Behavior Based Gospel

A Gospel that Sticks from Fuller Youth Institute on Vimeo.

What if the Gospel was only about behavior modification?  What if the Gospel was only about a set of rules and regulations?  But really, what if...

If that were the case, then the Pharisees would have nailed it down perfectly.  There wouldn't have been any need for Jesus or the New Testament.  But don't we often live a behavior based gospel in which church life and following Christ is simply a matter of do's and don'ts?

Furthermore, if the Gospel really was all about changing behavior, we would all fail miserably.  The very essence of the Gospel is that we all fail miserably apart from the saving grace of Christ.  So why don't we live like that's the truth.  We live as if God just wants to do a few minor modifications to our lives when He is really out to transform us into something completely different.  And unfortunately, this seems to be the message we are passing on to teens.  We expect them to act right at church, at home, and school.  We expect them to set goals for life, usually without any spiritual goals, and ultimately to compartmentalize their faith for certain occasions like Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.  Then, we are surprised when all goes wrong.  That's what happens with the story in this video.

Following the Gospel is so much more than a list of rules and regulations.  Anyone can follow a set of rules without agreeing whether or not they are necessary or beneficial.  What if we lived life as if the Gospel was necessary and beneficial?  We wouldn't just behave when the time is right.  We wouldn't just come to church because it's what we ought to do.  We can't afford as a Youth Ministry and church to teach behavior modification.  What we are out to do is to show teens that the Gospel is about grace and transformation.  The Gospel wants the heart, mind, body, and soul.  Until we show students that the Gospel has grabbed our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and our souls, students will continue to compartmentalize their faith.  It will be something used for certain occasions.  It will be something that can be packed away until it is presumably needed or necessary.  If Gospel living doesn't permeate our lives, how can we expect it to permeate theirs?  If Gospel living for us as adults is simply about right behaviors (leaving out grace, transformation, Biblical worldview, eternal perspective, the call to holiness, losing to win, giving up everything to gain even more, etc.), then we are headed toward a Christianity all about management.  You can behave Christian without ever being Christian...

The Gospel moves and chases after us.  The Gospel won't settle for anything less than all of who we are.    So if we believe in the power of the Gospel, why don't we give it all of who we are?  And why do we expect teenagers to get it if we haven't grasped it ourselves?  The Gospel is meant to change all of who we are.  It is about transformation and compassionate living.  It is about leaving everything to follow Christ.  How can we expect teenagers to leave everything for the sake of the Gospel when their faith is compartmentalized and the Gospel they know is only about right behavior and doing church?

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." -Romans 12:1-2

Be transformed by the Gospel.