Religion vs The Gospel by Tim Keller – I also have a pdf printable for you to have as well.
We got this in a sermon at True Life Church, Part 1 of Ephesians 4:1.
Religion
I obey-therefore I’m accepted.
Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
I obey God in order to get things from God.
When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good
person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main
purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing
people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.
My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to the other.
Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record; my
personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
The Gospel
I’m accepted-therefore I obey.
Motivation is based on grateful joy.
I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.
When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while He may allow this for my training, He will exercise His Fatherly love within my trail.
When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.
My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.
My self-view is not based on a view of myself as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator” – simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad He had to die for me and I am so loved He was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.
My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was ecluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.
I have many good things in my life – family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things for me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness and despondency they can inflect on me when they are threatened and lost.
About the Author
