Dear Lighthouse,
Well, my computer crashed last week and I lost
contact with the world – at least that’s how I felt for a little while.
I have scrounged together all the e-mail addresses I could find and I think I’m back up and running. Hopefully all of you will get this message correctly. If you
know of someone that has been left out or would like these weekly e-mails, please let me know.
My intention last week was to send out a message
addressing some issues that were discussed in Sunday School that week. Oh well,
maybe it was the Spirit’s intention to have this sent out now – that was certainly my computer’s intention. At any rate, this one is a long one, sorry.
I wanted to try and highlight two sides of one
central issue to all believers – our salvation. The two aspects I want
to underscore are: 1) our position in God and 2) our response to God.
Unfortunately, due to conflicting and confusing
doctrines preached from many pulpits, the average believer’s lack of genuine Bible study and knowledge, and the forces
of evil that want to mire the issue into an agnostic hopelessness, salvation has become a tricky issue to fully grasp for
the Christian. We run into verses like, “But
now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (Rom.
3:21) and we scratch our heads and think it sounds good but we don’t fully understand the point.
This particular
verse is taken out of a long, methodical explanation of the Christian’s salvation in Christ is recorded in the first
half of the book of Romans. (By the way, if you are reading along with us for
the NT Challenge, then Romans will be coming up the first week in August. I really
encourage you to read this book. It is one of the best sections of all Scripture.) My question is, what is the relationship
of the Christian to the Law and what does it have to do with our salvation?
This
is not an easy question. On the surface it appears easy, but I invite you to
examine it with me as we look at our position in God and the response that our position should elicit.
First,
our position: You know that our salvation comes from the fact that Jesus Christ
was offered as a sacrifice for our sin. So why was He able to cover our sin? Well, the answer lies in the Law that was given long ago. You see, God has always sought those people who seek Him and resemble His character of being. This is why He chose Abraham to become the father of His chosen nation of people (the Jews – Israel)
that He would bless and lead (Gen. 12:2).
It soon became apparent that the people required guidance in how to conduct themselves and some sort of construct to
know how to approach a holy God. So, God gave them the Law. By this I refer to the Law of Moses. Now, certainly laws and
covenants had been given and established before Moses. But the Mosaic Law codified
much of this patriarchal type of law given since God chose Abraham to follow Him. The
10 Commandments stand as the pillars of such Law (Exo. 20). In fact the first 5 books of the OT are really law books that cover an enormous amount of situations, ethics,
do’s and don’t, and morality. These 5 books encompass nearly the
whole Jewish Law to which I refer.
After a while
the people began to add to the Law and subtract from it. They emphasized some
laws over others and bent the letter of the Law around to their immediate gain. So,
God punished the nation in order to teach them not to stray from the Law and not to distort it to their own detriment. He sent prophets to correct and remind the people of what he true meaning of the Law
was that they had forgotten. Hosea was one such prophet. Inspired by the mind of God he states in Hosea 6:6, “For I
desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings”. This “spirit” of the Law is what the people had forgotten – if they ever understood it
at all.
By and by the
prophets tried but failed to turn the people to lawful righteousness. Some, the
Pharisees and Sadducees, succeeded in convincing themselves and their heavy laden followers that they were righteous and they
were keeping the whole law. But they were only self-righteous and were blind
to the real intent of the Law which was to lead people to the One who made it in the first place.
That’s
when Jesus enters the picture. He came as a man and accomplished something that
no one had ever done before or since. He completely, unerringly, successfully
obeyed the entire letter of the law found in the first 5 books of the OT. By
so doing, Jesus completed, or fulfilled, the old Law. Jesus Himself states it,
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not
come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matt. 5:17).
This made Him
very unique. Since He never broke the Law then He was able to cash in on God’s
promise of fellowship and eternal life. Yet, for the sake of us – you and
me – Jesus allowed Himself to be killed on the cross. Why? Cleverly, the reason was to break the final bond that the Law still held on mankind – death. You see, unless you were Jesus you had broken the Law and thus had broken fellowship
with God. This meant that you sin would keep you from God and condemn you on
the Day of Judgment. The only way to cover your sin was a blood sacrifice. Ah-ha! A solution! A way out! Jesus recognized (actually it was the divine plan
all along) that His sacrifice would pave the way for mankind to move out from under the Law and move into a new and different
kind of relationship with the holy God. This new way of righteousness is called
grace. The Hebrew writer explains it like this, “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and
that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing ti to the cross.” (Col.
2:13b-14)
So our position
in God is this: we are seen as holy, righteous, and set apart because of His Son. Our
position in God is safe, secure, and solid. (see
Rom. 8:39) We are put in this position because of the work of Jesus. We enter into this position in God by the process of our conversion which can be summed
up as a 5 step process:
1) we hear
the Word (namely the Gospel, which is the story of Jesus)
2) we believe
in Him and what He did
3) we confess
that we are in need of His sacrifice
4) we repent
of our futile and sinful ways and embrace His new command and calling
5) we are baptized into Christ to outwardly demonstrate our inner decision to change and ally ourselves with Him.
(This process can be found on our
website with a vast array of Scriptural references for the interested seeker. Please check it out or recommend it to a friend who is outside the Body.)
Once you are
in Christ you are a part of God’s family. Romans 8:1 makes it clear that
our position has changed, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation of those in
Christ Jesus.” We are under the umbrella of grace, not Law.
Now,
our response: All of the preceding leads me to this question. If we are under the Law of Grace and not the Old Law (Mosaic Law, 10 Commandments, etc.), then are we free
to do anything we wish and still be counted as blameless and holy?
Answer: Yes
and no.
What!? How can it be both? Well, that’s were the second side of our salvation comes in, our response to God.
The answer
to the above question has to be ‘yes and no’ because it has to do with the high standards God calls us to when
we enter into His family. You see, because we don’t live under the Law
it cannot condemn us. So, legally, any sin we may commit can be expunged by the
work of Christ. Therefore, we have the assurance that Jesus can cover our sin
debt in full since He fulfilled the Law.
HOWEVER –
and this is a big however – it does not mean that Christians living under the Law of Grace do not have any moral code
or guidelines which we should follow. IN FACT – and this is another big
in fact – Jesus, by fulfilling the Law, has set the bar even higher for mankind to live up to. Check out the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) where Jesus extends
the true intent of the Law, like the 10 Commandments, even farther than was ever considered before. Just one case in point, look at His discussion of murder in Matt. 5:21, “you have heard it said …’Do not murder’… But I tell you that anyone who is angry with
his brother will be subject to judgment…” Or check out Paul’s
rhetorical question in Romans, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:1-2) No, the point is that God holds out high standards for our conduct, but has made a way for us to be cleansed
when we happen to fall short of the standard that reflects His character. (For
even more insight you should read more Romans. Look at Rom. 7:7-8:17. This is an excellent passage that goes deep.)
You might
ask how can we still have rules if we don’t live under the Law? Good question. It’s because we are discussing two issues here – our position versus our
response. As far as our salvation goes, Jesus does indeed pay the full price
for our sin. Therefore we will not be condemned if we are found to be abiding
in Christ when our end comes.
But in light
of this tremendous assurance and outpouring of grace from a God who did not need to do this, in light of this, what kind of
life do you think He would want us to live? In more down to earth terms, what
if I gave you a million dollars? If I just hand you a million dollars and say
‘here you go, it’s a gift’, what would your response be? I
would hope (as I teach my kids) that you would at least say ‘thank you’.
Now this is where the rubber meets the road. In light of the blessings
we have received from the gracious hand of God our lives should become a living ‘thank you’. If you truly understand Law, grace, and the sacrifice that Jesus made for us to have the latter instead
of the former, then you will be strongly motivated in your life to say thank you by aligning your life to match that of Jesus.
Romans 12:1-2
says it like this, “Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –
His good, pleasing and perfect will.” In fact, Jesus simply expects
it of His followers. He identifies our obedience as being part of the family
of God. “For whoever does the will
of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matt.
12:50) He assumes that you will understand the big picture and teach it to others. In His command called the Great Commission we find He spells it out, we are to disciple
the nations “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20) And what did He command? The fullness of the spirit of the OT Law.
Romans 8:3
sums up the whole picture very well. “For
what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful man to be a sin offering.”
Therefore,
our response to what God has done for us should ultimately fulfill the original intent of … guess what … the Law. Do you see the beauty in it? The design? We began in perfection with Adam, we fell, we were offered a way back that could not
be attained so we were given the way back by God Himself in order for us to again fellowship with God in perfection again. The ultimate perfection, of course, will only occur upon our death and entry into
the very Presence of God. What a thing to look forward to for all believers!
I pray that
this discussion will help you appreciate your position in God. I pray it will
also motivate you to continue your transformation into a new creation dedicated and centered on Him. Lastly I encourage you to share this good news, this free grace with those around you who are seeking or
don’t even know enough to yet seek. Tell them of Jesus as you share grace
and mercy with them in the living example of you daily life walking with the Father.
May God bless
you and the ministry of the Lighthouse Fellowship as we team up to fulfill the Great Commission - together.
Serving Him with you,
Evan