The Letter Of The Law

 The Pharisees were guilty of obeying the letter of the Law at the exclusion of the spirit of the Law.  They majored on minors and paid heed to minor  points such as tithing in small matters and ignored the weightier matters of the Law: faithfulness, mercy, and love. (Matt. 23:23).  For instance, one may say that he frowns upon dancing but overlooks covetousness as a minor affair or offense.  Being a legalist leads to judging and even condemning one's brother or sister. We are not to compare us to other persons or our Christian brethren (2 Cor. 10:12). Legalism is one way to end up doing that!  

Sometimes necessity knows no law like when  in the parable of the Good Samarian and the priest didn't want to become ceremonially unclean by defiling himself or even missing his Sabbath. This is an example of "going beyond that which is written!" (1 Cor. 4:4). Besides going against the spirit of the law, that it is fulfilled in loving our neighbor, making up your own rules and adding sins is also legalism. Tradition is often added to the Word of God and counted as a way to gauge sin. The priest was a slave to his tradition and could not see a need to be fulfilled.  Legalism elevates tradition to the level of Law and bind people where the Bible has left them free!  

In my day, good Christians watched the hemlines, movie lines, and hairlines! Spiritualty was something to be seen by men and an external thing noticed by others. Basically, believing that faith plus works equals salvation is legalism; actually faith equals salvation plus works--viva la difference!  One must distinguish that legalism sees sins, not sin!  Remember, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life!  Legalism is a form of spiritual tyranny as one believes he is spiritual but actually still a whitewashed tomb or refined sinner. 

We are forgiven for our sins and what we did, but delivered from what we are, sinners. The problem of mankind is slavery to sin and that can be any sin, even pet ones or presumptuous ones. When one says, for instance, to give up this or that to become a Christian, one fails to realize we are slaves to sin in toto and are sinners by nature. 

The opposite and equally evil distortion of the Law of God is antinomianism! The theme song: "Freed from the Law, O blessed condition, now I can sin all I want and still have remission." Some believers may think salvation is a license to sin or that God overlooks our sins. But Martin Luther wrote a book condemning these heretics: Against the Antinomians. The only way to maintain balance between these two extremes of Bible application is to know the Bible and to understand the definition of sin and what it is not as well.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Incurable Addiction

"[F]or in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to discover and hate his own sin" (Psalm 36:2, HCSB).     

Man insists upon presenting Himself to God in the most favorable light in regards to his deeds, thinking that the good ones outweigh the bad ones and that he has some merit before a "just" God who will have mercy on him.   He should realize that Job One is repentance and that he must realize he's a lost sinner in need of God and cannot save himself.  The chief problem with man is that he doesn't see his own sin or unworthiness--he believes in the basic or inherent goodness of man and of himself; however, our do-goodery amounts to zilch in God's estimation and He doesn't grade on a curve--He leveled the playing field and we're all in the same boat (totally depraved with nothing good to claim).

If God were just to all of us, we'd all be judged worthy of damnation!  We can be thankful God tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Habukkuk 3:2) We would hope God is not just, and not only merciful (keeping us from getting our just due) but also gracious (giving us what we don't deserve, cannot pay back, and cannot even earn).

The difference between what the common man in view of his religiosity thinks and Christianity is that he is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation and doesn't seem to have the mindset to realize that it's a gift to be received.  It's not about "Do!" but "Done!"  In Christ, it's a done deal and there's nothing we can do to improve upon God's plan!  To add to God's work is an insult to our Maker like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa!   God doesn't need our efforts to impress Him, for we cannot.  Put it this way:  If we had to do something for salvation, we'd fail!

Salvation must be seen as something we cannot earn by anything we do, and we have no merit before God--that's the definition of grace (unmerited favor!). This is the only way to make salvation available to all  (the outward, general call is to all per Titus 2:11) because it's the only way that everyone has equal chance and no one is excluded, since anyone can believe!  If God had said we had to run the mile in under four minutes, you'd see every earnest believer taking up jogging and joining track teams!

But faith is not what we see, it's evidence of that something being real to us; however, we want to do something because we cannot conceive of this abstract thought of faith.  The Jews asked Jesus what they must do to do the works of God and He told them:  "The work of God is this:  to believe in the one he has sent" (cf. John 6:29, NIV).  You can read at least two doctrines into this verse:  Our faith is solely God's work in our heart and a gift that only God can accomplish; and the only thing that pleases God is faith and our works in the flesh amount to nothing..   But James (cf. James 2:24) said that we are not saved by faith alone but by works!  What he was getting at was that faith must be proved by works and Paul would say that works must spring from faith.

We dare not divorce faith and works for a faith without works as evidence is dead faith and cannot save.  ("faith without works is dead" according to James 2:26).  The Reformers reconciled all this by their famous formula of salvation:  We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone!  It just makes sense that anyone can just say they have faith or even believe they have faith, but if there's no fruit, there's no reality of faith.  Our works become a "therefore," not an "in order to."

There's a difference between a profession of faith and a reality of faith.  Just as Christ said that we shall know them by their fruits, and know fruit means no faith, the whole point of salvation is a changed and transformed life from the inside out due to a living relationship with God through Jesus. We must realize that true faith expresses itself, it's the evidence that gives us credibility and witness to the lost.

We are not saved by our good deeds or behavior, but unto them, likewise, we are not saved by good deeds, but not without them either (CAVEAT:  Beware the doctrine of the antinomians who adhere to a faith that is alone and doesn't need produce works; i.e., once saved you can live lawless or without restraint).

In sum, we must turn that creed into deeds, letting it show, giving it away to keep it, just as Titus 2:14, NIV,  says so plainly:  "... purify for  himself a people, that is his very own, eager to do what is good."       Soli Deo Gloria!

Do We Need The Law?

Most believers know they are not under the law, but under grace (cf. Rom. 6:14); however, they are not lawless and do not have contempt for the law, but know it has its place.  The law was never given to be a way of salvation, but only to show our need, to measure us.  The law was given to show us we cannot keep it!  The Hebrews vowed they would keep all the law when it was given, but they should have asked for mercy, knowing such a law was impossible to keep.  The Christian life is not hard, it's impossible too!  We must live by faith and express it through love, for love is the fulfillment of the law.

The law of love is harder to satisfy than any code though!  Thank God Jesus lived it and the law's righteousness is credited or imputed to our account in the Divine Ledger up above.  We all fall short, and perfection is only the standard, the direction is the test as we grow in expressing faith through love (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV).  In essence, the law is for the lawless and the lawbreaker (cf. 1 Tim. 1:9)!  We don't only have the law to guide us in right and wrong, we also have a conscience, the Holy Spirit, and the totality of Scripture as our plumb line to convict us of wrongdoing.

There are several purposes of the law for the believer (its purpose was formulated in the first Lutheran confession of faith known as the Formula of Concord in 1577):  a mirror to show us what we are like inside with all our guilt, insecurities, sin, and uncleanness--wrinkles and all; a sword to divide soul from spirit; a whip that drives us to the cross for mercy, and a hammer to smash our self-righteousness! The moral code is a guide to enlighten us to the Way, for morality never changes. It's a perfect standard of righteousness that only Jesus fulfilled.

The law was also ordained to restrain evil in society and provide for orderliness. To the Christian, it never loses its ability to convict of sin and to be a light unto our path.  But we must realize that the whole law is summed up in loving God and our neighbor as its fulfillment. The whole idea is to make us realize we cannot save ourselves no matter how righteous we think we are and no matter how good we are to our standards--we always fall short of the divine standard in Christ.

There are four types of laws that I want to mention, and disobeying each one has its consequences,   BUT WE ARE NOT ANTINOMIANS OR AGAINST THE LAW!  NB:  Nowhere in the NT are we exhorted to obey the Law, or to become somewhat Jewish--we must use it righteously--it's only a shadow (cf. Heb. 10:1)!

The first is the law of nature (SOME FIFTY UNIVERSAL CONSTANTS), e.g., the weak and strong nuclear force, the force of gravity, the speed of light, the speed of sound, the freezing of water, the charge on the electron, and even the nuclear weight of the proton and neutron, et al., and there are some fifty of them to consider and are uniform and consistent throughout the universe.  The laws of motion also come to mind:  an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion; each force exerted is met by an equal and opposite force; force equals mass times acceleration. 

The second law to consider is the moral law:  there is a moral compass in man's heart and conscience given by God, and guilt is meant to signal that we break it, there are consequences for wrongdoing to our soul's health, we don't toy with sin and get away with it! What was right in Moses' time is still right and what was wrong is still wrong--morality is absolute, universal, and also timeless.  If you ignore your conscience it may go away but this may lead to becoming perverted, degenerate, destitute, criminal, psychopathic, or worse!  It doesn't pay to ignore the signals of what God has ordained to restrain evil in man.

The third type of law is governmental (THE POWERS THAT BE), which is instituted by God and meant to keep evil at bay and provide for the public welfare--we no longer can survive with tribalism or patriarchal society.  Government, according to Augustine, is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil.  We are to fear government and submit to it unless it contradicts God and it has been given the power of the sword to enforce its laws--under God!

The last and probably most important law to bear in mind is the spiritual one (THE FIVE ONLY'S):  the way of salvation is only by grace through faith in Christ and saving faith must go hand in hand with repentance--one can imagine this as either penitent faith or believing repentance, but they must bear fruit to be genuine and not bogus.   Faith is manifest by trust in Jesus as Savior and embracing Him as Lord.

The savvy preacher knows how to discern and demonstrate law and gospel: the law is what God requires from us and God's expectations or standards; the gospel is the good news about what Christ has done for us in the cross and resurrection--solving the sin problem or the breaking of the law. NB:  Christ is the end of the Law for believers unto righteousness (cf. Rom. 10:4); Christ abolished the law (cf. Eph. 2:15).

What does this all mean in essence?  What can we take away from this going forward?  Laws couldn't exist without a lawgiver, right?  All these laws are indicators of a Supreme Lawgiver far superior to anything we can fathom!  Law implies a Lawgiver--this is reasonable to believe!  We all must beware lest we violate any of God's laws that apply to us, for God disciplines and chastens His children and they don't get away with sin or lawlessness.  Also, each law has its natural consequence which cannot be avoided any more than we can avoid gravity--we violate at our peril!     Soli Deo Gloria!  

Materialism Is Rampant

Not ignoring the "Christmas spirit."  Materialism is not new; as in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days when the Son of Man comes. Jonah said, "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." Anything that comes between you and God is an idol. Idolatry is breaking the first of the Ten Commandments. Obadiah puts an interesting spin on materialism when he says Israel shall "possess their possessions." We must not let them dictate our lives but must remain in control of them. (We use things and love people, not love things and use people.)

Our whole society is based on consumerism, greed, and the pride of life, which is from the world and not of God (1 John 2:16). "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Cf. Matt. 6:21) "Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth...." The Bible says in Matt. 6:24 that you cannot serve God and Mammon.

The vast majority of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is consumer spending. Billy Graham has rightly quoted, "Riches are not in the abundance of possessions but in the fewness of wants." When I dedicated my life to Christ I had to get rid of my motorcycle because it had been too important to me and I wanted Christ to be first in my life. Some people can control their possessions without loving them--I couldn't. Maybe today in my more mature years as a believer things would be different. "Our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions," said the Lord. And so I was convicted by Luke 14:33 which says, "So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

You see, all of our possessions really belong to God. It is not how much of our money we give to God but how much of His money we utilize for ourselves, because it is written, "For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" in Psalm 24:1.  In his book, The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer writes of "the blessedness of possessing nothing." 

You can be a poor materialist or a rich man without being rich in Christ or a rich man that is not a materialist. Woe to him who is rich in this world's goods and not rich in Christ. For it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But with God all things are possible. "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" according to 1 Tim. 6: 10.

CAVEAT: JUST REMEMBER THAT WE USE THINGS AND RELATE TO PEOPLE! Soli Deo Gloria!

The Error Of Sabbatarianism

I was almost caught up in the Seventh-day Adventist movement as a teen; however, I was able to study the Scriptures and disprove their legalism. Ever since I have been grace-oriented when it comes to observing the Sabbath. Warren W. Wiersbe mentions that nowhere in the New Testament are believers told to observe the Sabbath--it is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated in the New Testament. To me, every day is holy unto the Lord and I don't see a need to just have one day set aside. There is a reason that they called the Christian Sabbath the Lord's Day. (John said, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.")

The Bible says that to some every day is alike--and to others, they feel compelled to set aside one day a week (cf. Romans 14:4-5; Col. 2:16). Actually, the Sabbath was given to Israel as a sign of His covenant forever (cf. Ex. 31:13; Ezek. 20:12,20). Once you realize that you are not under the law, but under grace, you will be free to dedicate every day to the Lord.

The principle of rest is still in effect, but there is no sin in working on Sunday, for example. It was because of unbelief and disobedience that the people of Israel failed to enter into His rest. "He leads me beside the still waters/ He restores my soul." [So if you don't get your needed rest, God may give it to you anyway.] "Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man" (Mark 2:27).

Clearly, there is no "hard-and-fast rule for the Sabbath, if you do decide to practice it as a principle of the Word. "My presence will go with you and I will give you REST." The Christian is fulfilling the spirit of the Sabbath by worshiping one day a week and not forsaking the assembling together of the brethren, as is the manner of some (Heb. 10:25). The Christian enters into a permanent Sabbath that the Jews were unable to attain, because of disobedience.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are Christians Sabbatarians?

"If you want to kill Christianity, you must abolish Sunday."  --Voltaire   
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27, HCSB).  

There are Christian Sabbatarians--that's not an oxymoron!  Once, I was almost fooled by the Seventh-day Adventists as a teen but studied Luther to be set free from their legalism.  Now I consider myself free from any form of legalistic interpretation.  Point in fact: No place in the New Testament are we admonished to keep the Sabbath--search for yourself!  It is the only one of the Ten Commandments not reinstated in the New Testament.  Do not live in the Old Testament!  To some believers, Paul says, every day is holy and for the others, we are not to judge them.

It is wrong to assume that Christians changed the Sabbath to Sunday, for they observed it early on by tradition and custom, and eventually dropped the practice.  The Lord's Day was strictly in tribute to the Resurrection.  Note that John said in the Book of Revelation:  "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."  There is ample evidence of Christians meeting on the Lord's day early on; they even observed the Sabbath in addition at first--old traditions die hard!

Though I agree with the moral equivalent of having a day set aside for rest as observing the Sabbath, these are not the same.  There is simple morality, and then there is spirituality and religion or Sabbath observance.  Sabbath observance by no means is to be a litmus test of spiritual orthodoxy.  We have no right to judge our brother in regards to a Sabbath (cf. Col. 2:16i).  But experiments with this day have proven unsuccessful:  The USSR tried to alter the seven-day week for eleven years and it ended in failure.  We are just hard-wired for this cycle of work and rest and need to lay aside a day for R & R spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, as well as physically.

Jesus did say that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (c. Mark 2:27) and that means not to let someone tell us what our day of rest should be used for.  The principle is so important to God that if we don't take due rest, He will give it to us anyway.  In principle, there is no hard-and-fast rule for what a Sabbath should require, or prohibits.  If you want to get technical, you shouldn't even go out to eat or buy fuel on the Sabbath because that requires others to work on your behalf.  The Spirit of the law prohibited the doing of business on this day of so-called rest--the Pharisees had redefined it with thirty-nine additional definitions of "work activities."

God promised that He would give us a permanent (spiritual) rest--we will work in heaven physically.  Israel kept the outward sign of the Sabbath but failed to enter into His rest, as noted in Hebrews 4:3, HCSB, as "... 'So I swore in My anger, they will never enter into My rest.'"  The important thing is that we rest for our labors as we rest in the Lord's and become empowered by the Spirit so as not to be working in the flesh or our own strength.

God condemns any work done in the energy of the flesh, no matter how good we deem it.  God said to Israel (if they would keep the covenant):  "My presence will go with you and I will give you rest."  Christians enter into this rest from their labors upon salvation and living by the power of the Spirit, not in the energy of the flesh.

The Sabbath command was a sign for Israel in Nehemiah 9:14, HCSB:  "You revealed Your holy Sabbath to them, and gave them commands, statutes, and instruction through Your servant Moses." God blessed the Sabbath and made it a special day for us too!  Note that it was given as a sign of His covenant forever.  Exodus 31: 13 says, "'Tell the Israelites:  You must observe My Sabbaths for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations so that you will know that I am Yahweh who sets you apart." Also, note Ezek. 20:12, 20, HCSB:  "I also gave them My Sabbaths to serve as a sign between Me and them so they will know that I am Yahweh who sets them apart as holy."  "Keep My Sabbaths holy, and they will be a sign between Me and you, so you may know that I am Yahweh your God."

What I am trying to point out, is that although there are applications to the general principle of  rest required for us and the way we are designed for it; however, its main intention was to be a sign for Israel to be a special nation, and it was so serious that there was a death penalty of stoning for violating the Sabbath.  As believers, we are not under the law (cf. Rom. 6:14) but under grace and are liberated from all demands of ceremonial custom and tradition and observe the Lord's day by the assembling together of ourselves (cf. Heb. 10:25).

We have liberty as Christian to hallow the Sabbath as stated in Romans 14:5-6, HCSB:  "One person considers one day to be above another day.  Someone else considers every day to be the same.  each one must be fully convinced in his own mind.  Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord...."   Above all, according to Col. 2:16, HCSB:  "...[D]on't let anyone judge ... in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. "

In other words, don't get legalistic about it and the faith you have, is to be kept to yourself (cf. Rom. 14:22), not to be used to spiritually bully others believers into your convictions, if you are free in the Lord, don't flaunt it, and if you are bound in the Lord, don't condemn.   There are always exceptions to the rule:  Necessity knows no law, as David exhibited by taking the shewbread in the temple to violate temple rules, and priests were allowed to "work" on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked the ultimate question:  Can we not do good  [works] on the Sabbath?  Christians are to be known by their love, not known by their Sabbaths like Jews:  Viva la difference!  

NB:  In 1929 the USSR exchanged the traditional seven-day week with a five-day one.  This experiment with a Sabbath lasted only eleven years before returning to normalcy!  In 1795, during the French Revolution, a new calendar was decreed with three ten-day weeks per month, eliminating Sundays and holidays, but after ten years it was terminated.  God's way is the best way!   Old traditions die hard!     Soli Deo Gloria!

Upsetting The Religious Applecart

"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them.  Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them"   ( Mark 7:15, NIV). 
"You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act..." (Matt. 7:16, NLT).

Jesus was clearly antiestablishment and countercultural and was determined to overturn the tables on the Pharisees' religious turf.  He managed a revolution of topsy-turvy spirituality.  They had no notion of true spirituality, but only of externalism:  circumcision, tithing, offerings, sacrifices, festivals, Sabbath observance, fasting, handwashing, ceremonial duties, and whatever agreed with the outward show of religious piety but having no inward vitality or reality.  Jesus succeeded in internalizing religion and making it a matter of the heart and sin was on the inside that God could see.  The Pharisees were highly jealous of Jesus and protecting their turf was Job One.  Everyone wants job security, but this was too much for Jesus.  They sensed a threat to their authority and teachings, which Jesus referred to as the leaven of the Pharisees.

The people were burdened by 613 additional (248) commands and (365) prohibitions or laws of their legal system that made the Law of Moses a burden too heavy a yoke to carry.  Even the Sabbath with 39 additional activities regarded as "work" was nothing to look forward to anymore nor enjoy as a day of rest and spiritual renewal.  What really got them uptight and ill at ease was His popularity among the common people who heard him gladly and the miracles He was doing were both undeniable, and they had to come up with some explanation.  Jesus repeatedly made them out to be as fools and an embarrassment to their own cause.  Jesus seemed like a hero and authority the way He threw the moneylenders out of the temple.  They had every reason to fear His authority because He spoke like no man, not by authority, as one of the teachers of the law, (cf. Matt. 7:29), but with authority and they could not resist the Spirit by which He spoke nor answered His questions.

Jesus was against religion as they knew it.  The Pharisees were frauds at worship--just going through the motions with lip service and their hearts being far removed.  He saw the Jewish faith as one of knowing God, not of performance or a list of dos and don'ts.  The Pharisees were white on the outside but inside were as sepulchers.  They would strain a gnat and swallow a camel because they were so worried about the minor details of the Law but missed the main points of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  Religion for them was mere show and Jesus despised it.

One thing that He wouldn't tolerate was duplicity and He saw this in the Pharisees they way they didn't practice what they preached. The religious authorities were never the same after Jesus was through with them and He changed the culture by changing people.  He was the light that shown on every man to see.  No one was unchanged nor the same after an encounter with the Lord.  The religious applecart had become an organization, not an organism, or living community of believers.

The major realignment in religion came as Jesus saw through legalism and hypocrisy and instituted undefiled and pure religion as coming from a sincere heart and motive.  Jesus saw through the veneer and facade!  The people needed to be set free from the burden and yoke of the Pharisees and their take on religion, in fact, most people didn't want to emulate them nor were they jealous, though the Pharisees were respected, Jesus saw their veneer and masquerade that they hid behind.

One sad commentary on the Pharisees was their tendency to exalt themselves and of having an air of superiority.  Jesus countered that the way up is down in God's economy and one must humble oneself first to be exalted in God's eyes.  He warned them that one must become as a child to enter the kingdom of God (cf. Mark 10:15; Matt. 18:3).

The normal Christian life was in contradistinction to the one of the Pharisees.  The Pharisees flaunted their faith and Jesus taught that people should not practice their righteousness before people (cf. Matt. 6:1) but keep their religious duties between them and God and to pray in their closet, inner sanctum, comfort zone, or private space.  The Pharisees were the ultimate goody-goodies who were working for God and kept up all appearance of propriety, but they knew not the Lord in reality.  Christ will say unto them that He never knew them at the Judgment.  But we all have feet of clay (flaws not readily apparent) and must repent of the Pharisee in us.  All our works are worth zilch if we don't love the Lord and do His will--"if I have not love, I am nothing."   Soli Deo Gloria!

Throwing The Book At Believers

"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God"  (1 Cor. 4:5, NIV).

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.  One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ... Who are you to judge someone else's servant?  To their own master, servants stand or fall.  And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand" (Rom. 14:1,4, NIV).

"...[B]ut my people know not the rules of the LORD" (Jer. 8:7, ESV).

"[F]or they do not know the way of the LORD..." (Jer. 5:4, ESV).

Some law enforcement officials like to throw the book at hardened criminals because they never seem to learn and could be repeat offenders and need an incentive to go straight.  Some overzealous police officers like to go for the maximum penalty for criminals they are offended by and they tend to get personally involved in.  We must seek to be like God who in wrath remembers mercy!  Jesus didn't exactly throw the book at the Pharisees but condemned their hypocrisy in obeying the letter of the law and ignoring the Spirit of the law.  We must never be so obsessed with minor points or the little things that we lose track of the main focus and issue of our faith, to love God and our fellow man through the power of the Spirit.

This is everyone's problem:  we don't always see our own sin.  We all have the tendency to overlook our own faults and be offended by the sins of others when we should be offended by our own sins!  The faith had degenerated into merely an externalism and Jesus intended to make it a matter of the heart and something that starts from the inside and becomes real and sincere, not just for show. 

The Jewish faith had devolved into externalism of certain favorite practices:  circumcision, fasting, Sabbath observance, tithing, dietary laws, hand-washing, and various sacrifices.  They certainly didn't impress Jesus with their religiosity and neither do we with our legalism and of going through the motions and memorizing the Dance of the Pious.  The Pharisees were rules-obsessed and also wondered what they had to do to earn salvation as if there was some merited work involved.  Jesus answered that the work of God is to believe in His Son!

Even today we still have the issue of legalism in our churches which does nothing but strike a wrong impression of our faith and create a paralysis of spirituality.  It is a parody of the real thing or life in the Spirit, walking with God.  Some Christians seem to reduce the faith to just following the rules and are just converted to the program, not to Christ Himself--they haven't yet realized the fullness of the Spirit in their lives and what it means to walk with God like Enoch, Noah, and Moses did.  According to the record in Genesis, Noah was a "just man, perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."  That's would look good on anyone's resume!  We have the resident Holy Spirit and the full revelation of Scripture and have no excuse for not doing likewise.  

Yes, we can become friends with God and know Him as our Father in our faith.  This is the Christian privilege and we ought to make our faith real and demonstrate or prove it by our good deeds or works of faith. After all, the faith you have is the faith you show!  Without any works, our faith is suspect; our faith must be validated by works and works must spring from faith!  The Reformers had the simple formula for our salvation of being saved by faith alone in this rallying cry:  Salvation is "by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone!"

An example of the legalism of the Pharisees was their fetish about the Sabbath Day.  There really wasn't any hard-and-fast rule as to what constituted work, but they concocted 39 additional definitions or categories to be construed as work or forbidden activities to do on the Sabbath.  Observance became a burden rather than the joy it was meant to be.  Jesus warned them that they missed the point of the intent of the holy day: in that, it was made for man, not man for it (cf. Mark 2:27).  We must not reduce our faith to simply following the rules or enforcing a code of conduct, for it's a relationship and way of a new, fulfilling, abundant life in Christ.  

Only Christians are truly free, the unbeliever is a slave to sin.  Christians are those whom Christ has set free--not free to live as we want but as we ought.  We may be free from the law but not from God's will!  The law was given to convince us we don't keep it according to D. James Kennedy.  It was never meant as a way of salvation but as a measure of a man and to show him where he falls short of God's standards.  Those who rely on the law are under a curse (cf. Gal. 3:13).

We must not be so confused with works and do-goodery that we lose track of the ultimate goal of our faith; i.e., enjoying fellowship with Him and getting to know God, the aim of our salvation.  In fact, being saved can be seen simply as knowing Jesus and making Him known!  We must not feel we have to do good deeds to impress others or show off like wearing our religion on our sleeves and flaunt it, nor should we privatize it; however, we ought to grow in our faith and make it real by a life that is honoring to our Lord and worthy of Him--free of all hypocrisy; for we don't need perfect, doubtless faith but only sincere, unfeigned faith.  We must realize that hypocrisy is what offends God, not a person who says, "I believe, help mine unbelief!"

The only thing that interferes with our fellowship with God is sin in the camp or sin in our behavior and conduct.  We must keep short accounts of our sins and confess them as soon as we get convicted and realize them, not letting them stack up until we feel like making a confession.  Note that our fellowship isn't merely with the Father and the Son, but also with our fellow believers!  We cannot and must not become Lone Ranger Christians or go, rogue, because no man is an island and we all need each other in the body--no individual has all the spiritual gifts, but they are all given for the benefit of the body.

Now there are certainly gray areas or matters of personal conscience (and we all should be convinced in our own minds) and we are not to judge our brother nor flaunt our liberty and ruin their conscience or make them stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12). We must not judge our brother in matters of conscience and no one has the right to lord it over another.  The weaker brother needs to grow in knowledge, while the stronger one needs to improve in his love and understanding or sympathy.  We may have the right to do something but it's not always the right thing to do nor does it benefit.  

As Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:23, HCSB, "'Everything is permissible,' but not everything is helpful.  'Everything is permissible,' but not very thing builds up."  The important thing about our liberty in Christ, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17) is that we must not let anything control us or make us its slave.  As Romans 6:16 says, we are slaves to the power we choose to obey.

We all have a duty to obey our conscience, and to go against it is neither safe nor right according to Luther, though it can be wrong, it should be enlightened by the Word of God.    Jiminy Cricket told us to always let our conscience be our guide, but this is only valid if it's enlightened and informed by Scripture.  We must bear in mind that the old nature knows no law, while the new nature needs no law--we do what is right naturally and God convicts us when we go astray from the straight and narrow or the fellowship of God.

We must put aside the pointing of the finger and playing the blame game (cf. Isa. 58:9), for we only seem to condemn or judge in others what we are guilty of or is our weakness or area of pride.  What most offends us, we tend to look down on others for and we may have been guilty of it ourselves.  We must always give God the glory in our defeat of sin and of having a victorious Christian life--we can not walk with God in the energy of the flesh or without newness of life in Christ.  In the final analysis, I believe that man is religious by nature and tends towards legalism because he's incurably addicted to doing something for salvation as if it's a quid pro quo.

It's the job description of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and we should never attempt to try this ourselves because He does it good enough without our help using the Word of God.  It is said that if we live in a glasshouse, we should not throw bricks and Jesus also said that he who is without sin cast the first stone.  We need to stop being so offended by the sins of others and look within at our own hypocrisy and how repugnant our sins are to God and should be offending us.  We must always make allowance for each others' faults and realize that we are all works in progress and God isn't finished with us yet (cf. Phil. 1:6)!

NB:  Christians are not under the law as the Old Testament saints, but we have a higher law to submit to--the law of love! The law of love can never be satisfied or fulfilled, for we will always be in God's debt.  Grace does mean this:  we cannot pay it back, don't deserve it, and cannot earn it!   We have the privilege as believer-priests to go directly to God and seek restoration and continued ongoing fellowship.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Living In The Old Testament

THE OLD TESTAMENT IS SUMMED UP IN LEV. 17:11 WHILE THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ROM. 3:25.  
"WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO FORGIVENESS OF SIN."  "PROPITIATION THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD."

The issue is whether you are living in the OT or the NT.  The OT is the Law and the NT is the Spirit (OF GRACE).   We are not bound to the letter of the Law, which kills, but to the Spirit, which is life.  Christ fulfilled the Law to the letter and set us free to live according to the Spirit of life in Christ (cf. Rom. 10:2).  In fact, the day we were set free from the Law was a day of rejoicing, and the day we realized it was heaven on earth as well as music to God's ears.  Nowhere in the NT are we admonished to live according to the Law!  Actually, "love is the fulfillment of the Law" (cf. Rom. 13:10).  We serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the letter of the Law (cf. Romans 7:6). 

The yoke of following Jesus is the light and easy burden (cf. Matt. 11:30).  As many as are relying on the Law are under a curse (cf. Gal. 3:10).  God didn't give us the Law to keep, but to break, in order to show us we cannot keep it and look for salvation.  The Law merely measures us and shows our guilt, but doesn't save, but shows our need and doesn't exculpate.  NB:  NOWHERE IN THE NT ARE WE COMMANDED TO OBSERVE THE LAW NOR TO BECOME SOMEWHAT JEWISH TO BE SAVED OR SANCTIFIED.  

We have the yoke of God's will and following on to know the Lord.  That is why we live on purpose, and not just according to some externalism standard like the Pharisees did  (EXTERNALISM):  circumcision, hand washing, sacrifice, tithing, fasting, Sabbath and holy day observance, and following the kosher restrictions on diet (anything avoiding the condition of the heart or thought life).  Instead, we are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit, which wasn't given yet in the OT.  Christians all have a ministry and mission, and are priests for the Lord, not needing the priesthood any longer.  In fact, we are a "kingdom of priests." (cf. 2 Pet. 2:9).    We all have a spiritual gift to use for God's glory and to help function in the church's commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission.

There are still so-called Judaizers who add law to grace, and works to faith, and put a yoke on us, spying out our freedom in Christ and hinder us from being free and doing the will of God.  They put us back into bondage, not realizing that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom"  (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17).  Our faith is not performance-based, but relationship-based.  But we are still prone to spiritual tyranny.  This is nothing but slavery to the Law.  We need to be set free and if the Son shall set us free, we shall be free indeed (cf. John 8:36).  God doesn't need people keeping someone's rules, but people who know Him.

To know Him is to love Him; however, it would all be in vain if we not only knew Him but didn't make Him known.   The mature believer is Spirit-filled and knows that as many as are led by the Spirit are the sons of God (cf. Rom. 8:14).  And now, "love is the fulfillment of the Law" (cf. Rom. 13:10; Gal. 5:14); Matt. 22:40).  And so, let us not just progress from faith to faith, but follow on to know the Lord, confessing Him, serving Him, and worshipping Him.  This entails spreading the Word and doing our part as we fit into the body with our unique gift or gifts.

Our marching orders are to fulfill the Great Commission and to occupy and stand our ground till He comes again--bloom where we are planted.  Our goal: to follow Christ more nearly, to know Him more clearly, and to love Him more dearly (according to Richard of Chichester). The keyword in our faith to us is to KNOW!  We know Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord; we know ourselves as totally depraved and in need of salvation; we know our enemies as the flesh, the devil, and ourselves as our worst enemy; we know our purpose, gifts, and calling to serve the Lord, we know God's will in order to fulfill our mission to the unsaved and ministry to our brethren; we also know the Word as we study, read, obey, and share it; and use all this knowledge to apply it first to ourselves, and to not only know the Lord but make Him known.       Soli Deo Gloria!

The Upside And Downside Of Tradition

"A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart" (Prov. 21:2, NIV).
"All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD" (Prov. 16:2, NIV).

"[F]or the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts..." (cf. 1 Chron. 18:9). 

There are many theologians who attack tradition as being unnecessary and unbinding to the believer, especially those believers of the Romanist persuasion with their numerous ones. Tradition can become a teaching aid and learning experience.  John demurred to baptize Jesus but laid aside his understanding of things and trusted the Lord in obedience.  Only sinners needed to repent! Sometimes it's just a simple matter of obedience to authority to our spiritual leaders. The only danger occurs when tradition is contrary to Scripture, directly contravening a doctrine.  Often we defer to tradition for the sake of unity and coherence in the body.

Old traditions die hard!  Even Protestants, especially Lutherans, have traditions reminiscent of Catholicism.  The vestments of pastors go way back, and who would want to be the first to break that tradition?  Because traditions have their pitfalls too! We all observe holy days such as Christmas and Easter, birthdays, anniversaries, even Thanksgiving Day is traditional.

However, tradition must be concordant with the Word to be binding and otherwise, it is simply a matter of personal conscience--for we ought to have the freedom to have our own convictions before God.  By and large, tradition must bow to conviction!  Family Christmas celebrations come to mind as a common tradition, even routines that are observed. Christmas is not biblical per se nor mandated, but that doesn't make it unbiblical, because it conflicts with nothing in Scripture.  The problem comes when we put tradition on a par with the authority of the Word like they did at the Counter-Reformation (the Council of Trent, 1545-63).  We don't add tradition as a replacement of Scripture!

There are many gray areas that cannot be judged as ill-advised scripturally, but the believer is to make up his own mind and feel free from being judged.  The Jews at the time of Christ were burdened with the traditions of the elders and Pharisees, and the law had become a yoke they couldn't bear (cf. Acts 15:10) as a result. The point of Christianity is that it's not merely a religion of externals (do this or that), but of internals--the mental attitudes and thoughts are more important.  God looks at our motives and incentives.  We can become so bogged down in a tradition that we miss the boat with true spirituality. We are all creatures of habit seeking comfort zones!

Let's not get our eyes off Jesus as the true focus.  Even the devil can observe tradition and look somewhat Christian--as he can "appear as an angel of light" (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4).  Christianity is a matter of the heart and a spiritual matter at that. God sees the heart, while a man looks on the outward appearance.  We cannot judge what happens in the heart of a believer observing his tradition, and God only holds a man accountable for what he knows, has the opportunity to know, or should know, i.e., had the opportunity to know.  We ought to ask ourselves:  Do we know better or not?

Sometimes churches have traditions known as rituals or liturgies, that they religiously obey during the worship service, which shows little imagination or creativity from the powers that be, and little has changed from the founding of the church--is there no room for improvement or advancement?  Has the church freeze-dried the format down pat so that there's little room for the Spirit to move? The church is to be semper reformanda or "always reforming." Even though the Bible does say that all things should be done decently and in order, but that doesn't preclude freedom of the Spirit and opening the door to allow Him access.

Jesus accused the Pharisees of being hypocrites, for they "[nullified] the word of God for the sake of [their] tradition" (cf. Matt. 15:6, NIV).  Jesus didn't follow the traditions of the elders to prove they weren't binding.  We need to keep the main thing the main thing!  We don't want to confine or bind the activity of God by our preconceived notions of what He can or cannot do.  Man is by nature a religious being (known as Homo Religiosus) and will revert to his default position of security in tradition when push comes to shove or when the chips are down his real faith shines through to shed light on his inner convictions.

When Protestants stipulate that tradition has no spiritual merit or value per se, this is vis-a-vis salvation. Tradition has no part and no authority in salvation or over Scripture, of which authority is sola Scriptura or Scripture alone. Tradition doesn't trump the Bible in authority, nor is it on par with it.  All in all, the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart, which only God can judge and see through its veneer.

We all observe tradition unbeknownst to us, often masked as routine, habit, or custom.  Jesus said a blessing and thanksgiving before meals and the tradition of saying grace was realized--note that this was not a command!  We say "Please!" and "Thank you!" out of courtesy, but this is just tradition too!   In sum, don't pooh-pooh tradition by virtue of it being merely tradition; i.e., don't knock it unless you don't observe any yourself!    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Problem Of Legalism

"These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings" (Col. 2:22, NIV).
"They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules" (Matt. 15:9, NIV). 

Martin Luther realized the threat of Antinomianism and debunked it in his book, Against the Antinomians.  On the one extreme, there's the question of the Antinomian (anti-lawism or showing a distaste for the law) or libertine, on the other hand, we have the legalists.  They both are too obsessed with what right and wrong behavior is, not heeding the warning to watch our thinking and to be mature in our thinking and not infants (cf. 1 Cor. 14:20).  We are to be "renewed in the spirit of [our] minds."

Antinomianism suggests that since we are forgiven, we can live as we please, not as we ought.  Their slogan is: "Freed from the law, Oh blessed condition; now I can sin all I want and still have remission."  We are never granted carte blanche to live as we please or to do what is wrong.  We must not be like Israel that did that which was right in their own eyes (cf. Judges 21:25).  Antinomianism is nothing but moral liberty in Christ gone amok or plain moral laxity.

It is true that our faith is more than a list of dos and don'ts, and we are not under the law, but we are not lawless!  What did Paul say in Romans 6, but that we should not go on sinning, now that we are forgiven?  "Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more" (cf. Rom. 5:20); God will save the chief of sinners like Paul and that no one is too bad to be saved.  Christians do sin once saved (cf. Gal. 2:17) and perfectionism (entire sanctification) is unattainable this side of glory (cf. Prov. 20:9; Psalm 119:96), but we are not servants to sin as our master, but to righteousness, and are set free from its dominion.

We are all slaves to the power we choose to obey (cf. Rom. 6:16; 2 Pet. 2:19).  The point of being a Christian is being set free from our bondage.  We don't have the right to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit.  That's why "the letter kills and the Spirit gives life"--we must learn to walk in the Spirit in fellowship with our God.  We don't want to mimic the Pharisees who practiced the letter of the Law, without observing the Spirit.  What they were especially guilty of, is going beyond that which is written, as Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4:4. Legalism is sheer spiritual tyranny and those who impose it are on a power trip and are control freaks.

Spiritual believers need no law, for they observe the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, but unbelievers know no law!  We must never major on the minors and become obsessed with a minor point or sin while avoiding major ones (cf. Matt. 23:23 where Jesus pointed out the Pharisees had neglected the heavier matters of the Law like justice, mercy, and faithfulness, cf. Matt. 23:23).   We ought to always respect the weaker brother's conscience and not be offensive, flaunting our liberty--we all should keep our convictions on disputable or questionable matters to ourselves and not publicize them.  We all have a right to an opinion on gray areas!

Grace, however, is not a license to sin and the Law still holds a place in our lives to be a mirror of ourselves, driving us to the cross, showing us we can't keep it and become convicted. But "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17).  We ought not to misuse liberty and take advantage of it, which would be a presumptuous sin!  By sinning we demonstrate our slavery, we don't prove our freedom.  We are free from sin, not to sin!  We are not under the Law but not lawless.

In sum, it's no use giving us a rule book, we cannot follow it!  The problem with legalism is that no perfect set of rules can be made and even if they could, man could not abide by it, for even the yoke of the Law was too heavy a burden for Israel--no list could be comprehensive enough and cover all the bases--we live under the easy yoke of God's will and abiding in Christ as we walk in the Spirit and fellowship.  The highest law is of love, and this can only be fulfilled in Christ! But God's Law is perfect and able to convert the sinner (cf. Psalm 19:7).

It's no use making up rules; we cannot keep them!   In the final analysis, the only way to avoid both extremes is the antidote of the Truth in the serious study of the Word of God.       Soli Deo Gloria!

Refraining From Lottery Tickets And Legalism

"Accept the one whose faith is weak without quarreling over disputable matters" (Rom. 14:1, NIV).
"I have the freedom to do anything, but I won't be controlled by anything" (1 Cor. 6:12, CEB).
"Everything is permitted, but everything isn't beneficial.  Everything is permitted, but everything doesn't build others up" (1 Cor. 10:23, CEB). 
"So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should do it all for God's glory" (CEB).
"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Prov. 16:33, NIV).

Some believers may feel holier-than-thou (cf. Isa. 65:5) and by restraining from what they define as gambling--the lottery, they get a spiritual high.  They may even have told them that God told them so!  This is hogwash and mysticism, for God doesn't reveal truths to a certain elite group of privileged believers so that only they are in the know. They may feel this is their weakness, to gamble, but this is a personal choice, not something the Bible forbids directly nor indirectly by implying.  First, Christianity isn't a list of dos and don'ts as if we are better Christians if we don't do this or that: e.g., watching the hemlines, ticket lines, and hairlines to legalists.  Christianity isn't about what you don't do, but a relationship with Christ in knowing Him.  There is so little stated in Scripture about gambling that you just can't make any anti-gambling case on it.  When the Bible does forbid something and you do it, that's sin, not legalism.  We don't need a longer to-do list or what-not-to-do list.

The Bible does state that the faith you have, keep to yourself and don't be a stumbling block.  We are not to go "beyond that which is written" (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6).  When our conscience is clear, we see right and wrong clearly and it can be a guide, but if the conscience isn't enlightened by Scripture it is a hindrance to spirituality.  He that is spiritual must make the Bible his ultimate, final rule of faith.  We question authority when it contravenes Scripture. Caveat:  Don't focus on the sin of others and apply the Word to them, apply it to yourself--we all tend to see other people's sins.  (As a rule of thumb the Bible nowhere prohibits the casting of lots, which was common, and by the argument from silence one could reason that it's up to the individual person, situation, or conscience.)

One might argue that God will supply all their needs and you don't need to gamble, but that doesn't mean God won't give a little extra blessing from time to time, something going above and beyond the mere essentials.  CAVEAT:  When believers start quoting God and claiming God spoke to them to grant them special revelation so that they know something others don't, this is mysticism.  A believer must never feel condemned or judged by another believer nor let him be put under any nonbiblical criticism: The Scripture plainly says in Rom. 8:1 that there is "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," period!  Who is he who condemns but the devil and accuser of the brethren? (Cf. Rom. 8:34).  Who wants to play the role of adversary to the believer?

The problem inherent in legalism is seeing sins, not sin.  Going by the letter of the law, not the Spirit.  It is said that the old nature knows no law, while the new nature needs no law.  We must refrain from ignoring major sins and focusing scrupulously on minor points or sins (cf. Matt. 23:23-24).  Some sins are indeed more serious and deserve more attention.  The only cure for legalism and its influence is a thorough study of the Word and to become grace-oriented. We must not bind people with legalistic demands but set them free; however, we are not ever free to live as we want, but as we ought.  We ought to impose no restraint on the believer that is unbiblical, or that which goes beyond that which is written (cf. 1 Cor. 4:4).

What is important is that we overcome the sin which so easily entangles us (cf. Heb. 12:1), and from our private sin.  We don't want any certain sin to dominate us (cf. Psa. 119:133):  "...let no sin rule over me."  We are overcomers when we have our own sins under control, and not what others define as sin; for some things may be sin for one person and not another--"whatever is not of faith is sin" (cf. Rom. 14:23).

Weaker brothers who object should grow in knowledge, while stronger believers ought to grow in love.  At any rate, both ought to respect the faith of the other in dubious or questionable areas.  In fact, the faith you have, you are to keep to yourself between you and God as much as possible; this means don't parade your freedom or flaunt it before others!  In sum, the legalistic believer is living in paralysis, a parody of the real thing--not realizing his real freedom in Christ.      Soli Deo Gloria!

Performance-oriented Christians

"For Christ's love compels us..." (2 Cor. 5:14, NIV). 
"He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly" (2 Chron. 25:2, NIV)--the epitaph of Amaziah
"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25, NIV).

The Christian life is not a test to compare ourselves with others (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12); however, God is testing where our loyalties lie and our motives.  We tend to become performance-minded and think that it all depends upon our personal efforts and goals; however, it's more trusting than trying if you will; e.g., "I wonder who the best preacher, singer, or writer is?"  Some Christians try too hard and never learn to let go and let God take over in faith.  That is the essence of faith:  reliance and trust;  it's not being rules-obsessed as the Pharisees were.

Christ is at work within us and gives us the power to live the obedient Christian life--for without Him, we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5).  However, God is always working within us (cf. Phil. 2:13).  The Christian life, they say, is not hard--it's impossible! It's not a code of conduct, a system of ethics to live by, or philosophy to embrace, but a relationship in knowing a person--the unique personhood of Christ indwelling us.  We aren't presenting a creed to believe or recite, but a person to know!  The wonderful thing about our faith is that Christ gives us the power to live it out for Him and we don't have to rely on our own strength; we don't achieve, we believe!

We can never achieve the perfection of the Father, though that is the goal--direction is the test and perfection is the standard (cf. Matt. 5:48) that we will never meet in this life short of glory.  We must learn as Paul said in Gal. 2:20 that the Christian life is not a successful life of imitating Christ, but an exchanged life of Christ living in us--the substituted, surrendered and relinquished life only Christ can offer.  Some people try too hard and never achieve this trust that we must rely on the Holy Spirit for renewal to come (cf. Job 14:14). This is why it's ill-advised to compare ourselves with other believers because they don't have the same gifting or calling and are accountable to God not us for fruit-bearing.  We plant, water, and reap; however, God makes it grow--what a concept!  A fruit tree doesn't require effort to bear fruit, it comes naturally!  And so when we are filled with the Spirit, fruit comes second nature and we are not trying to bear fruit, but do so naturally.

We must learn to walk with Christ in the Spirit and to rely on His strength, not ours.  Strong people are the last to learn to lean on Jesus because they don't have the weaknesses that weaker believers have, who more readily learn to surrender and live in the Spirit.  A fruitful life is giving back to the Lord what He has invested in us and letting God have His way with us, giving up ownership of our lives to the One who bought us.  We owe a deep debt of gratitude to our Lord for His redemption of us and we must trust Him to guide and use us for His glory.

We will be tested and can pass with flying colors if Jesus is ruling our spirit and we are walking with Him, but we inevitably will learn our lesson somehow, either through the school of hard knocks or the easy way--via the Word of God.  There will be no braggadocio at the bema of Christ, but God fully rewards us for the work He accomplishes through our willing obedience. It has been well said that we are Christ's ambassadors:  His feet to go for Him; His hands to help others; His voice to speak for Him; His ears to listen and hear for Him, and His heart to love for Him.

The final test of our efforts are not the results, for they are up to God, but our submission--God gets the glory as we are vessels of honor and He is using us to glorify Himself--it is wrong for a minister, after a sermon, to ask, "How did I do?" for it was the Holy Spirit at work through the sermon that brought conviction and opened hearts!  Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1979 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, now canonized, says God calls us to faithfulness, not success.

Obedience is the only true test of our faith, as Bonhoeffer said: "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  Disobedient Christians are a contradiction in terms--we can fall short and disobey, but not permanently--we must live lives in line with the Spirit's leading, for those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God (cf. Rom. 8:14).

We should emulate King David who did what was right in the sight of the LORD (cf. 1 Kings 15:5), Joshua and Caleb who followed the LORD wholeheartedly (cf. Josh. 14:8), and even King Hezekiah who earnestly sought the LORD and worked wholeheartedly (cf. 2 Chron. 31:21) because the eyes of the LORD are everywhere looking for those whose hearts are fully committed to Him (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9) in the manner of serving God with gusto and with all our might!  This may mean going the extra mile and being willing to go all the way with the LORD no matter what the cost.  

We should emulate King David who did what was right in the sight of the LORD (cf. 1 Kings 15:5), Joshua and Caleb who followed the LORD wholeheartedly (cf. Josh. 14:8), and even King Hezekiah who earnestly sought the LORD and worked wholeheartedly (cf. 2 Chron. 31:21) because the eyes of the LORD are everywhere looking for those whose hearts are fully committed to Him (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9) in the manner of serving God with gusto and with all our might! This may mean going the extra mile and being willing to go all the way with the LORD no matter what the cost.

Therefore, we must desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection (cf. Phil. 3:10).  The essence of the Christian life is simply "Christ"--without Him, it's disemboweled. One can illustrate it by an "inhabited life", not an "imitated" one.  In the final analysis, God doesn't want our performance or even achievements--He wants our obedience and full surrender so He can do with us whatever He wills to His glory and live through us (cf. Isa. 43:7).   

Caveat:  Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried (G. K. Chesterton).  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Shame Unto A Man

"A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart"  (Prov. 21:2, NIV).
"... The LORD does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7, NIV).

Paul seemed dogmatic that it is a shame for a man to have "long hair," (this begs the question as to why it's a shame for a woman not to have hair as a covering), but what does that mean to us in our enlightened age? Note that it's not a condemnation or sin!  Are ponytails evil per se because someone deems them to be long hair?  Does the converse hold true, that it's an honor to have short or no hair?  Hair should not be the issue! But still being bald for a man is also a shame or embarrassment, but it's not sinning.  Note that what's long hair is relative and subjective too!

Actually, standards of right and wrong don't evolve with time (but styles and conventions do!), but we must understand that what was wrong then is still wrong, and God never sanctions the right to do what is wrong--neither in our eyes nor the eyes of others, but awareness of right an wrong in society's standards and norms do change with the times as to what is accepted as "normal".  When I was young The Beatles transformed the image of where hairlines were appropriate, it was now okay to have hair over the ears, and bangs were "in."  This was considered to be "long hair" by some and the phrase and song went, "Long-haired, freaky people need not apply!'  Who claims the divine right to judge the actual length at which hair is too long for a believer?  And it should not be an issue at all for the infidel!  Actually, there was a time when having hair over your ears was too long for some critics.  They told The Beatles to get haircuts, and they said, they had just got one!

What we have is a difference of opinion and a disputable matter, and Christians are not to quarrel over questionable matters, per Romans 14:1, but leave room for a person's own conscience, to decide for himself what his convictions are, as his faith is between him and God--knowing he will be judged by God (this applies to areas where the Bible is silent and gray areas).  (Note that the Bible also says women should cover their heads in worship services, and no one enforces that convention today.)  So much of our dress code is according to custom and style of the age, which does change. It used to be shocking to see a woman in a pantsuit or wear jeans!  We have no right to look down on a brother who has what we consider to be long hair,  for he is God's servant and is accountable to Him, not us.  The Bible nowhere condemns boys or children from having long hair, and also bear in mind that men of the Nazarite vow never had a razor touch their head (e.g., Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist).

When we judge a man by appearance we are being like men who look on the outward appearance and not the heart--what really matters is where his heart is, not his looks.  Unbelievers who have long hair need Christ, not a haircut!  God doesn't hold their hair against them, but that they need to repent of sin (singular or in general), not sins (a certain one in particular) and receive Christ as Lord and Savior.  Legalists see sins, not sin.  Men are in a state of rebellion against God and long hair is only a symptom of their alienation.  Remember, we are not in Moses' seat and able to judge a man by his outward dress or looks, but leave room for God's justice.

If the Word is faithfully taught, the person in question will someday see the light and his eyes will be opened, and he will not dress or wear his hair to please the girls or the culture, but God.  In other words, the cure or panacea is to preach the Word and let it do its transforming work in all of us as works-in-progress.  As an application, whenever men act or appear effeminate in anything they are an abomination unto God and as men grow in the Lord they do become more manly and conformed to the image of Christ.  We need not get caught up in machismo or thinking that Christianity is all about how much a man we are, a true man is a gentleman for number one, and all men are manly in some way or manifestation--we have no right to compare ourselves in this manner and should be the man or woman God made us be.  The heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart!  What the Bible does adumbrate is that when we lose our godliness, we also lose our manliness, and a true man is a gentleman, not a strongman or bully.

In the final analysis, if a brother's only apparent or visible flaw lies in his hairline, I wouldn't press him on it, but give him the benefit of the doubt.  All in all, hair is not the measure of a man, though it's given as glory to a woman.  Caveat:  We have no business looking down on our brother; it's wrong to label our brethren, such as referring to one as being the long-haired one or in need of spiritual guidance by virtue of the fact.  In sum, let's not be like a Supreme Court jurist of Christianity over our brethren and merely utter superficially, when we get our eyes off Jesus:  "I may not be able to define long hair, but I sure know it when I see it!"     Soli Deo Gloria!

The Limits Of Our Freedom

"So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy"  (Rom. 9:16, ESV).
"So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed"  (John 8:36, ESV).
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, ESV).
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  ["who can know it?" KJV]"  (Jer. 17:9, ESV).


We don't need free will to be saved--we need our wills made or set free!   Actually, our freedom is a curse because we are only capable of sinning apart from being saved (as Augustine phrase puts it, "Non posse non peccare," or, in English, the double negative, "unable not to sin"), whereby we gain the power not to sin by grace--but when we do sin, it's because we choose to do so without compulsion or impulsion--all lost people can do is sin and cannot please God and they sin because they want to sin!  We are not automatons though, nor dumb beasts who have no understanding!  Job 18:3, NLT, says, "Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?"

Our freedom of the will is very limited and actually has very little to do with our salvation (genes, lineage, parentage, upbringing, experience, national origin, not to mention friends, all influence and affect our wills to make them limited in total freedom and not unmoved or uncaused like God's will, which is what makes Him totally free and the one and only Great I AM).  Actually, Martin Luther wrote an entire book on this subject, The Bondage of the Will, or, De Servo Arbitrio, as written in Latin.   Remember Paul's words to the Philippians in verse 2:13, ESV, italics added, saying, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

Our wills are part of our heart and soul and are depraved just like our minds and emotions--totally, though not utterly as much as possible. However, after the Fall, man has not lost the faculty of choice completely, just the ability to choose God and please God--his motives are wrong and basically selfish and for the applause of others. To be specific:  Have you ever convinced a girl to go out with you or convinced your wife to do something that she was ill-disposed to do?  God can likewise work on our minds, wills, and emotions to change us and give us a new heart after His will.  She maintained her freedom of choice and didn't do anything she didn't want to, but just had a change of heart caused by you. Note that God is the initiator and sole primary cause of our salvation: "Salvation is of the LORD," per Jonah 2:9; Heb. 10:38; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11.  That's what repentance is:  a totally and radicalized change of heart from the inside out.  We make a complete turnaround after God works repentance in our hearts by grace and transforms us (repentance is granted according to Acts 5:31; 11:18; and 2 Tim. 2:25).

Only man has been given a choice to obey or disobey God, animals do not have this liberty of will.  Augustine said in a maxim that we are "free, but not freed"; meaning we have an independent will, but no liberty to exercise it-we do have a will of our own.  Why then is our will in bondage and the slave of sin and must be set free just like the rest of our soul?  We are not born free, but slaves to sin, and our whole heart is desperately wicked and deceitful according to Jer. 17:9!  God is the only Being that is totally free and can do His will without intervention or interference.  He is the unmoved mover and uncaused cause, meaning no one or nothing can influence Him or change Him and He alone is the sole primary cause of the cosmos and is the initiator of all events per Eph. 1:11---all things that perspire are orchestrated by Him through Providence.

We cannot come to the Father unless we are called and drawn or wooed by the Holy Spirit (cf. John 6:44, 65).  Matt. 22:14, ESV, says, "For many are called, but few are chosen." This doesn't mean permission to come, but ability--in a state of sin and rebellion and even stubbornness of heart we don't want to come on our own, but must be enticed; what it does mean is that don't have the ability to come to the Father in our state of sin!  We are not unmoved movers (even if we are movers and shakers!), nor uncaused causes, like our God and our faith must be quickened within us by an act of grace (cf. Acts 18:27).

Since our freedom can be changed and is changeable, in a state of flux, it is limited and influenced by God, therefore, not totally free--we don't negotiate our salvation from a point of neutrality but are biased and all our inclinations to good and to love God have left us in the Fall of Adam, with whom we are in solidarity with at birth. God desires all the glory for our salvation and doesn't' want us to have reason to boast as if we willed ourselves into the kingdom (cf. Rom. 9:16).

We must realize that our complete heart (intellect, volition, emotion) is depraved and in need of salvation.  God transforms each of them and gives us the heart to love God (will to obey and mind to know) at salvation.  The Bible speaks quite often about the stubbornness of man's heart and that he is in a state of rebellion--and condemns it in 1 Sam. 15:23, NLT:  "Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols...." Those who claim to have come to God of their own free will probably leave Him of their own free will and all alone too.

None of our freedoms are unlimited; no government allows absolute free speech or right to bear arms--only in restrictions of liberty is their freedom for all protected from the tyranny of the majority. Even God is not free to sin and we won't be either in glory!  In the final analysis, you must decide if you want your will to be saved (which is part of your heart), or you want to remain independent of God (for sin is merely man's declaration of independence from God) and be a spiritual lone ranger or lone wolf.

Salvation is a miracle of transformation of the heart to a new person, and the will is included; God metaphorically takes our "heat of stone" or stubbornness and gives us a "heart of flesh" (cf. Ezek. 36:26) or one inclined to do His will--a litmus test for believers is that we yearn for God's will, for we have denied, relinquished, surrendered, and substituted themselves for Christ, as He lives through us (cf. Gal. 2:20)!   We become "new creations" in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17)!

We are empowered to live life by the Spirit as our enabler.  God indeed makes the unwilling willing and has the omnipotence to change us from the inside out, not by force though, which would be coercion or determinism or the use of outside forces as though we're puppets on a string or programmed to respond a certain way by an impersonal fate--we never do anything we don't want to do, but God makes us willing--what a concept!

A few words to the wise concerning God's providence over all should suffice:  Our destiny is ultimately in God's hands (Psalm 31:15, HCSB, says, "The course of my life ["of my future" or "of my times" in other versions] is in your power...").  Note that the only will that is free is one that is uncaused and unmoved like God's!  We cannot thwart God's will! As it is written in Job 42:2, ESV, "'I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."

God's sovereignty is not limited by man's freedom either; it's absolute and total, including every spin of the dice (cf. Prov. 16:33), every ruler (cf. Prov. 21:1), and every molecule being micromanaged and ruled with no room for, and nothing to, chance or happenstance ("... [W]ho works all things according to the counsel of his will" Eph. 1:11, ESV, italics mine).

I do like to ascribe full and complete, absolute sovereignty to God, for what kind of God isn't in control of everything?  This is God's prerogative and right; he's no ruler like the "do-nothing" sovereign of GB--he rules and doesn't just reign (cf. Psalm 22:28)!  Let me close with this caveat from Paul in Romans 9:16, ESV,  "You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?'"  Soli Deo Gloria!

Deferring To Tradition

"... So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God"  (Matt. 15:6, ESV). 
"So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths"  (Col. 2:16, NLT).

The Pharisees were bound by traditions which were merely the rules of men and they manipulated them to avoid doing God's will and obeying His commands.  Even today Catholics defer to tradition and break with Protestants on this issue.  Ever since the Counter-Reformation, at the Council of Trent (1545-63), the Romanists have deemed and valued tradition of equal status and authority with Scripture as the rule of faith--Protestants take issue with this and "dissent, disagree, protest," as they would say.  Traditions are not wrong or evil per se, but only when they controvert or invalidate Scripture.  There's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas as a tradition, for instance!  We only defer to tradition when it's concordant with Scripture and/or not against sound doctrine.  We need to beware of adding to the Word or subtracting from it!

People basically have four reasons why they act when they don't have faith:  culture (everyone's doing it!); tradition (we've always done it!); reason (it sounds logical and right!); and emotion (it feels right and appropriate!).  Old traditions die hard and it's difficult to even start new ones.  But remember this lesson:  traditions must bow to conviction!  Protestants adhere to the conviction that Scripture alone is the rule of faith, and have made this their rallying cry since the Reformation (sola Scriptura).

We don't give any man authority if it isn't in harmony with the Word--we're all subject to God's Word:  ".... [For] you have exalted above all things your name and your word" (Psalm 138:2, ESV).  It is wrong to base far-fetched teaching on some obscure passage with some private interpretation though, for "no Scripture is of any private interpretation" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:20).  Hebrews 13:9, ESV, says, "Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings...." We must interpret Scripture with Scripture and with the whole analogy of the Word.  The Bible is its own Supreme Court!  We also must observe all inferential and sound reading interpretation rules:  narratives in light of didactive or teaching passages; obscure in light of the clear.  We must interpret it as written:  poetry as poetry; proverbs as proverbs; and narrative or history as such.

And we are not bound to observe all the traditions or commands of Scripture ("We are not under the law, but under grace" according to Romans 6:14; for instance, the Sabbath day observance laws have been rescinded and not applicable for Christians, but were meant for Israel (cf. Ezek. 20:12, 20).  Don't let anyone judge you by your own tradition of a holy day:  Col. 2:16 says this quite plainly.  Each believer should be convinced in his own mind (cf. Rom. 14: 5).  Family traditions are not necessarily forbidden--all tradition doesn't have to be religious!   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Limit Of Freedom

"... For why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience? (1 Cor. 10:29, NKJV).


It is for freedom that Christ set us free, and we are not to be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (i.e., the Law, which was unbearable to the Jews).  The yoke we bear is that of following Christ and doing His will, which He does reveal to us:  "... The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will..." (Acts 22:14, ESV).  "'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are helpful.'   All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything" (1 Cor. 6:12, ESV).  Even though we have liberty in Christ, we are to be restrained by our brother's conscience, not flaunting our freedom so as to offend him.

It is a dangerous thing to flirt with evil and see what we can get away with, and savor of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil again, ruining our innocence--which is always deliberate.  Jesus said to be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.  Even though we have the right to do something, doesn't mean we should do it--we must show restraint for our brother's sake.  In 1 Cor. 8:12 says: "When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their conscience, you sin against Christ." We can make someone fall from the faith by approving of things that he considers wrong if his faith is weak.  We are to be sensitive to the weaker brother. There are certain churches that teach taboos and forbid things not even mentioned in Scripture, but we are not to "go beyond that which is written." (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:6).

Things that are not mentioned as a sin in the Bible nor implied as an application are not sin.  This is why it's hard to make an anti-gambling, or abstinence from alcohol or teetotaler case from the Bible. Though forbidding "free love" is a clear violation, regardless of what modern man and society say. What was wrong in the time of Moses, is still wrong; right and wrong do not evolve with the times but are absolute and eternal.  The freedom we have is from the Law, not from sin--we are free to obey Christ and given the power to do it in Christ.  We are not free to sin, but free from the power of sin--we don't have to sin anymore.  What you may approve of is not necessarily the right thing to do in public, but "the faith that you have to keep between yourself and God."  And remember: "... and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23, NASB).

Everyone has a dark side that no one sees but God, just like the moon.  Someone has said we have four personas:  One the world sees; our friends see, we see, and God sees.  Hypocrisy is when these don't align with purpose and we pretend to walk the talk when we only talk the talk.  We don't want others to praise us as a great Christian or give that impression when we know inside we are only hypocrites.  Remember, your sin doesn't show your freedom but demonstrates your slavery.    Soli Deo Gloria!

What Seems Like Bigotry

"The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10, NASB). [Jesus came for the riffraff, the scum, the outcast, the ragamuffin, and even the flagrant public sinners!]
"This man receives sinners, and eats with them" (Luke 15:2, NASB).

Some Christians give Christ a bad rap by their homophobia and hatred of the LGBT community. They believe these people are "perverts" and their sins should be outlawed.  I do not believe in legislating morality or criminalizing people with "sin laws."  Laws are only what the general public believes is wrong and we must not forget that legality is not morality.  The big issue confronting the public today is of transgender people using the restroom of their inclination, whether it is the same as their birth sex or not.  Imposing Christian "Shari'ah law" on the unbeliever is a violation of rights as equal citizens.  This is not a "Christian" nation (it is secular) and we cannot usher in the millennium by legislation, executive order, or court order--Jesus will when He comes in glory.  We live in a multicultural nation with many religions that all have equal protection under the law to worship according to their own conscience as long as it doesn't break established law.  It is true that many of our forefathers were Christian, but the "times, they are a-changin'," according to Bob Dylan.

This type of bias affects other areas of our culture as well:  Some people refuse to accept mentally ill, handicapped, or disabled individuals.  It seems like they believe it will rub off on them, like the Pharisees wondering why Jesus ate with publicans and sinners and touched the unclean lepers. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was only allowed to minister to the "untouchables" of the Indian caste system.  We are called to reach out to people and build bridges, not tear them down.  It doesn't mean you share in their sin because you associate with them (guilt by association).

The problem with some Christians is that they are legalists:  They see sins, and not sin!  The problem is not that people drink, lie, steal, cheat, fornicate, or gamble, but that they have a sin nature that Christ can deliver them from.  We all must repent of our sins and be restored to a relationship with God so we can overcome our sins.  We all have a dark side that is exposed to no one like the moon and all our righteousness is as filthy rags (cf. Isa. 64:6).   We are in no position to judge because we all have "feet of clay" and must say:  "There but for the grace of God, go I," as George Whitefield said when he saw a man go to the gallows.  Soli Deo Gloria!

That Sounds So Spiritual!

Judas' faith was a sham and a travesty, a truly pseudo-faith that even fooled his comrades and peers. Things, he said, like donating money to charity, sounded so spiritual that it impressed the other disciples, but not Jesus, who always sees through the veneer.  We all have feet of clay or a vulnerability that Satan can attack as our weak point and sin that easily besets us; we even have a dark side that no one sees, like being a Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde.  Mark Twain said, "We all have a dark side that no one sees" just like the moon.

There are no magical formulas or shortcuts to spirituality--one must often be experienced from the school of hard knocks.  There are pitfalls along the way, of course, and we grow by adversity, discipline, suffering, and trials; but Christ was honest enough to warn of them and didn't even exclude Himself from them.  Two of the greatest hindrances to growth is indifference and apathy to doctrine--people don't think it's all that important what they believe, which is a sort of unbelief and not knowing what one believes.   All believers should "love the truth" according to 2 Thess. 2:10.  It is the truth that sanctifies us:  "Sanctify them by thy Word, thy Word is truth"  (John 17:17, KJV).

It is so easy to have spiritual pride and get on spiritual highs where Satan can attack us (known as the Anfectung, attack in German, by Martin Luther).  We are most vulnerable after victory because our pride is boosted. Elijah experienced such depression after his victory on Mount Carmel.  That is why it is so important and vital that we know ourselves and be an active part of Christ's body; we are not spiritual Lone Rangers but need each other!  The epitome of pride is when we start thinking we are "holier than thou" like Isaiah reprimands in Isa. 65:5.

True spirituality in this day of grace that will end in the day of the Lord is manifested only in obedience--not visions, dreams, voices, or any experiences.  To know and love the Lord is to obey Him as Jesus said in John 14:14-15, 21.  A. W. Tozer says (cf. Heb. 3:18-19, Matt. 28:20), "The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command.  He will not divide His offices ...."  There is no spiritual badge that we wear that proclaims our level of spirituality--there is neither a spiritual elite or honor society to belong to.  Obedience is mandatory, not optional--the Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions!

There must be a moment of relinquishment to begin the walk with Christ or a willingness to do His will.  We must surrender per Romans 12:1 and 1 Cor. 6:19-20 and give God the ownership of our lives.  It's like starting a new life in Christ and putting Jesus in charge.  God will reward us for what we accomplished through Him in Him.  Who's the boss?  Jesus has been given all authority! The motto of Jesus' life was, "Thy will be done."  He didn't live to please Himself, but to please the Father.   We are responsible to God to obey because we are moral creatures who owe this to God and children of God who desire God's will.  "His commands are not burdensome" and His "yoke is easy" according to 1 John 5:3 and Matt. 11:30.  Remember:  "To hearken is better than sacrifice, and to obey than the fat of rams'  (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).

It is a known fact that Christians can backslide from the faith, but they cannot fall utterly into apostasy but are kept by Jesus Christ and the Father.  This is resultant from disobedience which starts with rejecting authority and subsequent rebellion (sin is ultimately disobedience and proves slavery, and doesn't demonstrate freedom).  We don't turn our backs on Christ suddenly, because it takes time to drift away, sin after sin not confessed.  Christians should be warned of becoming lax in the faith and "doing the Lord's work with slackness" as Jer. 48:10 (ESV) says.  We are to "feed on His faithfulness" per Psalm 89:8 constantly and grow in grace and in our knowledge of Him (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).  We can falter or fall into sin for a period but are securely in the Father's hands (cf. John 10:29).

We must become obedient to the faith as they did in Acts 6:7 and know that lordship denotes obedience and lordship salvation is the only biblical model, not easy-believism.  Our obedience and behavior depends upon our knowledge and knowing what we believe--belief affects action!  It is important that we become men or women after God's own heart and not display false or pseudo-piety that only memorizes the Dance of the Pious and goes through the motions, treating the faith as the Pharisees did (e.g., externalism, lip service, and ritual) without it affects the condition of the inner man. "Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart," according to Proverbs 21:2.  We must be changed from the inside out (true repentance).  Dietrich Bonhoeffer's dictum that  "only he who is obedient believes; only he who believes is obedient" sums it up.  It all starts with a moment of relinquishment that is renewed day by day--no one-time decision will create spirituality.

What is the summation of Christian ethics or orthopraxy (right behavior)?  It is to heed the command:  "Follow Me." Orthopraxy is the flip side of orthodoxy or right belief. The spiritual believer has freedom in Christ and is to be judged by no man ("The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one, " says 1 Cor. 2:15, ESV).   "... [H]e who hears My word and receives Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death unto life" (John 5:24, ESV).   Paul says in Romans 8:1 that "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ."

Volumes have been written on this:  the most famous being L. S. Chafer's, founder of Dallas Seminary (the largest Protestant seminary in the world), He That Is Spiritual.  The term "spiritual Christian" doesn't mean that they are a category, like Chafer thought, in that we have a class of carnal believers, too.  Chafer made a false dichotomy from his misinterpretation of dispensationalism--he got carried away with his application.  It is only definitive in the sense that every Christian is in the Spirit though he may have periods of carnality or of being in the flesh, obeying the old man or sin nature.   

The spiritual believer hears God's voice through conscience, circumstance, nature, dreams, visions, preaching, prophesying, or the Bible itself, which is the main methodology.  Yes, God hasn't retired dreams and visions, and just because He speaks through the Word plainly if we are prepared spiritually, He has not precluded an audible voice from above--though this is not the usual or conventional way.  C. S. Lewis wisely puts it this way:  "He whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, and shouts in our pains."  Being obedient he walks with God in daily fellowship and communion because he does His will, even performing the good deeds preordained for him to do to God's glory being manifest through him.  It boils down to having a relationship with God, not just a philosophy about God--he knows God!  Pseudo-piety, like saying, "I don't read books about the Bible, I just read the Bible itself" are not scriptural, as Paul wanted his parchments and books from Timothy. We need to learn to profit from what God has revealed to other students of the Word as our heritage.

Prayer is one acid test of knowing God (some have indeed been anointed for this, and some others don't even know how to put their petitions into words). God hears us and doesn't turn a deaf ear.  The problem is that some people are spiritually hard of hearing!  God will hear us on conditions:  We must hear Him.  Before Samuel spoke to God, God spoke to Samuel, "Speak, for thy servant hears!"  Job 33:14-15, 16a, ESV:  "For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.  In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men ..."  The cliche that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion still is valid, because all religion does show man's achievement and not God's accomplishment.  Samuel later said to Saul:  "To hearken is better than sacrifice [outward show of religion]" (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22).  Francis Schaefer wrote, "He Is There and He Is Not Silent."  The Shema Hebrew for "to hear"), or credo of the Hebrew liturgy, (Deut, 6:4-9, 11:13-21; and Numbers 15: 32-41) stresses this point.  God wants us to listen up and pay attention when He speaks!  "Today, if you hear His voice ..." (Cf. Heb. 3:7; Ps. 95:7-8).

We must not only obey but do it wholeheartedly and not half-heartedly as Saul did.  Joshua followed the Lord with his whole heart and David desired to do God's will (cf. Ps. 40:8).  Joshua 22:5 (ESV) says:  "Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." Again in 2 Chronicles 31:21 (ESV) it is written:  "And every work he undertook ... seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered."  Again it is written in 2 Chr. 16:9 that "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him...."  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and scribes:  "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me;  in vain do they worship me..." (Matt. 15:8-9, ESV).

To conclude, just because we are spiritual doesn't necessitate everything becoming spiritual.  We don't "spiritualize" everything and relegate mundane activities to the "unspiritual" while we do the Lord's work.  Today we have celebrity Christian artists who seem so "spiritual" but every believer is so "spiritual" when they are doing God's will and with their gift--that's what they do, so don't compare yourselves.   Martin Luther made it clear that our whole lives are offerings to God and Brother Lawrence wrote The Practice of the Presence of God to show a living and vital relationship with God, even while washing dishes.  We cannot expect to walk on cloud nine all our lives even if we've had mountain-top experiences and get into a spiritual high.  Paul sums it up thus:  "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things"  (Philippians 4:8, ESV).  God doesn't want us to depend on feelings but to grow in our faith, which is what pleases Him (cf. Heb. 11:6).    Soli Deo Gloria!