The Unique Perspective of the Gospel on Life Issues

The Gospel of Grace gives us a unique perspective on all of life’s issues.

2 Kings 17:41 — Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

We can fear the Lord externally, engaging in what we perceive to be all the proper elements of worship – singing, giving, praying, kneeling, listening to God’s Word, doing our devotions, helping the poor etc. – and be actively serving false gods in our hearts.

God makes it clear in Exodus 20 that he will not tolerate any competition for the allegiance and affections of our hearts. “You shall have no other gods before me.” That succinctly describes idolatry.

When someone mentions idolatry, we can picture some tribesman in New Guinea bowing down to little carved statue of bat, and with great pride say to ourselves “Thank God I don’t struggle with THAT.”

Idols, however, are far more pervasive, sinister, and deceptive.  Idolatry is attributing ultimate value, authority, or supremacy to any object other than God.  We foolishly think idols can provide for us what only God can give. They tempt us every day, all day.  Anything we think will provide us true happiness over and above Jesus Christ is an idol.  The human heart has propensity toward idol worship: intense natural inclination or preference.

Idolatry comes in the manifested form of Moralism or Relativism.  Both of these are religiously followed by its adherents.  But Followers of Jesus Christ worship only the true and living God. The Gospel of Grace is transforming our hearts, our relationships, our church and our community.

Everything in our lives is viewed and defined through the Gospel.  We understand and know that all of our problems come from a lack of orientation to the gospel. We know that we too have a propensity to serve God and idols so we do not let our guards down and we seek to grow in Christ and destroy the idols in our life – so that no God but the true and living God gets glory from our lives.

Let’s just look at a few examples of areas that we have discovered idols in the lives of both religious and irreligious people. And let’s be reminded of the unique perspective of the Gospel on all of these issues so that we may live according to God’s grace.

Under each example I will summarize the view of (1) Relativism, (2) Moralism, and (3) Gospel

I. THE EXAMPLE OF RACISM

1. The relativistic approach to race. Cultural relativism says: “We can all get along because there is no truth”.

2. The moralistic approach to race. But the opposite error from cultural relativism would be cultural imperialism. Moralists/legalists tend to be very proud of their culture. They would try to attach spiritual significance to their cultural styles, to make themselves feel morally superior to other peoples.  This happens because moralistic people are very insecure, since they look a lot at the eternal law, and they know deep down that they cannot keep it. So they  use cultural differences to buttress their sense of righteousness.  The moralists believe there is truth for evaluation of cultures, and so they  choose some culture as superior and then they idolize it, feeling superior to others in the impulse of self-justifying pride.

3. The gospel approach to race. Christians know that racism does not stem so much from a belief in truth, but from a lack of belief in grace. The gospel leads us to be: on the one hand, somewhat critical of all cultures, including our own, but on the other hand, we can feel morally superior to no one. After all, we are saved by grace alone.  Christians will exhibit both moral conviction yet compassion and flexibility.

II. THE EXAMPLE OF A HANDICAP

1. The hedonistic person will either despair, b/c the handicap takes away their ability to live a pleasure-oriented life, or deny, because his/her philosophy cannot bear it.  They have no answer for suffering.

2. The moralistic person will either despair, b/c the handicap takes away something which was his/her righteousness or deny, refusing to admit the new permanent limitation.

3. But the gospel will lead the Christian to resist the handicap – not seeing it as something that can steal one’s joy, yet accept it too. Too much resistance is denial and too much acceptance is despair. The gospel is real about both sin and grace, and thus can give the handicapped person the same balance.

III. THE EXAMPLE OF OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THIS PHYSICAL WORLD

1. The relativist is often a hedonist, controlled by pleasure, making it an idol.

2. Some moralists are indifferent to the physical world–they see it as “unimportant”, while many others are downright afraid of physical pleasure. Since they are seeking to earn their salvation, they prefer to focus on the curse of this world and not the blessing of it.  As a result, legalism usually leads to a distaste of pleasure.

3. The gospel leads us to see that God has invented both body and soul and so will redeem both body and soul, though under sin both body and soul are broken. Thus the gospel leads us to enjoy the physical (and to fight against physical brokenness, such as sickness and poverty), yet to be moderate in our use of material things.

IV. OUR APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIPS

1. Much of relativism/liberalism reduces love to a negotiated partnership for mutual benefit.  You only relate as long as it is not costing you anything. So the choice (without the gospel) is to selfishly use others or to selfishly let yourself be used by others.

2. Moralism often makes relationships into a “blame-game”. This is because a moralist is traumatized by criticism that is too severe, and maintains a self-image as a good person by blaming others.  On the other hand, moralism can use the procuring of love as the way to “earn our salvation” and convince ourselves we are worthy persons. That often creates what is called “codependency”– a form of self-salvation through needing people or needing people to need you (i.e. saving yourself by saving others).

3. But the gospel leads us to do neither. We do sacrifice and commit, but not out of a need to convince ourselves or others we are acceptable. So we can love the person enough to confront, yet stay with the person even when it does not benefit us. Why? Because we love others as Christ has loved us. How? By grace!

V. APPROACH TO SEXUAL RELATIONS

1. The secularist/pragmatist sees sex as merely biological and physical appetite.

2. The moralist tends to see sex as dirty or at least a dangerous impulse.

3. But the gospel shows us that sexuality is to reflect the self-giving of Christ. He gave himself completely without conditions. So we are not to seek intimacy but hold back control of our lives. Rather, when we give ourselves sexually we are to give ourselves legally, socially, personally — in a totally committed, permanent relationship of marriage.

VI. THE ISSUE OF SUFFERING

1. Relativism/pragmatism feels justified in avoiding suffering at all costs–lying, cheating, and broken promises are OK. But when suffering does come, the pragmatist blames God, claiming that he must be either unjust or impotent.

2. Moralism takes the “Job’s friends” approach, laying guilt on yourself. You simply assume: “I must be bad to be suffering”. Under the guilt, though, there is always anger toward God. Why? Because moralists believe that God owes them.  The end result of moralism is to put God in one’s debt. Because you have been so moral, you feel you don’t really deserve suffering.  So moralism tears you up, for at one level you think, “what did I do to deserve this?” but on another level you think, “I probably did everything to deserve this!” So, if the moralist suffers, he/she must either feel: (a) mad at God because I have been performing well, or (b) mad at self because I have not been performing well, or (c) both.

3. But the cross shows us that God redeemed us through suffering. That he suffered not that we might not suffer, but that in our suffering we could become like him.  Since both the moralist and the pragmatist ignore the cross in different ways, they will both be confused and devastated by suffering.  But the Christian looks at the Cross and finds joy in suffering that trumps all temporary pain.

VII. OUR RELATIONSHIP TO PARENTS

1. Pragmatism sees no need for family loyalty or the keeping of promises and covenants if they do not “meet my needs”.

2. Moralism, on the other hand, can make you a slave to parental expectations,

3. The gospel frees you from being hostile to authority because you are under the Lordship of Christ. The gospel also frees you from making parental approval an absolute or psychological salvation, pointing how God becomes the ultimate father.  So Christians will neither be too dependent or hostile to their parents.

VIII. APPROACH TO HUMAN AUTHORITY

1. Pragmatists will either obey human authority too much (since they have no higher authority by which they can judge their culture) or else too little (since they may only obey when they know they won’t get caught). That means either authoritarianism or anarchy.

2. Moralists will tend to obey human authorities too much (family, tribe, government, cultural customs), since they rely so heavily on their self-image of being moral and decent.

3. But the gospel gives you both a standard by which to oppose human authority (if it contradicts the gospel), but on the other hand, gives you incentive to obey the civil authorities from the heart, even when you could get away with disobedience.

IX. THE ISSUE OF SELF-CONTROL

1. Liberalism tells us to express ourselves and find out what is right for us.

2. Moralists tell us to control our passions out of fear of punishment.

3. The gospel tells us that the free, un-lose-able grace of God empowers us to “say no” to our passions (Titus 2:13) and trust in the power of Christ to live in liberty of Grace without using it as a license to sin.

X. APPROACH TO EVANGELISM

1. Relativists deny the legitimacy of evangelism altogether.

2. Moralists believe in proselytizing, because “we are right and they are wrong”.  Such proselyzing is almost always offensive.

3. But the gospel produces a constellation of traits in us.  (a) First, we are compelled to share the gospel out of generosity and love, not guilt. (b) Second, we are freed from fear of being ridiculed or hurt by others, since we already have the favor of God by grace.  (c) Third, there is a humility in our dealings with others, because we know we are saved by grace. (d) Fourth, we are hopeful about anyone, even the “hard cases”, because we were saved only because of grace, not because we were likely people to be Christians.  (e)  Fifth, we are courteous and careful with people. We don’t have to push or coerce them, for it is only God’s grace that opens hearts, not our eloquence or persistence or even their openness.  
All these traits not only create a winsome evangelist but an excellent neighbor, even in a multi-cultural society.

XI. APPROACH TO HUMAN DIGNITY

1. Pragmatists, have no good basis for treating people with dignity. Usually they have no  religious beliefs about what human beings are. (If they are just chance products of evolution, how do we know they are more valuable than a rock?)

2. Moralists often have a pretty low view of humans — they mainly see human sin and depravity. They can be very hateful to people, especially if they don’t personally like them.

3. But the gospel shows us that every human being is both infinitely fallen (lost in sin) and infinitely exalted (in the image of God). So we treat every human being as precious, yet dangerous!

XII. APPROACH TO GUILT

1. The pragmatist’s false god is usually some achievement or relationship – failing to achieve or failing to be accepted will result in guilt.

2. The moralist’s false god is usually a god which is holy and demanding but not gracious.

3. When someone says, “I can’t forgive myself”, it means there is some standard or condition or person that is more central to your identity than the grace of God.  God is the only God who forgives–no other “god” will.  If you cannot forgive yourself, it is because you have failed to know the real God, you have failed to understand how he has justified you with the righteousness of Christ, and you are serving either the false god of moralism or relativism and therefore you are allowing guilt to hold you captive.

XIII. APPROACH TO SELF-IMAGE

Without the gospel, your self-image is based upon living up to someone’s standards – whether yours or someone’s imposed upon you. If you live up to those standards, you will be confident but not humble.  If you don’t live up to them, you will be humble but not confident.  Only in the gospel can you be both enormously bold and utterly sensitive and humble.  For you are both a justified saint and a sinner!

XIV. APPROACH TO JOY AND HUMOR

1. Pragmatism will tend toward cynicism as life goes on because of the inevitable cynicism that grows.  This cynicism grows from a lack of hope for the world.  In the end, they believe evil will triumph–there is no judgment or divine justice.

2. Moralism eats away at real joy and humor– because legalism forces you to take yourself (your image, your appearance, your reputation) very seriously.

3. But since we are saved by grace alone, then the very fact of our being Christians is a constant source of amazed delight. There is nothing matter of- fact about our lives, no “of course” to our lives. It is a miracle we are Christians, and we have hope.  So the gospel which creates bold humility should give us a far deeper sense of humor. We don’t have to take ourselves seriously, and we are full of hope for the world.

Summary:

All problems, personal or social come from a failure to preach and live the gospel of grace properly.  We believe that if the gospel is expounded and applied in its fullness in any church, that church will look very unique.

People will find both moral conviction AND compassion = because you like Christ are people of  TRUTH AND GRACE.

The following have been by best sources of study for the issue of idolatry and how it effects all of life:

Timothy Keller On Preaching in a Post-modern City (three pages)
Timothy Keller - (part 2) On Preaching the Gospel as the Key for Christians (three pages)
Jerry Bridges - Gospel-Centered Sanctification 
C. J. Mahaney - The Gospel-Centered Life 
Bryan Chapell - HOLINESS BY GRACE: Delighting in the Joy that is our Strength