What is the difference between Christianity and religion? While religion is primarily instruction about what man must do to approach God, Christianity is news about what God has done Himself in order to usher us into His presence. Religion says, “Live a moral life in order to gain God’s acceptance.” Christianity says, “None of us is moral enough. In fact, we are far worse off than we even know, but through Jesus God has already done everything that needs to be done in order for you to be accepted by Him.” Religion says, “Do!” Christianity says, “Done!”

Religion will either make you confident, if you think you are measuring up to its standards of moral behavior, or it will dishearten you (humble you), if you realize you are not measuring up. Christianity, on the other hand, will make you both confident and humble at the same time. It will make you confident because it tells you that your acceptance before God is entirely dependent upon the work of Jesus on your behalf. It will make you humble because it tells you that you were so bad off that you desperately needed the work of Jesus in order to be accepted by God.

Why this brief comparison between religion and Christianity? Because it seems to me that far too much preaching in evangelical circles stresses “do!” more than it stresses “done!” Or, if it does not stress “do!” over “done!”, it fails to show how the “do!” flows out of and is empowered by the “done!” Here is the question I ask myself when preparing to preach a text: Will people leave thinking “do!” more than “done!” or will they leave thinking I want to “do!” because of what has been “done!”? If they leave thinking “do!” more than “done!”, have we really preached a Christian message or just a religious one? Tim Keller writes:

The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome…religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.

So how might this look practically? In other words, how should preachers handle “wives, submit to your husbands…husbands, love your wives” (Colossians 3:18-19) so that their sermon is not religious but Christian, so that people leave thinking “do!” because of what has been “done!”? This leads us to part seven in our series entitled The Functional Centrality of the Gospel. Here is my attempt to demonstrate a Christian handling of the “do!” section of Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. If you haven’t read parts 1-6, I’ve linked them here:

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

The Functional Connection (between doing and the gospel)

Marriage Implications

Colossians 3:18-19—Wives [in light of the gospel and your identity in the Messiah], submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. [19] Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Remember: A church where the gospel dwells richly is a church where believers are actively finding their identity in who Jesus is for them in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand.

What is the functional gospel-connection to these commands for wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives? When wives are finding their identity in the gospel, in the life of the New Creation as it is found in the Messiah, submitting to their husbands is not a burden (cf. 1 John 5:3). Likewise, when husbands are finding their identity in the gospel, in the life of the New Creation, loving their wives and not being harsh with them will not be burdensome. I would like to suggest (given the overall context of Colossians) that the failure of a wife and husband to do what God has commanded here is due to their attempt to protect or create an identity of their own making. After all, is creating their own identity not what the false teachers were instructing the Colossians to do? Therefore, the functional centrality of the gospel in the marriage relationship is absolutely essential.

Family Implications

Colossians 3:20-21—Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. [21] Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

When children are finding their identity in the gospel, obeying their parents in everything will not be a chore. When our children are finding their identity in who Jesus is for them as the New Creation, they won’t obey their parents in order to derive their sense of identity from parental approval or acceptance. They also will not disobey their parents in an effort to establish an identity of independence (e.g. prodigal son and elder brother). Parents and churches should show children the connection between the command to obey and the gospel of what God has accomplished for them in the Messiah.

Likewise, when fathers are finding their identity in the gospel, they won’t constantly nag or belittle their children. Why not? Because they realize that their identity is not found in a well-ordered, well-behaved household. Fathers who are finding their identity in Jesus will not be finding their identity in children who through their good behavior reflect well upon them as fathers. Rather, they will demonstrate unconditional love and acceptance disciplining their children within that gospel-rich context.

Social Implications

Colossians 3:22-4:1—Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord… [4:1] Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

When slaves are finding their identity in the gospel, in who Jesus is for them as the New Creation where there is neither slave nor free (Colossians 3:11), they will obey their masters in everything because they are not allowing their earthly social classification to define who they are. Likewise, masters who are finding their identity in the Messiah will treat their slaves justly and with dignity because their identity is not defined by the possession of power.

I have attempted to demonstrate that we must not functionally disconnect the indicatives of the gospel, that is, the declarative statements concerning the truth of the gospel, from the imperatives that flow out of the gospel. Only in remembering and rehearsing the gospel are wives empowered to submit to their husbands and husbands empowered to love their wives. Graeme Goldsworthy does an excellent job explaining the necessity of not losing sight of the gospel when considering the imperatives of Christian living. He begins by asking:

What is the relationship of this text to the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth? Let me be a little more specific. Preachers with a concern for expository preaching are predisposed to developing a preaching program in which a series of expositions from one particular book is given. In my experience the preaching of a series of sermons, say, from an epistle, easily leads the preacher to fragmentation because, while the epistle was written as a single letter to be read at one time, it is often divided up so that it is dealt with in Sunday sermons over a period of several weeks. There is nothing wrong with that as such, provided we recognize the changed dynamics. Thus, Paul may expound the gospel in the first part of the letter, and then go on to spell out some ethical and pastoral implications. When the preacher finally gets to deal with the latter, it is possibly a couple of weeks or more since the gospel exposition has happened, and the connection between the gospel and behavior, very closely related in the epistle, can be lost. The result is that the exhortations and commands are no longer seen to arise out of the good news of God’s grace in the gospel but as simple imperatives of Christian behavior…The relationship between what is and what ought to be, that is, the relationship between the finished work of Christ and the task of the believers, is often well flagged in the text” (Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, XIII-XIV).

A gospel-centered student of Scripture is one (1) who believes that the center and ultimate reference point of Holy Scripture is the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah; and (2) who interprets and applies Scripture accordingly. If that is what a gospel-centered student of Scripture is, what would we say is a gospel-centered man or woman? A gospel-centered man (or woman) is one who is finding his identity functionally in who the Messiah is for him in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God. He is one who is increasingly defined functionally not by the world and any of its seductive values but by the gospel as it continually reveals who Jesus is for him as the life of the New Creation. He is one whose doing flows out of and is empowered by what God has done in Jesus.