If you were on a sinking ship and had a choice of going into the water holding an anchor or a life preserver, which would you choose? Silly question? Yet this is the same choice we make when we choose which gospel to be believe. Choose a gospel? Isn’t there only one? Many so-called gospels are preached, but there is only one which is divinely empowered to save those who trust in it. All the rest are anchors.
In Part 1 of this study we asked the question, by which gospel are you saved? The answer is the gospel of God’s grace. Contrary to what you may have heard, this is the only gospel message found in the Bible. What does the gospel of God’s grace look like? It looks like Jesus. Jesus is grace personified. To preach the gospel of grace is to preach the exceeding riches of God’s unmerited favor revealed to us through Jesus Christ (Eph 2:7).
The turned-around gospel
Tragically, the gospel of grace is not always preached in its pure form. The result is that sincere believers get confused about their standing before God. In their confusion, they may even abandon God’s grace for inferior alternatives. That’s like swapping the life preserver for an anchor. It’s not a smart move. If you see someone doing that you really ought to speak out, like Paul did with the Galatians:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Gal 1:6-7)
What does it mean to “pervert the gospel of Christ”? The Greek word for the verb “pervert” can be translated “turn around.” A perverted gospel is a turned-around gospel. It is a gospel which turns the focus away from Jesus onto something else. If the gospel of grace reveals Christ alone, then a perverted gospel is Christ plus something. It’s the somethings that’ll sink you.
Ten ways to set aside grace
The Bible lists many things that can distract you from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Here are some of them:
1. Human effort (Gal 3:3): think performance-oriented Christianity. “Gotta get busy for Jesus. Gotta work for my salvation. Gotta start producing fruit or he’s going to lop me.” Except that you don’t and he won’t.
2. Traditions (Col 2:8). “That’s just the way we do things around here; if you’re going to be a part of us, you’d better get used to it.” So you’re saying Jesus is the gate into the kingdom, but right behind him is this other gate that you have added.
3. Hollow and deceptive philosophy (Col 2:8), like karma: you do good, you get good. “God won’t judge me, I basically a good person. At least I’m better than that guy.” Indeed, there are good sinners and bad sinners, but they are sinners alike. Your goodness still falls catastrophically short of God’s goodness. What matters is whose righteousness you’re wearing – yours or his?
4. Angel worship (Col 2:18). God told you the name of the angel watching over this church? Cool! Now let’s get back to Jesus.
5. Rules and regulations (Col 2:21-23). Smoking will kill you, but it won’t send you to hell like unbelief does. Working on the Sabbath may wear you out, but Jesus still loves you.
6. Self-denial, abstinence (Col 2:23). God gave us taste buds and appetites to enjoy life! Keep your monkish asceticism away from my chocolate stash!
7. Endless genealogies (1 Ti 1:4). So you think you broke your leg because your grandfather was a mason? But weren’t you adopted into a new family when you believed? Didn’t Christ redeem us from the curse so that we might inherit the blessings of Father Abraham?
8. Myths (1 Ti 1:4). Did Adam have a second wife? Were the Nephilim really angel-spawn? Is this stuff going to be on the test? I think not.
9. Sin consciousness (Heb 10:2,22). God’s grace is greater than your sin. If you are more conscious of your sin than you are of his righteousness, it’s like saying that the payment of Jesus Christ was insufficient. His worth is greater than your unworthiness!
10. The 10 Commandments, a.k.a. the ministry that brought death (2 Cor 3:7). God hid these inside the ark under the blood-stained mercy seat and now you want to hang them on the wall? In the Sunday School?!
What’s wrong with all these things? Very simply, they diminish your life-saving faith in Christ. The more you trust in your own works, for example, the less trust you’ll place in His finished work. Trusting in your works is like filling your life preserver with cast iron.
I call these things anchors because they have no life in them. They can’t save you because they are based on “worldly principles rather than Christ” (Col 2:8). We have died to such things (Col 2:20). They have no value for us. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal 5:6).
___
Related posts:
- Incomplete deeds: The zombie church of Sardis
- Mixing grace with works
- Seven signs that you might be living under law
Yes, we need a gospel that is not added by any human ideas. The gospel of grace must so pre-eminence or so focus on the Lord Jesus Christ that there is nothing in added or subtracted but pure Grace right from God. This I believe will transform the hearts of men. Thanks for the blog article
Comment by sunnyli — August 18, 2010 @ 3:41 pm |
Absolutely the best article I have read lately. Thank you so much for it!
Comment by janet cadieux — August 25, 2010 @ 8:19 am |
Dear Sunny and Janet – thanks for the encouragement!
Comment by Paul Ellis — September 18, 2010 @ 8:37 pm |
You said, “The 10 Commandments, a.k.a. the ministry that brought death (2 Cor 3:7). God hid these inside the ark under the blood-stained mercy seat and now you want to hang them on the wall? In the Sunday School?!”
Fantastic! Thank you.
Comment by Bobfromchicago — January 4, 2011 @ 3:54 am |
Hi Paul, thanks for all the articles you have posted they are really helpful. Stay blessed.
Comment by Yogesh — January 13, 2011 @ 5:27 am |
Very interesting…but you do realize that there are 2 types of tradition, and that Paul actually commanded the church to adhere to that tradition handed down from himself and the other apostles? See 2 Thess 2:15 and 3:6. Also, which do you think came first, the Holy Traditions passed down by the Apostles in the framework of the Church, or the Scriptures as we know them today? There is a good tradition that came from those who followed Jesus personally (meaning the 12, the 70, and the other original disciples) and then there is the tradition of men that has twisted and warped many peoples ideas about tradition to the point that they will hear nothing regarding it (even though, if these same people were to consider it, they would have to admit that they have their own traditions as well.) This good, or Holy, Tradition is that which gives roots to our faith, and makes us realize that those of us striving to follow Christ here in the 21st century do not need to reinvent the wheel…it’s there and it’s been kept unadulterated, without addition or subtraction, by the Orthodox Church. Please look into it and do not merely dismiss what I’m saying, and you will see that, while the Roman Catholic Church has added many unnecessary and unscriptural things to the faith, and while the Protestant Churches have been so anti-tradition that they have “thrown the baby out with the bath water” so to speak, the Orthodox Church has kept inviolate the faith and traditions handed down for the past 2000 years, even through some of the fiercest persecutions man has ever dreamt of. This Church has truly kept the Faith of the Fathers and is welcoming to all to come and see.
Comment by Charles Blanchard — August 8, 2011 @ 10:14 am |
Hi Charles, thanks for your comment. The context of Col 2:8 can probably be summarized as this:
Bad traditions = those that depend on human effort, worldly principles, hollow and deceptive philosophy, man-made religion and superstition, etc. and which purport to make men righteous, holy, etc. the Bible calls these works of the flesh and they are fatal (Rms 8:6,13, Gal 6:8).
Good traditions = depending on Christ and continuing to depend on Christ (Col 1:23).
One thing I have noticed is that the lifeless traditions of men are complicated and distracting while faith is simple and is manifested in sincere and pure devotion to Christ (see 2 Cor 11:3). Lifeless traditions draw men to other men and institutions, but the gospel always points people to Jesus.
There us no such thing as holy tradition unless you’re referring to faith in Christ who is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. What was the essence of Paul’s teaching (2 Thess 2:15); “Christ and Him crucified.” What was Paul’s remedy for the carnal Galatians when they started to embrace bad traditions? Remind them that “before your eyes Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (Gal 3:1). This is what orthodoxy means to me. I have written more about this here. I can’t speak for Catholicism or Protestantism, only myself.
Comment by Paul Ellis — August 8, 2011 @ 10:40 am |
Lifeless traditions is what drew me to university and even religion. Since failing in both, books became my new “life source.” Since being divorced, escapetoreality became my new life source. Since being beaten over the head by Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill became my new life source. Since, still struggling with sin and pornography, GRACE has become my life source!!! Amen!!!
Comment by Roshan Easo — September 29, 2011 @ 4:45 am