| Dear
One,
Ellen
Briton walked through the front door of her mother’s house and
stood quietly in the foyer.
The living room was full of relatives that she hadn’t
seen in years.
It looked like a “who’s who” of the Briton family
tree. All
those months of planning seemed to have finally paid off.
The family reunion certainly appeared to be a roaring
success.
Ellen
made her way through the crowd, taking a moment now and then to
engage in polite conversation or to dispense a hug or two.
When she finally arrived at the kitchen doorway, she smiled
to herself.
Her mother’s kitchen had always been a favorite place for
people to gather together and today was no exception.
From great grandma to the youngest newlywed of the family -
here sat the Briton women peeling carrots and slicing potatoes.
They were laughing as the eldest member of the family
re-told a favorite family story.
Ellen
grabbed a stool and sat down.
Eventually there was a break in the conversation.
That’s when Ellen took the opportunity to address her
great grandmother. “Grammy, I have a question for you,” she
said softly.
The eldest turned her attention towards her great
granddaughter.
“I love your recipe for roast. I’ve made it so many
times that I could probably recite it word for word.
But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why I need to
trim off the end of the roast.”
There was a hush over the room as the rest of the Briton
women leaned forward to hear her answer.
With
a twinkle in her eye, the eldest said, “Ellen, you are the
funniest child.
Surely you know that cutting off the end of the roast has
nothing to do with the recipe.
It was the only way I knew to make the roast fit into my
small roasting pan.”
The kitchen was absolutely silent.
Grammy looked in disbelief at the group of ladies.
“Don’t tell me that ALL of you have been cutting off
the end of your roasts?”
Every woman in the room raised her hand in agreement.
“Well Grammy,” defended Ellen, “I guess we all
assumed that you knew best.
After all, it was your recipe.”
The room erupted in laughter.
The Briton women were laughing so hard that some of the
ladies actually had tears running down their cheeks…they were
laughing, weren’t they?
Isn’t
it funny how we do “certain things” a “certain way”
because that’s how we’ve always done them?
There doesn’t necessarily have to be any rhyme or reason
as to why.
Perhaps it’s a family tradition or maybe it’s an
assumption we’ve made.
Either way, we hold tenaciously to how things have always
been done.
And you know what?
That way of thinking often impacts what we believe.
“I believe it because it’s what we’ve always
believed.”
Or, “ I believe this because it’s what I’ve always
heard.”
So,
what have you heard?
Let me be more specific - what have you heard about the Law
and the grace of God?
Do you believe that one keeps you under control and the
other causes you to run wild?
Is the grace of God just one big campaign poster for a
lenient lifestyle?
Or have you heard that the Law is a much-needed set of
training wheels that will help you live a godly life?
These are some really good questions that deserve really
good answers.
But not answers derived from personal experience or from
third-hand parties once removed but answers from the word of God.
Before
we go to the scriptures for answers, I thought it would benefit us
to review some general statements that represent many of the
questions that I’ve raised in this teaching as well as in the
teaching, “Lawfully Lenient”.
These statements are not intended to be irreverent or
sarcastic.
They’re meant to make you consider thinking outside the
lines of what you’ve often heard or believed about the Law and
the grace of God:
-
The
Law will provide a controlled, obedient lifestyle but grace will
cause you to live a lenient, disobedient lifestyle.
-
Grace
will cause you to sin more than ever because grace is soft on
sin but the Law isn’t.
-
Grace
will make you prideful because you will take God for granted but
under Law you will be gratefully humble and thankful.
-
The
Law will keep you right with God because grace isn’t tough
enough to do what God requires.
There
you have it - four general statements that loosely represent what
many of us have heard regarding Law and Grace.
Now, let’s take a look at what scripture says.
I think you’ll be surprised to see two things - many times
the Law has been credited with accomplishing things in the life of a
believer that it has never done.
And secondly, the grace of God has been mistakenly labeled as
“hazardous material” in the life of a believer.
Lenient
vs. Controlled lifestyle:
Titus
2:11, 12 - “”For the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly
desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present
age”
Romans
7:5, 6 - “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions,
which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our
body to bear fruit for death.
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to
that by which we were bound, so that we were in newness of the
Spirit and not in oldness of the letter”
Keeping
yourself right before God:
Galatians
2:21 - “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness
comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly”
Romans
3:28 - “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart
from the works of the Law.”
More/Less
in the Sinning department:
Romans
7:7, 8 - “What shall we say then?
Is the Law sin?
May it never be!
On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through
the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had
not said, ‘You shall not covet.’
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced
in me coveting of every king; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”
Romans
5:20 - “And the Law came in that the transgression might increase;
but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”
Arrogance/pride:
Romans
12:3b - “For through the grace given to me I say to every man
among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to
think;”
James
4:6b - “Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but
gives grace to the humble.’”
2
Corinthians 4:15 - “For all things are for your sakes, that the
grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the
giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”
Isn’t
all of this very interesting?
I told you that you would be surprised.
Seems like grace has gotten a bad rap, wouldn’t you say?
Now, don’t start fuming and assuming that I’ve just said
that the Law is the enemy.
That’s not what I’m saying - please don’t miss the
point.
And the point is, you ask?
The Law has a specific purpose for every man - to show
man’s total inability to make himself “right” with God through
the works of the Law (Rom. 3:19-20; 4:14-15; 7:4; Gal. 2:19; 3:24).
No one, absolutely no one can keep the Law (James 2:10).
But
that doesn’t mean that the Law isn’t good.
It is.
Matter of fact it’s good enough, it’s adequate enough and
it’s certainly capable enough to do its intended work - to lead us
to Christ.
Galatians 3:23-25 says, “But before faith came, we were
kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was
later to be revealed.
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ,
that we may be justified by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a
tutor.”
Now
that you believe in Christ Jesus, you no longer need the Law as a
tutor.
The Law is finished with you.
Won’t you be finished with the Law?
It’s okay.
Really. . .
And,
that’s what the Briton women decided.
They were through cutting off the end of their roasts.
Yes sir.
The art of cooking a roast was about to change on every
branch of the Briton family tree.
With that decision made, Ellen could tell that Grammy was
becoming restless in the kitchen and offered to walk with her to the
living room.
As they made their way down the hallway, Grammy muttered,
“Now I have a question for you.”
Ellen stopped walking so that she could hear the eldest as
she spoke.
“After you cut off the end of the roast, what did you do
with it?”
Ellen grimaced a bit and said, “Well, I have a big roasting
pan.
So, once I cut off the end I usually put it into the pan. .
.near the place where I made the cut.”
Grammy just shook her head.
“Yeah, I know, “ smiled Ellen, “it never did make much
sense.”
“For
sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but
under grace.”
Romans 6:14
I love you,
Marcy
marcy@gospelfortoday.org
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