The Vineyard Church of North Grand Rapids, MI

Ray Befus     Selected Scriptures Dead to the Law     1 November 2009

My wife Carol and I enjoy traveling to Amish country, whether in northern Indiana or eastern Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.  We love the sense of community and simplicity that the Amish cultivate.  My son Michael thinks that we abused him as a child because we took him so often to Shipshewana and forced him to ride around in horse-drawn buggies, wander through Yoder’s Hardware store, and eat fried chicken at the Essenhaus.  Poor boy! If you like the Ten Commandments, you’ll love Amish Country.  Everywhere you go, you can purchase paintings and wood carvings of the Ten Commandments.  You can have your Ten Commandments painted on barn wood or quilted onto bed spreads.   God bless their hearts, many of the Amish are legalists. They love the BIble, but they reject the gospel of grace.  They believe that whatever else you believe about the Bible, Jesus, and heaven . . . it is by doing and keeping the law that a man or woman finds peace with God will someday get to heaven. On one trip to Lancaster County, Carol and I met several hotel employees who were born-again believers . . .  believers in God’s grace and the cross of Jesus Christ.  They both told similar stories.  Though their extended families still included Amish folk, a grandparent or a parent had discovered the good news of God’s grace through personal Bible reading, and had decided to begin trusting and following Jesus, a grace-filled journey from start to finish.  As a result, this parent or grand parent had been shunned—put out of the community for taking the path of faith (and freedom) in Jesus, rather than faith in their own ability to keep God’s OT laws.  

This fall, we’re talking about legalism, a serious and widespread spiritual disease—outside and inside the church.  It’s not hard to find Christians who are filled with self-doubt, insecurity, shame, and even-self hatred . . . for their own failures or even for the things done to them.  Men and women who have built their faith around their performance, project their legalism on other people.  Legalistis not only judge themselves by their performance, but judge others by their performance.  They’ll smile at you on Sunday morning or even in a home group gathering, but you can’t be sure they’ll ever forgive you, love you, or invite you into their lives.  Legalistic Christians are often negative, critical, and suspicious.  You’ve disappointed them. Your performance let them down.  You’ve hurt them. So, they express their judgment by keeping you at a distance. Legalists go still further.  They project their legalism onto God himself.  They can’t help it.  Because they themselves are legalistic, they imagine him to be a nitpicking book-keeper who is generally disappointed in their performance and just biding his time until the moment comes when he either sticks it to them (in a car accident or cancer) or walks out on them in a divorce or downward economy.  Perhaps the most shocking part of legalism is that, at least among Christian legalists, it is often rooted in a reverence for the OT—what the Apostle Paul refers to as ‘The Law’.

Two weeks ago, we looked together at Galatians 2:19, where Paul, a Jew’s Jew, wrote that he “died to the law so that he might live for God”.  To his Jewish readers that would have been a statement, shocking beyond belief. “You died to the law so that you could live for God?  What kind of non-sense is that?”  As revolutionary as it sounds, Paul is declaring that he no longer regards the law as a meaningful part of  his walk with God.  He is now living for God, apart from the law.  It’s hard for us to believe that the OT as a whole, or even the Ten Commandments, has no relevance to living for God today, but that is exactly Paul’s point.

To understand Paul’s perspective, we need to take a look at the flow of the Bible.  Most everyone I know agrees that the Bible has three major sections within it: (1) The OT, (2) the Gospels and Acts, and (3) the NT letters.  Each section has great value, but each section does not have the same value. So, please hear me: each part of the Bible is very valuable, but each part doesn’t have equal value. So, first of all, the OT . . .  has great value in helping us to understand God’s presence in our world, his plan for creation, his motivations and sensitivities, the reality of evil and Satan, God’s desire to have a people that reflect his glory in the world, his tenacity in making and keeping covenants, and his providential influence throughout human history.  You might think of the OT as the unfinished basement of your faith.  You don’t live there, but it’s very important to the rest of your house. It’s made up of footings and foundational walls.   Footings and foundations are essential to our lives, but they are generally hard, rough, cold and full of sharp edges and reinforcing rods. There’s not much that is comfortable or cozy about the footings and foundations of our houses.  No one dreams of living in an unfinished basement.

We live on the main floor of our faith. The Gospels and Acts make up this main floor. The Christian’s daily life is one of trusting and following Jesus in all things. In Hebrews 1:1-3, the author tells us that the clearest revelation of God’s heart and mind, will and ways, plan and purpose is found in Jesus’ life, conversations and teachings, death and resurrection, and release of the Holy Spirit in Acts.  In comparison to the clarity of Gospels and Acts, the OT  presents us with shadows of God’s heart and ways.   Yes, you can learn some important things from observing a person’s shadow, but the revelation is very limited.  This is why, as you live the Christian life, nothing is more important than learning to trust and follow Jesus as he is revealed in the Gospels and Acts.  He is the exact representation of our Father in Heaven.  Watch how he relates to men and women just like you.  Listen as he blesses little children.  Notice what angers him most. Listen to his teachings.  Watch him go to the cross for you and me.  Jesus’ birth, life, teaching, example, death, and resurrection is God’s explanation of himself to us (John 1:18).

Beyond the Gospel’s and Acts, our house has an upstairs: the NT letters. These letters are like bedrooms where the apostles come to us (like parents at bedtime) and explain in greater detail how to live together in community in ways that reflect Jesus’ example and teachings—i.e., how to live Jesus‘ life together.  Paul writes letter after letter, urging Christians everywhere to make Jesus the center of their relationships, their ministries, their self-evaluation, their vision for life. In Galatians 4:19, Paul writes that he feels as though he is the pains of labor until Christ is formed in their hearts, minds, and relationships. It’s hard to know what Jesus would do in our lives, when the world pressures us, family members discourage us, and even the church is filled with broken people.  So, the NT letters provide pointed and passionate counsel on how to live together in Jesus-brand unity in different places and and cultures.  Truly, the NT letters are all about Jesus and Jesus-brand spirituality.

Legalism grows and thrives (like mold and mildew in our houses) when Christians overlook the dramatic change in God’s plan and purposes, from the OT to the NT.  While God himself does not change, the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son—Jesus—has changed everything.  Since Jesus’ arrival on planet earth, the OT has, in a variety of ways, become ancient history. The OT no longer defines sin or describes the path to righteousness with God.  While the OT provides us with a wealth of information about who God is, what he is like, and his mission in our world, the OT—a section of the Bible the Apostle Paul calls “the law”—is now irrelevant to describing either the destination of our spiritual journey or the path we’re taking. It never had the power to change anybody from the inside out. The Ten Commandments provide us with helpful information, but since Jesus’ coming to earth and Jesus’ sending of the Holy Spirit, these ancient boundary markers are much too superficial to be much help to us.  Jesus himself said that all of the commands and instructions in the OT can be summarized by the one great command to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths . . . and to love others as we love ourselves . . . or as the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 5:6: what matters now is faith (in God) that works its way out through love (for others).  As we need additional insight and direction, Jesus promised that the Spirit would teach us and lead us.

Why does legalism seem to have such a timeless appeal?  (1) Rule-keeping feeds our pride. Rule-keeping gives a sense of control, even power.  By living within childish boundary markers, I can easily judge myself a good person . . . even a better person, a better Christian than you because I don’t do the wicked things you do.  Legalism is often behind the smug isolation and critical attitudes of many American Christians.  Legalism empowers their judgments of themselves and others. (2) Legalism also appeals because boundary markers (i.e.—do not lie, commit  adultery or murder) are much less challenging or risky than loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength. Observing boundary markers is way less costly than forgiving, sacrificing and serving our neighbors like Jesus did.  No legalists generally don’t murder each other; but they do gossip and slander (by email), refuse to forgive, and withhold their hearts and gifts from each other.

The dramatic change from the OT to the NT (footings to the main floor) is reflected in the contrast between John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus described John the Baptist as the last and greatest prophet of the OT period.  His ministry is described for us in Luke 3:1-18.  Picture John standing on the far side of the the Jordan River—a wild bedouin, dressed like the ancient prophet Elijah, sweating and yelling across to his listeners, calling them to repent from their sins in order to escape the threat of coming judgment. But repentance wasn’t enough; John demanded that they produce a lifestyle of repentance or they would miss the coming kingdom and face certain judgment.  Simply put, John’s message was: repent for your horrible sins, show us that you really mean it, then come over to my side of the river to be blessed by the God whose anger is already flashing and thundering all along the horizon of your life. Like the prophets before him, John’s preaching was based squarely on God’s OT covenant with Moses (Deuteronomy 27-30).  God promised judgment for disobedience and blessing for obedience.  If God’s people wanted his forgiveness, acceptance, and blessing, they needed to repent of all their sins and carefully obey him in all their ways.  If they did not obey in all their ways, God promised certain judgment for their sins.  As in all the OT, God’s forgiveness, acceptance, and blessing were conditional.  The condition was sincere repentance and careful obedience.

Did Jesus continue on in the shoes of the OT prophets?  Was Jesus a thundering prophet like John?  If he had, he might have been more popular.  He might have lived longer.  But Jesus’ ministry was like daybreak to the sunset of John’s ministry. Jesus didn’t stand on the river bank, shouting at sinners on the other side, urging them to come across if they wanted what he had. Instead, he sought out sinners.  He went looking for them. He befriended sinners and even ate and drank with them . . . unrepentant sinners . . . in their homes, and even in his home. He started his best-known sermon—the Sermon on the Mount—with the promise of blessing (multiplied blessings), not threats of judgment.  He himself was living out the Parable of the Good Samaritan, showing extravagant mercy to outsiders.  He told a woman caught in adultery that he (God) didn’t accuse or condemn her (as the law actually did). Nothing in all the gospels reveals God’s amazing grace toward sinners, like Jesus’ frequent practice of meal-sharing.  In middle eastern culture, then and now, sharing a meal with someone was a sign of authentic forgiveness, acceptance, trust, friendship, and blessing.  People didn’t share meals with their enemies—people they feared, resented, or despised.  To invite another person into your home for a meal was to share fellowship, was to open your heart and your life to this person, was to extend love and trust.  We eat food together, mostly fast food.  Family meals are becoming uncommon.  Meals with strangers are rare.  Meal-sharing has lost much of its significance in our busy culture.  In Jesus‘ day, meals with tax-collectors and sinners just didn’t happen casually—not among religious folks.  Meal-sharing was intentional and, in Jesus‘ case, his meal-sharing was an expression of his mission and message: amazing grace.  God loves you so much that he is seeking you out, freely opening his heart to you, and giving you what you could never earn. There are no conditions on his forgiveness, acceptance, or blessing.

Turn over to Luke 5:27-32 (tax collectors=evil men; sinners=wicked women)—an early incident that reveals either a young Rabbi’s poor judgment, or a gracious God’s intentional kindness. The OT prophet Isaiah had declared that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not his ways. Just how different? As high as the heavens are from the earth (Isaiah 55:6-7). This intentional practice of meal-sharing was God expressing his heart of grace more clearly than even the OT prophets foresaw.  Jesus colored so far outside the lines of OT law . . . so blurred the line between religious insiders and outsiders, that in chapter 7, John the Baptist expresses confusion about Jesus’ identity and, a sinful woman boldly enters the home of a Pharisee and weeps over Jesus’ feet, kisses them, and pours perfume out on them.  Jesus is completely blurring the relgious lines that separate religious insiders and outsiders. In chapter 15, the people who were deeply committed to OT law complained (“muttered”) again about Jesus’ gracious meal-sharing with sinners.  In response to the implied question, “What is God’s attitude toward these sinful men and women?”, Jesus answers with a parable—the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In tender love, God freely forgives and opens his heart to the worst of sinners, and pours out blessing on them.  He doesn’t shame or lecture, demand contrition or penance, or require a season of probation. All that’s left to do with a father who unconditionally forgives, accepts, and blesses you is to trust and love him in return! In Luke 19, Jesus meets Zacchaeus and announced publicly that he’s going to share a meal at Zacchaes’ house.  Zacchaeus is such a selfish and evil man that this time even the people mutter against Jesus.  Zachaeus responds to this amazing grace by deciding to repent and make restitution.

Yes, God revealed his amazing grace in that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). But God showed his amazing grace in the three years leading up to the cross by sharing meals with all sorts of sinful men and women. I’ve been wondering if the first communion service was in the upper room on Jesus’ final Passover.  These meals with Matthew and his friends, with Zacchaeus and others were communion with God, weren’t they?  The Creator of the Universe, sharing  meals with sinners! Does it get any better than that?  Amazing.  When I first started pastoring a church here in W MI, I discovered that in my church, divorced women were not allowed to work in the nursery, sing in the choir, or take communion. The rule wasn’t generally applied to men, because they generally just disappeared.  But the women who suffered through divorce and wanted with all their hearts to stay connected with God and his people were excluded from the meal, the Love Feast. I don’t think my little church got that policy from Jesus.

This OT/NT distinction is huge.  In the OT, God called people to repent in order to be forgiven, accepted, and blessed. Like the prophet’s before him, this is what John the Baptist preached.  In striking contrast, Jesus freely offered forgiveness, acceptance, and blessing—even to unrepentant sinners . . . unconditionally—in order to lead them to repentance. So, in Romans 2:4, the Apostle Paul describes the riches of God’s kindness and writes that, in contrast to the thundering threats of the OT law, it is now God’s unconditional kindness that leads us to repentance.  God’s amazing grace is summed up in this historic contrast: since Jesus’ coming to earth, God is now offering his forgiveness to sinners before they repent.  After they taste his kindness, God then invites the forgiven to trust him. So, Jesus life and teaching, death and resurrection, and sending of the Spirit to all who trust him, brought an end to OT law’s relevance to defining sin or describing the path of our spiritual journey.  Grace Reigns!

Here’s an illustration of the relative value of the Old and New Testaments.  Our nation’s Declaration of Independence is very valuable to every American citizen. It provides us with wonderful insights into the minds and lives of our country’s founding fathers. It communicates the heart of the American Revolution. However, since the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration has become irrelevant to the day-to-day operation of our government.  Is the Declaration worthless? Hardly; it’s precious! So is the OT.  But , like the Declaration, the OT law is now irrelevant to our daily journey.  The cross inspires our behavior and the Holy Spirit empowers our steps. Living on this side of the cross and the coming of the Spirit, we’re free from the relentless demands of the law (ALL OF IT) . . . free from the insider/outsider distinctions made by the law . . . free from the shameful condemnation produced by the law.  This is the message of Galatians.  We’ll pick up our study of chapter 3 next Sunday. Paul declares in Galatians 6 that there’s nothing in all Christianity—or any other religion or faith—that is worth boasting or bragging about, except the cross.  The cross is our peace and our hope, our forgiveness and freedom to change an grow.  The presence, power, and peace of the Holy Spirit—flow from the cross. The cross is our vision for a life of serving and joining Jesus in his mission.  

And the cross has purchased the greatest blessing imaginable—free to all who decide to trust and follow Jesus—adoption as sons and daughters, to be together forever with Jesus (unconditionally loved, completely forgiven, absolutely accepted, and blessed forever with and brothers and sisters from every tongue, tribe, and nation.  Imagine the wonder of calling the Creator of the Universe, “Father” and see him smile.  Imagine taking a step toward him, calling out “Abba,” and seeing him open his arms to embrace you.  Imagine being loved by this Father with the same love with which he loves Jesus.

Why wouldn’t you trust him with your life now—your need and fears, your sins and secrets, your relationships, your sexual activities, your career, your money, your history, your dreams . . . like Yolanda.  In his newest book, The Furious Longing of God, Brennan Manning tells us a true story about a dying woman named Yolanda, one of Abba’s adopted daughters (pp.51-56). Manning starts with a bit of speculation about Jesus’ passion—Jesus death on the cross and what Jesus’ Abba might have spoken to him, his son, while he was dying for you and me.

You can choose your own path through life, of course. You can make up your own rules as you go. You can set your standards and high as you want and judge yourself and everyone else by them. But, I’m thinking that I’ll choose grace over law. I’ll choose adoption over trying to make it on my own. I’ll choose trusting over performing. I’m going to keep opening my heart to trust and love this God of grace.  Abba Father.

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