Morality Fails

“Barriers to Mission” part 2 (read part 1 here)

Growing up in the church I felt like there was one common message when it came to how to live out life as a Christian:

“Do the right thing.”

Inevitably, I didn’t always do the right thing. I quickly realized that there were so many things about my life, my choices, my attitude that were far from God’s best for me. 

So when I seemed to screw it up… I would feel a great deal of guilt that would typically shift into shame. When I felt like I was stuck in a cycle of sin, it was then that I seemed to hear another message:

“Just stop it.”

Sure there was often a message about asking God to help me to overcome the temptations that I was facing. I still believe this is an important daily prayer. 

However, as I look back on my own adolescence and as I have served with youth, young adults and now adults and families, I am coming to a new conclusion:

MORALITY FAILS.

The “moral gospel” is what I felt I was taught. The idea that the answer to the question “what would Jesus do” was: 

• Be a good person
• Never sin
• Do more good than bad
• Live a more moral life than your neighbors
• Make sure you stay away from the “appearance of evil”
• Don’t cause anyone to stumble
• Don’t do drugs, have sex or get someone pregnant

I can’t believe these answers have prevailed for so long as the answer to one of the most provocative questions.

What would JESUS do?  Have you heard about what he did and is still doing?

Here is my list:

• Eat with sinners
• Forgive the unforgivable
• Pray for people who want to sabotage you
• Heal people
• Confront broken and harmful religious systems
• pursue justice
• feed the hungry
• wash dirty feet

The “moral gospel” fails.

You don’t have to spend too long hanging out with… oh I don’t know… any other humans, to realize that “trying to be a good person because that is what God wants from us” is not going to cut it. None of us are good enough.

However, moral failures and the guilt and shame we all face in life are huge barriers to mission!

If the advice given used to be “just stop it and then pray more”.

I would like to take a new angle:

How we can overcome the barrier to mission of sin in our lives?

Reorient our lives towards the Kingdom of God.

Think about what God might be up to around you even more then you dwell on your own failures and how to overcome them.

START living out your mission and purpose even though you KNOW that you aren’t good enough.

None of us are good enough to participate with God!

God extends this invitation to be a part of what he doing in the world to us knowing that none of us should make the cut.

BUT Jesus conquered death and overcame everything that separates from God. Which means that no one has to wait to start living out the answer to the question, “What would Jesus do”?

• We can start praying for healing in Jesus name
• Seeing our neighbors as bearing the image of God and treating them like it
• Pursuing justice in our cities and neighborhoods
• Being a part of providing for people who don’t have what they need
• Spending time with people who couldn’t give a rip about “the moral gospel” or any OTHER gospel and start loving them anyway.

God does desire a life of holiness for his followers.

But the best way to overcome moral temptation is to start filling our time with what God is FOR so we are less and less preoccupied with what God is against.

Other important things would be:

Yes – keep praying for freedom

Don’t let failures and temptation stay in the dark – share with those you trust

Find accountability in community

Be wise with appropriate boundaries

In my opinion you can do all these things but you must also daily step into mission and purpose.

If you don’t live out the ways and works of Jesus, then the pursuit of morality will fail you again and again.