Fulfilling Biblical “requirements” does not make you extra Christian (just ask the Pharisees). You can’t be a “better” Christian than someone else. You might acknowledge your own poverty more and allow the Lord in your life more – but even that is a result of God’s mercy and grace and grants you no license to look down on other believers.
Unfortunately, the Honor Academy promotes an obsessive self-focus on your own integrity and honor as a means to “growth” and “maturity” instead of focusing on what God has done for us in Jesus. They heap lots of do’s and don’ts on the interns in assurance that these are the path to greater levels of Christianity. There is an obsessive need to be perfect. Dave Hasz has even said that “perfection is our goal.” This leads to a constant examining of ourselves – are we doing enough prayer, Bible study, good works, etc.? Are we pushing ourselves hard enough? Are we always being productive? Are we abstaining from sin, from the world, from negative thoughts or emotions? All of this spiritual sounding stuff is really just an obsession with self and it causes us to derive our sense of worth as a believer by how good we are at following the rules.
And nothing could be further from the Gospel.
Jared Wilson at the Gospel Driven Church has this to say:
God Sees Your Righteousness Because It Sits at His Right Hand
In my study time this morning I came across this fantastic excerpt from John Bunyan’s book Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and it really ministered to me.
One day as I was passing into the field, this sentence fell upon my soul: “Thy righteousness is in heaven.” And with the eyes of my soul I saw Jesus at the Father’s right hand. “There,” I said, “is my righteousness!” So that wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say to me, “Where is your righteousness?” For it is always right before him.
I saw that it is not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness IS Christ. Now my chains fell off indeed. My temptations fled away, and I lived sweetly at peace with God.
Now I could look from myself to him and could reckon that all my character was like the coins a rich man carries in his pocket when all his gold is safe in a trunk at home. Oh I saw that my gold was indeed in a trunk at home, in Christ my Lord. Now Christ was all: my righteousness, sanctification, redemption.
20 comments:
i’ve read this over and over again, and yet i just can’t seem to grasp it. i want to–i really, really want to–but it almost seems too good to be true.
this journey, right here–in discovering Christ through the layers of legalism, works-driven religion that i’ve been living for so long–promises to be a long, hard, messy road…but every journey begins with a single step.
h.: I could not have said it better myself.
Is this what scripture means when it promises “freedom in Christ”…?
h. – yes, I feel you there. The grace is SO amazing – how can it possibly be true? And yet, it is!
Stephanie – Yes! Yes! Yes!
Beautiful. Amen.
As useful as everything on this blog is, Christ’s righteousness on our behalf will bring a trillion times more freedom when it’s grasped than anything else ever can.
This also reminded me of something I had believed for a long time that set me up to be more accepting of the HA, and less able to really understand what ‘Christ, our righteousness’ meant.
In Matthew 5, Jesus says that he didn’t come to abolish the law or prophets, but to fulfill them. I was always taught that what he was saying was “I didn’t come to get rid of the law, I came to fill in the blanks.” Essentially, to ADD to the law. For example, he says “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
This idea of ‘fulfilling’ is partly true, but it isn’t the whole picture. For one, Jesus didn’t ADD to the law, he simply told their full meaning. These laws already meant exactly what he said, but God’s people had not taken them that way, as evidenced by the pharisees.
This was the big change for me: When Jesus says he came to fulfill the law, he is also saying that he himself has come to meet all of the law’s requirements perfectly on our behalf. This is said more explicitly in Romans 5 where Paul writes, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Adam sinned, and took all his children with him. Jesus, the second Adam, perfectly obeyed and took all his children with him!
I love the way my pastor puts it: Jesus didn’t just give us a clean slate, he gave us a beautiful one. Jesus was right when he said “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” And it does! Because Christ is our perfect righteousness.
Ben – totally agree with you. It is one thing to talk about what Jesus is NOT and a whole other thing to discover who He is! The rebuilding is alot more fun than the tearing down, though of course, both are necessary.
And I definitely see how your misunderstanding of that verse left you wide open to receive a works mentality. Praise God for freedom. I want more of it!
Ben, I love the way you put that… oh goodness have I been chewing on this post nonstop since you put it up, RA.
…
Okay, let me just say, that whenever I see “extra Christian”, I always think of Spongebob saying, “EXTRA PICKLES, lettuce, cheese, tomato and bun!”.
… I really hope I’m not the only one that sees that.
Wow- thank you, John Bunyan! I love that when he says, “…I lived sweetly at peace with God.” That’s how it’s supposed to be, not an over-evaluating wheel of self-effort. This is something to write home about!
Encouragement to h.: If it feels like fear, it’s not God. If it feels like pressure/burden, it’s not God. I could go on… but like Stephanie said, this is freedom. And freedom feels free.
-Joy G.
Upon reflection of the “constant examination of ourselves” to see how spiritual we are: I used to be afraid that if I stopped being so “on my toes” about my relationship with the Lord (i.e. obsession), I would slack off and not be as close to Jesus. Like if I don’t try a million percent I won’t have a good relationship with the Lord. Like a wife who works 24/7 to do every last thing she possibly can to maybe please her husband. Tireless, and not necessary. I was taking all the responsibility in my hands. (Hello- it’s a relationship, not a monologue.) All my other friendships seemed to reflect this pattern. It depended on me to carry out a healthy relationship. We forget that we’re in love with the most awesome Person ever, and believe it or not, He is way more committed to this relationship than we are. He invested every last ounce. He initiates, he continues, and he will complete. We can forget about Him, and He will still be knocking on our door. He’s got his eye on you… 😉
You are the desire of his heart.
-Joy G.
I attended TM during the 2004-2005 year and I still really struggle with perfectionism, something I don’t believe i struggled with prior to attending. It literally destroys my peace and what I find is that I am so anxious to make sure I am in right-standing with God that I forget He loves me and undermine the amazing concept of GRACE!
I have to say I am not convinced that HA is a cult. I definately believe it’s imperfect and that a lot of their core values are not biblically based (their often biblically twisted instead!). I was one of those weird people that really enjoyed ESOAL lol *but that may be because I grew up idolizing my Marine father and hearing stories about bootcamp*. I am greatful to HA for forcing me to read my bible each day. I really grew to know the word there and I grew to know Jesus better. Still, I wish the leadership itself were better about communicating the importance of GRACE. It is the capstone of our Christian faith: the fact that we NEED a Savior and cannot do anything on our own. The Honor Academy’s legacy for me is: “fix yourself, try harder, keep striving. One day God will look down and love you”.
I hope you all know how deeply God loves us. That love is all-encompassing and is able to heal us of any and all sorrows. Much love, M
Although a lot of this post is true it’s also infuriating how much this is used for carnal Christians to just do whatever the hell they want. “You can’t be extra Christian so why bother right?” WRONG you are to always strive to be more like Jesus regardless of what earthly reward you may or may not get because your doing it in response to your own realization of exactly how much Jesus gave up for your soul.
Sorry, anon. but the WORK is done by the Holy Spirit. Now we can make that choice to submit to the Holy Spirit or not, but the WORK is done in our lives by Christ through the Holy Spirit. In the case of the carnal Christian, even Paul the Apostle called them his brothers and sisters in Christ and encouraged and exhorted them to submit to the WORK of the Holy Spirit. When WE do things in our OWN WORKS we end up like TM- BOASTING IN OUR WORKS. Paul said the opposite- “We are saved by FAITH not by WORKS less any man should BOAST.”
Ephesians 2:8-10
New King James Version (NKJV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Also, Paul stated that it is was better to be weak and come to Christ with your weakness- meaning GIVE IT TO HIM, knowing you cannot solve it yourself.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
New King James Version (NKJV)
8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Also, We have a High Priest, who is an advocate for us. Who will give us what we need in the time of troubles (whatever they may be).
See, all we need to do is ask Him- thats it.
Hebrews 4:14-16
New King James Version (NKJV)
Our Compassionate High Priest
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Please anyone who is struggling here with their image of God because of TM- understand that this is the wrong image of God. God knew we could never arrive at perfection in this life, this is the reason He sent His Son Jesus Christ. If you are not saved all you have to do is believe in Christ and know that He did this for you a sinner. If you are saved, know that whatever you do does not ruin your standing with Christ- YOU are counted as righteous in His eyes! The ONLY way of living for Christ and doing what is righteous and good is to submit your sins to Him so that He DOES THE WORK, not you. It may take a day and it may take several years, but through prayer and reading His Word He will make you what He wants, not what some silly Christian organization wants.
“Unfortunately, the Honor Academy promotes an obsessive self-focus on your own integrity and honor as a means to “growth” and “maturity” instead of focusing on what God has done for us in Jesus. They heap lots of do’s and dont’s on the interns in assurance that these are the path to greater levels of Christianity. There is an obsessive need to be perfect. Dave Hasz has even said that “perfection is our goal.” This leads to a constant examining of ourselves – are we doing enough prayer, Bible study, good works, etc? Are we pushing ourselves hard enough? Are we always being productive? Are we abstaining from sin, from the world, from negative thoughts or emotions? All of this spiritual sounding stuff is really just an obsession with self and it causes us to derive our sense of worth as a believer by how good we are at following the rules.
And nothing could be further from the Gospel. ”
Alright I am going to pick this apart nice and slow like.
-“perfection is our goal.” 1 John 2:6- Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walks.
1 Corinthians 11:1- Be imitators of me, as I am Christ
there is a lot more, but as Christians is it not one of our goals to be as “Christlike” as possible? If Jesus wasn’t perfect then we shouldn’t strive to be, but he was the white lamb dudes! So even though we know we can’t be perfect we are suppose to try our hardest to be like he who was without sin
Just my 116 cents.. you guys are probably on that whole Lecrae in the alumanti band waggon
> “we are suppose to try our hardest to be like he who was without sin”
I wish you every kind of luck with that. Let me know how it works out for you.
Spoiler warning: Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
If by some chance you somehow don’t succeed at being completely without any sin or imperfection at all– including misspelling “illuminati”– then may I recommend something called God’s Grace instead. It’s given to those recognize they can’t be perfect.
Uhmmm… Christian you are taking someone out of the equation- the Holy Spirit. He is the One who conforms us into the liking of Christ- yes it is our choice to submit, but we do not lose our salvation because we did not reach that perfection. Let me ask you what are your thoughts like lately? Do you know that Christ said that even if you had a lustful thought you would be guilty of adultery? Why did Christ say that? Because He knew we could never reach perfection- that is why He died for us. Now do we need to strive to be like Christ? Absolutely!! But what the churches and ministries TEND to do is make it their mission to CREATE good little Christians when it is not their business to do so. Paul the apostle NEVER went into a church and promoted legalism to get Christians to be perfect Christians- He went in with love and truth and encouraged/exhorted Christians to follow the Holy Spirit. When a Christian follows the Holy Spirit they are bound to change- you have heard of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, right? These come because of submission to the work of Christ- HE DOES THE CHANGING!
I bring this up because over and over I have heard this about how Christians need to be this and Christians need to be that. And then guess what?- Christians try to change and then guess what? Christians fall. And then guess what? Christians get discouraged and fall into the sin of guilt (not conviction, but guilt)and shame or they start having a legalistic attitude towards others.
Jesus over and over came down on the Pharisees because of their legalism and because they had NO grace. True grace from Christ convicts us of our sin without the help of legalists. And I am not a person either to say just cover up sin either, but all these issues that have occurred with TM occur because the leadership ARE NOT heeding to the Holy Spirit and doing things in the Spirit of Christ. Why do I say this?- you just have to read the New Testament and see that this is how the church or any ministry should be conducted.
Listen I get that there is no way we can reach the standard of Christ. His life be like ————————————- (infinity symbol)
my life be like . (fail symbol)
but I still do my best everyday to -try- and be Christlike. To want to be on any other level -almost- sounds scandalous.
I do ask myself if I have talked to god enough today, and I feel guilty about when I mess up or have lusty thoughts. However I still am aiming for the path of Christ. Even though I keep hitting the trees on the side. 🙂
Christian,
It makes me sad to hear you say you accept that striving and failing and feeling guilty are the way being a believer in Jesus is supposed to be.
Christian– See, that’s just it. It’s impossible to count to infinity. For a bit of a mind bender, consider that no finite number is any closer to infinity than any other finite number. So if I genuinely try my best to count to infinity and I succeed in making it all the way to ten trillion, I’m still no closer to infinity than the person who gave up after forgetting what comes after 3. Compared to infinity, the very best try you can conceivably give has no measurable difference from zero.
That’s why the Bible says:
“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21, NIV)
If we could be like Jesus by trying our best to be like Jesus, we wouldn’t need Jesus except maybe as a good example. So why did Jesus have to die for us?
The answer is that the Gospel– the good news– is that Jesus saved us because we could never be like him even if we tried our best every day. We don’t need a good example to feel guilty about failing to follow. We need a Savior.
As my pastor once said: “The Gospel is the Good News, not the good advice. It’s the story of what God did, not something we have to do.”
“But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”(Romans 11:6, ESV)
See also: http://www.ericpazdziora.com/writing/just-as-you-received-christ/
Great response Eric!
Christian, do you love Jesus- i mean really love Jesus? Then that is half the battle and the rest of the battle is the Holy Spirits job. Christ just wants our hearts and love for Him- in doing so the Holy Spirit works. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are produced when we want Him.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
It even says in these verses that even with all these good works, faith, or prophecy, even die but you do not have love it profits you nothing. The Holy Spirit works good works in us when we love Him and others. This is how we end up being like Christ. I do not say this lightly, because I myself have to deal with my own sins and give them up to Christ. I just prayed about that today. But the Lord is gracious to us in our failings and convicts us -Not in guilt, but with real change.
There is a problem though, however, when other people feel the need to come in and claim that they will create a good Christian out of you- It is none of their d**m (sorry for the language, but I am tired of those who feel it is their duty to create Christians) business- they are NOT God. Now if they went in with the attitude that Paul did, who loved Christ so much he was willing to sacrifice himself for the church then we can listen. He loved the church and if you read the letters of the New Testament you can see the difference between TM and the NT Church.
Preach Truth68,
Love is the basis. We are the righteousness of Christ. He has redeemed us from the fall and we depend totally on his merit and not our own. There was nothing we could do to make us saved and there is nothing to do to keep us saved. Once we asked Christ into our hearts he came and is there forever and he’s completing the good work he started in us and we are sealed until the day of redemption. We were saved by grace not by works lest any man should boast!