You Can Change #16 (Chapter 2)

We now come to the section titled "Justified by Grace" that is at the heart of Chapter 2. I think we can get at the big idea of this chapter from You Can Change from these two paragraphs quoted below.

Tim Chester:

But we can never change enough to impress God. And here’s the reason: trying to impress God, others, or ourselves puts us at the center of our change project. It makes change all about my looking good. It is done for my glory. And that’s pretty much the definition of sin. Sin is living for my glory instead of God’s. Sin is living life my way, for me, instead of living life God’s way, for God. Often that means rejecting God as Lord and wanting to be our own lord, but it can also involve rejecting God as Savior and wanting to be our own savior. Pharisees do good works and repent of bad works. But gospel repentance includes repenting of good works done for wrong reasons. We need to repent of trying to be our own savior. (25)

The previous sections in this chapter have been examples of the truth summarized by this paragraph. If we try to prove ourselves, and if we do so to try to please anybody other than God, then we have taken God out of the picture. We have said God is not the judge, and he is not the savior. It was not God's holiness that was offended, and it was not God's law that was broken. When you think about it like this, can you see how despicable this is?

Now, if this strategy for proving ourselves is destined to fail and all the more offensive to God, should we be surprised that it will be frustrating to us? We think, as we're trying to change, that we should be more satisfied, more fulfilled, more at peace. But we only feel exhausted, defeated, and unsure of ourselves, because we're trying to be both the judge and savior.

Chester, again:

Another word for proving ourselves is justify. We want to justify ourselves—to demonstrate we’re worthy of God or respectable in the eyes of other people. But we’re justified only through faith in what Christ has done. When you feel the desire to prove yourself, remember you’re right with God in Christ. You can’t do anything to make yourself more acceptable to God than you already are. You don’t need to worry whether people are impressed by you because you’re already justified or vindicated by God. And what makes you feel good is not what you’ve done, but what Christ has done for you. Your identity isn’t dependent on your change. (26)

The sections that follow in this chapter will be examples of the truth summarized by this second paragraph. The point here is that if, instead of proving ourselves, it is God that proves (justifies) us, then our identity does not rest on our performance, but his. Shall we consider his performance for a moment? Was Christ's life not perfect? Did he obey at every point? Did he not resist the temptation of the devil himself? Did he not obey the Father's will even to the point of death? His perfect record of deeds, his unstained purity of heart, his complete once-for-all sacrifice for sins-- that is what justifies us when we entrust ourselves fully to Christ.

That is the unshakable foundation from which we can pursue change, and really be changed.