It’s not about what you do

“For they [my words] are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.”
-Proverbs 4:22

There have been so many times lately when I’ve heard someone talk about the Gospel message, the Good News, as a set of behaviors or a way of life or something of the like. And that makes sense, right? This is the way the world works – it tells us that if your message has meaning, it will change something. If your business has value, then you’ll start getting more money. If your philosophy has value, then people will find completion in what you say. If your marriage has worth, people will see it in the way you and your spouse are together. All these things give you a better life, and that’s how we know they’re important. So the world says.

And so our sermons seem to follow after this formula. On the far right, preachers are preaching about obeying all of these moral laws. On the far left, they are preaching love to everyone. And they’re right, to an extent. We should be loving people. We should be morally pure.

But that’s not the Gospel message. The Gospel message is not about actions at all.

The world doesn’t understand this, which is why everyone is looking really closely at the lives of the people delivering this Gospel to make sure they are living right. And if a pastor is caught in adultery, and so many begin to question the message.

So I love it when Solomon starts talking about how his WORDS “are life to those who find them.” His words. See, Solomon was one of those guys who could have destroyed the faiths of thousands by his actions. He married hundreds of women who tempted him to false gods. And this is a guy who helped write the Bible?

But it’s not the actions of Solomon that leads us to life. It’s the words.

And don’t get me wrong. These specific words do not have some sort of magical properties we can use as an incantation or pagan mantra. That’s not it at all – it’s the words that direct us to Christ.

By our actions, we’re not going to get anywhere. We are so tainted by lust, pride, anger, selfishness, and hatred that we are spiritually dead, unworthy of life. We can’t “try harder” and make it to heaven. In our sin, we have offended a just and perfect God, and His justice demands payment for those sins. By our actions, we are lost.

But the actions of Jesus can save us. He was without sin, perfect in every way, and yet He died, though he did not deserve it. He died upon that Cross to pay for our sins and provide for us His righteousness so we may be saved. It is through His righteousness that we can finally act as we should. His Spirit will guide us to love God and others as we should. But these things do not save us – only His Blood can.

You can probably find out plenty of information to discredit me by my actions. But my actions won’t save anyone. The value of the message doesn’t depend on the messenger who delivered it; it depends on what the message is. Listen to my words: Repent and believe in Jesus. That is the way to life.