“The Difference between Religion and the Gospel”

Acts 16:11-15; Ephesians 2:8-9

1. this past week I was listening to Issac Ropp & Big Suke on Prime Time driving home from work (sports talk radio). The topic of the hour was lying.

2. their bottom line – some lies can actually make life better (Big Suke – lies can make your marriage stronger); some lies are good; some lies are bad. Lies that upset them both – high profile baseball players lying about steroids.

3. within about 30 seconds it was obvious that they were setting their own standards for lying, for right & wrong.

4. every culture, every nation, every people recognize that there is good & evil in our world. Laws are passed, policies are created, regulations are established to ride herd on evil.

5. you do this, you get fired. Do this, you get 5 years in prison. Do this, you get grounded. Do this, I’ll divorce you. Do this, you’re on probation. Do this, you’ll be expelled from school. Do this, you’re sleeping on the couch.

6. the Bible has a name for this evil – sin. People universally believe in sin whether they call it that or not. Elaborate religious systems have been built to do battle with sin. Even atheists, people who don’t believe in God, believe in something like sin & are forced to confront it on their own terms.

the problem of sin
1. barbara brown taylor has written a fascinating little book entitled Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation.

2. according to taylor sin is our wrecked relationship with God, one another, and the whole created order. She quotes Simone Weil. ‘All sins are attempts to fill voids.’ Because we cannot stand the God-shaped hole inside of us, we try stuffing it full of all sorts of things, but only God my fill it.

3. sin is not just the breaking of divine rules (prohibitions against stealing, lying, adultery, murder, slander) but the making of good things into ultimate things – making something else more central to your significance, purpose, happiness than your relationship to God (Timothy Keller).

4. we stuff our God-shaped hole with a mixture of good & bad stuff – money, sex, power, success, recreation, career, family, ideology, toys, technology, friends, food, drink, drugs…you name it.

5. one form that sin takes is religion – I am going to be a good person and do good things.

the problem of religion
1. the problem of religion is self-salvation – I’m going to save myself through my personal virtue & good works –
® be a one-wife, one-husband spouse
® be there for my kids
® put my dirty dishes in the sink, better yet dishwasher
® hard worker at the office
® keep my yard mowed & car washed
® file a honest tax return
® cheer for America at the summer Olympics
® be a moderate drinker
® give money to the American Cancer Society
® going to join a church
® vote at every election
® try my best to keep my word
® recycle my paper, glass & plastic
® shop at local businesses
® be a generous tipper
2. religion says that God accepts me because of my efforts & virtue. I can earn God’s attention & favor.

3. in contrast to religion, Timothy Keller speaks of grace (gospel) – in Christ I know I am accepted by grace not only despite my flaws, but because I was willing to admit them. The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.

4. religion is what I do to earn God’s acceptance. Gospel is what Christ has done to earn me God’s acceptance.

5. now I’m ready to talk about the gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ) – I am accepted by God because of what Christ has done for me.

1 gospel story
Lydia (Acts 16:11-15)
1. Lydia is a good person. She prays. She worships God. She’s a successful business woman. But the God-shaped hole in her life is still empty of God. Religion wasn’t enough.

2. Paul shared the gospel. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. It’s at this point that she turned from religion to the gospel. It was no longer what she did to earn God’s favor. It was now what Jesus had done for her on the cross.

3. she was baptized as a sign of following Christ. The word baptize can mean dye like a cloth. She has been dipped into the grace, the salvation, the forgiveness of Christ & comes out a new person with a new outlook and a new destiny.

the difference-making grace (Ephesians 2:8-9)
1. for it is by grace that you have been saved. Grace – what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

2. and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation is God’s gift. We can’t create our own salvation no matter how hard we try, no matter how good we might be.

3. not by works so that no man can boast. Religion is based on works, moral performance, human righteousness. The gospel is based on grace, Christ’s sacrifice, Christ’s righteousness imparted to us.

what now?
1. our hope lies in what the bible calls repentance – confessing both the things we have done wrong (cheating, lying) & the things we have turned to other than God to find significance. To repent is to change the way we live.

2. next we believe in Christ. We trust in Christ & Christ alone for our salvation. Not our works but his grace. We believe 1st in who Christ said he was (Son of God, Savior of the world), 2nd that we need salvation, 3rd that on the Cross he secured our salvation, 4th that he rose from the dead.

3. part of what this leads to is baptism. Baptism is a picture of salvation, of how Christ has cleansed us of all our sin – past, present, future.

4. under the water is a picture of death – we have died to our sin in Christ. Rise up out of the water is a picture of life – we have risen to new life in Christ. Our destiny has been altered. We love Christ & because we love him we now obey his commands.

5. lloyd walsh, kim leekwai, kaihlie Dunlop, tucker Neiffer, bailey Neiffer, logan Pentico & mackenzie Pentico
have all said “yes” to Jesus as their Savior. Today they
follow him in baptism before all of us, their family & friends.

6. the difference between religion and the gospel is Jesus. If you desire to give you life to Christ today for salvation please pray this prayer along with me – Father God, my heart’s most fundamental trust has not been in you but in my own competence and decency. This has only gotten me into trouble. As far as I know my own heart, today I give it to you, I transfer my trust to you, and ask that you would receive and accept me not for anything I have done but because of everything Christ has done for me. amen.



Music i listened to while sermonizing – brian doerksen, u2, chris tomlin; willie nelson;

Books i read & studied while sermonizing – the eyes of the heart by frederick buechner; the reason for God by timothy keller; the road by cormac mccarthy; speaking of sin by Barbara brown taylor;