More Than Self-Improvement
I know you’ve heard it: “What Would Jesus Do?” I heard it again this morning. We’ve sometimes made Christianity into a religion that asks this question for everything. Would Jesus say such-n-such? Would he go to such an event? Would he read that book? On one level it makes sense: before you do anything, just ask, “What would Jesus do?”
But, in fact, WWJD is what Michael Horton calls “easy-listening legalism.” It’s all about me, about self-improvement. It’s a subtle and slippery way of replacing Jesus as “Savior” with Jesus as “example.” Replacing sin and redemption with moral improvement. That’s self-righteousness, not Christianity!
The gospel is not about you. It’s about Jesus Christ and what he did for you when you couldn’t and didn’t measure up. The moral law of the Bible shows our need for a Savior – it demands behavioral purity. So what do Christians typically do with it? They go to the nearest Christian trinket store, buy a WWJD bracelet, rededicate themselves to moral improvement, and join a church that preaches “try harder” and “keep your chin up” sermons.
But, now that I think about it, WWJD might just be what the doctor ordered. If it leads me to the point of despairing of my utter inability to live up to Jesus’ example – “wretched man that I am!” (Rom 7:24) – and causes me to cry out as a drowning man to the One who can save me from my inability to keep the law, then it’s all good. Maybe what we need is a fresh encounter with the law in fire-hydrant force so that it pushes us towards realizing our need for God. Bring on the WWJD bracelets, tattoos, and earrings!
Christianity refuses to be reduced to self-improvement. Christianity is not Phariseeism. It’s not a navel-gazing religion that goes about looking inside us for the answer. The good news is something, Someone outside of us. It’s not something we do, but what God did for us when we couldn’t. The answer to our deepest sins, hurts, and brokenness is healing that comes from God – an “alien righteousness,” in the words of Martin Luther.
If WWJD bracelets show us our need for God, bring us truckloads of those glow-in-the-dark things! But don’t confuse Christianity with moralism. Don’t confuse “What would Jesus do” with “What has Jesus done” – by living the perfect life we couldn’t live – by dying the death we deserve to die. Christianity is different from every other religion. At its core it is not about you becoming a better you; it is what Jesus did for you before you got on the treadmill of “try harder” and “do more” religion.
May God give us his rest and refreshment this summer. And may he continue to infuse in our Sunday worship a wonderful sense of his real presence in word and sacrament.