Tag Archives: law

No Debt

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NO DEBT

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:8-10.

Paul, you make it sound so easy! Simple, yes, but not easy.

But this is what the law of God is all about. It was never intended to be a military code of conduct, but rather a description of what doing life together as a family of God’s children should look like.

First of all, Paul said, get out of debt and stay out of debt. There should be no reason to be in debt if we follow God’s economic system, even if we do fall on hard times now and then. That’s what the community of God’s people is all about. Whatever God has given us is not exclusively ours to be used selfishly but to be shared with others according to their need.

In the constitution God gave to regulate the lives of His people, the goal was equality, never the ever-widening gap between rich and poor. Of course, that does not sanction laziness. Rather, it fills in the gaps for those who suffer reverses in the ordinary course of events. Paul dealt with this principle in his second letter to the Corinthian church.

The believers in Jerusalem were in poverty because of famine. Paul campaigned for help from the churches in Greece and now it was time for them to make good on their promise.

“Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Our desire is not that others be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need so that, in turn, their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: ‘The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.'” 2 Corinthians 8:11-15.

In the end, debt is a slur on the name of God for at least two reasons: firstly, because in some cases, debt is the outcome of covetousness, and covetousness is an expression of discontent. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is a covert way of telling God that He has short-changed me! He is unfair because what He has given me is less than what He has given someone else – so I remedy it by going into debt.

Secondly, because I have not done my duty to God by fulfilling my responsibility to those whom to God has told me to give: to Him first because He requires the firstfruits of all my increase (which is to be given to my spiritual authority to support him and his family); my tithe to the storehouse (my local church); my family tithe to take care of my family’s future, and the poor, the alien, the widow and the orphan every third “harvest”.

Of course, sometimes debt is unavoidable, and this is where the family of God steps in to help. Unexpected illness, loss of a job, a natural disaster, whatever depletes the family’s resources is a call for the wider family to come to the rescue until the sufferers are back on their feet again.

But there is a debt that can never be repaid in full – the continuing debt to love one another. Why does Paul call it a “debt”? Why do we owe love to all people? Love is not like a sum of money which we owe someone and can repay in full. It is an ongoing debt to God because of His inexhaustible love for us. We can only repay our debt of love to Him by loving His children and, because He continues to love us, by continuing to love others as long as we have breath.

All the intricate and seemingly tedious details of the Law are intended for one purpose – to meet the needs of others at our expense. Loving others is not about being sentimental over them whether we like them or not. It’s about serving others by taking care of their needs when and where we can, regardless of who they are because that’s what God does for us.

And it never stops…

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Beast Is Dead!

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THE BEAST IS DEAD!

“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work in me.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Romans 7:21-25.

Despair! Was there ever despair like this?

Trapped by a power much stronger than himself, Paul felt as though he were caught in the claws of an enraged beast which was destroying his life and he was powerless to overcome it. Have you ever felt like that?

Years ago I was in a relationship that produced ongoing cycles of anger, resentment and bitterness which lasted until I was able to forgive, only to begin the cycle all over again when the same provocation happened. In despair I cried out to God, “How will I ever get free from my old nature?” I, who am not given to seeing visions, had a vision that morning on my knees.

I found myself in a walled garden. It was springtime and the garden was full of new growth. There were trees and flowers everywhere; new plants were coming up and the garden promised to be very beautiful. But there was also a huge black beast in the garden. It was pacing up and down, trampling the plants, and causing destruction wherever it walked. I cried out to God, “O God, how can I get rid of the beast?”

I heard a voice say, “Turn around.” As I did so, my vision changed. I was inside an ancient tomb. The tomb was empty, but there were signs that a body had been there; bloodied grave clothes lay on the stone slab. Again the voice said, “Turn around.” As my eyes became used to the gloom, I saw the beast lying dead on the floor of the tomb. My heart leapt for joy.

Once again my vision changed; I was back in the garden but this time there was no beast to destroy. The trees were heavy with luscious fruit and the flowers were in full bloom. There were no weeds and the paths were neatly laid out. Jesus, the gardener, was walking with me in the garden. “This is my garden,” He said. “The fruit belongs to me. You may walk in my garden but you may not pick the fruit.”

When the vision faded, I felt light-hearted and free. I understood that God had given me a vivid picture of Romans 7 and 8. The beast in my vision was my old nature, ruthlessly destroying everything wherever it walked and I had not power to control it. But…Jesus put the beast to death when He died on the cross. When He rose from the dead, the beast was left lying in the tomb. It no longer had the power to destroy in my life.

The garden represents my life, and Jesus, the gardener is in control. By His death He has put to death the power of my old nature to control me and to destroy what He is cultivating in me. As long as I allow Him to take care of my garden, my life will bear fruit for Him because the beast is dead and no longer has any power to destroy what He is growing in me.

Despair has been changed to hope. I am no longer a slave of sin. My old nature remains but it lies dead in the tomb. Its only power to influence me depends on whether I allow it to do so by believing that it can still hurt me. As long as I believe the truth that Jesus has set me free from the power of my sin nature, I can choose to obey God and allow the Holy Spirit in me to strengthen me to obey.

Once again, it’s a partnership of faith between me and God. I believe what God has said; I make the choice to obey Him; by His grace He enables me to do what I have chosen and He gets the praise!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Deceived By Sin

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DECEIVED BY SIN

“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life, actually brought death.” Romans 7:7-10.

How can we ever say that God’s law is sinful?

The law expresses both God’s character and His requirements for a holy life. God’s law is not the problem, but the rebel nature in us that rises up as soon as God says, “Don’t!” We were not created with a natural bent towards disobedience. We inherited it from Adam when he changed allegiance and decided to step out from under the covering of righteousness and go it alone. When he chose to make his own rules, it was necessary for God to establish His boundaries so that man would know wherein his safety lay.

Unfortunately, God’s law has the opposite effect on man’s fallen human nature. Instead of providing protection for him, the law provokes his rebellious nature to go the opposite way. Wherever God says “Don’t!” man says “I will!” and deliberately steps outside his safety zone and into the death zone. The law has exactly the opposite effect to what God intended. Instead of protecting us, it provokes us.

Why did Paul choose the last of the Ten Commandments as an example? Why not murder or adultery or theft? I think it is because coveting is where all starts is. Sin begins in the mind and coveting is the motive for outward acts like murder and adultery that come from coveting. Covetousness is inward sin. Only God knows what goes on in our hearts. Even though we may not steal or murder, the driving force behind these sins is already in our hearts.

Our natural bent is towards selfishness and greed. To change that, God had to intervene and take active steps to change our hearts in order to change our nature and our attitudes. We are not naturally contented. We are dissatisfied with what we have – we want more or we want what others have. Have you ever watched two toddlers playing together? Even though they might have a room full of toys, they will fight over the one toy that they both want! It’s in the heart. It’s in the disposition and the bent from the day that we were conceived.

It frustrates us to see the selfishness displayed in children and the disharmony that it produces in the little ones, but we don’t recognise coveting in ourselves. We call it ambition, or progress or getting ahead or some other cover-up word but, bottom line, it’s just plain coveting. And where did it come from? From our response to God’s law, written on our hearts, “You shall not covet.”

“For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous and good.” Romans 7:11, 12.

What was Paul’s conclusion? God’s law is holy. It was given to His people to show them the path to Himself. If they walked His way, they would surely arrive at the destination He intended for them. Unfortunately, the law has the opposite effect, because of built-in rebellion. Everyone, since Adam, thinks that he knows better than God. Sin is so deceptive that it will persist in making its own rules in spite of the fact that the outcome is always chaos and destruction.

An alcoholic knows that his drinking is destroying him and his family but he is driven by it and can’t stop. He refuses to acknowledge that he has a problem. He knows he cannot help himself but he keeps telling himself that he is okay and that he can stop drinking at any time if he so chooses. Why is he so foolish and stubborn? Because sin has deceived him.

And so it is with every form of sinful practice. We are foolish enough to believe that we can keep doing the same things and expect a different outcome! The problem lies with us, not with the standard by which God measures us. Paul is going somewhere with this explanation. He is building up a case for our utter helplessness without the intervention of God’s mercy and grace.

Stick with me. We’re getting to the exciting part.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Jew And Gentile – Justified!

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JEW AND GENTILE – JUSTIFIED!

“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not also the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.” Romans 3:27-31.

Paul was having an imaginary debate with his readers, but what on earth was this debate all about? We must put ourselves into the minds of these Roman believers to understand his argument.

The church in Rome was made up of both Jews and Gentiles. Zealous Jewish believers from other areas were going around insisting that Gentiles first adopt the Jewish law before they could become Christians. Since Jesus was a Jewish Messiah and His message was the fulfilment of God’s promise to the Jews, they believed that His way belonged to them.

Paul began his letter by taking pains to show his readers that Jews and Gentiles stood on level ground as far as their guilt was concerned. The law was of no benefit to the Jews because, although they were privileged to have received it from God as the terms of His covenant with them, they were unable to obey it perfectly. All the law could do was show them God’s holy standards and pronounce them guilty because they had fallen short of what He required.

What was the point of having God’s law if it only revealed the extent of their failure to keep it? Boasting about the law was fruitless because it did nothing for them except show how guilty they were. They were no better than the Gentiles as far as God was concerned, law or no law, especially since the Gentiles also had God’s moral law written on their conscience. Whether it was written on stone or on their hearts, the standard was the same and they were equally guilty of falling short.

For Jew and Gentile, there was only one solution to their predicament – God Himself. Knowing that there was nothing they could do to satisfy His holy standards, He stepped in and provided the answer that both paid the penalty for the broken law and released the sinner from his guilt.

How did this happen? God came in person – the second Person of the Trinity became a human being, conceived in the womb of a woman by the power of the Holy Spirit, born into the world as a human baby, grew up in a human family, and was eventually executed as a law breaker although He lived a perfect life under the law. He became the atoning sacrifice for all people, Jew and Gentile; His offering was acceptable to God and confirmed by His resurrection from the dead.

There is nothing left to do but to accept His offering in our place by faith and to return to God to live under His authority as His sons and daughters. The law no longer stands over us as our accuser because Jesus fulfilled it and abolished it as the standard by which we are judged.

“Hey, wait a minute! You can’t say that!” But that’s what the Bible says.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13, 14.

Jesus introduced a new law, not to replace but to fulfil the law which could not change their hearts.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8.

Whatever was impossible under the law becomes possible under God’s grace because He has given us His Holy Spirit to enable us to do what we could not do by ourselves.

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5.

The Law, given through Moses at Sinai, was a detailed explanation of how to love their fellow men, but it fell on deaf ears because their hearts were bent towards satisfying their own lusts. Only by removing their guilt could God restore the Holy Spirit to live within their spirits and provide the power to turn towards Him again.

And that is exactly what He has done through His Son!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Helpless – But God!

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HELPLESS – BUT GOD!

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world be held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

But now, apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify.” Romans 3:19-21.

Doomed! We are all doomed. Paul’s conclusion is both terrifyingly condemning…

Everyone is guilty before God. There is no one privileged enough to escape His judgment and no one righteous enough to evade His scrutiny. No one on the planet, past, present or future, can perfectly measure up to His requirements. God’s holy nature is revealed in His Law. It is inflexible. It is objective. That’s what He demands and anything less is punishable by death.

…and gloriously liberating! So what can we do? The answer is, “Nothing!” We can do nothing and we need to do nothing. Why? God has already done everything; everything necessary to give us hope.

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24.

No one can stand before God in his naked state. Sin has stained and polluted every person, regardless of what he has tried to do to gain acceptance with God. His spirit is dead and that is as final as physical death – unless God intervenes…and He has. Sin killed us, not only because we have all sinned but also because we all have a natural bent towards sin which cannot be cured by trying to obey rules. The law sets the standard but it cannot enable us to keep it. All it can do is reveal our guilt.

Why do people who know God’s law, be it in written form or in their conscience, still think that they can do something to satisfy God’s righteousness by trying to obey rules? Even some of those who claim to be believers in Jesus still try to satisfy God’s holy standards by working hard to please Him. How much better to admit defeat and accept God’s solution!

Imagine your small son, whom you have instructed not to help himself to cookies from the cookie jar, standing in front of you with a cookie in each hand. He has been caught red-handed. He is guilty and he cannot escape. You warned him that he would be spanked and sent to his room for the whole day if he disobeyed you. Now you must keep your word, even if he is sorry and promises never to do it again.

His older brother steps in. He adores his little brother and feels sorry for him. “I’ll take his punishment,” he tells you. Because he has never been guilty of transgressing your rule, you accept his offer. Little brother goes free while older brother receives the spanking and spends the day in isolation in his bedroom.

You have been perfectly just in punishing disobedience and at the same time merciful to the little boy who transgressed your law, because of his older brother’s compassion. That is exactly what God has done, but on a much higher level.

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because, in His forbearance He has left sins unpunished – He did this to demonstrate Hs righteousness as the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:25, 26.

All we have to do is to accept His gift by believing what He says. It’s as simple as that. Was Jesus without sin? Most definitely yes! Did He die as a law breaker? Again, yes! He was executed as a blasphemer and as one who committed treason against Rome. Was He guilty as accused? No! What He said was true. He is the Son of God and King of the Jews.

How do we know He was telling the truth? God raised Him from the dead. Death is the punishment for sin, but death could not hold Him in its grip. After three days He walked out of the tomb. He is alive; and He sent His Spirit to live in the heart of every believer so that we are enabled to live the life He wants us to live. All this happens when we put our confidence in Him!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.