In the debates over the nature of the gospel and life transformation, it seems that there is a missing third option.  There is a Car C that actually has a motor, but nobody seems to be mentioning it.  There is a Married Approach C that actually has an ongoing dynamic power, but it seems absent.

Let me ask the question in reference to your preaching of the gospel:

Where is the union?

Do you preach a pressure message that constantly urges people to do the work of growth?  Do you preach a momentum message that simply looks back to the wonder of their identity change at conversion – a message proclaiming what God has done in Christ that does stir gratitude and does stir life change and doesn’t promote sinfulness, but, maybe, does still lack something?

If the gospel doesn’t transform a life, do you balance grace with effort?  Do you preach grace more boldly?  Or do you make sure your preaching of the gospel of grace goes beyond gratitude to the dynamic relational and spiritual union of being one with Christ?

The gospel is not that God forgives guilt and then expects us to stir ourselves to obey with newfound ability to behave well.  He does forgive guilt, but it goes further than that.  Does God simply expect our gratitude to be the engine of transformation over the course of many years and many challenges?  Surely that momentum alone will not take us up the hills and mountains that sometimes stand before us in this life.

The gospel is wonderful news.  Not only are our sins forgiven so that we can be justified before God, we are also reconciled and made one with Christ by the Spirit (*are we allowed to mention the role of the Spirit in sanctification?)  We are united to Christ so that we don’t need to look at a list of expected marital behaviours, and while we certainly do remember and celebrate what he did to win our hearts and pay the price for us, we don’t live purely by remembrance . . . we live in a present relational union with him, we look to him, and we travel with him through all the challenges of life, growing closer and growing to be like him as we keep our eyes on him.

Too much of the sanctification debate seems to be about looking to self versus looking back to conversion.  Given the choice between the two I know which way I’d lean, but I know the critiques ring true if that is all we have.

God’s grace does truly transform.  God’s grace truly is enough.  But God’s grace is not just gratitude for a status change.  God’s grace is about the Spirit of the Father and the Son, purchased for us by the Son, so that we can be truly united with him and join him in his present, dynamic, delighted relationship with his/our Father.  We don’t just have the status of being married.  We are married to someone so wonderful that if you want to encourage me in my Christian life, then don’t bother pressuring me to perform, just do your best to preach Christ to me and you’ll probably be amazed by the “performance” that results, but I won’t even be aware of that, because my eyes will be on him.

Let’s shift from an analogy about different cars and think about marriage – what is the motor for progress in a marriage?

Marriage Approach A – This approach is to focus on the responsibilities for those who have married.  Now you are married you need to look at this list of top tips for successful marriages.  You need to be sure to put out the household waste, and mow the lawn, and do your share of the clean-up after meals, and help with tidying the house, and the list goes on.  Any critique of this approach draws immediate fire because it is self-evident that the great list of married behaviours are true of great marriages and these chores don’t happen on their own and everyone knows you have to decide to wash the dishes or they won’t get washed.  It is obvious.

Marriage Approach B – This has a different motor.  Instead of responsibility, the driver is recollection.  You are no longer a slovenly single living in a perpetual mess, you now have a new status.  You are married!  Now you just need to learn to live married.  The key?  It is not to look at lists of behaviours expected of married people.  Those behaviours will come naturally as long as you remember that you are married.  So don’t look at the lists, look back to your wedding day.  Remember how stunning your spouse looked and how amazed you were that they married you.  That stirring of gratitude within will bring about change in behaviours.

Isn’t there a third option here?  Something more than looking at the list of household duties and/or looking back to the wedding day?  To listen to some debate the issue of the Christian life you might think not.  One side will emphasize the expectations of married people and declare the self-evident truth that if you don’t pressure married people to follow the list, then they will obviously slip back into slovenly single behaviours from their past.  The other side will claim that the solution to old habits is not new pressure, but better awareness of the privilege of their marriage, combined with gratitude for what happened on their wedding day.  Someone gripped by the wonder of who married them will naturally do the things on the list of expectations for married people.

Look at the list, or look at the wedding photos?  Isn’t there a really obvious alternative that is missing here?

How about looking at your spouse?  I’ve been married for fifteen years.  I don’t have a list of instructions for being a good husband, but I do seem to have an engine driving me in my marriage – it isn’t simply an ongoing slog of self-discipline.  I still remember the wonder of seeing my bride walk down the aisle toward me.  But I don’t live with a permanent image of my wife in a white veil before my eyes.  Instead I have a living and dynamic relationship with her.  The cumulative effect of years of memories, shared experiences, dynamic interaction and our hearts being united by the Spirit of God at work in our marriage has, and continues, to transform us.

In the tension over preaching for sanctification, there seems to be a menu of two options today.  One is to call for believers to add obedience to trust in order to engage fully with the privilege of Christian living.  The other is to keep the focus on grace and trust the gospel to re-shape lives as people learn to live in their new identity.

Both sides can make a biblical case for their position.  The Bible does include a lot of instruction.  The Bible does argue strongly that God’s grace is sufficient for life transformation (*and the Bible says more about this issue, but this third element seems to be missing from current debate).

At times it feels like we are on the forecourt deciding between two vehicles.  Car A  makes a lot of sense.  It resonates with life as we know it.  It is sleek, polished, attractive and sophisticated.  It is weighty and backed by a lot of big names.  The other one, car B, is in some ways more attractive.  Somehow it seems lighter and sleeker, and it resonates with life as we want it.  It has some great names associated with it, albeit less of them in total.  It seems to use a new technology that makes for a different driving experience.

If we go with car A, we will get a lot of affirmation.  Most people drive car A or respect those that do.  But car B seems to promise a more successful journey to our destination.  The sales force for car A decry car B.  It may sound great and look sleek, but it won’t get you very far.  Just down the road you’ll be stuck and reverting to having no car at all.  It is a false promise and an incomplete car.

If we go with car B, will we really get very far?  Initially we will fly down the road, but will we lose momentum?  The sales force for car B are convinced that it will do the job for us.  They point to how much heavier car A is, and how technology has moved on.  Car A is a bit like not having a car at all, they say.

Tough decision.  But what if there is a car C and nobody is offering it to you?  What if car C has a motor that cars A & B lack?  What if car C doesn’t require a Flintstone-like effort to move forward (car A), or enough initial momentum like the sleek-slider (car B)?  What if car C has an engine?

What if the world we lived in were not full of motor-driven vehicles?  We might well debate the relative strengths of technologies that resonate with our experience or our dreams, but still lack the essential ingredient for ongoing progress.