Organizing the Inside – Day 298 Do Your Rules Impede Their Faith?

June 27, 2012 at 1:00 pm · Filed under Encouragement, Faith, Leadership, Simplicity, Wisdom, Women's Ministry and tagged: Christ, Christian, Christianity, God's Grace, Grace, Teachers, The Gospel

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
Galatians 2:16 (NLT)

Simply put! There is nothing that anyone needs to do to be made right with God, except have faith in Jesus Christ. NOTHING!! Christians are constantly putting stipulations on others about how to be made right with God, converting back to the law. We cannot put people under bondage because we know the law. Many principles found in the law work, but doesn’t faith work better? Indeed there is a more excellent way; God’s law is now written on our hearts. Does that mean we shouldn’t learn from the written law? Absolutely not, but false teachers teach the law to manipulate others and they also suggest that by following the law one is made right with God. Those who teach such untrue doctrine will indeed be held accountable for their works and words.

For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, Romans 4:14 (NLT) because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Romans 4:15 (NIV)

Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”  Romans 7:7 (NLT)

We are made FREE in Christ.
If we teach that by obeying the law we are made right with God, what is faith for.  Christ came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17) When I first gave my life to Christ I cut up my miniskirts. I took great pride in wearing long-sleeved shirts and high collar necklines. I wanted to please God by obeying someone else’s ideas about how to be made right with Him.  I wanted to obey all the “Christian rules that I was supposed to follow” I took my cues from those who preached and the message that their lifestyle brought. Eventually, the notion that I had to do all kinds of “acts” and “good works” in order to please God became overwhelming. 3How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?  Galatians 3:3, 4 (NLT) I knew I had a relationship with God; my faith was strong and He’d answered many prayers. Troubled by the law, (the position it seemed to hold in the church) my faith was perhaps impeded. As years went by with all my errors, poor choices, mistakes and outright disobedience, God never left me and He never once cursed or forsook me. I began to realize that this walk was a walk of faith and not of laws, rules and regulations. I was made the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe… Romans 3:22a (NIV)

I began to distinguish the difference between the Word of God and the traditions of men. I rediscovered my faith, which had never left me; but it was now clear to me that it was (only) through Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Hebrews 12:2 (KJV) I sometimes wonder if my life, growth and encouragement was slowed down by those who chose to teach the law instead of the message of grace.

17But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! 18Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. 19For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:17-21 (KJV)

For those who are teachers, I understand the desire to have people “act right” and the sincerity of some who only want others to “live right.” We will see clearly and understand this matter also when we see Christ face to face. Meanwhile, as I grow (in my understanding of His love and grace) I go forward. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12 (NIV)

Be careful those among us who teach following the law as a means of being right with God. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1 (NIV) If you have ears to hear, then hear what the Spirit is saying to the church!

Satan is the accuser of the brethren, this is not our role. We are not to condemn and accuse anyone in Christ, but are to reconcile others to Christ. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:18 (NIV) God knows those who are for Him. He also knows and understands far more than any of us the place which His law truly holds in today’s modern church.

In conclusion, God knows and He sees all hearts. His Word is able to penetrate and discern the motives of men. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)

May the message of God’s Word and our faith in Him through Jesus Christ be the overriding theme we live by. May no other foundation be built again, may no other gospel be preached to men. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us. Colossians 3:11 (NLT)

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