Dear Church Family,
Isn’t it great to live in a perfect world? Just checking to see if you are paying attention! Of course, our world is far from perfect. The effects of the curse of Adam’s sin show themselves at all times. How are God’s people to live in such a world? Terry Johnson reasons, “to a decadent, antinomian (against God’s law) age we restore the Law of God with its absolute standards of right and wrong. Yet, we do so without the bondage of legalism. We do so in a way that maintains the liberty of the Christian, the joy of the Christian life, and the graciousness of the gospel.”
Despite what the vast majority of people, even Christians, think, there is nothing good with God’s Law. Psalm 19:7 states it is perfect and gives life to the soul. What is wrong is legalism. It refers to one of three misuses of the Law: 1) “trying to be saved by lawkeeping; …2) man-made rules that exceed the requirements of Scripture; (and/or) …3) the external conformity to the law without the submission of the heart.” Terry goes on, “But it is not legalism to obey God. It is not legalism to eagerly and precisely conform one’s life to the law of God.”
Terry encourages us “to understand the function of the Law” through the eyes of the Psalmist and not those of “the Pharisee and Judaiser.” The Psalmist relished the “graciousness of the Law” while the others saw as a list of works that would make them right with God. Galatians 3 teaches us that the Law convicts us of sin and then serves as a tutor which points us to the saving work of Jesus. Now that is God’s grace in action! God gave the Law to show His people how they can live to His glory.
Then, there is the accompanying issue of the liberty which God’s people have. People love to add to the Law “a host of extra-biblical requirements” as if God did not know what He was doing when He gave the Law. Once made alive in Christ and forgiven of sins God’s people have the liberty to obey the Law. We also have “Christian liberty in areas outside of the application of the moral law.” New denominations have been formed over debates (arguments and schisms) over issues of Christian liberty. Terry rightly sums up how these issues should be handled: “Is it commanded in Scripture? If it is, we must do it, completely, precisely. If it is not, we are free to do and free not to do, as taste and wisdom dictate.”
Our world has missed the blessings of the Law like “wisdom, cleansing, purity, comfort, direction” as Psalms 19 and 119 point out. Imagine how different our world would be if all followed God’s Law. Now that is a dream that will never happen. Only the Gospel brings the radical change our world needs. “It is the whole gospel, not a truncated version of it, that provides the dynamic (to being that change). The whole gospel includes justification and sanctification, grace and duty, promise and law, privilege and obedience. It includes (let the Great Commission reminds us) ‘all that I command you’”
With great hope in His grace,
Pastor Gillikin