Many believers strive to obey the letter of the law and are derelict of the spirit of it just like the Pharisees. We are guilty of flaunting our liberty and thereby hurting our brother who has a weaker faith and doesn't approve of our behavior. Romans 14:22 says that the faith we have we should keep to ourselves. If we eat and offend our brother we are destroying the kingdom of God for the sake of a meal and wounding him spiritually. How can this be? We are held to a higher standard than just obeying the law, either civil, biblical, moral, or ecclesiastical.
In God's economy, the way up is down and we are all in this together--we must bear one another's burdens. We all need each other--no one is a rock or an island to himself like Hindu and Buddhist karma teaches. No one in the body should be in need. Karma disregards Samaritan acts and lets a person suffer his own karma without anyone's interference. When we just go through the motions without our heart being involved or any real motivation we are obeying the letter of the law, like Saul performing the illegal sacrifice and Samuel telling him that to obey is better than sacrifice (doing it the right way and in the right spirit).
Just because something is legal doesn't make it moral, ethical, nor spiritually correct. There's the politically correct thing to do and there's the spiritually correct thing to do. Too many believers are guilty of complying on the outside while disobeying on the inside--they obey outwardly, while their face says no. We must never be remiss of doing everything in the right spirit and being filled with the Spirit in our activities. "Whatsoever you do, do to the glory of God" (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31). The law we are subject to is the law of love and I mean agape love, which is eternal and unconditional.
You can get technical and say that you aren't sinning, but inside you can know that you are evading the Spirit and doing your own thing, which is what sin is (man's declaration of independence from God). "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way..." (cf. Isaiah 53:6, ESV).
Sometimes Christians think that if others do something it is okay, too. We rationalize and say: "Everyone's doing it," or "We always have done it that way and gotten away with it," or "It sounds responsible," or "It sounds like the rational thing to do." We must follow the law of love, as I said, and obey in the right spirit, too, not just our outward duty--we go beyond the call of duty! They may just be partners in crime or in cahoots and will bring judgments on themselves for their wrongdoing.
We are to look to the Bible for our standards of right and wrong and not human opinion or worse yet, popular opinion. Christians are to stand out and stick up for Jesus and be counted, not defend the worldview or devil's world and all he stands for--it's an angelic conflict we're engaged in and the battle is the Lord's if we have faith. We must not become casualties because we are ignorant of the devil's schemes and wiles.
We may think we can get away with something (Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out.") or that it is right in our eyes (God sets the ultimate standards, not us), but God wants us to be sensitive to the weaker brother and our liberty is limited by our brother's conscience--we must not stand up for our rights in the name of Christian liberty (this is liberty gone amok).
Yes, we must realize that the world obeys only the letter of the law, and we are held to a higher standard to do everything in love and to prove it by our deeds, not just in our words (1 John 3:18). "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17, ESV). We are to be known by our compassion, just like Bertrand Russell knew when he quipped: "What the world needs is more Christian love [he was a famous atheist himself!]." What we want to demonstrate is that Christians go beyond the call of duty and think of someone other than themselves. As Jesus said, "Go the extra mile!" In sum, Jesus raised the bar in ethics and told us to be good Samaritans, love our neighbors as ourselves, and love our enemies. Soli Deo Gloria!
In God's economy, the way up is down and we are all in this together--we must bear one another's burdens. We all need each other--no one is a rock or an island to himself like Hindu and Buddhist karma teaches. No one in the body should be in need. Karma disregards Samaritan acts and lets a person suffer his own karma without anyone's interference. When we just go through the motions without our heart being involved or any real motivation we are obeying the letter of the law, like Saul performing the illegal sacrifice and Samuel telling him that to obey is better than sacrifice (doing it the right way and in the right spirit).
Just because something is legal doesn't make it moral, ethical, nor spiritually correct. There's the politically correct thing to do and there's the spiritually correct thing to do. Too many believers are guilty of complying on the outside while disobeying on the inside--they obey outwardly, while their face says no. We must never be remiss of doing everything in the right spirit and being filled with the Spirit in our activities. "Whatsoever you do, do to the glory of God" (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31). The law we are subject to is the law of love and I mean agape love, which is eternal and unconditional.
You can get technical and say that you aren't sinning, but inside you can know that you are evading the Spirit and doing your own thing, which is what sin is (man's declaration of independence from God). "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way..." (cf. Isaiah 53:6, ESV).
Sometimes Christians think that if others do something it is okay, too. We rationalize and say: "Everyone's doing it," or "We always have done it that way and gotten away with it," or "It sounds responsible," or "It sounds like the rational thing to do." We must follow the law of love, as I said, and obey in the right spirit, too, not just our outward duty--we go beyond the call of duty! They may just be partners in crime or in cahoots and will bring judgments on themselves for their wrongdoing.
We are to look to the Bible for our standards of right and wrong and not human opinion or worse yet, popular opinion. Christians are to stand out and stick up for Jesus and be counted, not defend the worldview or devil's world and all he stands for--it's an angelic conflict we're engaged in and the battle is the Lord's if we have faith. We must not become casualties because we are ignorant of the devil's schemes and wiles.
We may think we can get away with something (Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out.") or that it is right in our eyes (God sets the ultimate standards, not us), but God wants us to be sensitive to the weaker brother and our liberty is limited by our brother's conscience--we must not stand up for our rights in the name of Christian liberty (this is liberty gone amok).
Yes, we must realize that the world obeys only the letter of the law, and we are held to a higher standard to do everything in love and to prove it by our deeds, not just in our words (1 John 3:18). "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17, ESV). We are to be known by our compassion, just like Bertrand Russell knew when he quipped: "What the world needs is more Christian love [he was a famous atheist himself!]." What we want to demonstrate is that Christians go beyond the call of duty and think of someone other than themselves. As Jesus said, "Go the extra mile!" In sum, Jesus raised the bar in ethics and told us to be good Samaritans, love our neighbors as ourselves, and love our enemies. Soli Deo Gloria!
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