Tullian Tchividjian: I think there is tribalism is a big deal inside o...

My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace.

Tullian Tchividjian

relationship-with-god our-relationship grace

Sometimes God has to remind you that you're weak so that you can be set free from your "self-sufficiency."

Tullian Tchividjian

weak self sometimes

Christianity is not "Jesus is our example." Christianity is "Jesus is our substitute."

Tullian Tchividjian

example christianity jesus

God wants every local church to be the first place people think to go when they've really messed up...not the last.

Tullian Tchividjian

church people thinking

Grace is upside-down, to-do-list wrecking, scandalous and way-too free. It's one-way love.

Tullian Tchividjian

lists grace way

Submitting self to God is the only real freedom-because the deepest slavery is self-dependence, self-reliance. When you live your life believing that everything (family, finances, relationships, career) depends primarily on you, you're enslaved to your strengths and weaknesses. You're trying to be your own savior. Freedom comes when we start trusting in God's abilities and wisdom instead of our own. Real life begins when we transfer our trust from our own efforts to the efforts of Christ.

Tullian Tchividjian

real self believe

A biblical understanding of the Christian life is not 'let go and let God,' it's 'trust God and get going.'

Tullian Tchividjian

biblical christian letting-go

Graciousness is the fruit of someone who knows how badly they themselves need grace.

Tullian Tchividjian

fruit grace needs

If you uproot the idol and fail to plant the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back.

Tullian Tchividjian

failing idols christ

The bad news that we are all guilty is met with the best news that God loves and forgives guilty people.

Tullian Tchividjian

news forgiving people

You can be sure that your deepest desires reveal important truths about your spiritual condition.

Tullian Tchividjian

important spiritual christian

Contrary to what we conclude naturally, the gospel is not too good to be true. It is true! Its the truest truth in the entire universe. No strings attached! No fine print to read. No buts. No conditions. No qualifications. No footnotes. And especially, no need for balance.

Tullian Tchividjian

strings-attached balance needs

The people who have taught me the most about grace are those who have blown it so bad that they know how much they need it.

Tullian Tchividjian

grace people needs

The gospel brings things together. One of the great demonstration of the gospel's power is reconciliation. I've got friends who are surfers, doctors, lawyers, artists and entertainers. Some people are cool and some people are geeky. I look around at my friends and I think, only the gospel has the power to put together a friendship like this.

Tullian Tchividjian

doctors artist thinking

There are a still lot of people in today's church who can easily identify the idolatry outside the church and are pretty proud of the fact that they are not like them. And yet, we are far too slow to recognize the idolatry inside the church and more painfully, the idolatry inside our hearts.

Tullian Tchividjian

church heart people

The law is God's first word; the gospel is God's final word.

Tullian Tchividjian

finals law firsts

The gospel doesn't just ignite the Christian life but it keeps Christians growing and growing every day. There's no reason to move beyond the gospel. There's only movement more into it.

Tullian Tchividjian

movement christian moving

I was always in places where I was widely accepted, approved and loved and I was finally in a place where people did not approve of me, did not accept me and did not love me. It was killing me.

Tullian Tchividjian

accepted killing people

We often read the Bible as if it were fundamentally about us: our improvement, our life, our triumph, our victory, our faith, our holiness, our godliness.

Tullian Tchividjian

holiness triumph victory

While our sin reaches far, God's grace reaches farther. God came after us not to strip away our freedom but to strip away our slavery to self, that we could become truly free.

Tullian Tchividjian

slavery grace self

I think there is tribalism is a big deal inside of the church, that the church thinks of themselves as a tribe and not a mission.