Viewpoint Brief Bible Study #53 |
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JESUS calls US to be |
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The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide. |
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We're Not Saved by Keeping Laws
Cecil May, Jr., who has recently moved from the presidency of MAGNOLIA BIBLE COLLEGE in Mississippi (P O Box 1109, Kosciusko MS 39090-1109) to teach at Faulkner University wrote in his PREACHER TALK publication back in 1990 "Four Truths About Rules."
- Christians are not subject to man-made religious rules,
- Rules are NOT the essence of our faith,
- Rules are NOT the basis of salvation,
- Rules FROM GOD must be kept.
Paul warned, Cecil points out, against such "commandments of men" as "Touch not, taste not, handle not" (Col. 3:23). And Jesus rebuked those who were teaching for doctrines "the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). Jesus never violated any commandment of God, but He almost seemed to go out of His way to demonstrate His refusal to be bound by "the traditions of the elders" (Matthew 15:2; 12:1-9).
Those who seek to bind man-made rules on the church of the Lord claim authority that belongs only to God and to His Son. Those who SUBMIT to such man-made rules as being essential for salvation are doubting the sufficiency of the GOSPEL to save. Those who return to legalism as religion fall from grace, says Paul (Galatians 5:4).
The essence of Christianity is Jesus the Christ. The gospel of Christ is GOOD NEWS rather than being a code of laws.
One who tells us something we've not known about and which we ought to do is doing us a favor, but there are already too many things we know we ought to do and are not doing that hearing about yet more is not GOOD news. The fact that God loves us and gave His Son for us; that Christ paid FOR US the penalty of sin which we had no ability to pay ourselves except by death -- this is the essence of Christianity, and this is the good news that is the gospel.
To be saved on the basis of keeping rules, it's necessary that we NEVER break any rule. When we do break one of God's rules, we become sinners, due to suffer death as the proper payment for our sin. In order to be forgiven by God who alone CAN forgive sins, we must be forgiven.
We can neither formulate rules that would earn our forgiveness, nor earn forgiveness by keeping all rules except that one or those few that we broke. Even if we kept all other rules, and at all other times kept the rule we once broke, we would only be keeping ourselves from OTHER sin, not atoning for the previous sin.
Perfect law-keeping is not possible for imperfect persons. Try as we will, we are NOT always in the right. It's HUMAN to err, and we're all human, some more so than others, obviously.
Cecil says that the "royal law of love" does contain some prohibitions, such as are spoken of in James 2:8-11. These are "Do not commit adultery. Do not kill." (Ray -- Are these part of the law of love? Both are part of the Old Testament law. Neither are repeated as commandments for Christians, as a matter of fact).
God's rules are given for our benefit. They come from One who both knows us and who wants for us what is for our good. But they ARE rules. Persistently-willful transgressors are condemned, NOT justified. He who breaks God's rules is broken by them. God's rules are not transgressed with impunity.
And that's the article by Cecil May, Jr.
FURTHER REMARKS -- It should be obvious to us all that salvation CANNOT be earned by rule-keeping. Cecil does well to remind us that sinners are not saved IN their sin, and as Paul so thoroughly does in Romans 6, Cecil points out that we must turn away from sin and walk with the holy Jesus if we want to be saved.
Yet how easy it is for us to mistake OUR rules for God's rules. Each of us has this tendency! What we decide is wrong for us we think MUST be wrong for all. What WE feel is a must for us to do in pleasing God is surely required of all others as well.
But of course that's not the case. We each must for ourselves decide the right and wrong of every matter where God has not clearly spoken and where we will either do or not do an action or agree to or disagree with a teaching. And our decisions do NOT have to agree to all be right.
When GOD speaks, we all must agree. When I speak, you can say YEA or you can say NAY, and know that either answer is acceptable to God.
Great trouble comes upon the church when some demand that all must agree with what THEY have decided. God didn't ask them to decide except for themselves. But they're so in love with "authority" that they think THEY have some. And they want to use it. So they tell everyone who will listen about the decision they've made and call on everyone to agree and conform.
We MUST conform with whatever God tells us to do or to not do. We MUST love both those who agree with our opinions and those who do not agree. We're free to try to persuade others to agree with us. We're NOT free to insist that they DO agree.
In the case of Bible teaching, this leads us to realize that it's where the Word is clearly stated as a command that we actually have a command from God for Christian obedience. When NO command is stated, we have no right to call for everyone to agree with what WE decide was likely meant by the inspired writer, or with the rule we make in the absence of clear word from God.
Not a one of us can deny that Jesus wants ALL His brethren to be in the one body He built and to which He adds us. Yet some feel that their decisions on practices and doctrines is as important as GOD's decisions. They feel that separation is essential when brothers cannot agree with their idea of what the Word means by what it says or does not say. But what they don't realize is that they're separating from the Lord as well as from His people.
They imagine their new smaller group is in fact the one body of Christ. They've purified it by pulling away from those "digressives" who dared to differ with what they had decided was necessary doctrine or practice.
Cecil is seeking to bring about Christian unity by his remarks here quoted and by the many other fine things I've read from his pen and heard from his lips. The way of unity is by us all recognizing that JESUS is Lord, so we must agree on WHATEVER He says, but that He is not speaking through the lips or pen of our favorite editor in the 20th or 21st century. We need to be in unity with all who love Jesus whether our editors think we should or not! Whether, in fact, our elders think we should or not. Or our preacher. Or our family. Or our friends.
Jesus wants us ONE. Whatever it takes to be loyal to HIM is what we need to do. And, among other things, it takes accepting fellowship with folks whose ways differ from the way we prefer, whose talk may not sound just like "the folks back home," and whose ideas will NOT always be in complete agreement with ours.
The important thing is -- do our ideas about Jesus mesh? If we both love Jesus, let's do whatever is necessary to be in fellowship with one another, even if our fellowship can't be in the same buildings or in all the same projects. I PREFER singing with no musical instruments. I often sing where instruments are used, sometimes when instruments is all you can hear. But God is hearing, and has not said musical instruments are in any way unacceptable to HIM. How nervy for some of our brothers to insist that we can't use instruments because GOD hates them (when in fact He has not said He does).
I can be in fellowship with non-instrument brothers, but not with ones who insist I must abide by their law as the price of fellowship. Let's DO all obey every rule we find from God. And let's insist that we are never obligated to obey any man-made religious law.
Brief Bible Study #53 from Ray Downen. To go back to Viewpoint's first page, click < here. Or here to go on to Viewpoint Study 54. For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.
