DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE LAW OF LOVE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE LAW OF LOVE

"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as Yourself.' " (Galatians 5:13-14)

There really is only one law that we are required to obey – the law of love: loving God and loving others. It is called the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). Jesus Himself said that the two great commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these" (Mark 12:31). James called it the royal law. "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well" (James 2:8). Jesus said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…..If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.  He who does not love Me does not keep my words..." (John 14:21, 23-24).

Freedom from the Old Testament Law does not mean that I can just do as I please. I am still under the obligation to submit to the law of love. My rights must be subservient to the law of love. The foundational principle of the Ten Commandments is love for God and love for others. The first four are loving God; the second six are loving others. The greatest law is love, and that if we live by that law we will fulfill the rest of the law. If we love God, we will obey God's law.

May that be the law of my life – to love God to love others.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE LAW OF LOVE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE LAW OF LOVE

"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as Yourself.' " (Galatians 5:13-14)

There really is only one law that we are required to obey – the law of love: loving God and loving others. It is called the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). Jesus Himself said that the two great commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these" (Mark 12:31). James called it the royal law. "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well" (James 2:8). Jesus said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…..If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.  He who does not love Me does not keep my words..." (John 14:21, 23-24).

Freedom from the Old Testament Law does not mean that I can just do as I please. I am still under the obligation to submit to the law of love. My rights must be subservient to the law of love. The foundational principle of the Ten Commandments is love for God and love for others. The first four are loving God; the second six are loving others. The greatest law is love, and that if we live by that law we will fulfill the rest of the law. If we love God, we will obey God's law.

May that be the law of my life – to love God to love others.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- ADORNING THE GOSPEL

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – ADORNING THE GOSPEL

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? …. Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1, 3)

Bewitched! No. This is not a TV sitcom from the 60s. It is a real problem. It means speak evil of something; to charm.

The problem was set forth in the first chapter of the book. "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel" (Gal. 1:6). There were smooth talkers – charmers who were perverting or distorting the Gospel, adding obligations to their faith. "There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ" (vs. 7).

Satan will always try to distort the Gospel in order to lead people away from the truth of Christ. As believers, we must always be alert to those who would distort the Gospel by teaching that we are saved by our works rather than by grace, as though we could add anything to the sacrifice of Jesus. So Paul asks the question, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (3:3). The obvious answer is no. We cannot add anything by our works to what Christ has done. Paul calls people "fools" who believe that they can make their salvation more perfect by their good works.

May our gospel always be that we are saved by grace through faith – nothing more and nothing less. Any good works we do are an expression of our salvation, and not to make our salvation more perfect. The Apostle Paul, writing to Titus, taught that we can adorn the doctrine of God (Titus 2:10). When we adorn something, we make it attractive. We do not change the basic nature, but we add to its beauty. A woman who wears jewelry does not change her natural beauty. She only enhances it by what she wears. So with the Gospel. We can add nothing to it, but we can enhance its attractiveness by our lives.

My salvation is secure based on the complete work of Jesus on the cross when He died for my sin, not because of any works of righteousness that I have done. But now I can enhance the beauty of the Gospel by my life.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- RELIGION OR RELATIONSHIP?

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – RELIGION OR RELATIONSHIP?

"We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." (Galatians 2:15-16)

Justification is the act of declaring or making us righteous in the sight of God and bringing us into relationship with Him. Being right with God has been a desire of humans through the ages. That is the driving force of religion. Man's quest to be acceptable to God is as old as the hills. Job asked the question: "How can a man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4). Religion attempts answer this question by instituting rules to follow to make us acceptable to God by doing good deeds.

Here's the rub. Keeping the rules of religion does not bring us into relationship with God. God is holy, and nothing we can do will make us holy enough to be in relationship with a holy God. Sin separates us from a righteous God, and none of our righteous deeds are enough to reconcile us to Him. Observing religious rituals is like trying to buy or earn God's love and affection. God wants more than external action. He wants our hearts. God desires relationship – not just for us to live good lives here on this earth. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me (relationship), he will keep My word" (John 14:23). Relationship is a matter of the heart, not just keeping rules.

Here is the Gospel. God loved us so much, and wanted relationship with us so much, that Jesus came to reconcile us to God through His death on the cross. Religion is man's attempt to find God. Christianity is God coming to find man. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). We are justified – made righteous – before God only by faith in the Lord Jesus, His sacrifice on the Cross, and His resurrection. Any other attempt to have relationship with God is an empty religious exercise of good works. I am so glad that we are justified by God's grace through faith and not by our works. That is true Christianity.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST

"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted – you may well put up with it!" (II Corinthians 11:3-4).

It seems that human nature is always looking for something new and different – something that will titillate the ear. We are no different than the early believers. In the quest for spirituality, we can be deceived to go beyond the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ – that Jesus died for our sin, rose again for our justification, and ever lives to make intercession for us. The old, old, story can become boring and we look for something fresh and exciting. In another place, the Apostle Paul said that people would have "itching ears" – itching for something new and exciting.

The phrase, "you may well put up with it," seems a little strange. But we understand from later in the chapter that this is a rather sarcastic statement – "You put up with anything!" They were gullible to follow other doctrines. He says in verses 14 and 15 that Satan can come as an angel of light and his followers can also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness – appearing to be something that they are not. In verse 19, he said, "You put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! (More sarcasm.) For you put with up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you…."

We need to be careful that we do not fall for any old fishing bait that drifts our way, and go beyond what the Bible teaches, or accept less than the Bible teaches. Wisdom says, "Stick with the plain truth of the Scriptures, and don't be lured away from the simplicity of the Gospel – saved by grace through faith." That is the simplicity of the Gospel.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SPIRIT WEAPONS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – SPIRIT WEAPONS

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (or fleshly) but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ….." (II Corinthians 10:3-5).

The Apostle Paul was under attack by some people for his claim to Apostleship. The natural way to respond would be to lash out at his critics. But he did not respond in the flesh – carnally – but in spiritual ways.

We are at war – flesh against spirit. I don't know about you, but I find myself trying to fight battles of the spirit with weapons of the flesh. When I am attacked, my nature wants to respond in the same way I was attacked. How I respond tells me whether I am in the flesh or in the spirit. Too often, I respond from my flesh – the baser part of my being – rather than from my spirit where the Holy Spirit dwells.

Jesus said the spirit weapon is to "love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you…..." (Matthew 5:44). Paul picked up this theme when he said, "Bless those who persecute you and do not curse….Repay no one evil for evil….Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath….If your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; For in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:14, 17, 19-21).

This is not easy because it is not natural. But it is the spirit way. It is the Jesus way.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- LAWS OF THE HARVEST

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – LAWS OF THE HARVEST

"But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (II Corinthians 9:6)

Chapter 9 is a continuation of the exhortation given by Paul to the Church at Corinth in regard to the grace of giving. He desired that they not give out of compulsion. "I speak not by commandment" (8:8). He was appealing to their willingness – "that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation" (vs. 5).

If we really understood and believed the laws of the harvest, we would be much more eager to be willingly givers.

Verse 6 declares THE LAWS OF THE HARVEST :
1. The harvest is in relation to how much is sown. If you sow a few seeds, you will reap a small crop. If you sow liberally, you will reap a large harvest. A corollary truth is that you reap more than you sow.

2. The harvest is in relation to what is sown. If you sow wheat, you will reap wheat. If you sow onions, you will reap onions.

These laws are true regardless of what is sown. If you sow joy, you will reap joy. If you sow praise, you will reap praise. If you sow criticism, you will reap criticism. If you sow anger, you will reap anger. Whatever you sow will determine what you reap.

We do reap what we sow – financially, emotional, and spiritually – so we need to be careful what we sow.

Love, Dad