Do The Rules Really Apply To Me? Part One

There is this idea that we as Christians need to go out and do certain things to please God, that it is in our abilities to please God.  We have to go and dress a certain way, talk a certain way and follow a bunch of rules, that are not even talked about in the bible.  This is what Paul was coming against as he wrote to the Galatians, there was a group of people who came and told them they had to follow all of the old Jewish laws, as we come to chapter five Paul begins to explain what it means to be free in Gospel and to live by the Spirit of God.  When Paul wrote to the Romans he told them that everyone is under the power of sin, “Well then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.”(Romans 3:9)  Paul is reminding the Galatians readers that we are to not be living by the law but by the Sprite.  “But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised to us who are right with God through faith. ⁶ For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love”(Ga 5:5-6)

 

The Galatians had fallen into the trap of being fooled into thinking that they needed to do something other than having faith that God’s Grace was more than sufficient for their salvation.  Christ warned His followers of this, in Matthew 16:6, “How could you even think I was talking about food? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  Christ was explaining how false teaching can spread like wild fire and fool people.  How do we keep ourselves from being fooled and how can we figure out how we as Christians are to live our lives?  Paul said we are to “live by the sprite” (Ga 5:5), “what is important is faith expressing itself in love” (Ga 5:6).  For the next two weeks we are going to be looking at this idea of being free in the Gospel by living in the Spirit.  This week let’s talk about what it means to be free.  Galatians 5:13-15 tells us “For you have been called to live in freedom—not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.”

Paul clearly tells us we are called to live in freedom, but that freedom is not a freedom of doing whatever we want.  We are called to serve one another; we are free to love everyone.   When asked which commandant is the most important Christ said ““The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^* No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark12:29-21)   Notice that it is love that is to drive us as Christians, not rules but love of God then for people.  Paul told them that they were not showing love but instead they were, “biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.”  When we begin to get caught up with rules and regulations we start to care more about looking good and we start comparing ourselves to one another.  God desires that we love Him, that we follow Him, and share His love with others.  If we want to live for God we must love God with our whole heart and our actions are going to show the Love we have in God. “Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”(1^st John 3:18-19)