Missing Christ
As an avid reader, every now and then I will stumble across a book that provides me with language that perfectly describes a phenomenon in our culture. Recently, I read just such a book: Michael Horton’s Christless Christianity, a nearly twenty-year-old book that’s just as relevant today as it was when it was written. In it, Horton highlights a subtle shift in American Christianity away from the gospel and toward something else—moralistic therapeutic deism.
The “American gospel,” in contrast to the true gospel, is moralistic. It teaches that God wants us to be good people. He wants us to treat other people fairly. He wants us to be kind. He wants us to avoid sin. And, ultimately, he will reward good people with eternal paradise. In fact, the “American gospel” doesn’t really care if you’re a Christian, as long we you’re a moral, kind, generous, benevolent person—because at the end of the day, isn’t that what religion is all about?
Additionally, the “American gospel” is therapeutic. It teaches that God ultimately wants us to be happy. He wants us to be at peace with ourselves. If you’re theologically liberal, you achieve this peace when you stop troubling yourself with the notion of sin, realize that you’re a good person, and become your “authentic self.” If you’re theologically conservative, you achieve this peace when you “invite Jesus into your heart.” In either case, the outcome of the “American gospel” is supposed to be inner peace. God wants you to be happy, so the goal of Christianity is to achieve that happiness and peace.
The problem with the “American gospel,” however, is not that it’s entirely wrong. God does want us to be generous, kind, loving people. And God does want us to be happy and at peace. The problem with the “American gospel” is that it’s all about us. It’s missing Jesus! It’s a Christless Christianity (hence the title of the book).
Christianity is all about the Son of God leaving the joy of heaven, dwelling among us, living a perfect life, giving his life on a cross as a sacrifice for sin, rising again from the grave, ascending to the right hand of the Father, and—eventually—coming back in judgment. In other words, the gospel is all about Jesus! And sure, the gospel has the power to transform our behavior and to give us peace—but it does so as we focus on Jesus.
As a church, let’s abandon moralistic therapeutic deism. Let’s base our lives on Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Britton