Gospel vs. The Law

Justin Taylor recently interviewed Tullian Tchividjian on the subject of the gospel vs. the Law. Here's my favorite bit.

Do you believe in the so-called “third use of the law”?
Yes. I’m a staunch believer in the three uses of the law (pedagogical, civil, and didactic). The law sends us to Christ for justification (the first use—which is correct), but some would also says that Christ sends us back to law for sanctification (a misunderstanding of the third use). In other words, there’s a common misunderstanding in the church that while the law cannot justify us, it can sanctify us—not true. In Romans 7 Paul is speaking as a justified, rescued, regenerated Christian and he’s saying, “The law doesn’t have the power to change me. The law guides but it does not give any power to do what it says.” So, I would caution people from concluding that the third use of the law implies that it has power to change you. To say the law has no power to change us in no way reduces its ongoing role in the life of the Christian. And it in no way minimizes the importance of the law’s third use. We just have to understand the precise role that it plays for us today: the law serves us by making us thankful for Jesus when we break it and serve us by showing how to love God and others.

You can read the whole thing here. Tullian stamps out a few central misconceptions about the use of the Law in the Christian life. Also, check out Tullian's book, Surprised by Grace, here.

The Gospel vs. Religion

-Tim Keller (via Justin Buzzard) from Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything

The Big Clean

The 2010 Mardi Gras was the first I had experience while living in the French Quarter. One of the typical ways that the success of Mardi Gras is judged is by the amount of trash it generates. According to USA Today,

From Friday to Fat Tuesday...SDT workers pick up 8,000 tons of trash in the French Quarter, Torres says. That's enough to fill three Olympic-size swimming pools. 

That's a lot of trash! And it is only the amount picked up in the Quarter. I got to experience it first hand while walking to work on ash Wednesday.

This is the trash being gathered on one street corner. 

These are the Bobcats gathering the trash.

Here are a few assumptions about the trash:

1. No one had a problem with throwing trash on the ground.
2. No one expected to be detained on fined for littering.
3. No one was out at 5 AM picking up their own trash from the night before.
4. Anyone who threw trash on the ground the night before would have been offended by the smell and sight of the trash if they went back to Bourbon the next day, and it had been left there.

Why am I telling you all this? Because the simple fact is that no one likes to clean up their own mess. We are offended by their sight and smell, but we do not want to be the ones to deal with them. The mess is our fault! We could have thrown the cup in the trash, but we did not. Yet, we are offended if the mess sticks around and makes our lives inconvenient. We would prefer for it to just go away in the middle of the night when we do not have to see it. But trash does not just vanish. Someone has to clean it up at a great cost.
This is not at all unlike our lives. We are humans, sinners by nature and by choice. By our own actions we make a mess out of our lives. We ought to do the right thing, but we do not. If our messes stick around too long we may even get offended. "You can't hold that against me! It happened so long ago. I was young and stupid," we may say indignantly, but the trash still remains on the street. At the end of the day, someone must bear the burden of the mess we have made.

Isaiah 53:3-6 states:

    He was despised and rejected by men;
        a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
        he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

    Surely he has borne our griefs
        and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
        smitten by God, and afflicted.
     But he was wounded for our transgressions;
        he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
        and with his stripes we are healed.
     All we like sheep have gone astray;
        we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the Lord has laid on him
        the iniquity of us all.
 (ESV)

Jesus is the garbage man who picked up the trash after Mardi Gras. But he's not only that. He stood in the place of the litterer. When people looked down upon you for irresponsibly throwing your trash on the ground, he took the scorn and shame and mockery of the crowd. He also paid the $500 fine for littering. And in the end he will be the mayor who receives all of the praise and the glory for keeping the city perfectly clean. You see, Jesus is the one who can remove the sin and shame in your life from the way that you have trashed it up. He can take a life that looks like Bourbon St. on Mardi Gras and make it look like Ash Wednesday. And he bears all that trash himself. He pays for the cleanup and the fine, and then does the cleanup himself.

The question now is, "Is Jesus the one I trust?" Am I looking for God to just forget about all the stinking trash in my life that I have put there? Am I looking for some other way to get the cleanup done? Muhammad can't help. Spiritualism can't help. Voodoo can't help. Paganism can't help. A church filled with rules can't help. Being a good guy can't help. Buddha can't help. Vishnu and Shiva can't help. Trying to fix it all yourself can't help. Jesus has the trash contract on human sin --paid for with his own blood. If you want to get right with God you come to Jesus. Any other way will leave you with a smelly life and a fine that is impossible to pay.