Riffs: 11:23:09: Required Behavior Modification and the Gospel
from internetmonk.com by iMonk

man-praying-aloneLike any and all Riffs, these are simply some of my thoughts inspired by other posts and discussions. Not a throw down, etc.

This morning at evangel, Joe Carter voiced some of his frustration at the way the “law/Gospel” distinction sounds to his ears. I’ve wrestled with this myself on this site. Then, in the comments, Carter responded to Jared Wilson- and quoted him- in regard to the relation of the Gospel and sanctification, which he described as “behavior change.” (Quote follows)

Indeed, you did and I think you did a good job. But I also think you added in some stuff that leads to the very problem I’m referring to. For example:

Then, why, for the love of God, do we preach all manner of behavior modification, none of which could save a single one of us, when only the gospel saves.

You seem to be implying that “behavior modification” (i.e., sanctification) is not important. Now I know that this is not what you are saying. But how should other people who may think this statement is to be taken quite literally, be expected to respond? You are creating what could be considered a false dichotomy. Yes, only the gospel saves. But does that mean that Christians are not required to modify their behavior?

When I read this comment this morning, I immediately returned in my mind to my last visit to a church near me, a church I often attend when I am not preaching elsewhere. One thing about this church is predictable: I will hear about the necessity that my behavior must change. I must attend church more. I must do more church-related work. I must give more and witness more (and this despite that I am a full time missionary teacher working with mostly non-Christian teenagers.) I must support the church more. It is a constant example of the “church shaped spirituality” you’ll be hearing about in my book. Everything is about behavior. Behavior that must change. What I must feel. What God requires of me.

When I leave I am, literally, beaten down. The Gospel is a past tense matter and its time to get down to “application.” (Not a bad thing, but something that requires careful gardening.) The over-riding present tense concern is behavior, and I feel it. My behavior is not what the preacher believes it ought to be. And will I hear the “comfortable words” of the Gospel? Unlikely. Somewhere in the relationship between the evangel we proclaim, the offer to the broken and the demands of behavior change we make of the saved, there has been a disconnect. Readers of this site know this language. It is what, as I will say this fall, drives thousands of people away from the church for the sake of their own integrity to the gracious message of Jesus.

We’re on dangerous ground here, friends. Getting the Gospel of justification- a glad announcement of Good News- balanced with reality of Spirit-produced, Jesus-shaped “behavior” change is not just a matter of lining up arguments. It’s a matter of despair or confident assurance in God’s love. Say “required behavior modification,” and I am on the verge of despair, as are many, many others whose journey through evangelicalism has left them hungry for a place to stop and say “Here I know that God loves me, now, with no demands at all.” If you don’t think the sacramental presence view of the eucharist doesn’t touch many of us deeply at that point, you aren’t paying attention.

Why dangerous ground? Because we are talking about two hearts: the heart of the Gospel and the heart of every believer, that heart from which all true Gospel produced, God honoring, Jesus shaped change must flow. Behavior change is small change in the Kingdom if it is not a living garden growing out of soil saturated with the blood and body of Christ.

In my own journey to understand and clarify these issues, there are two resources I have linked more than any other in my blogging since the year 2000.

The first is an address by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt on “Reclaiming the Doctrine of Justification.” It’s in the Modern Reformation archive and should be regular reading for every Christian. In plain language, Dr. Rosenbladt explains the difference between the “law” and the “Gospel.”

Let me assure you this is life-changing help for the Christian who has been told that the Gospel includes “behavior change. The Gospel is an announcement that God has done, in Jesus, all things necessary for our salvation. The announcement has implications for behavior, but the word “required” is not there. The closest thing the Gospel has to a requirement would be the same requirement a drowning man has in stopping trying to swim and stopping resisting the lifeguard and simply resting.

Often, if someone is dying, we say he is “entirely in God’s hands.” This is not just a pastoral expression. It’s the essence of understanding the position of reformation faith. We rest. We stop. We are not involved in required works or required behavior change. We are, hopefully, deeply involved in lives that are in union with Christ and will bear fruit in ways that may be appreciated by others or that are measurable or ways that only God can see.

The second resource is J.C. Ryle’s little essay on The Difference Between Justification and Sanctification. Now some of you may find some statements from Ryle in this article that sound as if he is giving sanctification a place I would not, but a close reading of Ryle will make several things clear:

1) justification and sanctification are separate and not to be confused. 2) Both flow from the same faith resting entirely on Christ. 3) Sanctification is NEVER such a pressing matter that our salvation is cast into question because of our lack of progress in it. 4) The “necessity” of sanctification isn’t a necessity to justification, but a promise that one does flow and grow from the other. So a very imperfectly sanctified man who places his hope in Christ’s righteousness, not in his own, is by Ryle’s understanding “fit for heaven,” not by his works or efforts, but by Christ, through a faith more practiced and much deepened through the battles of sanctification.

The real concern for me is when connections to the Gospel are replaced by the sort of evangelical shorthand that sounds remarkably similar to certain smiling prosperity preachers. Calling sanctification “behavior change” is like calling marriage “washing dishes.” Saying Christians are “required” to modify their behavior turns something that is driven by a mighty and powerful promise- being dead to sin and alive to God- into the category of a “requirement.”

The Christian life is, as someone has called it, “The Promise Driven Life,” not the requirement driven life. The “requirements” of the law- Paul’s word, not mine- do one thing: they kill us. Change, whether in behavior, motivation or any other area of the Christian life, comes by faith in Christ and living communion with Christ in the new creation.

Evangelicals rightly pause at Roman Catholic ideas that grace enables us to do good works, which all adds up to faith. The RC system conflates justification and sanctification without flinching. Would that a few more evangelicals would flinch when our discussion of “behavior change” and the “requirement to modify behavior” begin sounding like the Reformation distinctives are merely semantics.

These aren’t simple issues and Christians reading this site have considered them many times over. Before I close let me mention that hundreds of IM readers have been encouraged in this area by a simple mp3 from New Reformation Press, The Gospel for Those Broken By The Church. If you have never listened to this presentation, purchase it and do so. It will be a real help to you on these issues.