1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian City - The World That Is | Page 10

love. Consequently, our hearts are not just restrained but changed. Their
fundamental orientation is transformed.
Challenge Point:
• What is the difference between “common virtue” and “true virtue”? Why is
the difference important?
• What specific steps could you take to live for God’s sake or for goodness’
sake, rather than for your own sake?

Friday
Titus 2 v 11 – 3 v 7
Ephesians 2 v 4 – 5
The gospel is neither religion nor irreligion—it is something else altogether.
Religion makes law and moral obedience a means of salvation, while
irreligionmakes the individual a law to him- or herself. The gospel, however, is
that Jesustakes the law of God so seriously that he paid the penalty of
disobedience, sowe can be saved by sheer grace.
This means that Christians have a unique attitude toward the law of God
andmoral obedience. On the one hand, we are freed from the moral law as a
systemof salvation. Our self-regard is no longer tied to our moral performance;
we areGod’s children, loved unconditionally. On the other hand, we know how
supremelyimportant the law of God is, since it reveals the nature and heart of
God.
It reveals the things God loves and hates, the things that are good and evil.
Jesustook it so seriously that he made himself completely obedient to it, in our
place, and died to pay its penalty, in our place. We can never take God’s
revealed will inhis Word lightly. We can never see obedience as only an option.
Instead, we loveand delight in the law of God (“For in my inner being I delight in
God’s law” [Rom.7:22]), and yet we are completely free from its condemnation
(“Therefore, there isnow no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
[Rom. 8:1]).