Tullian Tchividjian: Free to Sin?

Last night, during prayer meeting, the name "Tullian Tchividjian" came up. If you aren't familiar with him, here is a link to a news article:  http://christiannews.net/2016/11/26/year-after-affair-admission-divorce-tullian-tchividjian-emerges-with-new-wife-preaches-god-bends-toward-sinners/

I'm sorry to say that Mr. Tchividjian is a fellow alumnus of Columbia International University. You can be sure he won't be winning Alumni of the Year.

Beware preachers who say this: 

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces that because Jesus won for you, you’re free to lose; because Jesus was strong for you, you’re free to be weak; because Jesus was extraordinary, you’re free to be ordinary; because Jesus succeeded for you, you’re free to fail.” -- Tullian Tchividjian.

None of that is true. What Mr. Tchividjian was saying is that we're free to sin, even though he dresses it up with veiled terms. It's true that a believer in Christ never needs to fear eternal damnation. But we are never "free" to sin, even if we substitute veiled words like "lose", "weak", "ordinary", or "fail." It is never okay to sin.

God required obedience from Adam in the garden. That's why God cast our first parents out -- they disobeyed Him.

God required obedience from the human race after the garden. It was because of disobedience that God killed off the entire human race except for eight people.

God requires obedience of every saved, justified person in the Old Testament. He threatened to kill Moses, for Moses' refusal to circumcise his son. God struck Miriam with leprosy, for her rebellion against Moses. God punished David for committing adultery. They were all justified children of God, yet God required them to obey.

Jesus requires obedience from His followers. Not for justification, but because we are His followers. He taught His disciples his laws for godly living; tradition named all of it the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). His apostles taught the same. Peter orders us to fear God. Paul orders us to walk in the Spirit.

Christ's cross saves us from the penalty of sin, but God also intends for it to save us from the sin itself.  God's will is not just to save us from Hell, but from that which sends us to Hell.

That second bit is the part Tullian Tchividjian artfully left out.  Out of his doctrine, and evidently out of his life.

Do I sin? Absolutely. There is no one on earth who is perfectly righteous and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). I have sins that easily entangle my feet (Hebrews 12:1).

But, since Christ died for me, does God say I'm free to lose, free to be weak, free to be be ordinary ()in other words, to sin like anybody else), and free to fail? Am I free to worry, free to harbor lust, free to be jealous of other people's successes, free to covet acclaim?

God forbid. By no means (Romans 6:1-12, 15). 



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