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The Beauty of the Gospel vs. Religion
Episode 418 • 26th December 2022 • Everyday Disciple Podcast • Caesar Kalinowski
00:00:00 00:30:16

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Many people who avoid the Church have not rejected Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel; they've actually, rightfully so, shunned religion. And they've dismissed a transactional way of relating to God and an effort to somehow balance out the cosmic scales of his justice. In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we look at the beautiful and liberating difference between the Gospel vs. religion. Christianity and the true Gospel tells us that God himself, in the person of Jesus, has already done for us all the things we never could have done for ourselves. And that is Good News! In This Episode You’ll Learn:
  • How the New Testament warns us about religion.
  • Why the Gospel is not advice telling you what you should or shouldn’t do in life.
  • The difference between the Gospel and Religion in several key areas of our lives.
  • How to spot where you might be living under the heavy yoke of religion.
  From this episode: "If you still feel that you have to work hard to please God and get things from him, you are laboring under religion, which is not Good News. There is no grand, cosmic scale that God uses to keep track of your good deeds and church attendance. In Christ, you are a beloved son or daughter of the King of Kings and have full authority and privilege within God’s perfect love. Nothing to earn or prove, the pressure is off!"
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of this page or right below. Also, please subscribe and leave an honest review for The Everyday Disciple Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.   Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living. Get the Everyday Disciple Workshop today! The Prodigal God by Tim Keller The Gospel in Life Series by Tim Keller   Join us on Facebook

Transcripts

Tim Keller:

The Gospel is news, not advice.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel, first of all, is news about what's been done for you, not advice about what you must do.

Tim Keller:

Absolutely.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel brings massive changes in your life.

Tim Keller:

That's the point.

Tim Keller:

But in the very beginning, this is what it's about.

Tim Keller:

It's not advice.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel does not, first of all, come as advice telling you what you should do.

Tim Keller:

It's news telling you what's been done for you, what Jesus Christ has done for you.

Tim Keller:

Every other religion in the world has a founder who says, I'm a prophet, or I'm a teacher and I'm here to show you how if you do this, this, this, and this, you can find God.

Tim Keller:

Only Christianity has a founder who says, no, no, no.

Tim Keller:

I'm God, come to find you to do for you all the things you never could have done.

Announcer:

Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with.

Announcer:

Greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.

Announcer:

In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.

Announcer:

This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.

Announcer:

And now here's your host, Caesar.

Announcer:

Kalinowski.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay, here we go.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Another time together.

Caesar Kalinowski:

How's your week turning out so far?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Thanks for being here with me today.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I wanna invite you to come on over and join me in the Facebook group.

Caesar Kalinowski:

If you've not done that yet, we are having, uh, a great time over there, a lot of people in that community and hanging out.

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You can go there and just join up.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's all free, and ask questions about the episodes, give your comments or thoughts, or you can even ask questions about.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Your own discipleship and community and applying the Gospel in every area of life, cuz there's a lot of cool discussion, a lot of smart people in there.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Uh, you can either go to Facebook and look us up the Everyday, Disciple Podcast

Caesar Kalinowski:

or just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash

Caesar Kalinowski:

Facebook and that'll take you, that'll take you right to our group and you just hit join and.

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There you go.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Zip, zip zing.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Also, I want to ask you again, if you could please subscribe to the podcast, that would be awesome.

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That way you'll never miss an episode.

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Like right now, if you've just been finding it and running into it once in a while or whatever, would

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you go and subscribe?

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Whatever

Caesar Kalinowski:

device you listen to

Caesar Kalinowski:

podcast on, go ahead and subscribe,

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and if there's a way for you to leave a review and click some stars and all that, Iwould

Caesar Kalinowski:

love it.

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That'd be a killer way to pay it forward.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And you know, another really cool way for us to grow the listenership of the show, but also really just to pay it forward and bless more people is to share the episodes with people.

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a Facebook post of mine or

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something and you go, oh yeah, I'm gonna listen to that, go ahead and hit share

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right?

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Or if you've listened to it, we've got a bunch of good friends like Barb, who will often just be listening to it and go like, wow, loving this episode.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And she'll just go and find the post and then share

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it out.

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So if you would take.

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That little bit of time to subscribe, maybe rate and review the show and share this out once

Caesar Kalinowski:

in a while we can really see this thing continue to grow.

Caesar Kalinowski:

All right, so I appreciate that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Well, I'm gonna dive into our topic today, which we're gonna look at the beauty of the Gospel versus religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

, and maybe this is one of the most important topics we could ever really discuss here on the podcast.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I don't know.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I, I feel like lately I've had a lot of conversations with people that have centered on their understanding of Christianity, God, and religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's kind of scary and

Caesar Kalinowski:

sad.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Like what they, what they think God is about, what religion, what Christianity is about, who

Caesar Kalinowski:

God is and all that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's amazing sometimes,

Caesar Kalinowski:

but like sad and it always kills me that so many people have been taught and

Caesar Kalinowski:

still believe that the Gospel is actually, you know what they've been taught about the Gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's actually quite the opposite of the truth found in the Gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And what they really know is really about religion, which Jesus himself came to put an end to so, so many people I know have not rejected Jesus and the good news of the Gospel, if actually, and I think rightfully so, rejected religion and a transactional way of relating to God in an effort to somehow balance out the cosmic scales of justice that they think he must keep on all of us.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And maybe just maybe if they work at it hard enough, they can do enough stuff right to tip the scales in their favor so that God will bless them or their family or career or marriages.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Ouch.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Like

Caesar Kalinowski:

that, just that breaks my

Caesar Kalinowski:

heart when that really is sort of the dominant understanding and, and depending on how you were raised and maybe if you were raised within certain faith practices or denominations, that really is kind of what people believe.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And maybe

Caesar Kalinowski:

even in your own hearts, right today,

Caesar Kalinowski:

in your own heart, maybe there's still a little of that religion lurking around.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Not the good news of the Gospel look.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Look what it says here.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Book of Galatians, the apostle Paul is talking here in Galatians three 10.

Caesar Kalinowski:

He says, if you choose to live in bondage under the legalistic rule of religion, you, you live under the law's curse.

Caesar Kalinowski:

For as clearly written, utterly cursed is everyone who fails to practice every detail and requirement that is written in this law.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So like, wow.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So if you wanna live under

Caesar Kalinowski:

religion, you can, but you're cursed because you have to keep everything perfectly and you, since you can't.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Oh, yikes.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And then add to this what Paul writes later on in Galatians five one, he says, it is for

Caesar Kalinowski:

freedom that Christ has set us.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yolk of slavery.

Caesar Kalinowski:

What he's saying is, here, you're free.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Now, don't go back to religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So, and, and, and he really kind of, I think, lays, you know, the heavy bomb here in Galatians one, where he says, if anyone's preaching to you a Gospel, contrary to the one you've received, a Gospel of grace, good news that it's finished.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Let him be cursed.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You,

Caesar Kalinowski:

you see there, there really is a

Caesar Kalinowski:

huge difference between the good news of the Gospel versus religion and its corresponding supposed good advice for how you should live.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And you know, maybe like me, you've read and listened to some or.

Caesar Kalinowski:

All of the works of Tim Keller.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay.

Caesar Kalinowski:

He's a well-known author, speaker,

Caesar Kalinowski:

and pastor from New York City.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That has really helped a lot of us understand and develop a much healthier, more accurate understanding of the Gospel in recent years.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And I feel like I owe a big debt to Tim for all the things that I've learned from him about the Gospel I can.

Caesar Kalinowski:

In fact, I can remember the day I invited Tim Keller into my.

Caesar Kalinowski:

heart Yeah, it was a big day.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Uh uh, but I've, I have, I really have learned so much from him, and he really speaks to this distinction between the Gospel and religion in such beautiful ways.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Let me play you a little clip of Tim Keller explaining a bit of that difference.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay.

Caesar Kalinowski:

The difference between the Gospel and religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Take a listen.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel is news, not advice.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel.

Tim Keller:

First of all is news about what's been done for you, not advice about what you must do.

Tim Keller:

Absolutely.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel brings massive changes in your life.

Tim Keller:

That's the point.

Tim Keller:

But in the very beginning, this is what it's about.

Tim Keller:

It's not advice.

Tim Keller:

The Gospel does not, first of all, come as advice telling you what, what you should do.

Tim Keller:

It's news telling you what's been done for you, what Jesus Christ has done for you.

Tim Keller:

Every other religion in the world has a founder who says, I'm a prophet, or I'm a teacher.

Tim Keller:

And I'm here to show you how if you do this, this, this, and this, you can find God.

Tim Keller:

Only Christianity has a founder who says, no, no, no, I'm God.

Tim Keller:

Come to find you to do for you all the things you never could have done.

Tim Keller:

That's the reason why you have these crazy statements like, uh, Romans four says, now to him who does not work, but trust in him, who justifies the ungodly.

Tim Keller:

His faith has credited him as righteousness.

Tim Keller:

Let me translate.

Tim Keller:

It says to him who worketh not, this is the old King James.

Tim Keller:

Of course.

Tim Keller:

Sorry.

Tim Keller:

That's how I learned it.

Tim Keller:

But who believes in the one trust in the one who justifies the ungodly to him?

Tim Keller:

As faith is credited as righteousness, what that means is you don't clean yourself up and make yourself godly, and then God accepts you.

Tim Keller:

No, not at all.

Tim Keller:

When you're ungodly in yourself simply turning to Jesus Christ in faith, and now you're seen as righteous.

Tim Keller:

That's what it says.

Tim Keller:

You're seen as righteous in God's sight in yourself.

Tim Keller:

Nothing in Jesus Christ have everything.

Tim Keller:

So religion, the operating principle of religion is I obey, therefore God accepts me.

Tim Keller:

But the operating principle of the Gospel is, I am accepted because of what Jesus Christ has done for me.

Tim Keller:

Therefore, I obey.

Tim Keller:

Do you see how those are completely opposed?

Tim Keller:

In religion, you obey, therefore you're accepted.

Tim Keller:

You obey out of fear of punishment and you obey in order to get things from God.

Tim Keller:

But if the gospel's the operating basis of your whole life, then you obey.

Tim Keller:

Not just to get things from God.

Tim Keller:

You've gotten everything in Jesus Christ.

Tim Keller:

You obey to please God.

Tim Keller:

You obey, to delight God, you obey out of grateful joy for what he's done.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Wow.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So good and concise.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Uh, he what a, what a gift Tim is.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I once told him that I was pretty amazed at his economy of words and how concise he is when he teaches, and that even when I try to completely rip off one of his sermons, it takes me twice as long to say the same things, half as well.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And, and he laughed and he told me I was the first person to actually admit that to him.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So . Anyway, uh, if you've never read any of Tim Keller's books, I wanna strongly encourage you do so.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You will love them.

Caesar Kalinowski:

They'll transform your understanding of the Gospel and the good news and marriage and all this, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

And, and maybe start with this book, the Prodigal God, it is so good.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And also his Gospel and Life series.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Is an amazing group study for Christians that really, you know, want to go deeper in the Gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It, it's so good.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And so right now, here's what I'd like to do.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I wanna walk through a few categories of life and spirituality and compare the Gospel to religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay?

Caesar Kalinowski:

And much of this I, I actually learned from Tim and that Gospel and Life series I was just mentioning.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So let's take a look at the difference between the Gospel and religion as it pertains to.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Acceptance.

Caesar Kalinowski:

The, the religion says, I obey, therefore I'm accepted.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But the Gospel says I'm accepted, therefore I obey.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You feel the difference in that?

Caesar Kalinowski:

See like one's kind of a heavy yoke and the other, there's freedom in that and, and we kind of do that to others as well.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Like we don't maybe feel like we're necessarily measuring up in certain areas of our life or spirituality.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And so then we also throw that heavy yolk on other people like, well, you know, Christians shouldn't do this.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And you know, and so we don't accept them cuz we don't feel accepted and if we believe the Gospel I'm accepted, therefore I can obey and I want to, ah, changes everything.

Caesar Kalinowski:

How about the Gospel and religion as it pertains to motivation?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Religion says, uh, motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

Caesar Kalinowski:

If I don't do this, then God's gonna punish me.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Or I, I'm not sure where I'm at with God.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Have I lost my salvation?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Am I going hell right now what's gonna happen is, is, is, you know, something gonna fall outta the sky and kill me.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Or if I don't do this, I'm afraid I'll never receive this.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So I'm gonna really, I'm gonna go to church for the next few weeks cause I'm hoping to get a new job or something like that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But the Gospel says that motivation is based on grateful joy.

Caesar Kalinowski:

, and you can see how that sort of ties into acceptance.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I'm accepted, therefore I obey.

Caesar Kalinowski:

The Gospel says, well, with motivation in the Gospel, motivation's based on grateful joy, like my motivation doesn't come out of trying to earn or fear or insecurity, it comes out of peace.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And a stableness not in who I am or my performance, but who God is.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Man, that's huge.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's so different.

Caesar Kalinowski:

How about with obedience Religion says I obey God in order to get things from God and see how these kind of start to overlap.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Yeah, I obey God in order to get things from God.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's not a heart motivation.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Can you imagine if your wife or spouse or your husband or your kids.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Or anybody that you know you're in a relationship with, only did things to get things back from you.

Caesar Kalinowski:

They didn't really love you.

Caesar Kalinowski:

They were kind of after the gift, not the giver so much.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's what religion teaches us.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I obey God in order to get things from God, but the Gospel says, I obey God to be more like God, to delight in him and resemble him.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right to show the world what he's like, I want you to know this freedom.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And so I wanna live like him.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I wanna be

Caesar Kalinowski:

generous.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I want to be gentle.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I want to be patient with people.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I wanna have great faith and trust and ease in my life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's how God is.

Caesar Kalinowski:

He's not flipped out and freaking out and he owns everything and he's generous.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Yeah, there's a huge difference there, isn't there?

Caesar Kalinowski:

But when it comes to circumstances that come up in our life, religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Sort of teaches this when circumstances in my life go wrong, I'm angry at God or myself, you know, how could God do that?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Since I believe that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

So when things maybe go wrong or not the way I want them to go, , right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Then I get angry at God, how could God do this?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Or how could a loving God allow this?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's, we've heard all heard that before, or I really think very highly of myself.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So when things are going wrong, I blame myself like, oh man, as if I'm sovereign.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And the fact that, you know, Exceeded the speed limit or hollered at my wife or my kids or something like that is now I just tip the whole cosmic reality of life, and that's why things are going bad, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's what religion sort of puts us under.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's a crazy, weird yolk.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Here's what the Gospel says, when circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But I know my punishment fell on Jesus already, and that while God may allow this experience, this particular circumstance for my training, for my good.

Caesar Kalinowski:

He will exercise his fatherly love for me within my trial.

Caesar Kalinowski:

In other words, there are consequences for things that happen in life, and there are even things that are out of our understanding control that will experience, but God does not leave us or forsake us.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Jesus says, I will always be with you.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So just like a loving parent, we discipline our children.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Discipline is the same root word as Disciple, but hopefully, you discipline your children and even through the consequences maybe of their choices or actions, they know you're on their side, they know you're on their team, you're for them, but you're letting them experience the consequence of their choice or action.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Cause it's training, it's how we learn, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

The Bible says that God prunes, right, those he loves.

Caesar Kalinowski:

and so see what good news there is in the Gospel when circumstances in my life are kinda weird or hard, I, I'm gonna go through them, but I, I know it's not a punishment.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's not how g God's not vindictive and like, well, you know, you skipped church again.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You slept in, so I'm gonna have to punish you and that's why you're not getting a raise.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Or that's why your car broke down this week, or, well, you got that speeding ticket now.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's, that's all religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That everything we do is sort of a punishment, or there's these scales that we have to balance out in life and, oh man, I don't know how I'm doing there.

Caesar Kalinowski:

How about with criticism in your life when you experience criticism, which we all do, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Here's religion says, when I'm criticized, I am furious or devastated because it's critical that I think of myself as a good person as being right all the time, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Threats to my self image must be destroyed at all costs.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's what religion teaches us and kind of keeps us locked up in, yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski:

When I receive criticism, can't take it because I think so highly of myself and my sovereignty and my goodness.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That I don't even want, I don't even want to know that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You might think that , right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

You didn't even have to voice it.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I saw it in your eyes.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's religion at work.

Caesar Kalinowski:

His Gospel says that when I'm criticized there again, I might struggle with it, but it's not essential for me to think of myself as a good person or always right in a situation.

Caesar Kalinowski:

The Bible teaches, the Gospel teaches we were created in God's image.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Good, right and perfect.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And my identity and self worth is not built on my record or my performance, but on God's love for me in and because of Jesus.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Let me say that again.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Your identity and self-worth is not built on your record or your performance, and I'm not.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I'm talking maybe your spiritual performance or your spiritual record, or how many sins in your life, or what you've done in the past, or how hard you worked at work, or did you stick around and set up chairs at church, or I, you know, whatever.

Caesar Kalinowski:

No, your self-worth and identity is not based on any of that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's based on God's love for you.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Because of Jesus, because of Christ in his perfect life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Now exchanged, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Redeemed.

Caesar Kalinowski:

We've been, we, Jesus exchanged his perfect righteousness for our in righteousness, our unrighteousness.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's amazing.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Doesn't that just sound like good news compared to religion?

Caesar Kalinowski:

And again, it just breaks my heart because I know that so many people live under religion and not the Gospel and even myself because of the way I was raised and all, I am still working my way out of this.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I'm still working out my Salvation Daily where I need to be reminded of the good news of the Gospel in every area of my life, like and over and over.

Caesar Kalinowski:

This is why it's so important that we live.

Caesar Kalinowski:

In community that we don't do like a solo venture Christianity or kind of live isolated.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And I do things with other people, but it's still kind of like I live within my shell and my personal thoughts and mind and sovereignty.

Caesar Kalinowski:

No, we, we, we need to live in community of people who are increasingly believing in living out the Gospel and speaking the good news of the Gospel into our lives, into my life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I need that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I'm gonna suggest you need it too.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I don't need good advice.

Caesar Kalinowski:

When I'm struggling, I need the good news that I don't have to earn anything or prove anything that it's finished.

Caesar Kalinowski:

How about with prayer?

Caesar Kalinowski:

How about in the area of prayer, your prayer life?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Religion?

Caesar Kalinowski:

With religion, my prayer life consists largely of petition, you know, asking God for stuff, kind of working down my, my list, and it only heats up when I'm in time and need.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Right.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I only really get passionate about it or even get consistent when I, boy, I'm feeling like a need in my life, my family, my kids, my income, or something like that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment I live in.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's, that's how you know, I see, you know, prayer.

Caesar Kalinowski:

If I'm living under the yoke of religion, like god's kinda like a genie and I gotta go and I gotta rub that lamp once in a while to get what I need.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You know when things are going pretty well, I'm okay.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And if you know the story of God found in scripture, right, you know, that was the great sin and pattern that Israel got into when, when times were going pretty well, they kinda lived under their own steam and wisdom and managing the knowledge of good and evil for themselves.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But when they got into trouble or other nations came in, or they got, you know, under hard times, then they would cry out to God and God would once again come in and save them and provide and care.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And comfort.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And then they'd pretty much get back to living on their own.

Caesar Kalinowski:

They just saw God as like a genie or someone, you know, like a, a heavy boss to be avoided unless you need something and then you go and you try to earn it, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

So that's how religion is in our prayer life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But the Gospel with the Gospel, my prayer life consists of like huge stretches of praise and thankfulness and adoration.

Caesar Kalinowski:

My main purpose is Fellowship with God, hanging out with God, hanging out with my perfect, always loving Aba Daddy.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You know why?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Because I get to.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Not because I have to or to earn anything or to appease him, or that's what good christians do, or blah blah, fill in the blank.

Caesar Kalinowski:

No, I, I get to hang out with God.

Caesar Kalinowski:

The God of the universe who created me and knows me, and knows my heart, and knows my needs and loves me perfectly.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And he proved it.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And he proved it in so many ways.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But boy, if you need the big one, look at the cross.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's how much God loves us.

Caesar Kalinowski:

He sent his own son, right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

. So that changes my prayer life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Like we get to ask God for things we need, but if our prayer life is primarily just asking him for stuff and we only come to him in prayer when we need to tell 'em what to do, , uh, that might be a religious way of understanding prayer versus the good news of the Gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski:

How about with our confidence?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Hmm.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Confidence in life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

See, with religion, my self-view swing.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Things between two separate poles.

Caesar Kalinowski:

If and when I'm living up to my standards, then I feel confident, you know, in life and what I'm tempting to do, but then I'm prone to be proud and maybe unsympathetic to failing people.

Caesar Kalinowski:

People who aren't measuring up or people who aren't doing very well.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Well, it's probably their fault.

Caesar Kalinowski:

If and when I'm not living up to standards, then I feel humble, but not very confident.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I kind of feel like a failure.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You know, I tried my best but just didn't work out.

Caesar Kalinowski:

See, that's religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But with the Gospel, my self, you, my understanding of self is not based on my moral achievement.

Caesar Kalinowski:

See, in Christ, I'm the truth is I'm simultaneously sinful and lost, yet fully accepted in Christ.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Wow.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I, I'm so bad that he had to die for me, and I'm so loved that he was glad to die for me, and he, he was aware of my need and my sin problem, and he didn't wait for me to come begging and groveling.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But God here, how did God prove his love?

Caesar Kalinowski:

That while yet still sinners, while still holding my fist to God, while still trying to be god over every area of my life, that's when he came and died.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Yeah, and this leads me to deep humility and confidence at the same time.

Caesar Kalinowski:

See if my view of myself is not based on my moral achievement, but I'm Jesus and his perfect life and his perfect achievement and accomplishment at the cross, then I can live with full confidence all the time.

Caesar Kalinowski:

and when I don't do my best or things don't go very well, or maybe I'm still learning or whatever, I can live humbly, but I can live in confidence that ultimately God is in control and he's largely in charge and fully perfect in his love and acceptance.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Oh, I, I need more of that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I need so much more of that in my life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay, and, and finally, you know, this, this area of our identity is so big, who we believe ourself to be, and living out of our true identity instead of an identity that we create for ourself.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And then work really hard to maintain and get other people to believe and salute and all that right religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

check this out.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Religion teaches me that my identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work or how moral I am, and so I've gotta look down on those that I perceive as lazy or immoral.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And you, I just kinda look down and I'm like, well, you know, you made your bed.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Now you can lie in it.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And it's nice to be up here.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's nice to be lofty and be a good Christian, you know, like who's in, who's out.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So often people are, you know, they, they challenge me like, why do you, why do you treat everyone like family and you teach that we should treat everyone like family?

Caesar Kalinowski:

So, because God does, because scripture teaches Old Testament new over and over and over and over, that God created all of humanity and sees them.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Offspring.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Paul says, we all bear the same last name because we all have the same father.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But see if we live under the yoke of religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And so my identity and self-worth is based on, look how I do, look how hard I'm working at this.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Then I have to look down on people and, and kind of worry about who's in and who's out.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Well, you didn't, you don't go to church, so you can't be in or you, did you ever say that magic Jesus in your heart prayer?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Well, if you didn't, then you're just destined to eternal damnation.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's not what teach, that's not what the Bible teaches.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's certainly not good news.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's religion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But when it comes to my identity, the Gospel right speaks to my self-worth as being centered on the one who died for me.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I'm saved by sheer grace, unmarried favor, and so therefore, I can't look down on those who believe or practice something different than me.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's only by grace that I've been saved.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's only by grace that I am who I am, that I can experience God's love and generosity and closeness, and I don't have to fear approaching him, and I don't have to fear believing that I'm his child, that I'm his dearly loved son or daughter.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's because of Jesus that I can live free.

Caesar Kalinowski:

My identity is secure.

Caesar Kalinowski:

In him who he originally created me to be, lived that perfect life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And now because of his death and resurrection, I've been restored to that and given his spirit to now walk in his ways and live his life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It's only by grace.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I can't look down on anyone else.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Wow.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You, you see, I, I hope that all these categories in talking through this has helped you understand and maybe even begin to identify the difference between religion and the Gospel, and where you might still have religion happening in certain areas of your life, versus believing and experiencing and enjoying the truth of the Gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Yeah, . And again, thanks Tim Keller for your help in all this and for consistently teaching and preaching a Gospel.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That is good news.

Caesar Kalinowski:

. Yeah.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And not just good advice to work harder.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So, uh, as always, I wanna leave you with the big three takeaways from today's discussion.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And if nothing else, you don't wanna miss these three things.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay?

Caesar Kalinowski:

And by the way, you can always get a printable PDF of this week's big three as a free download by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash big.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And in this week I'm gonna give you the big three and you can go and download that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But I'm also gonna give you that full list of those topics that we just discussed.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And the, you know, the religion says this and Gospel says this sort of summaries.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And I also have a cool little graphic that you can sort of print out and pin up that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Has a whole lot more categories and topics you can look at as well.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So here's my big three for today.

Caesar Kalinowski:

First, um, if you still feel that you have to work hard to please God and get things from him, then you're laboring under religion, which is not good news.

Caesar Kalinowski:

There is no grand cosmic scale that God uses to keep track of your good deeds and church attendance.

Caesar Kalinowski:

In Christ, you're a beloved son or daughter of the King of Kings, and you've been given full authority and privilege within God's perfect love within his family forever.

Caesar Kalinowski:

You have nothing to earn or prove the pressure's off.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Believe that, please.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay, second, the gospel's not advice telling you what you should or shouldn't do in your life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It is good news telling you what's already been done for you all the religions in the world have a leader who tells you that they've come to tell you how to live in order to get to God and get in his good graces.

Caesar Kalinowski:

But Christianity and the true Gospel tells us that God himself in the person of Jesus came to find you.

Caesar Kalinowski:

He came to find you and me and has already done for you all the things you never could have done.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It is finished.

Caesar Kalinowski:

It is finished.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Wow.

Caesar Kalinowski:

That's good news.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And third,

Caesar Kalinowski:

uh, I want to, I wanna just encourage

Caesar Kalinowski:

you to spend some time reading and praying through and discussing these different categories in life.

Caesar Kalinowski:

The ones I just went through to see if you're living under the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that good news, or if you are still living under religion in any of those areas, you know, in what area of your life are you still holding onto shame or guilt?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Unforgiveness with others or performance, and it's kind of causing you to look down on others who don't perform in the same way.

Caesar Kalinowski:

These may be indicators of places where you're laboring under religion and instead of enjoying amazing Grace.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So again, I, I'm, you can get that download of the big three and I'll give you that whole list and the comparisons plus that graphic with even more.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And it'll be, it'll be a.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Tool for you to grow in your gospel fluency and help others do the same.

Caesar Kalinowski:

And also probably something worth kind of reading through and praying through with some regularity just to make sure you're gospeling your own heart to use that as a verb.

Caesar Kalinowski:

All right, I think you're gonna love that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

So please go to, you know, uh, Everyday Disciple dot com slash big three and get that right away.

Caesar Kalinowski:

All right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

Okay, so Time's Up for right now.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Next week will be a really fun discussion and I'll tell you lots of stories and, and I'll give you plenty of tools and resources that you can start to use at home and in your community and church right away.

Caesar Kalinowski:

All right?

Caesar Kalinowski:

That'll be great.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Don't miss that.

Caesar Kalinowski:

Look forward to it.

Caesar Kalinowski:

I'll talk to you soon.

Announcer:

Thanks for joining us today.

Announcer:

For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com.

Announcer:

And remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.

Announcer:

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