The blessed “gospel of grace” declares: “…[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy…” (Tit. 3:5). And again, “…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…” (Phil. 3:9). So why then do we so often act like the Galatians of whom Paul asked, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3)
It is so easy to depend upon our own performance for our standing before God. We struggle to live a life that will please God, and when we momentarily succeed our hope, joy and love are increased. Ah… but when we fail or fall, the hope, joy, and love flee. We hide how bad we are in hopes of being accepted by others, yet we can’t hide from God. So we grit our teeth and try to do better.
We all have experienced this cycle at one time or another, and to varying degrees. What is missing in all of this, is a focus on Christ and the Gospel. We are to live constantly aware of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. We are to be consumed with the Gospel. Our hope is in the Gospel and in Christ’s victorious death and resurrection. He is our standing with God. He is our only acceptance with God. None of our works, even as a Christian, are good enough to please God. We are utterly dependent on the One who intercedes for us. And praise God He is interceding for us and He will not let us slip out of His hand! Let us live lives centered on the Gospel.
To that end, let me quote a thought provoking post on this subject by DJ Cimino over at Doxoblogy. I couldn’t really quote just an excerpt, it is too good. I encourage you to check it out on their blog too, as there is a really nice picture to go with this over there.
Why do we as Christians think that we are living a good Christian life as long as other Christians are unaware of our sin and shortcomings? Why do we accept a “performance based” Christianity? Why don’t we realize that we still sin and fall short of the glory of God? Why do I feel like a good person of I think I haven’t done anything really bad today, when the Bible says that in my flesh even my good works are as filthy rags in God’s sight? Why don’t we walk in the light and be honest about our mistakes, failures and sin? Why do we want others to think we are someone who is holy and pious, when it is only by the righteousness of Jesus that we are blameless in the eyes of God? Why do we get upset at our fellow believers when they ever so slightly sin against us? Why can’t we see that it’s only by God’s grace that we didn’t do the same thing to them? Why can’t we have a more honest Christianity in America, instead of the fake shell of flesh-produced psuedoholiness?
Why can’t we have a more Gospel-centered/cross-centered Christianity? One that daily looks to the Gospel as a foundation for our lives, the hope of our salvation (past, present & future) and the answer to our sinfulness, and not the shifting sands of self-righteousness that produces a performance based, man-centered Christianity.
Why? [underlined emphasis is italic in original]
Before closing, let me direct you to two previous posts on a performance based “legalism” and Christ centered (vs. moralistic) preaching.
That’s really good. Definitely something we need to spend time thinking about.
[…] This article, A Gracious Gospel vs. A Fleshly Façade, is worth reading. […]