Astonishing Grace, Week 3: Religion and Gospel

Astonishing Grace: studies on Gospel centered worship leadership

INTRODUCTION WEEK 3: Religion verses Gospel

READ: Philippians 3:7-11

ASK:
1. How would you define a religion? By that definition is Christianity a religion?

2. In what ways can ‘religion’ be harmful?

3. What is the difference that the gospel invites us to?

REFLECT:

RELIGION, noun: A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. A cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

GOSPEL, noun: The message concerning Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation. One of the first four New Testament books that tell of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Something accepted or promoted as infallible truth or as a guiding principle or doctrine.

“Religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you are accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
-Tim Keller

Keller’s distinction between religion and gospel is essential as we understand how to be centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ in our worship leading and daily lives. Religion ultimately has a selfish goal….to make sure I am right by God so I can be blessed and in God’s favor. This often leads us to:

- A sense of superiority because of our good works or our religiousness
- Anger, frustration, or despair when our life doesn’t go well. We think that frustrating or bad events in our lives occur because a.) God is punishing us, b.) we have not been good enough, or c.) we feel God owes us something for being religious).
- An inability to take criticism: when criticized we either attack back or are demoralized.
- A lack of intimacy or joy in our prayer life.
- A marked lack of joy and thankfulness in our religious observances (our services and personal worship focuses more on judgments than Christ).

In all of these attributes we see a marked lack of joy, gratitude, thankfulness, love, truth, or goodness. That is why Paul says: “for (Christ’s) sake I have lost all things, I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.” Religion promotes this “righteousness of our own” that leads to selfishness, judgment, and frustration. But in Christ we have a relationship that leads to freedom and joy. Religion promotes the attitude: “I obey therefore I am accepted” while the gospel gives the radical, world changing message of ‘I am accepted, therefore I obey.”

So often we confuse this order, thinking that Christianity is primarily about obeying God’s laws, so that maybe we will be deemed worthy and be saved someday. This kind of religiosity is what Paul writes is ‘rubbish’. It only leads us to self-righteousness and self-centeredness, which is ultimately bondage. The message of the gospel though is one of ASTONISHING GRACE; that we are accepted and freed from sin and death, that Christ has died for our pasts, present, and our futures and all you need to do is say YES.

So our main goal in leading worship is to lead people to the gospel message. We ultimately want people to know the message, experience the grace and love of God in their own lives, and share it with their families, co-workers, church community, and the world around them. We can only share this though as we have experienced it and experience it ourselves. So, a couple questions for us to think about in closing:

1. Do you believe that you are accepted by God by sheer grace through the work of Christ regardless of anything you do or have done or could do?
2. Do you functionally live what you believe?

“It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is: are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in god’s presence, to listen to God’s voice, to look at God’s beauty, and to touch God’s incarnate Word and to taste fully God’s infinite goodness?”
– Henri Nouwen, In The Name of Jesus

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES (to read throughout the week):
John 1:14-18, Romans 3:21-26, Galatians 1:6-10, 2 Timothy 1:6-12, Hebrews 4:12-16, 1 Peter 1:13-16