Tuesday, November 23, 2004

What About Christian Faith and Moral Values?

Contrary to what gets said these days, Christian faith is not primarily about morality. It's about having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ!

You may remember that the Pharisees in Jesus' day conceived of faith as being about morality. Jesus regularly upbraided them for that. (If you don't believe me, read any one of the four Gospels---Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John---in the Bible's New Testament.)

Morality is to be an outgrowth of our relationship with God. Followers of Christ seek the power of God to live moral lives as a response to God's unconditional love, offered through Christ.

When we have a relationship with God, He gives us both the desire and the ability to (imperfectly) follow His will. (I say imperfectly because even Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and the Virgin Mary have been sinners saved not because they were good people, but because they believed in Jesus Christ. Christians sin. That's why we need to live in what Martin Luther called "daily repentance and renewal.")

When our relationship with God is non-existent, we are left to our own devices. The result is poor relationships not only with God, but also with ourselves and others, and the commitment of sins.


Even the Ten Commandments begin with relationship and not rules. At the outset, God says, "I am the Lord, your God." That is a word of promise. God is saying, "No matter what, I am your God. I will never desert you. You may leave me. You may decide not to have Me in your life. But I will stay with you. You can always turn to Me and I will always hear." Then, God turns to the commandments themselves, saying, in effect, "Now, here's how life is best lived."

The faith of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible is the only one in the world that doesn't say you must perform these actions to attain holiness, a place with God, higher perfection, or whatever. The faith of the Bible finds God reaching out to pull us up to Him because of His love for us. Through Christ, God performs with perfect holiness and then, accepts the death punishment we deserve for our sins.

The key to America being a moral nation is not in electing political candidates who will pass coercive laws that reflect particular brands of Christian morality or whose "moral values" encompass only a portion of the total package of what the Bible says is moral. Rather, America will be moral when Christians, empowered by God's Holy Spirit, lovingly and respectfully share the Good News of Jesus with others and live the love of God and neighbor to which Jesus calls us. That, according to the Bible is the only method God uses to morally transform people and nations.

The center of Christian faith is Jesus. Period. Until we Christians learn to live and share Jesus and the Good News of how He changes us from the inside out, America's moral squalor will continue to grow...no matter who is in the White House. Our call is to have faith in God, not in any political ideology or system of morality.

To be simplitic about it: Relationship, yes; religion, no. Love, yes; legalism no. Christ, yes; coercion, no.

I strongly recommend that you read the series on faith and moral values being written by Pastor Craig Williams. He says far more capably and knowledgeably what I have tried to write here.

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