Blogging Sabbath, 2

I hope you notice the inconsistency of this title with the posts . . .

More thoughts on the year:

Second, this has been a year of rediscovering the centrality of the cross and how to preach it. I am a legalist at heart and feel compelled to bring people to action. The question I have been evaluating is this – do people leave with a greater awareness of the Savior or of their own sin? Along with that, I am asking this -- if they are motivated to obey, are they motivated in faith toward the savior’s fullness, or in fear and guilt and self-sufficiency?

I am aware that over years my preaching has tended to leave people looking inward. That is an area where I am pursuing help – as I do not think leaving people in introspection is the call of the preacher. All introspection must be done at the foot of the cross.

People may wonder what the fruit of this may be. I have had a few folks in the church ask me why I am not pressing them to obedience in the same way. They are fearful of people becoming loose in their ethics. That is exactly the point – the Gospel is so clear that people think it can be abused. Only when we have made clear the glorious achievements and person of Jesus the Son of God – in his life, death, and resurrection – can we expect people to live by grace.

I am seeing people differently through the Gospel. I think the people are far more burdened by 1. guilt and condemnation for their sin, and 2. self-righteousness. There are folks who live with a dark cloud over their hearts. They need reminders of the Savior. There are people who think thay can be good for God. There are people who think they are a cut above the rest of the Christians (Fill in the bland: “I am the “best” kind of Christian because I . . .”). They/I need to see their “goodness” eclipsed by the Savior’s work. How can I add one stitch of righteousness to his finished work for me? All this starts with me!

I am seeing the terrible error of turning Christianity into advice for a better life. “How to” preaching is not neutral – it is a denial of the Gospel, which is news of what God has done, not counsel on how to be a better person. I am seeing that people do not need to know more about themselves, their gifts, their “issues” – they need to see the glory of Jesus more and more clearly. They need to adjust their lives and perceptions to what he has done and where we are in the storyline of history.

The issue is not that there is no application, but that the application is done in faith. Self-sufficient Christianity is a sad failure to live in the glory of our savior’s sufficiency. People need far more reminders to repent of their own righteousness and their own efforts to make themselves better – and reminders to look to Christ alone. They do not need so many moral lectures of steps to a better “whatever” (fill in the blank).  They need to be reminded of the full and finished work of God in Christ to rescue them and me from sin and death and hell -- and to be called to lay down their deadly doing -- and look to Jesus in faith.

Comments

[julie]

What a great post. I can so relate to "living with a dark cloud" over my heart. We sat under the kind of preaching you're talking about for enough years to make it a fairly long and difficult process to now try to live in the pure grace of God. Thank-you for writing this, I found it very encouraging to see what God is doing. And may God richly bless you and flood your life with his amazing grace.