Good News or Good advice?
Over the weekend I heard a message by Dr Tim Keller which quite literally kept me awake and really changed me. Tim Keller is one of those men who are so deep and yet so simple at the same time that I am amazed. So, I will finally put some of my thoughts on paper (or on blog) and maybe it will spur someone else on to a greater understanding of Jesus.
This particular message was from the gospel coalition conference and it was entitled “Gospel Centered Ministry.” The opening thoughts that he had were enough to send me thinking for hours, and I believe he was actually quoting another man when he began to make his point but be made the distinction between the Gospel being “Good News” and “Good advice.” The difference being news is a report of something that is past, and you can react to it but you can not change what the news is reporting because it is already been done. Good advice is council that you can choose to act on or not depending on many personal factors.
It occurs to me that while many people are claiming to preach the good news of the gospel they are merely proclaiming good advice. Despite the fact that if asked most people will tell you they are saved by grace and not works they tend to rely on a works based model to know if they are “good enough.” I have even found myself feeling condemned because I wasn’t living up to an imaginary idea of what I should be or judging others by the same type of standard.
Christianity is the only religion, if you will ignore the negative connotation to the word, that sends good news and not good advice, if you want to be saved through other world religions you must follow the good advice. While the short term effects can look identical the long term effects are completely different. In the short term of both you may read the Bible more, pray more, even perform loving works on your neighbor but one is out of love for the savior and one is our of fear of hell. That type of religion leads to burn out, self righteousness and even idolatry.
The big trouble is, like a car with in need of an alignment, we all by our nature pull toward a religious idea. We like the structure, we like to know we can trust in our own actions and make a difference in our eternity, but if it is truly only by the grace of God that we are saved, then we really have to accept that we may do all these things but they are not what saves us any more or less, is it is only Jesus, which is a much safer bet than our own crapy idea of righteousness.