As the title reads, do not disregard the Post about where Jesus went after His death just because there is now a post above it. I want lots of input on that post!
Anyway, I want to bring up a thought that occurred to me after listening to a song tonight. The lyrics are as follows:
"Grace make your way to the well,
To those who deserve it, for after all they've earned it.
But vain, it's in vain, cause they don't need it."
It got me thinking about the effects of teaching morality in the church, and how hard it is for a self-perceived "good person" to admit that they are a vile sinner deserving God's wrath and that they are desperately in need of His grace. They may think that they are deserving of salvation; therefore the true gospel of grace seems irrelevant (for "they don't need it").
It seems to me that many who go to church misconstrue good works as a means to salvation. I know I fell into this category: I just always assumed that you had to be a good person to go to heaven because I always remembered being taught to do good things in Sunday School. Salvation by good works seems to be the human intuition.
Then I thought that if this is a widespread problem in the church, we need to figure out how we can effectively remove the preaching of legalism.
So here are my questions for you guys:
1) Is there really a widespread false belief in salvation by good works? or is it just a stereotype that we make because we may have fallen into this category, or because we have known someone who has? in short: Is this reality or a myth, and how do we know?
and,
2) If it is a gigantic problem, how can you and I work to remedy it? (especially in what we teach children, who may not be fully capable of understanding the gospel of grace but could probably very easily understand a lesson on good works)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Excellent questions!
First, this is no myth. Certainly, I think the salvation by works false-gospel is more prevalent in geographic locations that are more immersed in a Christian culture. For example, here in the south salvation by works is a huge problem because so many people grew up in the church, still sort of believe in Jesus, but don't really do anything about it. The assumption is; I believe it and I don't drink...I guess I'm good. In Los Angeles, where I grew up, this is not the prevailing attitude because the culture is not Christianized. Everyone in California is spiritual, therefore, you have the same problem of salvation by works, but it looks completely different. It is salvation by works, but it is salvation through a completely different god or system.
I'll write more soon, but for now I want to say that the salvation by works problem is an empirical fact.
Ok, now that I've had a little more time to think I want to add one or two things. First, I really do believe that justification by works is a horrible problem in our churches. We often see it in its most obvious form in people who actually believe that God will in some way judge them by what they do. However, in evangelicalism it is much more common to see someone enslaved to sanctification by works. This person believes that God saved them by grace, but no longer sees the gospel as applicable for them now that they are converted. They try to change themselves into Christlikeness via the spiritual disciplines and thought they would never say it, they live as though God's love for them is contingent upon their faithfulness to certain practices. This is nearly as deadly for a person and church as the first problem I mentioned...more to come.
I think Matthew has nailed it. The church has fallen into post-salvation righteousness by quite time, or righteousness by small group attendance, or whatever other spiritual discipline that you'd like to insert here. I know I'm effected by this both personally and see it running rampant in the college students that I work with. The simple passing answer is that it comes down to the True Gospel of the fullness of your salvation coming through the grace of God and seeing yourself a righteous before God because you are hidden in Christ, and not because you do a daily QT or attend a small group from your church.
And the caution here is that quite times and attending a small group are both important and valuable things...they are not however your salvation!
Nick is absolutely right about the post-salvation righteousness problem. At core I think that we have not taught and do not teach that the gospel applies to sanctification because we do not think it will work. Clear gospel proclamation to ourselves and other believers is essential for Christian growth. I think that Philippians 2:12-13 offers a great balance to this issue of the vital role of personal effort in sanctification.
Also, I do want to add that justification by works is rampant among unbelievers. I mean, anyone who has tried to share the gospel knows that everyone is going to heaven and it is because they are so darn good.
How do we solve the problem? We have to preach the true gospel of grace without fear that it will lead to license with sin. We have to hold twin truths in tension. We have to teach that salvation is completely a work of God's grace and we have to teach that if you do not persevere you are not saved.
If we as preachers, and we are all preachers, do not see people abusing the gospel with license we should question if we are really preaching the true gospel.
What about with children? Their whole lives they are taught to be good, and even at church too. What about them?
I think that we do need to re-think children's ministry. I don't know all the answers, but we need to begin younger with stories about Jesus that do not lead to moral lessons, but rather educate children about him and about his life and atonement. We shouldn't be afraid to teach moral lessons, but these should decrease and the cross needs to be explained more clearly. Kids can understand so much more at 5 years old than we give them credit for.
Post a Comment