Repenting Of Our Good Works

The Gospel Coalition ^ | Tullian Tchividjian

[Gamecock]

Consider these sobering thoughts from Tim Keller (The Prodigal God) on the need to repent, not simply of our unrighteousness, but our righteousness also:

What must we do, then, to be saved? To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother. To truly become a Christian we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right. Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too. We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness – the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord. We must admit that we’ve put our ultimate hope in both our wrongdoing and right doing we have been seeking to get around God or get control of God in order to get hold of those things.

It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord—lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness—that you are on the verge of becoming a Christian indeed. When you realize that the antidote to being bad is not just being good, you are on the brink. If you follow through, it will change everything—how you relate to God, self, others, the world, your work, you sins, your virtue. It’s called the new birth because its so radical”

[Gamecock]

[delacoert]

Thanks for the post. Looks like I need to get a copy of this one. Have you read it?

[AnalogReigns]

Good stuff. Truly.

I just hope the PCA won’t try to discipline Keller for tolerating theistic evolution...

[Gamecock]

Yup. A good read.

[Bamanot]

Addendum to the above post: Mistake --it is not confession of Christ which is humiliating but this stuff about publicly confessing sins. I've seen this done a handful of times and find it VERY, VERY unsavory. (pssst...Masturbation always seems to be the sin the confessor hints about; and now he vows never to do it again).

But it is like the congregation is invited by the pastor to become voyeurs or busy bodies for a few minutes. Tonight, instead of a good exposition, we're going to find out how John fantasized about Angelina Jolie.

But it is just one more item/ritual on the list which Lordship teachers add to Grace.

Really, the Lord should not have mentioned the brass serpent to Nicodemus. A simple look was the cure in that instance. That is way too simple. Why even a child could do that!

[Gamecock]

Well we see the Pharisees who did a pretty good job of following the law and being quite proud of their accomplishments. Where did that get them?

[Bamanot]

I was being sarcastic in my post. I wasn’t attacking grace; I was saying that we keep adding to it with this and that. In the end, it is no longer recognizable.