Going Crazy With the Law

Verse for the Week:

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith APART from the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:28

Going Crazy With the Law....

For years, I have gone to church every Sunday and learned so many different things, like: do not gossip, do not steal, do tithe 10 percent of your income to the church, do not get angry, do forgive others, do have patience,  do take care of the poor, do not have sex before marriage, do not commit adultery, do not lust, do not cuss, do not use God’s name in vain, do make peace with everyone, do love everyone, do not hate,  do serve others, do not lie, do not be jealous, do not divorce, do not be prideful, do not make idols, do not have other gods, do not murder, do not be bitter, do not, do this, do not, do this, do not……..the list goes on and on. 

 I look at the law and realize how NO ONE can follow all of the commandments God has given us. God gave the Jewish people over 600 commandments to follow in the Old Testament.  He knew it would be impossible for the Jews to follow them all, but that was the point of the law, to show us exactly how impossible it is to follow all of God's commands.  It is impossible!  Just look at the 10 Commandments alone in Exodus 20 and you will soon realize that if you have broken one, you have broken them all.  For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.( James 1:20)   No wonder people stop going to Church or trying to live for Jesus; they get so caught up trying to follow what is impossible to follow, and after continuous failure, they give up!  It says in Romans 3:23,  “ for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  No wonder people get so frustrated because they know failure is unavoidable.  I found out from our Pastor at church that 70% of teenagers leave the church when they go to college.  We have so many rules and regulations heaped upon us that we begin to drown in a pool of commands that we can never keep.  Trapped is the best way to describe how people feel towards the law…

God knew we could never keep the law. Jesus himself demonstrated that to us in Matthew 19:16-26 when he talks to a rich man about how to get to heaven.  Here is the story:

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

¹⁷ “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, ¹⁹ honor your father and mother,’and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁰ “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

I would have looked at Jesus and asked the same thing.  Who can be saved?  It is impossible! If we don’t follow every command God give us, we are subject to eternal death! But in verse 26 Jesus says something very important.

²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Of course all things are possible with God.  He would never leave us to drown in our sins and be condemned to hell.  God made it possible to have abundant life without the law.  He did it through Jesus.  “But God demonstrated his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  God knew we could never keep the law, so he put Jesus who knew no sin to die for our sins.   We are justified by faith in Christ Jesus, not by the law.  In Romans 3:28 it says, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith APART from the deeds of the law.”

So here is the question I have to ask.  If we are justified by faith and not the law, why do we keep trying to follow the law? Why do churches keep hammering the law into our brains, and we experience failure over and over when we attempt to follow every command?  I know in my own life, I keep trying over and over to do the “do not’s and do’s” and keep failing.  What people forget is that the law was the first covenant between God and the Jews; the second covenant involves FAITH in Jesus!  The law is out, Jesus is in!  When we go back and try to keep the law of the Old Testament we commit spiritual adultery.  Now, before you claim I am being blasphemous and going against what God says, hear me out. Let’s read, Romans 7:1-6 carefully (don’t skim it!) and I will explain what I mean:

Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. ³ So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. ⁶ But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

For years, pastors and teachers have used Romans 7 to teach others about not committing adultery (another “do not”), but if you look at the verses before and after the scripture on adultery, you will see that Paul is using it as an example to make his point about the law and grace.  You see, when a woman’s husband dies, she is free from the law and is allowed to marry again.  When we accept Jesus, we died to the law and now have freedom through Christ. Just like when a woman’s husband dies, she now has freedom to marry; we die to the law and have freedom in Christ.  So why do we keep going back to the law?

I am not in any way saying that because we are free from the law that we should start sinning whenever we want.  Even Paul says, in Romans  6:15,  “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  By no means!” 

You see, when we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are a new creation.  Christ LIVES in us!  So when we re-read Romans 7:6, it begins to make sense:   ⁶ But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”  We are no longer bound to the written code of the law, we are to serve in a new way…by the Spirit…by Christ reigning inside of us.  Each day, we should be asking Christ how do you want to work through me today?  We need to be looking at Christ, who He is, what he does, how he loves, and allow who He is to be seen through us. 

I no longer criticize myself and call myself a failure whenever I mess up and do the wrong thing.  I am not bound by the law, God LOVES me too much to keep me bound to it.  “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (Romans 5:20)  Instead, I keep moving on and let Christ live in me.  I keep my eyes on Him.  I serve Him with all my heart because of the outpouring love he has given me.  I now want to shower others with His love.  Living your life for Jesus is freedom.  It is Grace!

Follow Jesus, not the Law!