The Offense of the Gospel

Still reading Tim Keller's book, "King's Cross" and still can't say it better than him... "The gospel of Jesus Christ is an offense to both religion and irreligion. The moralist says 'the good people are in and the bad people are out - and of course, we're the good ones.' The self-discovery person says, 'oh no, the progressive, open-minded people are in and the judgmental bigots are out - and of course, we're the open-minded ones.' We disdain those religious, moralistic types who look down on others. Do you see the irony, how the way of self-discovery leads to as much superiority and self-righteousness as religion does? The gospel does not say 'the good are in and the bad are out' nor 'the open-minded are in and the judgmental are out.' The gospel says the humble are in and the proud are out. The gospel says the people who know they're NOT better, NOT more open-minded, NOT more moral than anyone else, are in, and the people who think they're on the right side of the divide are in danger. Jesus himself said this to the Pharisees earlier when he told them, 'It is not the healthy who ned a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' (Mark 2:15-17). Jesus is teaching that he has come to call sinners: those who know they are morally and spiritually unable to save themselves." What good news the gospel is! It's not religion at all (because isn't religion just advice?), but it is truly NEWS, good news, that Jesus died for us to do the work we could never do, live a life we could never live, and die a death we could never die. Hallelujah!