Justification VS. Moralism

Sermon Response

Justification VS. Moralism

The Text:
Read: Luke 11:39-42, Luke 10:38-42, Galatians 2:15-21, Ephesians 2:1-10

The Path of disciplined grace is the narrow road on which God’s grace and man’s efforts (the spiritual disciplines) intersect to best allow God to transform the inner person to look more like Jesus. There are two dangerous pits that people fall into that are heresy and keep a disciple from growing into what God intends for them. One is antinomianism or justification where the disciple believes that if there is nothing that improves their position with God, then there is no reason to do anything spiritual or righteous. The other pit is moralism where the disciple thinks that they must work harder to avoid sin and to be righteous so that they improve their position with God, but it usually leads to legalism instead of growth.

Discuss:

  1. Why do you think you lean more toward Justification or Moralism?

  2. Why doesn’t just trying harder and working harder make us more spiritual and righteous?

  3. Is there a time in your life where you’ve “stapled apples” to a dead tree – pretended to be righteous when you were spiritually dead inside? Why did you do that? What was the result?

  4. Explain the Gospel from Ephesians 2:1-10, and how it relates to the path of disciplined grace. How do grace and discipline collide in our faith?

Respond:

1. How can you learn to live out of your desire for God instead of living to please God?

Prayer

Lord, help us learn to rest in You so that we can worship & serve out of our gratitude for what you’ve done for us on the cross. 

Devin Green