Focusing on people and their deeds, and not on what God says and does

I'm enjoying [along with John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World and David Wells's Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ in a Postmodern World] a book by Graeme Goldsworthy entitled Prayer and the Knowledge of God: What the whole Bible Teaches [2003].

Goldsworthy mentions that a popular strategy for teaching prayer is the “exemplary approach” [Jesus got up before sunrise to pray, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and C.H. Spurgeon all regarded two hours of prayer a day as normal]. Rather than encouraging us, the “exemplary approach” often does quite the opposite. It makes us want to give up completely.

The danger of the exemplary approach "is that it focuses on people and their deeds, and not what God says and does." This, of course, is a grave danger of the church growth movement where growth, rather than the fruit of what Christ has done for us in Christ, becomes confused with the vine or becomes the focus of why the church is successful.

So the modern evangelical church is quite like the medieval Roman Catholic Church in that sanctification [personal holiness or deeds and exploits] becomes the ground for justification [right standing with God or the basis of approval]. This is legalism which Goldsworthy describes as "the attempt to achieve righteousness by our own efforts in fulfilling the requirements of God."

Goldsworthy mentions that Jesus did not come primarily to set an example: "It was first of all a matter of believing in him as the unique fulfiller of the Old Testament prophecies of the Christ, the Savior who was to come to do for them what they were powerless to do for themselves.”

Goldsworthy’s answer is to "keep reminding ourselves of what God has done for us as the central focus of the Bible. It is true that the Bible contains many commands and exhortations to Christian behavior. However when a biblical text dealing with the things we ought to do is appropriated apart from its wider context of the good news that God has first acted for us, legalism will begin to manifest itself."

I’m curious to know what you are reading. Let's talk. By the way, and excellent blog to connect with is Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds: A Mix of Theology, Philosophy, Politics, and Culture http://theologica.blogspot.com/ Justin is the executive director of Desiring God Ministries. I’m excited that tomorrow we’ll be seated around the Lord’s Table. Pray that we'll be hungry and thirsty for heavenly food and drink.

Pastor David