Topic: Trusting in God or Trusting in Moralism?
Philippians 3:9-11
“I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ – God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in no the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.”
Luke 9:24
“Then he [Jesus] told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat – I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I‘ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, the true self.’”
As Charles Yue taught in my Broadening Your Biblical Horizons class, it is a choice to follow Christ, with a willingness to suffer or a choice to follow our own way in willfulness. The result of following our own way is hurting ourselves which brings a hardening of our hearts towards God and has an eventual outcome of bitterness. The result of following Christ is suffering out of love, choosing to endure pain, which brings a softening of our hearts towards God and has an eventual outcome of brokenness.
Jer 21:8, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
As Eugene Peterson writes in his book Leap Over A Wall, “Moralism is death on spirituality. Moralism is the approach that puts all the emphasis on our performance. It operates out of a conviction that there’s a clear-cut right that we’re capable of discerning, choosing, and carrying out in every and all circumstances. It puts the entire burden of our spirituality on what we do. God is marginalized. And it crushes our spirits. There is no mercy in it.”
On May 25th, Oswald Chambers writes in his book My Utmost for His Highest, “the greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.” He goes on to say, “Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us.
We can think that we know the way we should go based upon our understanding of what we are supposed to look like as Christians. It is easy to start following rules of behavior and codes of conduct based on what is expected from us as Christians. We can also have preconceived notions and beliefs about where we think God should be taking us. (Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.) Instead of following Christ, in this case we are following our own moralism, self will, emotions and/or others expectations of our behaviors while deceiving ourselves into believing that we are following God.
Prov 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
On May 28th, Oswald Chambers writes, “If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in our mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature- that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one.”
Oswald Chambers goes on to write in his June 1st entry that we should never forge ahead with our religious common sense and think that if we just do more of something, it will take care of our problem. As he mentions, “It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God."
Psalm 147:7-11 (NLT)
Sing out your thanks to the Lord;
sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
provides rain for the earth,
and makes the green grass grow in mountain pastures.
He feeds the wild animals,
and the young ravens cry to him for food.
The strength of a horse does not impress him;
how puny in his sight is the strength of a man.
Rather, the Lord's delight is in those who honor him,
those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
So where am I going with all of this and what can I learn?
I struggle with making choices out of “religious common sense” rather than truly following what Christ is speaking to me. I sometimes mistake “Christian choices” as following the will of God. I allow my preconceived notions of what is right, just, fair or the Christian thing to do interfere with making a choice that is following God. I also allow my own expectations of the future determine my choices, having preconceived notions about where it is God is leading me. I go on with my own choices, thinking that I am following God’s will when I am really in self will. I also make decisions out of guilt or responsibility and think that I am following God when, in actuality, I am following my own expectations of myself and not God’s expectations. In all of these cases I am striving (rather than resting) and not really listening to or trusting in God.
Making “right” choices cannot come from a formula of what is right or wrong in the situation and presumption but they need to flow out of my relationship with Christ. The fruit of making “right” choices out of moralism is self-righteousness rather than brokenness. Brokenness comes from truly surrendering your will to the will of God and being willing to embrace obedience in humility.1 It does not have concern for self or being “right” as the center but it has Christ as the center.
Making choices that are truly following God come from oneness, dependence and reliance on God. They are a result of trusting in and fearing the Lord, surrendering my will completely to his, and allowing Him to direct my path. Oswald Chambers on May 28th talks about coming into “total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God.”
He goes on to challenge readers on May 30th, “Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back?”
I would probably have to say a resounding “Yes” to this – More than likely, I would hold back and think it is not God if it did not go along with my common sense. More often than not, when I hear from God, I filter if I am really hearing from Him based upon my common sense and religious expectations. If it does not fit with this reality, I disregard it as not really being God.
However, Proverbs 3:5-7 says that I should, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
It is my trust that God desires from me and not my performance. I need to learn to greater rely on my relationship with Christ and trust in Him rather than performing for him out of my religious expectations of what he wants from me.
Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Sprit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
As Life Application Study Bible Commentary notes about this passage, every aspect of our lives need to be submitted to God – emotional, physical, social, intellectual, and vocational. I need to submit every aspect of myself, including my thoughts, common sense, and preconceived expectations to Christ, being willing to let him direct and correct them as He desires.
I need to follow the One who is right, rather than what I believe is right for the situation. Following God requires trust and a willingness to follow when you are uncertain where He is leading. This is where I have been faltering the greatest. I have not wanted to step out in faith and trust. Preferring to stay in my comfort zone where I feel safe, I am making the best “right” decisions for myself.
1 Yue, Charles. Broadening Your Biblical Horizons. Village Schools of the Bible. 2007.
“I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ – God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in no the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.”
Luke 9:24
“Then he [Jesus] told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat – I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I‘ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, the true self.’”
As Charles Yue taught in my Broadening Your Biblical Horizons class, it is a choice to follow Christ, with a willingness to suffer or a choice to follow our own way in willfulness. The result of following our own way is hurting ourselves which brings a hardening of our hearts towards God and has an eventual outcome of bitterness. The result of following Christ is suffering out of love, choosing to endure pain, which brings a softening of our hearts towards God and has an eventual outcome of brokenness.
Jer 21:8, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
As Eugene Peterson writes in his book Leap Over A Wall, “Moralism is death on spirituality. Moralism is the approach that puts all the emphasis on our performance. It operates out of a conviction that there’s a clear-cut right that we’re capable of discerning, choosing, and carrying out in every and all circumstances. It puts the entire burden of our spirituality on what we do. God is marginalized. And it crushes our spirits. There is no mercy in it.”
On May 25th, Oswald Chambers writes in his book My Utmost for His Highest, “the greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.” He goes on to say, “Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us.
We can think that we know the way we should go based upon our understanding of what we are supposed to look like as Christians. It is easy to start following rules of behavior and codes of conduct based on what is expected from us as Christians. We can also have preconceived notions and beliefs about where we think God should be taking us. (Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.) Instead of following Christ, in this case we are following our own moralism, self will, emotions and/or others expectations of our behaviors while deceiving ourselves into believing that we are following God.
Prov 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
On May 28th, Oswald Chambers writes, “If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in our mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature- that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one.”
Oswald Chambers goes on to write in his June 1st entry that we should never forge ahead with our religious common sense and think that if we just do more of something, it will take care of our problem. As he mentions, “It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God."
Psalm 147:7-11 (NLT)
Sing out your thanks to the Lord;
sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
provides rain for the earth,
and makes the green grass grow in mountain pastures.
He feeds the wild animals,
and the young ravens cry to him for food.
The strength of a horse does not impress him;
how puny in his sight is the strength of a man.
Rather, the Lord's delight is in those who honor him,
those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
So where am I going with all of this and what can I learn?
I struggle with making choices out of “religious common sense” rather than truly following what Christ is speaking to me. I sometimes mistake “Christian choices” as following the will of God. I allow my preconceived notions of what is right, just, fair or the Christian thing to do interfere with making a choice that is following God. I also allow my own expectations of the future determine my choices, having preconceived notions about where it is God is leading me. I go on with my own choices, thinking that I am following God’s will when I am really in self will. I also make decisions out of guilt or responsibility and think that I am following God when, in actuality, I am following my own expectations of myself and not God’s expectations. In all of these cases I am striving (rather than resting) and not really listening to or trusting in God.
Making “right” choices cannot come from a formula of what is right or wrong in the situation and presumption but they need to flow out of my relationship with Christ. The fruit of making “right” choices out of moralism is self-righteousness rather than brokenness. Brokenness comes from truly surrendering your will to the will of God and being willing to embrace obedience in humility.1 It does not have concern for self or being “right” as the center but it has Christ as the center.
Making choices that are truly following God come from oneness, dependence and reliance on God. They are a result of trusting in and fearing the Lord, surrendering my will completely to his, and allowing Him to direct my path. Oswald Chambers on May 28th talks about coming into “total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God.”
He goes on to challenge readers on May 30th, “Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back?”
I would probably have to say a resounding “Yes” to this – More than likely, I would hold back and think it is not God if it did not go along with my common sense. More often than not, when I hear from God, I filter if I am really hearing from Him based upon my common sense and religious expectations. If it does not fit with this reality, I disregard it as not really being God.
However, Proverbs 3:5-7 says that I should, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
It is my trust that God desires from me and not my performance. I need to learn to greater rely on my relationship with Christ and trust in Him rather than performing for him out of my religious expectations of what he wants from me.
Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Sprit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
As Life Application Study Bible Commentary notes about this passage, every aspect of our lives need to be submitted to God – emotional, physical, social, intellectual, and vocational. I need to submit every aspect of myself, including my thoughts, common sense, and preconceived expectations to Christ, being willing to let him direct and correct them as He desires.
I need to follow the One who is right, rather than what I believe is right for the situation. Following God requires trust and a willingness to follow when you are uncertain where He is leading. This is where I have been faltering the greatest. I have not wanted to step out in faith and trust. Preferring to stay in my comfort zone where I feel safe, I am making the best “right” decisions for myself.
1 Yue, Charles. Broadening Your Biblical Horizons. Village Schools of the Bible. 2007.
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