Distinctive aspects of the gospel Value System perspective

Jesus came to tell us about the good news of the kingdom of God (the gospel). One of the best ways to understand it is using a value system perspective. This makes the gospel easier to understand and more practical.

Preface

What does relationship with God look like?

Salvation is the work of God and is not contingent on what we do. We are saved by faith in a loving and gracious God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through Jesus' death and resurrection, we can have a relationship with God.

Unavoidably we learn from the Jesus' teachings and from the teachings of the apostles, that our behaviors must change when we have faith in Jesus. It is completely true that what we do will not save us. However, if what we believe does not change our actions, is there any evidence that we were saved?

So, what changes do we make after we come to Christ? Why do these changes happen? And how are they a part of relationship with God?

Relationship Basics

A value system is the complete collection of things you care about in life. We have many opinions and preferences. Some we hold strongly, others not so much. Each of these things holds some level of value to us. Taken as a whole, we can call them our value system.

Your values are the most important thing about you. In a very real sense, once someone gets past your physical characteristics, the sum of your values is who you are. They are your morality, and what you hold to be important on vocation, politics, family, leisure, food, humor, goals, dreams, etc. Your values guide your decisions which drive your behaviors, your associations and your relationships.

All relationships are based on common value systems. You get to know someone as you come to understand their value system. If we have nothing in common, no relationship will develop. But when we find things that we value together, we develop relationship around that common ground. We can be motivated to a common purpose around that value even if we only share values in that one area. However, the breadth of our shared values will determine the breadth of our relationship. And, the degree to which our common values are deeply held values is the degree to which we can have deep relationships. This is true for non-moral values, but is especially true for moral values.

In our relationships, we have varying degrees of conflict. In every case, these conflicts can be traced back to a conflict of values. How the toothpaste tube is to be squeezed is not a moral issue; how money is to be spent may not be a moral issue. However, they can become moral issues when there is unresolved conflict over them that derives from differing values which affect them.

The problem is that by default we all choose selfish value systems that at their core will benefit ourselves. This choice limits relationship because all conflict in relationship is conflict over values. The consequence of our native value systems is broken and failed relationships.

The Value System of God

The value system of God is different from ours; his value system is sacrificial love for the benefit of others. We know this because of the life and character of Jesus, and because Jesus said that God the Father was just like him.

God completely separates himself from human, worldly, selfish value systems. God actually has nothing in common with our selfish value systems. Since all relationships are based on common value systems, we therefore cannot have relationship with God. All conflicts in relationship are conflicts over values. God asks us to adopt His value system, so until we do, we are in conflict with God.

However, the value system of God is the only one that enables good relationships. Because it does not seek self, it can be shared. It can be shared with God and between people. If people could self-sacrificially love others, they would inherently seek to resolve conflicts regarding values, and therefore also resolve conflicts in relationships.

God had prepared for the failure of our values by providing two important things: a way in which He carried the relationship consequence of our value choices, and a means by which we can adopt and live His value system.

Values and Change

Our change starts with adopting the value system of God. Jesus is our example of how sacrificial love for the benefit of others is lived out. When we adopt God's value system, it changes the way we live so that we look like Jesus.

This isn't an easy process because it is not easy to truly understand the values of our heart. However, there are tools that can help. (See Learning our values through emotions)

All theology is relational

Christianity is a spiritual solution to the problem of relationship between man and God, and between humans.

There is only one God, and yet there are three persons which can properly be called God. ••• All share exactly the same value system, therefore, God exists in perfect continuous relationship. God is an inherently relational being.

God then created our world to create more relationships. At first Adam and Eve had a great relationship with God. They initially shared the value system of God. (Or at least they had not chosen a different value system.) However, when they followed temptation away, they chose their own selfish value system. Immediately they came into conflict with God and their relationship with him was broken.

Through the years until Jesus came, God progressively revealed himself. God used civil law systems to restrain evil; these laws only reflected some of his value system. Even limited like that, laws served to preserve relationships. Those who were discerning would be able to see that what God actually wanted from his people was a heart that was right, and that was filled with right values. Especially in the Bible's wisdom literature, it can be seen that God's wisdom is all relational.

When Jesus came, he spent three years intensively building close relationships with a group of people. He taught his values to them and lived it in front of them. At the end he gave them one command to love each other as He had loved them. Jesus' active love for his disciples came from His value system. So also then when we adopt the value system of God, we will be able to love others as Jesus asks us.

Jesus taught that to know Him was to know the Father. He also said the world did not know the Holy Spirit; this is because the world does not have the value system of God. However, we can know God as we know and have adopted God's value system. Likewise, the way to understand God is by understanding His value system. This full understanding comes only by putting His values into practice in relationship with others.

Jesus came to establish a new kind of Kingdom based on a relationship with the him, the King. The one law for His Kingdom was to do His value system. When we adopt Jesus' value system and do it, all our relationships will be improved.

Since all theology is relational, studying scripture from this perspective is particularly effective. Understanding of the Bible is often simplified by looking for the value system context and relational context underlying the text. And the application is often easier to derive as well. (See also Better Explanations)

The value system of God most looks like Jesus on the cross.

God's most full expression of himself was revealed in Jesus at the cross (Hebrews 1:1-3).

On the cross, because Jesus chose to do what was good, he experienced the ultimate in loss on the human level: care was not taken of his body, he was rejected by the crowd, and others exerted power over Him. And then, God broke his own continuously perfect relationship! For a time on the cross, Jesus received the relational consequence (the curse, the death) that comes from our values choices. ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46)

And yet, because Jesus never personally held values that were different than God's, he could not stay out of relationship with God. Before he gave up His physical life, he said: "It is finished." (John 19:29) and "Father, into your hand I commend my spirit." (Luke 23:46) showing that the curse was gone and relationship was restored.

Jesus established his kingdom with His death and resurrection. He chose to experience death because he loved God first, and then, this love overflowed to us. He took death because he was confident that God raises the dead to life.

Jesus loves us because he loves God first, and then because of his value system, this love overflows to us. Because of the source of his love, what we do cannot reduce his love toward us or increase it either.

Before the cross, Jesus illustrated his power over the spiritual realm (forgiveness of sins) by healing peoples' bodies. At the cross, he showed his power over spiritual death and relational death by laying down, and then afterwards taking back up again his physical life.

We also participate in Jesus' death on the cross. When we live the value system of God and die to self, we choose good over appetites, adoration, and control. We do this because we love Jesus first, and then this love can overflow to others. We take this death because we are confident in a God that raises the dead - a God that promises restored relationship with Him, and renewed relationships with others.

The gospel is core to Christianity

The Gospel is central to Christianity. It has a part we believe and a part we do.

• What we must believe is that Jesus is our King
  • Jesus is both God and man.
  • We must believe that Jesus is Lord and King.
  • We must believe the Kingdom is spiritual and for all people.
  • We must believe that Christ's death and resurrection established the Kingdom.

• What we must do is adopt the value system of our King
  • Jesus' value system is sacrificial love for the benefit of others, as most clearly seen at the cross. •••

  Quoting Darren Twa

Together, these five points contain the gospel - the good news that Jesus taught. (See also Essential Good News.)

There are several significant related aspects:

• It is important to note that the last point of adopting the value system of God is not a matter of justification; it is a matter of repentance and sanctification.

• It is important to get the gospel right because this is a matter of Christian fellowship. We are to welcome other Christians as God as welcomed us! (Romans 15:7) To reject someone that God has accepted into His Kingdom is a serious matter. (Matthew 18:5-6) However, we are not to quarrel with Christians over opinions. (Romans 14:1) And, we are not to extend Christian fellowship to those outside of the Kingdom. (1 Corinthians 5:11)

• It is important to get the gospel right because if we either leave something important out of the gospel, or we include something that is non-essential, we misrepresent the good news of the Kingdom of God to others.

• It is important to get the gospel right because for some, it is a matter of safety. If it is dangerous to be a Christian where you live, you want to be sure that the essential gospel tenets that you hold are worth the risks.

• It is important to not confuse application of the gospel with the core of the Gospel itself. Christians may apply God's values in various ways. There are also many traditions and interpretations in the branches of Christianity. We have freedom in these things as long as they do not contradict the gospel.

• It is important that we do not let our traditions and interpretations get in the way of Christian fellowship and love for the body of Christ. Jesus commanded all of us that He loves, to love each other in the same sacrificial way that He loved us. His command to us supersedes our applications of theology, it supersedes our traditions and it supersedes our interpretations. As we then obey His command and love those which He loves, we will bring great glory to God.

On Becoming a Christian

At first, we were enemies of God. But, God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us, and become our King. Then he changed our hearts so that we were drawn to him. After salvation he continues by giving us the strength to live for him. He made the complete way that relationship between us could be restored, but we must make the choice by faith to accept this gift. (See more on forgiveness.)

From the perspective of human experience, there are two parts to becoming a Christian: we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our King, and we adopt his value system. Acknowledging Jesus Christ as our King solves the problem of the pre-existing relationship damage. Adopting the value system of God enables the building of new relationship.

The first part (acknowledging Jesus Christ as our King) relies on the principle (using a legal model) that those in authority are responsible for those under their direct authority. In this model, when Jesus becomes our King, he takes responsibility for the cost of our broken relationship with God. Jesus took that relationship consequence for us on the cross. (God completely severed relationship with Jesus for a time there.) Now as our King, Jesus represents us to God, so God sees us through him. This means that God sees Jesus' perfect value system when he looks at us (positional sanctification). And so this enables us to begin our relationship with God. (See several related aspects in Better Explanations.)

The second part (adopting Jesus' value system) grows the value system of God genuinely within us (progressive sanctification). This is the work of God's Spirit. It is his power that enables us to actively adopt the value system of God into our lives. A consequence of this change of values is that new actions flow out of our new motivations (works of righteousness). This is pleasing to God, and it is evidence of our growing relationship with Him.

Implications of the value system of God, and that theology is relational

When we see all theology as being relational, the line from theology to practical application becomes much shorter. In addition, many difficult topics become easy to explain, to understand, and to use within the perspective of the value system of God. For example:

Righteousness: God is righteous because He lives His own value system of sacrificial love for the benefit of others. We also become righteous as we live out the value system of God in our lives, out of love for God.

Holiness: God's holiness is that He is completely free of, and separated from the value system of the world. We also are to be holy like him by not retaining any of our own, or the world's selfish value system. See more detail.

Glory: God is glorious because He does His own value system. We also become glorious as we are transformed to do the value system of God out of love for Him. See details on glory.

Prayer: There are some promises in the Bible concerning prayer that superficially appear to offer positive responses for any type of prayer. However, that is a misunderstanding of the promises. Prayer isn't about getting what we want from God; it is primarily about enabling us to change to have God's values. It is about gaining strength for sacrificial living. See more on prayer

Forgiveness is a process for restoring relationship through a fundamental expression of God's unselfish values. It is all about coming to common values and living sacrificial love. The process of becoming a Christian, and the process of resolving interpersonal conflicts both rely on this exact same process! There are ordered steps for those seeking forgiveness: Repentance, Confession, Forgiveness & Reconciliation. Real forgiveness happens only if all the steps are performed in order. See more on forgiveness

Exclusivity of Christ: Jesus insisted that He was the only way to God. It can be challenging to present theological arguments acceptable to others for why this is true. However, when we show Christianity as being about value systems and relationship, the reasons become clear:

• Only when Jesus is responsible for us as our direct authority can His sacrifice become effective for us, so that it covers the relational consequence of our rebellion.
• Only when we adopt the value system shown to us by Jesus can we stop being in conflict with God.
• See more here, here and here.

The kingdoms of earth vs. the Kingdom of God

All kingdoms have laws, which are encoded moral systems.

The laws of the kingdoms of this earth speak to behaviors and actions. They do not seek to promote good other than by restraining evil. As such, they will always have loopholes, which updates to the laws may seek to close. The native value systems of people in these kingdoms influence them to try to break laws because of selfish conflict with the laws. The consequence of breach of the law is punishment.

The Kingdom of God, however, is not an earthly kingdom. It is a spiritual Kingdom, and a Kingdom of relationships.   (See more on kingdom)

The single rule of God's Kingdom is the value system of the King: sacrificial love for the benefit of others. This rule promotes good. Citizens are to apply it first toward their King; it will then overflow to others. There are no rules on specific behaviors or actions for how we are to express this love. However citizens of God's Kingdom must put the value system of God into practice; if they do not, that is evidence they never became a part of God's Kingdom. When they do put God's value system into practice, they will naturally meet and exceed the moral and civil systems of laws God had previously given to people (see Matthew 5-7: the sermon on the mount).

Some people promote the old moral and civil rules of behavior as ideals within God's kingdom. This is a mistake. Those old laws are impotent to transform people to have God's inner motivating values; they fail to even promote God's standards of behavior (Romans 7:1-24). God is glorious because He does his own value system. We also will become glorious as we do the value system of God. The old law only reflects this glory, it can never create it. The old law was useful in the past as a part of God's progressive revelation of Himself. However, God has now fully revealed himself through His value system in Jesus.

The law of the Kingdom applies to the King as to the citizens. It is sacrificial love for the benefit of others. And in God's Kingdom, the consequence of breaking the law is forgiveness. The King forgives us, and also requires that we forgive each other.   (See more about forgiveness)

There is no way to coerce someone to follow this Kingdom rule of love (and forgiveness). Unlike the laws of earthly kingdoms, God's law can only be followed by willing participation. The benefits of His Kingdom are expanded and improved relationships: both with the King, and between people.

Note also that God protects his people by not requiring them to sacrificially love those outside the kingdom, not requiring them to love those who would exploit. Jesus sent Judas away before he taught his disciples about this love at the last supper. Judas showed by his selfishness that he was not in the kingdom, not in the group that the disciples were required to love.

However, God does intend for the benefits of his Kingdom to spill out to enhance earthly kingdoms. God's Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom, but his Kingdom is meant to influence and benefit all earthly kingdoms. When we are motivated by love, we are free to love our enemies just like Jesus did.

God's Kingdom begins in this earthly life. The benefits of the Kingdom are restored relationship with God and with humans. Because God's Kingdom is spiritual, these benefits do not happen later - they happen now.

Christian maturity

Every relationship is based on a common value system. Relationship with God begins when we believe on Him as our King, reject our value systems, and adopt His. In this life, we will never perfectly integrate the value system of God. However as we put sacrificial love for the benefit of others into practice, our relationship with Him will mature. In fact, the only measure of our Christian maturity is the degree to which we have adopted the value system of God and are living it (John 13:35).

Living God's values is not within our native abilities. It is very hard, and can only be done with strength given us by the Holy Spirit. So, when we see the evidence of ourselves changing and living God's values, we have assurance that we have relationship with God. (See also Doctrine and Maturity)

The Value System of God is Transformative

Seeing all theology as being about relationships transforms everything! The lens of the value system of God, sacrificial love for the benefit of others, makes everything more clear, consistent and practical.

For everyone:

• The basis concepts of: all relationships are based on common value systems, and: all conflicts in relationship are conflicts over value system, are intuitively true because we validate them every day in our lives.
• the value system of God makes the case for Christianity much stronger.
• It shows us how to move away from loneliness and have improved relationships in this life on earth.

For the non-Christian:

• The comparison of the value system of God vs. our native value system is clear and attractive, and immediately cuts through intellectual and philosophical objections to Christianity.
• Our need for Christ to enable relationship with God becomes easy to understand.

For the Christian:

• It does not conflict with classical Christianity.
• It guides us away from legalism, and toward a heart that pleases God.
• It makes Christianity (and theology) much more logical, understandable and practical.
• It enables us to know if we are growing in our Christian life because it is measurable, and it gives us a clear goal, useful in everyday life.
• It enables us to strengthen the body of Christ because we know why and how we have relationship with all Christians.

What does relationship with God look like? Relationship with God looks like us living the value system of God.

Would you like to learn more about the value system of God so as to bring this transformation into your life?

 

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The value system perspective used here is based on ideas from the work of Darren Twa.