Why justification by faith is not just about the salvation of souls…

Commenting on the state of sermons coming from contemporary pulpits is a risky business—especially if you’re not part of the preaching guild.

Like lots of people in the pews, many pastors have theoretical commitments to doctrines that never get worked out for the realm of everyday life.  Does the Incarnation have anything to teach us about the importance of the material world?  Or about the importance of the human body?  Are there things to be learned about community from a close study of the doctrine of the Trinity?  And justification by faith alone—is it solely about the standing of saved sinners before a holy and gracious God?

In two places recently, Pastor Tim Keller offers help in making the connection between doctrine and everyday life. 

First, he discusses the traditional three-part structure of sermons in a blog post, “Preaching that Cuts to the Heart.”  Keller is a bit critical of this structure, which is often summarized as “preach the text, preach Christ, and preach to the heart.”  He thinks that “each aspect contains more than these traditional categories might imply.”  And, of course, a critical part of this equation is how we define “heart.”

Remember that according to the Bible, the heart is not primarily the emotions but rather the seat of our fundamental commitments and trusts, and therefore it is the control center of the whole life. So to preach to the heart means to go right for the commanding commitments of people’s lives that drive their desires, thinking, feeling, and action.

Second, in his recent book, Center Church, Keller shows how Christian fellowship is “grounded solidly in the gospel of justification by faith.”  He begins his discussion with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together:

The Reformers expressed it this way: Our righteousness is an “alien righteousness,” a righteousness that comes from outside of us. … God permits [Christians] to meet together and gives them community. Their fellowship is founded solely upon Jesus Christ and this “alien righteousness.” All we can say, therefore, is: the community of Christians springs solely from the Biblical and Reformation message of the justification of man through grace alone; this alone is the basis of the longing of Christians for one another. … Without Christ we … would not know our brother, nor could we come to him.  The way is blocked by our own ego.

Keller then draws out some of the implications of justification for “people’s lives” in a short section entitled “Gospel and Community” (Center Church, pp. 318-321).

Our natural condition under sin is to be “glory empty”–starved for significance, honor, and a sense of worth. Sin makes us feel superior and overconfident (because we are trying to prove to ourselves and others that we are significant) and inferior and underconfident (because at a deep level we feel guilty and insecure). Some people’s glory emptiness primarily takes the form of bravado and evident pride; for others, it takes the form of self-deprecation and self-loathing. Most of us are wracked by both impulses. Either way, until the gospel changes us, we will use people in relationships. We do not work for the sake of the work; we do not relate for the sake of the person. Rather, we work and relate to bolster our own self-image–to derive it, essentially, from others.  Bonhoeffer reminds us that the way to transparency, love, and mutual service is “blocked by our own ego.”

But when the gospel changes us, we can begin to relate to others for their sakes. It humbles us before anyone, telling us we are sinners saved only by grace. But it also emboldens us before anyone, telling us we are loved and honored by the only eyes in the universe that really count. So we are set free to enjoy people for who they are in themselves, not for how they make us feel about ourselves. Our self-image is no longer based on comparisons with others (Gal. 5:26; 6:3-5). We do not earn our worth through approval from people or through power over people. We are not overly dependent on the approval of others; nor, on the other hand, are we afraid of commitment and connection to others. The gospel makes us neither self-confident nor self-disdaining but gives us boldness and humility that can increase together. …

In Christ, we have both spiritually died and been raised to new life (Rom. 6:4; Eph. 2:1-6).  And because of this common experience of rescue, we now share and identity marker even more indelible than the ties that bind us to our family, our race, or our culture. …

Community is more than just the result of the preaching of the gospel.  It is the demonstration of the good news of freedom in Christ through the evident display of our transformed character and our life together.  It is itself part of the good news, for the good news is this:  This is what Christ has won for you on the cross—a new life together with the people of God.  Once you were alienated from others, but now you have been brought near.

Theology is about life—preaching must “cut to the heart” as it forms the “commanding commitments” that drive our desires, our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions.  The example Keller draws from Dietrich Bonhoeffer bears extended reflection as it rightly expands our understanding of justification.

[T]he community of Christians springs solely from the Biblical and Reformation message of the justification of man through grace alone; this alone is the basis of the longing of Christians for one another.

The Bonhoeffer example also challenges us to think more broadly about other doctrines.  Does the Incarnation have anything to teach us about the importance of the material world?  Or about the importance of the human body?  Are there things to be learned about community from a close study of the doctrine of the Trinity?