My drive back home from school today became much better than it usually was. I was pleased to find a new podcast in my feed concerning “Pitfalls for the Reformed” by Theocast, a podcast I have a great appreciation for. Things get particularly interesting for me at the 24:50 mark, where the hosts discuss how churches in Reformed circles are not immune to becoming hyper introspective in their teaching and preaching ministries. In fact, I have personally experienced this throughout the years. This does not mean that the pursuit of holiness, the attempt for holy living, or the desire to be more like Christ is a bad thing. These things are good. But when we consistently preach to the people of God like they’re unbelievers; when we consistently preach to the people of God to look inside themselves and not to Christ alone, we are in great danger. When we fail to consistently remind the people of God of their standing in Christ, of their forgiveness of sins, and that Christ fulfilled the law perfectly for them, we run the risk of destroying Reformed piety and worship, blurring the Law/Gospel distinction, and consistently pointing the people of God to their own behavior, and not to the behavior of their Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
I encourage you to listen to the entirety of this podcast. It is helpful, graceful, and to the point. The podcast can be found below…
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