Tullian on the Gospel and the Law

Tullian Tchividjian is a pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Forida.

He spoke this afternoon on the law and the gospel. His talk came from Romans 7:7-8:4  His talk was about the Gospel and the Law...but it sparked wonderful thoughts about our adoption for me...here is my main thought after listening to his great message (followed by my general notes/thoughts from his sermon).

The LAW shows us the reality that we NEVER should have been adopted. Grace shows us that our adoption by God was ENTIRELY his work. And the finality of our adoption by God reminds us that it is God’s grace, not the law that KEEPS 

Tullian reminded us this afternoon how easy it is to think that the goodness of a deed makes us “godly.” Even as Christians, we tend to drift toward thinking that God is concerned mostly with the fact that we obey (but the reality is, God also cares about WHY we obey). 

He says, “Jesus demolishes ethical behavioralism, he smashes an external righteousness” Tullian went on to say that we are activists by nature and explains that the we naturally lean as humans is thinking God is lucky to have us. We naturally drift toward thinking we can earn favor with God through good works.

I spent some of my formative years as a child in a “sloppy agape” kind of church. We heard about God’s “agape” love all the time, but never about his law. If you are coming from a similar background, sometimes we think of the word “law” as a taboo Christian word. The word “law” seems like something for Jews or the Catholics, not something a grace-based Christian talked about.

Tullian spoke about the law in such a wonderful way. The “law” is far from being something Christians should know nothing about; rather, the “law” is actually good! It is a reflection of God’s perfect character. It is the law, Tullian says, that helps us to see God’s perfect nature. Romans shows us that it is because of the law that I even know I have lust, murderous thoughts, or a covetous heart. The law is a mirror to show me the darkness of my heart.

And that is where we draw the line in the sand. THAT is what the law does, but it is SO important to know what the law canNOT do:

 The law CAN show us our hearts, but it canNOT  cleans and regenerate our hearts.

 The law CAN show us God’s perfect nature, but it canNOT make us like Christ.

 The law CAN show us the depths of our sin, but it canNOT make us grow spiritually.

I also spent some of my formative years as a child in a more legalistic church background and this is where we get into trouble. If we are not aware of what the law canNOT do, then we will drift toward legalism. Tullian sums it up with one great word: “Slavery.” When we try to make the law do what it canNOT do we make ourselves slaves.

I agree with Tullian that we can be so quick to enslaving ourselves to the law, even though we have been made free from the law (Romans 8). This produces so many problems in the believers’ life and I see it in the women I counsel or talk to all the time. It produces pride when things are going well and it produces despair when life is hard. But it NEVER produces the gospel-centered life we are called to.

Tullian says, “You will NEVER, EVER find rescue for your weary soul by going INWARD to yourself.” He goes on to say that we KNOW that we only get INTO heaven by God, but we act like to “stay in” we have to look to ourselves.  He gave a great example of Joel Osteen and Bob Jones. Bob Jones was the poster boy for Christian fundamentalism when I was a Christian and isn’t someone most Christians want to identify themselves with. Tullian talks about how they are BOTH equally legalistic, because BOTH of them are telling you one thing: do more, try harder. Of course, “one does it with a stick and one with a carrot”, but they both tell  you…come do more.

“To say the law does not change us, it does NOT reduce the place the LAW has in our life.”  The LAW is to show us the depths of our darkness. The law shows us that our greatest problem is not patience, but idolatry…not anger, but murder…not lust, but adultery. The “law shows us that our best is never good enough, it smashes our rose color glasses that we think of ourselves through….the law constantly reminds us how dependant we are on the gospel.”

Okay….I know this is getting to be a longer post, so I will try to wrap it up soon. ALL that is really good…how does this tie in with adoption? Just a few of my quick thoughts on how adoption ties this all together:

-Adoption SCREAMS of God’s grace… We are reminded in Romans 8:1 of the reality that we have “no condemnation” in Christ and then a few verses later we are told about some of the REALITIES of this work that Christ did for us (look back to Romans 7 to see what Paul was just talking about). So after we are told that Christ has done EVERYTHING for us to save us by grace, Paul shows us a fruit of that grace in Romans 8:14-17. We are told that we are given the spirit of adoption as sons of God! We are given the gift to be able to call God, “Abba Father!” We are told that we became heirs of Christ. All of Romans 8 wraps up with how NOTHING can separate us from God’s love.