(Please remember as you read through this that when I use the word Law, I am referring to the Law given to Israel through Moses. These were 613 commandments.)
If we say we are not under Law then for the rational mind that leaves us as lawless. World religions know the difference between law and lawlessness. Most people understand this difference as well.
Although, we have to throw in a third person here. Let's say we have one person who rigidly keeps the law. Does that make them a good person? There are lots of characters in fiction who know all the rules of status, position and so on but are loathsome people. Then there are those who are lawless. These can range from those who seek to live on the darker side of life, to those who like to dance around with flowers in their hair. But there is a third type; those who are just thoroughly decent people. They are honest and hardworking, yet at the same time are loving, kind and helpful. These are the people who are said to live according to their conscience.
These 'decent people' do not generally walk around with a checklist. They rely on their conscience. In fact, we often find that those who rigidly follow rules tend to criticise decent people because they do not act like a talking rule book.
So, where does that leave grace?
In simple terms, Grace is not the same as Law.
‘For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!’ Rom 6:14-15
Likewise, Grace is not the same as lawlessness.
‘For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.’ Jude 1:4
For the Christian, Law is not the solution to lawlessness. But neither is it just being a decent person.
Living as just me, with no other influences, the only options I have for any kind of morality are law or my own conscience or else I fall into lawlessness.
*************************************************
This is how grace works
However, we, as Christians, are not on our own. We are not left to our own devices. We neither have to strive to keep the Law nor strive to keep a good conscience by our efforts.
We have God living and working in us.
‘For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.’ Phil 2:13
*************************************************
Law is a dim reflection of God's own character. Would we rather have God working to produce His character in us or strive to produce, at best, a mere dim reflection of His character?
Pursuing the Law to produce a Godly character is a futile exercise anyway as no one except Jesus has ever managed to live by the Law. This is what the New Testament says about the Law:
‘by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.’ Rom 3:20
‘The law came in that the trespass might abound’ Rom 5:20a (Other translation say that 'sin would increase!’)
‘For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were because of the law worked in our members to bring out the fruit to death.’ Rom 7:5
‘But sin, finding occasion because of the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death; for sin, finding occasion because of the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.’ Rom 7:8-11
‘For there is a cancellation of the previous commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect)’ Heb 7:18-19a
However, this is what the New Testament says about Grace:
‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,’ Titus 2:11-12 (NIV)
Is Grace automatic?
‘You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.’ Gal 5:4
‘But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”’ James 4:6
There are two ways we can block God's grace: if we try to live by the Law or we fail to be humble. By humble, it is not saying that a proud person is a loudmouth, know it all, big I am show-off. It means you doing it rather than allowing God to do it.
Have you ever been doing something when someone else barges in and takes over? Sometimes we just stand back and let them get on with it. Sometimes, this happens where you have a responsibility and someone else muscles in and takes over. God is not going to fight with us. If we are trying to do for ourselves what God is wanting to do He will stand back and allow us. However, the expressions the Bible uses for this are: 1, 'Fallen from grace' because it is no longer by God's effort and 2, 'Resisted by God' because God wants you to give in and allow Him to do it.
The short answer of how to walk in the Spirit of grace is to trust in the love and work of Jesus. That might sound like an encouragement to dance around with flowers in our hair, but it's not. The point is our eyes are fixed on Jesus. He is the destination. The question is, how are we going to get there?
'This is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded' 1 John 3:23
We are to believe in Him and love others as He has loved us. Do we know how He loves us? How can we love others the way Jesus loves us if we don't know how He loves us? This is not simply assuming we know because we think it's obvious. Paul tells us we are to learn the full measure of Jesus' love for us; the height, depth, length and breadth. The way is to keep reading the verses that speak of His love for us and what He has done for us. To take these things to heart and let them really sink in.
Jesus is the Word made flesh. For us, the word is often referred to as food. What we eat becomes part of us, part of our flesh. We are to become the word made flesh. Not simply by eating one meal!
We know that eating one healthy meal doesn't make us healthy. We need to establish a healthy diet. Likewise, reading the Bible verses once will not change our life. But reading them over and over will. We also know that we don't need to be encouraged to be unhealthy! The reason the New Testament tells us to encourage one another is because it is so easy for us to slip into bad habits.
Under the Law, the Jews were required to remind themselves of what God had done for them as a people. Under the new covenant, we are told to encourage one another and build one another up. In this case, we can remind ourselves of how Jesus feels about us and what He has done for us.
'Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,' Rom 15:5
'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another' Col 3:16a
'Therefore encourage one another, and build each other up, even as you also do' 1 Thes 5:11
'Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works' Heb 10:24
Summing up
The way that grace works is that it is something God does in us. The purpose of that working is for us to have a will that desires God's good pleasure and to work for God's good pleasure.
We can "frustrate" the work of God in us by either trying to do things our own way or by trying to make ourselves right by the Law given through Moses.
Here's an analogy to help us think about how we can "help" the work of God in us. If I go to pick up my car from being serviced and find they have repainted it a different colour, put a spoiler on the back and so on, I'd think something has gone wrong. When I take my car in to be serviced, there is an agreement concerning exactly what work will be done. We could say the same with surgery, mental health care, dental work etc. There needs to be an agreement beforehand on what the goal of the work being done is. When it comes to the work God is doing in us, God has already laid out what work needs to be done in His word.
Therefore, the way we can "help" the work God is doing in us is to read the agreement and agree with it. For example, if God wants you to know that you now have the righteousness of Christ, then read the verses that say that and say "amen" to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment