What does Tribe teach about earning god's approval?

At Tribe, the teaching on earning God's approval starts with Paul's letter to the Galatians, which Brian has described as being about essentially one subject: the law, and what life under it looks like compared with the freedom that comes from a real relationship with Jesus. Galatians 5 is where that argument reaches its peak. The core of what Brian taught is this: freedom is no longer trying to earn what Jesus has already given.

Brian used the image of an x-ray machine to describe what the law was actually designed to do. It was never meant to fix the problem. It was given to reveal the condition of the human heart, the way an x-ray shows a break without healing it. Jesus fulfilled the law completely, and Brian put it this way: Jesus ran the race and then placed his first-place medal around our necks. That gift cannot be added to by human effort, and trying to add to it is exactly what Paul is warning against.

People in the room pushed on why this is so hard to actually live, even for someone who agrees with it theologically. The conversation surfaced two things that Brian tied together. One is the quicksand picture: the more a person struggles in their own strength, the further down they go. The other is that living from freedom and living from a performance mindset can look identical from the outside, which is what makes pride so easy to miss. Brian connected both of those to the Greek behind Paul's phrase about not getting tied up again, which he read as a warning not to take the bait. The old nature and the enemy will push at a person to get a reaction, and that reaction pulls them back into trying to manufacture right standing with God through their own effort.

Taught from Galatians 5:1-6 · Galatians 5:7 · 1 John 1:9 · Hebrews 4:12