No One Master Key to Living the Chrisitan Life

Driving home: There is no one major key to living the Christian life. There is no one major, or we might even use the term to carry out the analogy, master key to living the Christian life.

The analogy of a motel master key, which opens every door, is used to explain the concept of a single, all-encompassing solution that some claim exists for the Christian life, contrasting it with individual room keys.

Now, you all know what a master key is. You go to a motel, and when you check in, the check-in clerk says you have room number 247, and he hands you a key that ostensibly is a key to living the Christian life. Ostensibly is only going to work when you stick it in the doorknob of room number 247. Now, if the guy across the hall in room 249 gets a notion to come in and go through your bags to see if there's something valuable that he'd like, if he takes his key from 249 and tries to stick it in lock, it won't work.

13:13 - 13:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But the fatal flaw is they reason from their experience to a generalized theology. And that's where the error comes. And that's why you have so many people who have so many master keys.

Martin explains that 'master key' theologies often arise when sincere Christians experience profound personal transformation through a specific biblical truth and then mistakenly generalize that experience as the universal solution for all believers.

or Romans 6, often they do so because in their own experience that aspect of biblical truth brought home to their own hearts by the power of the Spirit was used of God to bring them, in some cases very rapidly, to a new plateau of spiritual experience from which they began to make significant progress that they never knew before. And because in the blessing of the Spirit of God on that particular truth in the complexity of their own individual need, they have reasoned

17:41 - 18:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Be wary of 'master key' theology on the Christian life, as it can lead to skepticism, unbelief, discouragement, and apostasy when the promised key fails to unlock all difficulties.

The analogy of philosophers each claiming their principle interprets all of reality, only to be refuted by the next, is used to illustrate the proliferation of 'master keys' and how it can lead to skepticism and nihilism.

That's why you have so many master keys. And you'd think just the very existence of so many master keys would cause people to be afraid to throw another one in the hat and say, this is the master key. And sort of like philosophers, one came along and said, all of reality, that circle represents reality, can be understood in terms of this philosophical principle. The next philosopher came along and said, a plague on your house, you're all wrong, tore the poor guy to pieces and he said, all of reality can be interpreted in the light of this principle.

19:57 - 20:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Press toward an acquaintance with the whole Bible in dealing with the Christian life, meditating in the law of God day and night.

Instead of a single master key, God has given believers a 'large key ring' on which 'every word of the Bible' hangs, symbolizing the comprehensive nature of Scripture needed for Christian living.

of the New Testament with respect to dealing with problems of the Christian life so when anyone comes along and says this is the master key immediately all of your light should start blinking and flashing and saying wait a minute if that were so why do I have a New Testament full of all kinds of keys so here's the analogy I use God has not given us a master key rather what he has given us is a large key ring and on that key ring hangs every word of the Bible

36:47 - 37:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain an attitude and disposition that you have never arrived at a complete and full and final theology of the Christian life, always pressing on for greater degrees of knowledge and understanding.

The humorous example of sitting on a log all day and night reading the Bible is used to illustrate that comprehensive engagement with Scripture doesn't mean neglecting other duties, as the Bible itself calls believers to work and other responsibilities.

on the log somewhere starting at 5 o'clock in the morning until you have to burn out your ever ready flashlights at 10 o'clock at night doing nothing but reading your Bible because you won't read it long before God says get up off that log and go to work six days shall thou labor you're going to find that it will not do to come up with the theology of the Christian life sitting on the log all day and then half the night with a flashlight because if you're reading with any comprehension that very book is going to get you up off your log doing a lot of other things but it does mean that we have ...

38:14 - 38:59 Read in full sermon