mgpcpastor's blog

Albert Mohler on the danger of Bible loving churches giving the impression that all we’re about is people becoming better rule keepers.
It is a distressing experience for preachers to continuously preach salvation through Jesus Christ alone to what seem to be supportive congregations, but when asked for their testimony to have the same folk reply basically that they hope they’ve lived good enough lives to get into heaven.
Is it any wonder that people outside the church think that our mission is to make bad people good instead of our true mission, the proclamation of God’s saving power to make dead people alive.
This is also a problem when preachers and churches assume the Gospel and preach application and obedience without specifically referencing how it’s the saving work of Jesus that is primary to our lives, and our obedience and growth to become more like Jesus are the result of his work in us.

Excerpts:

…one of the most seductive false gospels is moralism. This false gospel can take many forms and can emerge from any number of political and cultural impulses. Nevertheless, the basic structure of moralism comes down to this — the belief that the Gospel can be reduced to improvements in behavior.
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The seduction of moralism is the essence of its power. We are so easily seduced into believing that we actually can gain all the approval we need by our behavior. Of course, in order to participate in this seduction, we must negotiate a moral code that defines acceptable behavior with innumerable loopholes. Most moralists would not claim to be without sin, but merely beyond scandal. That is considered sufficient.
Moralists can be categorized as both liberal and conservative. In each case, a specific set of moral concerns frames the moral expectation. As a generalization, it is often true that liberals focus on a set of moral expectations related to social ethics while conservatives tend to focus on personal ethics. The essence of moralism is apparent in both — the belief that we can achieve righteousness by means of proper behavior.
The theological temptation of moralism is one many Christians and churches find it difficult to resist. The danger is that the church will communicate by both direct and indirect means that what God expects of fallen humanity is moral improvement. In so doing, the church subverts the Gospel and communicates a false gospel to a fallen world.
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The deadly danger of moralism has been a constant temptation to the church and an ever-convenient substitute for the Gospel. Clearly, millions of our neighbors believe that moralism is our message. Nothing less than the boldest preaching of the Gospel will suffice to correct this impression and to lead sinners to salvation in Christ.

Read the whole post here.