2 Chucks plus 2 Errors minus One Calvary=Gospel Amnesia

Here is a link to a recent article in the LA Times which makes an attempt to explain the rift between “Pappa” Chuck Smith Sr. and his son, Chuck Smith Jr. (HT: The Resurgence)

Chuck Sr., though I have great respect for him, has made secondary issues primary and has reacted to liberalism by swinging into a charismatic form of legalism. Chuck Jr., having grown up in this moralistic culture, reacts by rejecting the more fundamentalist approach to Christianity to examine the kingdom and the culture.

This is ironic considering the older Chuck began his movement engaging those that were outcasts in a way that welcomed the person and carefully navigated through the culture. Yet in the twilight of his ministry he not only betrays his early passions, but becomes the very person he was reacting against. The younger grows up in a home where he accepts these secondary issues as primary and regurgitates them with ease. Now, as an older man, he is becoming the very person that his father is currently reacting against. From irreligion to religion, and religion to irreligion- both are errors since neither have the gospel at the center. Moralistic lessons on sexuality will not save someone, and unfortunately does damage to the progress of the gospel by giving the impression that to become a Christian means nothing more than adopting a list of “do’s and don’ts.” When our culture describes our faith in this way, what gospel are we preaching? Is the gospel advice to give, or news to proclaim? If it’s grace it has to be news and therefore must be preached as such. Preaching against a particular sin can be done without gospel, and this is what we are seeing today. Preaching that sounds Christian, agrees with our values, quotes Scripture, and is absent of the gospel. We have causes galore in the Christian church where we champion certain moral and ethical truths with precision and clarity, but can not announce the gospel in a way that it was intended- as news, not advice. Advice assumes that if we follow it, we can be saved. News announces something already completed. If it’s grace, it must be news, and if it’s news, it must be preached. Every other world religion gives advice for living, but biblical Christianity gives news to be believed which results in our salvation, and as a natural outflow creates a life that outshines the world. This news, not advice, is the power of God for salvation for all who believe.

I’m not against some of the moral truths that Chuck Sr. preaches, but I am against any attempt to preach these truths as the way in which we get or keep our righteousness. The reaction from his son and our culture is understandable since the gospel has been lumped in with all other faiths that claim such life changing advice. Do we honestly think that Mormons don’t give advice for living which sounds appealing? How about the Jehovah’s Witness, or Islam? What separates us from all other competing views if its not grace?

Chuck Jr. is equally led into error by the trap of pseudo-spiritual pluralism. He assumes that spiritual experience is primary and dogmatic truths are secondary. He has seen the ugliness of arrogance on tertiary matters and has moved away, far away, from such a perspective. Instead of verbal dogmatism, he is promoting spiritualism as the basis of our faith and not the clear truth of the gospel. When the gospel is not primary, errors of this sort will remain the rule of thumb in modern Christianity. We will forever bounce between opposing positions. To make our experience the basis for our security is no better than promoting the rapture theory as our great hope for tomorrow. Neither require a cross-focused, gospel saturated, grace foundation. What is so very odd is that Chuck Sr. promotes moralism mingled with a good dash of experientialism, and Chuck Jr. promotes experientialism with a strong dash of monastic piety. They are negatives of one another.

The way out is not a compromise between the two, but a third way of living. Instead of pursuing “right living” as our basis for security, we look to Christ who lived the perfect life in our place, died the death we deserved, and credited us with a righteousness He developed. This now frees us to live in a way that is honoring to Christ since He’s kept all the commandments and freed us so that they are no longer burdensome. Instead of pursuing an “experience” to renew our faith, we trust in the experience of Christ upon the cross which took our iniquities and by every stripe and his subsequent death, healed us. His experience of suffering and death, now gives us joy and life. Our experience is rooted in our identification with his death and resurrection, so that to be a Christian means to die to self and live to Christ. It is to die to our own unrighteousness and righteousness and be counted as righteous by faith. We then experience the love of the Father and an identity which can not be stripped from us, no matter what our current spiritual experience might be. This frees us to experience true joy, lasting peace, and hope which is not found in exiting a wicked world which will all burn, but to live in a restored paradise without sin and curse, where the King comes to dwell with us in His permanent Kingdom.

I am so appreciative of the work of Chuck Smith Sr. and pray that as his days behind the pulpit become fewer and fewer, he renews his passion to preach a gospel of grace and not a moral agenda, ideology, or piece of legislation. Preach it clear, preach it long, preach it twice if necessary, but focus Calvary on the hill of Calvary where we find our yes and amen fulfilled in Christ’s person and work alone.