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May 26, 2012

Home > 2011 > NovemberChristianity Today, November, 2011
Excerpt
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
Many who assume they understand the gospel fail to actually apply its riches to their lives.




Jesus + Nothing = Everything
Tullian Tchividjian
Crossway, 2011
224 pp., $11.49


In light of the gospel, let me especially demolish the myth that legalism is a blunder that's associated only with our initial salvation—with our positional justification in God's eyes. Most believers realize we could never earn such salvation; we've come to accept that no one can work his way into God's kingdom… .

But when it comes to our sanctification, suddenly we become legalists. In the matter of maturing in Christlikeness—and in continuing to please God and find favor with God and acceptance with God—we suppose it's all about what we have to accomplish ourselves and all the rules and standards and values we need to adhere to. We seem to inherently assume that our performance is what will finally determine whether our relationship with God is good or bad: so much good behavior from us generates so much affection from God, or so much bad behavior from us generates so much anger from God.

We get the Christian life all backwards. It subtly becomes all about us and what we do (which leads to slavery) instead of being all about Jesus and what he's done (which leads to freedom). We may not articulate all this theologically, but it sure comes out in the way we live.

By their behavior, legalists essentially are saying this: "I live the Christian life by the rules—rules that I establish for myself as well as those I expect others to abide by." They develop specific requirements of behavior beyond what the Bible teaches, and they make observance of those requirements the means by which they judge the acceptability of others in the church.

We've all become pretty adept at establishing these rules and standards that we find personally achievable. Legalism therefore provides us with a way to avoid acknowledging our deficiencies and our inabilities. That's enough right there to make it attractive to us. But it's also appealing to us in how it puffs us up, giving us the illusion … that we can do it—we can generate our own meaning, our own purpose, our own security, and all our other inmost needs. It's what Michael Horton pinpoints as "the default setting of the human heart: the religion of self-salvation."

It's all so attractive because it's all about us. Legalism feeds our natural pride. While abiding by our self-established standards and rules, we think pretty highly of ourselves …. And what's especially fine about being in charge of our situation (though we wouldn't admit it) is that it's a way to avoid Jesus.

Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.


Related Elsewhere:

Jesus + Nothing = Everything is available from ChristianBook.com and other book retailers.

Previous article related to Tullian Tchividjian include:

Tullian Tchividjian: Allow Your Critics to Teach You | The new pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church talks about the effort to remove him from the pulpit. (September 24, 2009)
Out of Step and Fine with It | Why Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of the Most Admired Man in America, thinks Christians need to become unfashionable. (May 5, 2009)

CT also has more music, movies, books, and other media reviews.





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Displaying 1–5 of 9 comments

abey

November 27, 2011  9:29am

Better said this way " You have the world, but do not have GOD then you have nothing, but have GOD & not the world then you have everything" .The bible can be understood in terms of 'Do not" with its fruit coming from "Did not". --- Indulgences.

Michael David

November 23, 2011  12:51pm

Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham. They are disciples of the self proclaimed apostle to the Gentiles! Me, I, mine, my gospel, Paul tells us he is all things to all people! J Who are you? The lost sheep Jesus came to save or... are you the goats that hears the other? One message tells us, about the hard path to the narrow gate... one the easy path to the glorious wide gate that is not hard to enter. Cheap grace? Costly grace? One tells us that the Commandments leads us to Life... one tells us the Commandments convicts us to death! Will you recognize what the two witnesses will witness to the world? I can tell you their testimony will be foreign to most Christians like it was foreign to the Pharisee! They will be hated just like Jesus was by the so called believers! I personally know Jesus, He is my Master, I personally know His Disciples for they are born from above as I am. Jesus is the perfect example, and His sheep hears His voice! Who are you?

Jay Lehman

November 22, 2011  10:54am

I agree with Pastor Tchividjian 100%. The answer for carnal Christianity is not more rules, it is embracing and living in the new nature that Christ gave us through the provisions of the New Covenant. We as a church are entirely too illiterate when it comes to understanding the new identity, new heart, new nature, new power, new Spirit, new purity, new disposition, new relationship with sin, and new everything that we have been given by Christ to live a holy life. You are no longer a slave to sin, not because you are trying harder than the next guy, but because the power over sin was given to believers at the cross. http://jaylehman.com/

immaccon

November 21, 2011  4:40pm

It is easy to lose track of the simple fact that we are here to sh ow o n e a no ther love ; to be each other’s support, each other’s shelter, each other’s refuge from the negativity of the world that we so often create ourselves. We are a creation of love, we have been saved by love, every new morning that we are allowed to greet, every smile from our children, every touch from our lover, every little bit of hope that remains in us is a product of the love of God and it is our responsibility, our honor, to share that love with others in the same way that God has shared it with us. Love is a dynamic thing; it cannot be still, it cannot be quiet. It must be expressed. A love locked away, limited, is fated to darken and wither like a plucked rose. It can survive for a while, retain its vibrancy, its color, its aroma, but once its cut off from its source of nourishment, its fate is set. Therefore, we are to cultivate it, nourish it daily and, most of all set it out before the world, for all to see its beauty. Christ died so that ALL may be saved, not just an acceptable percentage. However, what we must not do is to become so satisfied with our own salvation that we choose to coast towards eternity. That is not lo ve, it certainly is n o t indicative of someone filled with the spirit of God. His heart should be our heart; a heart that desires that all be saved. Love reaches out to all and not just to those we deem as worthy, love is tireless unto the end, it is hopeful even when there is no earthly reason to hope, it is a reason to praise even in the darkest of nights, it is a reason to look up when the whole world seems to be dragging us down. Love, when given, grows exponentially. The smallest seed can become a great abundance. This is our task: to plant the seed so that He may reap the harvest. Excepted from The Four Pillars of the Kingdom Available now on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.

Steve Orr

November 20, 2011  3:14pm

Thank you for this! Outstandingly good stuff.

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