Love Trumps Law

Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?

Galatians 3:24-27; Luke 10:25-29; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:17-18  
Audio file is at the end of this text.                  

You can't work your way into heaven.  You might think it satisfying when you put your head on your pillow at night to count up all the good things you did that day and compare yourself others.  It might make you feel good about yourself because you know others could not possibly have done as many good deeds today as you did and you know for sure you're better than the people in jail.

This is what we tend to do, we tend to judge our good works against the work of others.  Romans 3:10 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one." Ecclesiastes 7:20 says. "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." So all of our effort to earn our way to God or work our way into heaven is wasted energy.
 
Here in Galatians 3:24-27, Paul is teaching that Jesus came to save us from the law since generations had proved that humans simply cannot stick to the rules.  Adam and Eve started the downward path and until Jesus came, we were stuck in our failure. This passage says that the law was to protect us from ourselves just like an adult protects a child.  The Message translation reads, 

       "The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them form danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set our for. But now you have arrived at your destination:  By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.  Your baptism in Chirst was not just washing you up for a fresh start.  It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe -- Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise."


This faith we put on then changes everything and we don't need the law to save us from ourselves, we only need Christ.  Trusting Christ is what takes you to heaven.  Trust not work; faith not law.  

Following "the law" was the way of Judaism.  The law started with the Ten Commandments then grew into over 600 laws and out of this big list, Jesus made it clear that we are to focus our lives on just two.   But, they might not be considered law because they are very hard to define and some might say too big to pin down.

Look at Deuteronomy 6:5.  There it says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."  Leviticus 19:18 says, "...love your neighbor as yourself."

So Paul says, the era of the law is over and Christ has changed everything.  So how are we to live if the law is thrown out?  Turn to Luke 10:25-28.  Here Jesus is confronted by a religious law expert.  This man was trying to trap Jesus so he asked, "How do I get eternal life?"  Jesus knew the man knew the law so Jesus said, "What do you think?"

The man recited Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 and Jesus said, "Good answer.  Do it and you'll live."

Most of us in this room realize that without God's power working in our lives, we can't do the only two things Jesus requires.  You cannot work your way into heaven but faith and trust will take you there.

11 6 2011 by Robby4747 on Mixcloud

Trust = Peace

Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?

Galatians 2:11-14; John 14 and 15   --   Audio file is at the end of this text.                  
How is it that we dare to ask God to listen to us?  How is it that we dare to pray for help, for guidance, or for peace in our hearts?  Who deserves to talk to God?  Who can ask God for help and receive it?  We come boldly because we believe that the Bible is God's word and in it God makes it perfectly clear that he made each of us, he loves each of us and he expects each of us to depend upon him.

God's first formal set of instructions came in the form of  The Ten Commandants.   Our ancestors were never able to live up to what are still the rules that will guarantee a good life.  The only problem with rules is not one person who has ever lived has been able to live up to them.  The "fall" resulted in our cursed lives, but, God loves us so much that he gave us a new way to realize our potential. He gave us a new way to come to him boldly and without shame.

In Galatians 3:11-14 we read, "Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because, 'the righteous will live by faith.' The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, 'The person who does these things will live by them.' christ redeemed us from the curse of thelaw by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.' He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

This means that we can't please God by only being a good person. We can't get God's attention by doing works and comparing ourselves to other people and saying to God and to ourselves, “Well I am better than that person because I do more good for my neighbors than he does.” Forget that strategy as you will always fall short.

When Paul was writing to the Galatian churches he was reminding them that while the rabbis were demanding more from them, God was only demanding faith. Paul is saying here that the curse of the law was finished, retired, and made obsolete by Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus' life, teaching, cruel and bloody death followed by his resurrection is what saves us.

All God wants is our trust in him. All God wants is our total faith that he not only made us, he has saved us from ourselves. He made us all his sons through the sacrifice of Jesus and thus we stand amazed in the presence of God knowing that he hears us.

How do we go to God? How do we live? We live by faith. We live by trusting that God, our creator, will keep his promises to each of us. Then how do you know that you are trusting God for every detail of your life? You will have the “peace that passes all understanding.” 

October 30, 2011 by Robby4747 on Mixcloud