Aren’t we all tempted to end with the moral of the story. We grew up with that practice. In every story there is a moral lesson. Whether it’s Aesop’s Fables or our Sunday School class, it needs to end with the moral story or else it won’t be a good story.

But the gospel story is not Aesop’s fable. It certainly shows us good morals but it is not the point of Scripture.In fact if morality is the point of our Bible stories and our preaching, we are going to face the biggest problem of Christianity – we can’t be that good and moral enough. Tim Keller said:

In nearly every text of Scripture a moral principle can be found, shown through the character of God or Christ, displayed in the good or bad examples of characters in the text, or provided as explicit commands, promises, and warnings. This moral principle is important and must be distilled clearly. But then a crisis is created in the hearers as they understand that this moral principle creates insurmountable problems. I describe in my sermons how this practical and moral obligation is impossible to meet. The hearers are led to a seemingly dead end, but then a hidden door opens and light comes in. Our sermons must show how the person and work of Jesus Christ bears on the subject. First we show how our inability to live as we ought stems from our forgetting or rejecting the work of Christ. Then we show that only by repenting and rejoicing in Christ can we then live, as we know we ought.

And so the moral of this blog is…….

I told you there’s none.