please continue the conversation in the comments.

The Gospel’s Work in Believers, Part 1

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

The following is taken from an adult SS lesson I taught this past Sunday. I thought it would be a blessing to share it by means of my blog for a wider audience.

1 Thess. 2:9-13 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

What does the Gospel do in believers? Many would say it supplies us with assurance of forgiveness, a home in heaven, and it obligates us to server God to Whom we are greatly indebted. The gospel when received admits us into the church, we become believers in Christ, and we now start the work of living by faith in God’s principles. We now, since we believed (past tense), work on growing into the kind of people God wants us to be. We work hard, train ourselves to flee from sin, we develop habits of prayer and Bible study, and we look to the Bible for guidance on how to use money, succeed at work, have a blessed life and a good family, how to do church, reach the lost, and worship God.

Sounds pretty good. But where does the gospel fit in again? Is it only the first hoop of many that we must jump through as Christians? Is it what gives us the uniform to be a soldier for Christ? Is it the Get-Out-of-Hell-Free Card that settles our conscience and encourages us that living for God has benefits?

Consider the following texts again:

1 Thess. 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (cf. 20:24 & 14:3 word of grace = gospel message)

Col. 1:3-6 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. OF this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

So what do you think? What does the Gospel do in us believers?

Before we answer that question directly, perhaps its best to focus on this question: What does the Gospel do in unbelievers?

The Gospel and the Lost

1 Thess. 1:5-6, 9 Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…. You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

The Gospel challenges the lost to repent of their sin and believe Christ. The Gospel says Jesus absorbed the just punishment we deserved and He will accept all who repent and turn to God in faith.

Tim Keller says this about the Gospel:

The gospel is that you are more wicked and flawed then you ever dared believe, and more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope at the same time. Unconditionally loved and radically humbled.

(And) Religion is “if I obey I will be accepted.” Irreligion is “I don’t really have to obey anyone but myself.” The gospel is “since I am accepted, I will obey.”

We’ll continue in the next post to look more closely at what the Gospel actually does for believers. But please use the comment section and share your thoughts on this so far. What does the Gospel do for believers? How does the Gospel impact your life?

Our Prodigal God

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Prodigal has come to mean, in the Christian vernacular, a reprobate wretch. The word more accurately describes wasteful spending, or even just someone who is free with money. Tim Keller, following Spurgeon’s example, uses the term to refer to God — God as incredibly free with His grace and love. God is our prodigal God, in this sense.

Keller has authored a book with that title, and it is to be published by a secular publishing house. I hope the title grabs people’s attention and gets more to take a look at his book.

The book focuses on the story of the Prodigal son, and in the introduction Keller points out a sermon by Edmund Clowney as being very influential in his Christian life, and a formative influence for the book. Crossway has kindly made the print version of that sermon available online for free (as a pdf) [HT: Justin Taylor]. It comes from Crossway’s book entitled Preaching Christ from All of Scripture by Clowney. I really enjoyed the sermon when I read it from my copy of the book a couple years back, so I wanted to be sure to link to the online version of the sermon. Here is the conclusion of the sermon, but I encourage you to read the whole thing, its a quick and easy, yet spiritually moving read.

Come home to the Father’s love, to the joy of Jesus’ feast. Are
you a prodigal, far from the gate of heaven? Jesus now comes to lift
you up. Are you a smug Pharisee, flaunting the filthy rags of your selfrighteousness
outside the Father’s house? Hear the words of Jesus:
his Father calls you to repent and come home as a little child. Or are
you somehow both at once: prodigal and proud, debased but despising?
No matter; cast all away and hold fast to Jesus.

Or are you a believer? Has Jesus found you like the lost sheep and
borne you home on his shoulder? Then consider the demand this
parable puts on you. You have tasted of heaven’s grace. You know the
embrace of your Father’s love. You know that he rejoices over you
with singing. What does heaven’s joy, his joy, over lost sinners mean
to you?

You say, “It means that I, too, must welcome sinners, be ready to
eat with them, even as I have been brought to his table.” Is that
enough? The true Son, who knows his Father’s heart, did not simply
share with sinners his robe, his ring, his sandals. He went to find
them to bring them home. Where will you look today?

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love” (1 John 4:8, NIV).