Paul Tripp, in his book Sex & Money, says the following:
“We would all like to think that no one knows our hearts better than we do. We would like to believe that others may be self-deceived, but we are not. It’s simply not true. Since sin is in its essence deceptive, as long as sin lives in our hearts, we will tend to be blind to the true condition of our hearts. But more must be said. Not only will we be blind to our hearts; we will be blind to our blindness, thinking we see when we really don’t. To add to this, we will participate in our own blindness. Because of self-righteousness of sin, we will work to make ourselves feel good about what is not good or believe that the problem is not, in fact, us.”
When I came across this paragraph this morning, I was struck by the need for Gospel-centered community–a truly counter-cultural community. The worldly culture tells us that the center of our problems is out there, but the Gospel tells us that the problem lies in our hearts. Only the Gospel can bring transformation from within, and as long as we wrongly diagnose the location of the disease, we will fail to access the cure.
Only a true grasp of the Gospel can liberate us from the lies we have told ourselves. Not only are we dishonest about our sin and neediness, but we are not fearful or closed off from inviting others to being honest with themselves and ourselves as well. Tripp is right. We participate in “the blind leading the blind” when we refuse to see sin rightly and live as a community that makes self-atonement by pretending and performing in attempts to circumvent the power of the Gospel to change our lives. How blind are we? We would rather live in the chains of self-deception through the lens of pride than the freedom of self-discovery through the lens of Scripture.
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.–Matthew 15:14, KJV
A Gospel-centered community is counter-cultural because it identifies the real problem (our hearts) and has the only, lasting cure to solve it (the Gospel). Instead of pretending to be self-righteous, we give permission and invite others to help us change by exposing self-deception and blind spots in a community radically shaped by grace and governed by truth. I am not who I am in my pride and self-deception. I am who I am in Christ and my acceptance through his imputed righteousness and substitutionary death on the cross. The challenge is to live in the latter through repenting of the former, and the counter-cultural community changed by the Gospel will serve as the canvas upon which the sunrise of God’s Word illuminates our lives.
When I know my Sin-bearer drank the bitter cup and atoned for every last one of my sins, why should I hide? What could be known about me that is not already covered in the blood? When I know that God’s righteous judgment of my sin was carried out on His Son in my place on that cursed tree, I live in the fact that there is no condemnation for me, and no accusation of the enemy can silence the Advocate whose precious blood speaks for me. If these truths are ruling the affections of our hearts, then we can live as a people who invite truth in the place of deception, believing that the truth will set us free.