When it comes to understanding the Gospel in opposition not only to irreligion, but also religion, Tim Keller is among the best. In his latest book, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, Keller beautifully deconstructs the parable of the Prodigal Son and mines all the precious gems that are often looked over. I would recommend this book to every believer, especially those that have grown up in religious Christianity and struggle with religious baggage. Also, listen here for the sermon that inspired the book!
10.31.2008
The Prodigal God
When it comes to understanding the Gospel in opposition not only to irreligion, but also religion, Tim Keller is among the best. In his latest book, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, Keller beautifully deconstructs the parable of the Prodigal Son and mines all the precious gems that are often looked over. I would recommend this book to every believer, especially those that have grown up in religious Christianity and struggle with religious baggage. Also, listen here for the sermon that inspired the book!
10.30.2008
Losing the Gospel in the Fog of Politics and Social Justice
[Recently, I’ve been making my way through a book by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones entitled The Assurance of Our Salvation: Exploring the Depths of Jesus’ Prayer for His Own. The book consists of around fifty sermons that he preached on Sunday mornings from 1952 to 1953. It has been tremendously rewarding and sobering. This week, while making my way through the middle section of Christ’s prayer, a few things have stood out. Subsequently, the wheels have been turning and I’m going to attempt to relate some of my thoughts on some issues I’ve been wrestling with of late.]
In John 17:11, Jesus says:
...”I am no longer in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and no one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
These words were uttered literally hours before Jesus would proceed to the cross. The hour had finally arrived and he was about to fulfill what he had ultimately been sent by the Father to do. It’s interesting that he uttered this prayer out loud and that it was obviously intended for the disciples to hear. Fortunately, this prayer was not limited to his disciples, but intended for all believers in all times, ourselves included. In verse twenty, Jesus says, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word...”. I cannot help but be amazed that during this hour of utmost emotional and spiritual distress, Christ took the time to pray for his own, myself included. A sobering thought. Furthermore, I cannot help but intrigued that he asked the Father not to take them out of world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Why did he pray this? I cannot help but wonder at times why God leaves his people in such a wicked, polluted, dark, and fallen world? Why not instantly take us out of this world and directly into his presence? These are questions I have wrestled with multiple times throughout my life as a believer. To further complicate matters, he says that we are not of the world, but it’s obvious that we exist in the world. Then he proceeds to ask the Father to sanctify them in truth; your word is truth. Finally, Jesus says he has sent us into the world.
In light of this passage, among many others, I struggle to find a balance between existence in the world and not being of the world. When I look around, I cannot help but see a huge pendulum swing in two opposing directions. There are those who believe it is the role of believers to transform the world through political means and by simply voting for the correct candidate they have fulfilled their role. Change occurs by political means and as long as we vote and elect the right individuals, then we can rest assured that we have done our job. Once abortion is “illegal” and gay marriage is not “recognized”, then we have achieved what God has left us here to do. I agree with the Dr. when he says by way of a blunt assertion: “...with regard to the relationship of the church and the individual Christian to such matters...is that the Christian’s interest in such things is not direct but indirect. Let me put it this way: all these matters are part of the function of the state and not of the church as church, nor of the Christian as Christian--of the Christian as a citizen of the state, certainly, but not of the Christian qua Christian...The functions of the state are of necessity good because the state has been appointed by God; let us never forget that. It is therefore a good thing to point out things which are wrong...all these things [concerns for political issues, social justice, etc.] are perfectly all right and we should be glad of them and pay due attention to them. Teaching about morality, in and of itself, is right. It is good to warn people against the consequences and the dangers of wrong actions, and it is right that the law of the land should be enforced. It is wrong to break the law, and it should be the business of all citizens to see that the law of the land and the statute of the book is enforced...I want to go further: it is right that the state should enforce God’s law, because the state derives its own being from God...The state is not a human contrivance, it is not man who conceived the idea of the state and of law, it is God who ordained it...and one of the duties of the state is, therefore, to see that God’s name is honored and glorified...It is the business of the citizen to see that the state functions in the best way and one of the functions of the state is to remind men of God, and to see that the rulers are God-fearing people.”
Along with the Dr., I do not have a problem with the role and function of government, or even desiring to elect God-fearing candidates, but I do think this mentality falls short when we view government and politics as a means to an end in and of itself. Government and politics function primarily in a negative sense. The Dr. concludes with the following: “...you will see at once that the purpose of all this is simply to set a limit to sin and to the results of sin and wrongdoing. All that I have been describing can do nothing more than control sin and keep it within bounds. I think that it is obvious that it is an entirely negative work...all these things can never make anybody a Christian. It is a very great sin to confuse law and grace. These movements are really only concerned with law, and it is their function to keep people under the law until they come under grace...It is because of this this, then, that I go on to say that really laws and regulations and various other things have nothing to do with the Christian as such, and that is why I said earlier on that these things are not primarily the business of the church...it is the business of the church to preach the gospel and to show what I would call, with Paul, ‘a more excellent way’. That is why the church must always be careful to ensure that nothing she does or says should ever detract from or her compromise her message and her gospel. The church derives her power entirely and solely from God and in no sense from the sate, or from the law. If there is one thing about which we should be more jealous than anything else it is that within the church we recognize no law, no leader, no ultimate king save the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sole head of the church--no state, no man, no monarch, no one else but the Lord himself...The church ,in other words, must never hide herself behind the law of the land and she must never try to enforce her message by using the law of the land, for that is to compromise her gospel. It is to make the unbeliever in the world say, ‘Ah these people are trying to force this upon us, they are using the law in order to get it done.’ No, at all costs the church must keep her message pure and clean, and she must take her stand upon the purity of the gospel and upon that alone. Indeed I do not hesitate to go so far as to say that the church, claiming as she does that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, must be prepared to say that her gospel will work in spite of the world whatever its state, whatever its condition; that even if hell be let loose on the face of the earth, her gospel is still powerful...As a preacher of the gospel...I must stand on the basis that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church; that as the power of the church is the Holy Spirit, it matters not what the world may be like, for this gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and in order to get right down into the dregs and do its own work, it need no help from the state. It does not need to hide behind the law, because it can stand on its own feet and trust in the power of the living God.”
Not only do I see the pendulum swing in the direction of a political gospel but I also believe that it swings in the opposite direction of a social gospel in which God leaves us here to merely act on issues of social justice and change will occur. Feeding the poor, embracing culture, etc. are seen as a means to an end. Unfortunately, I feel we’re looking at two sides of the same coin. Both sides fall tragically short of proclaiming and giving the people the truth of the gospel. They merely treat symptoms without getting to the root and treating the disease of indwelling sin and separation from God. Both sides view either themselves or others as a victim of the system, as opposed to sinners opposed to a holy God who has given believers the task of proclaiming this truth through the power of the gospel. I’m grieved as I look at both sides spending so much time shooting their bullets at each other and not at the true enemy who has blinded those to the truth of the gospel. Change does not occur in those ways, but in a much more positive way: the gospel way. The Dr. furthers this argument by pleading with us to “rely upon God’s work, and of course this work of God in the soul is regeneration; it is the making of a new man, the creating of a new being, the giving of a new life. So the gospel way of attacking this problem is not negative...but positive....The gospel and the church are not so much interested in less sin, as in more and positive holiness. All the other movements...are interested in avoiding sin, but the Christian life is about sanctification. Though a man may never drink, though he may never, even, do any of the things which are wrong in and of themselves, yet, if he does not see himself as a vile, hopeless sinner who is saved only by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is as lost and damned as the most profligate sinner in the world. The church and the Christian should not be interested only, or even primarily, in the general social effects of salvation, but in the fact that men and women should be brought nearer to God, and should live for his glory. When the church gives the world the impression that she interested in revival only in order to heal certain moral sores, she is denying her own message. I am not primarily interested in revival in order that the streets may be cleansed; I am interested in it because I believe that for any man not to glorify God is an insult to God. I know that such a man is held bound, and my desire is that he may come to know God and glorify him in his daily life. The church is not interested primarily in the social consequences of irreligion...[that results in] becoming so interested in social conditions that we forget primary truth...that is morality, and not Christianity.”
So where does this bring us? How is the Christian to be in the world but not of the world? In the Jesus’ manifesto given in the Sermon on the Mount, he states emphatically that Christians are the salt of the earth and the light to the world. He has just finished describing the character and identity of the Christian, given in the Beatitudes. This naturally leaders to the function and conduct of the believer. Salt represents preservation. The Christian is first off to be a preserving force in a world that is rotting and subject to putrefaction. Secondly, he is an illuminating force pointing and proclaiming unbelievers to the truth of the Gospel. In regards to preservation the Dr. adds...“the Christian and the gospel, are not so much concerned about removing occasions for sin, as in removing from man the desire to sin. ‘I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one...Sanctify them.’ Our Lord is saying in effect, ‘I am not so concerned that you should take the occasion for sin away but that you should take out of man the desire to take advantage of the occasion.’ You see the difference? The gospel of Jesus Christ does not so much take the Christian out of the world, as take the world out of the Christian. That is the point. ‘Sanctify them’: whatever the world is like around and about them, if the world is not in them, the world outside them will not be able to affect them. That is the glory of the gospel; it makes a man free in the midst of hell...Or again...the gospel is not so much concerned about changing the conditions as about changing the man...You need not change the man’s conditions before you change the man--thank God, the gospel can change the man in spite of the conditions.”
I don’t want people to think I’m against politics or social justice. In fact I believe that both are right if done correctly. I’ve actually written at length recently about religious oppression of social justice. I believe the Dr. once again sums it up best: “...our main concern should not be so much to limit the power of evil as to increase the power of godliness within us. Let me give an illustration at this point. The gospel is not primarily concerned to remove the sores of infection, or to put us out of the danger of infection; what the gospel does is to build up our resistance to infection to such a point that it renders us immune to it. The [believer] is not concerned with trying to destroy the infection. Until our Lord returns again the infection will be there; until Satan is cast into the lake burning with fire, the infection will continue. You cannot stop it! It will be there in spite of our [political and social] efforts. The Christian is not primarily concerned about that. The business of the Christian, and the church, and the gospel is to see that you and I take so much of the pure milk of the word and strong meat of the word that our resistance is built up to such an extent that we can, as it were, stay in a house of infectious disease, and be absolutely immune. The germs are there, yes, but we are filled with anti-bodies that destroy them the moment they attack us...’Sanctify them’--that is sanctification, and its whole approach is not negative, but entirely positive. Sanctification means that we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ. He was so immune that he could sit with publicans and sinners and not be contaminated by them. People could not understand it. Pharisees could not understand it. ‘This man is a friend of publicans and sinners,’ they said. But because of his resistance, our Lord could sit there without danger at all; and what our Lord prays is that we may be made like him. He says, ‘As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.’ ‘Sanctify them.’ Make them like me, render them immune from assaults of temptation that whenever attack comes they will be guarded against it. ‘I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one’. And that is the ultimate way we are kept...Though in it, we shall not be of it; we shall be walking through it in the light with God.”
I have to confess that I have been convicted and know that I swing from time to time in each direction, typically in regards to trying to treat the symptoms without giving people the solution to the disease by way of the power of the gospel. I pray that God will continue to keep you, my brothers and sisters, from swinging too far in either direction, but that we may all keep our eyes focused on Christ as he continues to sanctify us and form us more into the image of Jesus. Amen!
In John 17:11, Jesus says:
...”I am no longer in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and no one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
These words were uttered literally hours before Jesus would proceed to the cross. The hour had finally arrived and he was about to fulfill what he had ultimately been sent by the Father to do. It’s interesting that he uttered this prayer out loud and that it was obviously intended for the disciples to hear. Fortunately, this prayer was not limited to his disciples, but intended for all believers in all times, ourselves included. In verse twenty, Jesus says, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word...”. I cannot help but be amazed that during this hour of utmost emotional and spiritual distress, Christ took the time to pray for his own, myself included. A sobering thought. Furthermore, I cannot help but intrigued that he asked the Father not to take them out of world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Why did he pray this? I cannot help but wonder at times why God leaves his people in such a wicked, polluted, dark, and fallen world? Why not instantly take us out of this world and directly into his presence? These are questions I have wrestled with multiple times throughout my life as a believer. To further complicate matters, he says that we are not of the world, but it’s obvious that we exist in the world. Then he proceeds to ask the Father to sanctify them in truth; your word is truth. Finally, Jesus says he has sent us into the world.
In light of this passage, among many others, I struggle to find a balance between existence in the world and not being of the world. When I look around, I cannot help but see a huge pendulum swing in two opposing directions. There are those who believe it is the role of believers to transform the world through political means and by simply voting for the correct candidate they have fulfilled their role. Change occurs by political means and as long as we vote and elect the right individuals, then we can rest assured that we have done our job. Once abortion is “illegal” and gay marriage is not “recognized”, then we have achieved what God has left us here to do. I agree with the Dr. when he says by way of a blunt assertion: “...with regard to the relationship of the church and the individual Christian to such matters...is that the Christian’s interest in such things is not direct but indirect. Let me put it this way: all these matters are part of the function of the state and not of the church as church, nor of the Christian as Christian--of the Christian as a citizen of the state, certainly, but not of the Christian qua Christian...The functions of the state are of necessity good because the state has been appointed by God; let us never forget that. It is therefore a good thing to point out things which are wrong...all these things [concerns for political issues, social justice, etc.] are perfectly all right and we should be glad of them and pay due attention to them. Teaching about morality, in and of itself, is right. It is good to warn people against the consequences and the dangers of wrong actions, and it is right that the law of the land should be enforced. It is wrong to break the law, and it should be the business of all citizens to see that the law of the land and the statute of the book is enforced...I want to go further: it is right that the state should enforce God’s law, because the state derives its own being from God...The state is not a human contrivance, it is not man who conceived the idea of the state and of law, it is God who ordained it...and one of the duties of the state is, therefore, to see that God’s name is honored and glorified...It is the business of the citizen to see that the state functions in the best way and one of the functions of the state is to remind men of God, and to see that the rulers are God-fearing people.”
Along with the Dr., I do not have a problem with the role and function of government, or even desiring to elect God-fearing candidates, but I do think this mentality falls short when we view government and politics as a means to an end in and of itself. Government and politics function primarily in a negative sense. The Dr. concludes with the following: “...you will see at once that the purpose of all this is simply to set a limit to sin and to the results of sin and wrongdoing. All that I have been describing can do nothing more than control sin and keep it within bounds. I think that it is obvious that it is an entirely negative work...all these things can never make anybody a Christian. It is a very great sin to confuse law and grace. These movements are really only concerned with law, and it is their function to keep people under the law until they come under grace...It is because of this this, then, that I go on to say that really laws and regulations and various other things have nothing to do with the Christian as such, and that is why I said earlier on that these things are not primarily the business of the church...it is the business of the church to preach the gospel and to show what I would call, with Paul, ‘a more excellent way’. That is why the church must always be careful to ensure that nothing she does or says should ever detract from or her compromise her message and her gospel. The church derives her power entirely and solely from God and in no sense from the sate, or from the law. If there is one thing about which we should be more jealous than anything else it is that within the church we recognize no law, no leader, no ultimate king save the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sole head of the church--no state, no man, no monarch, no one else but the Lord himself...The church ,in other words, must never hide herself behind the law of the land and she must never try to enforce her message by using the law of the land, for that is to compromise her gospel. It is to make the unbeliever in the world say, ‘Ah these people are trying to force this upon us, they are using the law in order to get it done.’ No, at all costs the church must keep her message pure and clean, and she must take her stand upon the purity of the gospel and upon that alone. Indeed I do not hesitate to go so far as to say that the church, claiming as she does that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, must be prepared to say that her gospel will work in spite of the world whatever its state, whatever its condition; that even if hell be let loose on the face of the earth, her gospel is still powerful...As a preacher of the gospel...I must stand on the basis that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church; that as the power of the church is the Holy Spirit, it matters not what the world may be like, for this gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and in order to get right down into the dregs and do its own work, it need no help from the state. It does not need to hide behind the law, because it can stand on its own feet and trust in the power of the living God.”
Not only do I see the pendulum swing in the direction of a political gospel but I also believe that it swings in the opposite direction of a social gospel in which God leaves us here to merely act on issues of social justice and change will occur. Feeding the poor, embracing culture, etc. are seen as a means to an end. Unfortunately, I feel we’re looking at two sides of the same coin. Both sides fall tragically short of proclaiming and giving the people the truth of the gospel. They merely treat symptoms without getting to the root and treating the disease of indwelling sin and separation from God. Both sides view either themselves or others as a victim of the system, as opposed to sinners opposed to a holy God who has given believers the task of proclaiming this truth through the power of the gospel. I’m grieved as I look at both sides spending so much time shooting their bullets at each other and not at the true enemy who has blinded those to the truth of the gospel. Change does not occur in those ways, but in a much more positive way: the gospel way. The Dr. furthers this argument by pleading with us to “rely upon God’s work, and of course this work of God in the soul is regeneration; it is the making of a new man, the creating of a new being, the giving of a new life. So the gospel way of attacking this problem is not negative...but positive....The gospel and the church are not so much interested in less sin, as in more and positive holiness. All the other movements...are interested in avoiding sin, but the Christian life is about sanctification. Though a man may never drink, though he may never, even, do any of the things which are wrong in and of themselves, yet, if he does not see himself as a vile, hopeless sinner who is saved only by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is as lost and damned as the most profligate sinner in the world. The church and the Christian should not be interested only, or even primarily, in the general social effects of salvation, but in the fact that men and women should be brought nearer to God, and should live for his glory. When the church gives the world the impression that she interested in revival only in order to heal certain moral sores, she is denying her own message. I am not primarily interested in revival in order that the streets may be cleansed; I am interested in it because I believe that for any man not to glorify God is an insult to God. I know that such a man is held bound, and my desire is that he may come to know God and glorify him in his daily life. The church is not interested primarily in the social consequences of irreligion...[that results in] becoming so interested in social conditions that we forget primary truth...that is morality, and not Christianity.”
So where does this bring us? How is the Christian to be in the world but not of the world? In the Jesus’ manifesto given in the Sermon on the Mount, he states emphatically that Christians are the salt of the earth and the light to the world. He has just finished describing the character and identity of the Christian, given in the Beatitudes. This naturally leaders to the function and conduct of the believer. Salt represents preservation. The Christian is first off to be a preserving force in a world that is rotting and subject to putrefaction. Secondly, he is an illuminating force pointing and proclaiming unbelievers to the truth of the Gospel. In regards to preservation the Dr. adds...“the Christian and the gospel, are not so much concerned about removing occasions for sin, as in removing from man the desire to sin. ‘I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one...Sanctify them.’ Our Lord is saying in effect, ‘I am not so concerned that you should take the occasion for sin away but that you should take out of man the desire to take advantage of the occasion.’ You see the difference? The gospel of Jesus Christ does not so much take the Christian out of the world, as take the world out of the Christian. That is the point. ‘Sanctify them’: whatever the world is like around and about them, if the world is not in them, the world outside them will not be able to affect them. That is the glory of the gospel; it makes a man free in the midst of hell...Or again...the gospel is not so much concerned about changing the conditions as about changing the man...You need not change the man’s conditions before you change the man--thank God, the gospel can change the man in spite of the conditions.”
I don’t want people to think I’m against politics or social justice. In fact I believe that both are right if done correctly. I’ve actually written at length recently about religious oppression of social justice. I believe the Dr. once again sums it up best: “...our main concern should not be so much to limit the power of evil as to increase the power of godliness within us. Let me give an illustration at this point. The gospel is not primarily concerned to remove the sores of infection, or to put us out of the danger of infection; what the gospel does is to build up our resistance to infection to such a point that it renders us immune to it. The [believer] is not concerned with trying to destroy the infection. Until our Lord returns again the infection will be there; until Satan is cast into the lake burning with fire, the infection will continue. You cannot stop it! It will be there in spite of our [political and social] efforts. The Christian is not primarily concerned about that. The business of the Christian, and the church, and the gospel is to see that you and I take so much of the pure milk of the word and strong meat of the word that our resistance is built up to such an extent that we can, as it were, stay in a house of infectious disease, and be absolutely immune. The germs are there, yes, but we are filled with anti-bodies that destroy them the moment they attack us...’Sanctify them’--that is sanctification, and its whole approach is not negative, but entirely positive. Sanctification means that we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ. He was so immune that he could sit with publicans and sinners and not be contaminated by them. People could not understand it. Pharisees could not understand it. ‘This man is a friend of publicans and sinners,’ they said. But because of his resistance, our Lord could sit there without danger at all; and what our Lord prays is that we may be made like him. He says, ‘As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.’ ‘Sanctify them.’ Make them like me, render them immune from assaults of temptation that whenever attack comes they will be guarded against it. ‘I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one’. And that is the ultimate way we are kept...Though in it, we shall not be of it; we shall be walking through it in the light with God.”
I have to confess that I have been convicted and know that I swing from time to time in each direction, typically in regards to trying to treat the symptoms without giving people the solution to the disease by way of the power of the gospel. I pray that God will continue to keep you, my brothers and sisters, from swinging too far in either direction, but that we may all keep our eyes focused on Christ as he continues to sanctify us and form us more into the image of Jesus. Amen!
10.05.2008
religious oppression of social justice
“The tendency of religious people...is to use spiritual and ethical observance as a lever to gain power over others and over God, appeasing him through their good works. This leads to both an emphasis on external religious forms as well as greed, materialism, and oppression in social arrangements. Those who believe they have pleased God by the quality of their devotion and moral goodness naturally feel that they and their group deserve deference and power over others...In Jesus’ and the prophets’ critique, self-righteous religion is always marked by insensitivity to issues of social justice, while true faith is marked by profound concern for the poor and marginalized.” - Tim Keller, The Reason for God, 59-60.
The more I understand the true, holistic nature of the Gospel, the more I abhor religion. The essence of religion requires man to observe ritualistic traditions and/or work to maintain his righteousness in order to appease a holy God. Religion says in effect if I obey God He will love me. It is man-centered and by religion you are attempting in your own strength to achieve the impossible. Because religion forces you to compare yourself to others rather than Christ, those whom are poor and marginalized become a simple and easy target. There is no grace offered or given, because in religion one has not truly accepted or received true grace as experienced in the Gospel.
Tim Keller, in his book The Reason for God, offers some very interesting insight into this issue. He says, “Extremism and fanaticism, which lead to injustice and oppression, are a constant danger within the body of religious believers. For Christians, however, the antidote is not to tone down and moderate their faith, but rather to grasp a fuller and truer faith in Christ. The scholar Merold Westphal documents how Marx’s analysis of religion as an instrument of oppression was anticipated by the Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and even by the message of the New Testament gospels. Marx, according to Westphal, was unoriginal in his critique of religion--the Bible beat him to it.”
Jesus, in his manifesto recorded in Matthew 5-7, directs his criticism to the “religious” people of his day. “It’s interesting that the very people he criticizes pray, give to the poor, and seek to live a life according to the “law”, but they do so in order to get recognition and power for themselves. They believe they will get leverage over others and even over God because of their spiritual performance (Mt 6:7). This makes them judgmental, and condemning, quick to give criticism, and unwilling to take it. They are fanatics...In his teaching, Jesus continually says to the respectable and upright, “The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you (Mt. 21:31). He continuously condemns in white-hot language their legalism, self-righteousness, bigotry, and love of wealth and power (You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness...You neglect justice and the love of God...You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them...[You] devour widows’ houses and for a show make long prayers (Lk 11:39-46; 20:47)
Jesus followed the example of the prophets such as Isaiah, who said to the people of his day:
“Day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers...Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice...to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him...?” (Is 58:2-7)
Jesus and the prophets were not against prayer, fasting, and obedience to Biblical directions for life. They were opposed to the tendency of religious people to use these means as a lever to gain power...The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral performance--he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power. If we are saved by sheer grace we can only become grateful, willing servants of God and of everyone around us...The Swiss theologian John Calvin, in his commentaries on the Hebrew prophets, says that God so identifies with the poor that their cries express divine pain. The Bible teaches us that our treatment of them equals our treatment of God.
So, what do make in light of all this religiosity that uses the very things we’re commanded to do as levers for oppression and power? Tim Keller paints a beautiful picture of the true Gospel in light of all this in chapter fourteen of his book as follows:
“The story of the gospel makes sense of moral obligation and our belief in the reality of justice, so Christians do restorative and redistributive justice wherever they can. The story of the gospel makes sense of our indelible religiousness, so Christians do evangelism, pointing the way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus. The gospel makes sense of our profoundly relational character, so Christians work sacrificially to strengthen human communities around them as well as the Christian community the church. The gospel story makes sense of our delight in the presence of beauty, so Christians become stewards of the material world, from those who cultivate the natural creation through science and gardening to those who give themselves to artistic endeavers, all knowing why these things are necessary for human flourishing. The skies and trees ‘sing’ of the glory of God, and by caring for them and celebrating them we free their voices to praise him and delight us. In short, the Christian life means not only building up the Christian community through encouraging people to faith in Christ, but building up the human community through deeds of justice and service...Christians then are the true ‘revolutionaries’ who work for justice and truth, and we labor in expectation of a perfect world in which: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things is passed away (Re 21:4)...And when we get there, we will say, I’ve come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I’ve been looking for all my life, though I never knew it!” (Keller, 225-6)
Please join me in making this my life’s passion and desire by living out a true Christ-centered, Gospel-driven life of a true “revolutionary”!
[The majority of this post is adapted from Tim Keller in his book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. I’ve attempted to synthesize the main points and majority of the argument as laid out. I highly recommend reading the entire book at some point. I am by no means attempting to take credit for this post. This section appears in chapter four of his book under the heading “The Biblical Critique of Religion”, 58-60.]
The more I understand the true, holistic nature of the Gospel, the more I abhor religion. The essence of religion requires man to observe ritualistic traditions and/or work to maintain his righteousness in order to appease a holy God. Religion says in effect if I obey God He will love me. It is man-centered and by religion you are attempting in your own strength to achieve the impossible. Because religion forces you to compare yourself to others rather than Christ, those whom are poor and marginalized become a simple and easy target. There is no grace offered or given, because in religion one has not truly accepted or received true grace as experienced in the Gospel.
Tim Keller, in his book The Reason for God, offers some very interesting insight into this issue. He says, “Extremism and fanaticism, which lead to injustice and oppression, are a constant danger within the body of religious believers. For Christians, however, the antidote is not to tone down and moderate their faith, but rather to grasp a fuller and truer faith in Christ. The scholar Merold Westphal documents how Marx’s analysis of religion as an instrument of oppression was anticipated by the Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and even by the message of the New Testament gospels. Marx, according to Westphal, was unoriginal in his critique of religion--the Bible beat him to it.”
Jesus, in his manifesto recorded in Matthew 5-7, directs his criticism to the “religious” people of his day. “It’s interesting that the very people he criticizes pray, give to the poor, and seek to live a life according to the “law”, but they do so in order to get recognition and power for themselves. They believe they will get leverage over others and even over God because of their spiritual performance (Mt 6:7). This makes them judgmental, and condemning, quick to give criticism, and unwilling to take it. They are fanatics...In his teaching, Jesus continually says to the respectable and upright, “The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you (Mt. 21:31). He continuously condemns in white-hot language their legalism, self-righteousness, bigotry, and love of wealth and power (You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness...You neglect justice and the love of God...You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them...[You] devour widows’ houses and for a show make long prayers (Lk 11:39-46; 20:47)
Jesus followed the example of the prophets such as Isaiah, who said to the people of his day:
“Day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers...Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice...to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him...?” (Is 58:2-7)
Jesus and the prophets were not against prayer, fasting, and obedience to Biblical directions for life. They were opposed to the tendency of religious people to use these means as a lever to gain power...The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral performance--he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power. If we are saved by sheer grace we can only become grateful, willing servants of God and of everyone around us...The Swiss theologian John Calvin, in his commentaries on the Hebrew prophets, says that God so identifies with the poor that their cries express divine pain. The Bible teaches us that our treatment of them equals our treatment of God.
So, what do make in light of all this religiosity that uses the very things we’re commanded to do as levers for oppression and power? Tim Keller paints a beautiful picture of the true Gospel in light of all this in chapter fourteen of his book as follows:
“The story of the gospel makes sense of moral obligation and our belief in the reality of justice, so Christians do restorative and redistributive justice wherever they can. The story of the gospel makes sense of our indelible religiousness, so Christians do evangelism, pointing the way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus. The gospel makes sense of our profoundly relational character, so Christians work sacrificially to strengthen human communities around them as well as the Christian community the church. The gospel story makes sense of our delight in the presence of beauty, so Christians become stewards of the material world, from those who cultivate the natural creation through science and gardening to those who give themselves to artistic endeavers, all knowing why these things are necessary for human flourishing. The skies and trees ‘sing’ of the glory of God, and by caring for them and celebrating them we free their voices to praise him and delight us. In short, the Christian life means not only building up the Christian community through encouraging people to faith in Christ, but building up the human community through deeds of justice and service...Christians then are the true ‘revolutionaries’ who work for justice and truth, and we labor in expectation of a perfect world in which: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things is passed away (Re 21:4)...And when we get there, we will say, I’ve come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I’ve been looking for all my life, though I never knew it!” (Keller, 225-6)
Please join me in making this my life’s passion and desire by living out a true Christ-centered, Gospel-driven life of a true “revolutionary”!
[The majority of this post is adapted from Tim Keller in his book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. I’ve attempted to synthesize the main points and majority of the argument as laid out. I highly recommend reading the entire book at some point. I am by no means attempting to take credit for this post. This section appears in chapter four of his book under the heading “The Biblical Critique of Religion”, 58-60.]
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