Are You Adding to the Gospel Now That You're Saved?

From Ed Stetzer's interview with Tullian Tchividjian, Pastor at Coral Ridge and author of Jesus + Nothing = Everything...

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Ed Stetzer:  You talk about how Christians like to add to the Gospel ("Christianity and ..."). What does it mean to add to the Gospel?

Tullian T:  Protestants have always embraced that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone--that our good works don't save us or merit favor with God. But once we're saved, we fall into the trap of adding a lot of things to the gospel. It's always Jesus + Something = Everything.

Remember C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. As the high-ranking demon Screwtape trains his protégé Wormwood in satanic strategies against Christians, he discusses how (in Screwtape's words) "to keep them in the state of mind I call 'Christianity And.'" Screwtape gives a few examples (reflecting some fads from Lewis's time, the mid-twentieth century): "Christianity and the New Psychology, Christianity and the New Order, Christianity and Faith Healing," and even "Christianity and Vegetarianism." These were all various manifestations of the urgent, Devil-fostered temptation believers face to add something else to Jesus and the gospel--all because of those deficiencies we sense in our own experience.

Today, Screwtape's list would doubtless look different. The currently tempting formulas might include "Christianity and success," "Christianity and self-affirmation," "Christianity and self-improvement," "Christianity and personal progress," or "Christianity and spiritual formation." There's a host of causes that might crop up: "Christianity and environmentalism," "Christianity and home schooling," "Christianity and social justice," "Christianity and diversity and tolerance," not to mention an abundance of "Christianity and political action" variations--liberal, conservative, libertarian, hope-and-change, take-back-America, whatever.

Besides those, there are plenty of extras that have timeless appeal for any and all generations: "Christianity and popularity," "Christianity and power," "Christianity and social status," "Christianity and reform," even "Christianity and tradition." It could even get more personal: "Christianity and my family", "Christianity and people liking me", "Christianity and feeling important."

The way I get at this in my own heart is to ask myself: What is the one thing, or things, that if God were to take away from me, I'd feel like I don't want to live anymore? What am I functionally depending on to make me feel like I matter?

That's the something that I'm enslaved to -  the something that might be ok to enjoy, but not to worship.

[Complete interview found here.]
[via Vitamin Z blog]