The Christian trump card.....

       We have a Christian trump card!  A card that we like to play in order to effectively end arguments and debates that we find ourselves in.  A card that we also use to fight against conviction from God and to refrain from having discussions with others about the choices they might be making.  What is that trump card.....  legalism!  Countless times in discussions I have been in with others either I or they have used the phrase, "but I don't want to be legalistic" and that seems to effectively end the conversation.  We also use the trump card to avoid conviction from God especially in the areas of entertainment, possessions, finances, dress, etc.  We feel that God is calling us to make changes, big or small, in these areas and as a way to avoid that conviction we think and/or say, "but I don't want to be legalistic."  The other way we frequently play this trump card is in discussing difficult issues with another person and we begin the conversation by saying, "I don't want to sound legalistic, but...."  I believe that the legalistic trump card instead of guarding us against legalism actually hinders our growth in Christlikeness and thinking carefully and deeply about how the Gospel ought to impact every area of our life.  

       What is legalism?  Legalism is the process by which we define our relationship with God by the rules we follow.  Our relationship with God is defined by the things we avoid.  If we don't drink, sleep around, cuss, watch R rated movies, dance, gamble, etc then our relationship with God is good. However if we, or anyone, does those things we become judgmental and assume there is no way that person is in a relationship with God because of the things that they are doing.  Legalism is based upon works and we should rightly rebel against any system of thought that moves our relationship with Jesus away from grace.  "For it is by grace that you have been saved, that not of yourself, it is a gift of God lest anyone should boast."  We are right to argue vehemently against any form of legalism  because it is not the Gospel that Scripture proclaims where we are saved by grace.  However, our fear of legalism has made it so that any rule that was promoted by those who practiced legalism we assume to be a legalistic rule in which we no longer have any need to follow.  The difference between legalism and the deeply thinking about how the Gospel impacts every area of our life is the starting place.  

      In legalism the starting place is the law.  We start with the law and we become so afraid of offending God or harming our relationship with Him that we focus a lot on the rules.  There is an underlying belief that God will love me more if I do the right things and avoid the bad things and that if I don't do that God will love me less.  In deeply thinking about how the Gospel impacts every area of our life we start with the Gospel.  We start with the truth that we are saved by grace through faith alone.  We believe that after we put our faith in Jesus that God cannot love us more or less than He does right now.  We believe that on the cross Jesus took our sin upon Himself, and gave us His righteousness.  We believe that He paid the debt we owed and took the wrath of God against our sins upon Himself.  We start with the cross, we start with grace and that makes all the difference, even if we come to the same conclusion.  

       Let me give an example using movies.  Legalism begins with the law by looking at the commands that God has given us (do not murder, do not commit sexual immorality, etc) and if a movie contains the things which God commands us to not do they come to the conclusion that it is sinful to watch those movies.  Gospel thinking begins with grace and the cross.  It affirms that watching a movie or not watching a movie will not change my eternal standing before God.  It affirms that if I refrain from watching this movie God will not love me more and if I watch this movie God will not love me less because our justification is not tied to our behavior.  Sadly, that is often times where we stop.  However, because the nature and magnitude of the Gospel we must go further.  We must begin asking questions such as; what is my motivation in watching this movie?  How does my freedom to watch this movie work with my understanding that not everything is beneficial for me?  How my freedom to watch this movie work with my understanding of not causing my brother of sister in Christ to stumble?  Will watching this movie help or hinder me in thinking about life the way God desires me to think about life?  Will this movie help me pursue Jesus or not?  Will this movie help me in becoming more like Jesus?  Why is it that I so badly want to see this movie?  Deeply thinking about how the Gospel impacts all areas of our life might bring us to the same conclusion that legalism might lead another person too, however that does not make it legalism.  The Gospel is to big, too beautiful, to magnificent, to glorious, to not impact every area of our life.  It should impact not only what we watch and listen to, but also how we watch and listen.  It should impact how we spend our money and how much we pursue material possessions.  It should impact how we dress, how we talk, and much more.  Too often I desire to live a Gospel life that allows most of these areas to remain untouched, but the Gospel doesn't allow that to be an option.  The Gospel did what the law could not.  The Gospel changed us from the inside out, but it is indeed changing us on the outside.  

       We need to be careful to not confuse legalism for deeply thinking about how the Gospel impacts all areas of our life.  They may, or may not, come to the same conclusion but where they began makes all the difference.  

You are PERFECT...... kind of.

       You are PERFECT!  If you have put your faith in Jesus you are perfect, you are righteous, you have been justified, you have been declared innocent, not guilty, you are perfect...kind of.  Scripture also teaches that you are a work in progress.  Scripture teaches that after you put your faith in Jesus you are not perfect, you still sin, and that you will not be perfect on this side of eternity.  Two beautiful truths are standing together here, not as contradictions, but as a picture of what the cross has done and is doing.
       Hebrews 10:14, "For by a single offering He (Jesus) has perfected for all times those who are being sanctified."  We see both of these truths in this passage.  You have been (notice the past tense) made perfect because of what Jesus did on the cross.  On the cross Jesus made an exchange with you once you put your faith in Him.  The exchange is that He took your sin, your ugliness, your consequences, your punishment.  Jesus took all of that upon Himself.  He took on your sin and he took upon himself the wrath of God against your sin.  He paid the penalty of death that you and I owed because of our sin.  In exchange for our sin, Jesus gave us His perfection, His righteousness.  Jesus made you and I perfect by taking our sins upon Himself.  Hebrews 10:14 made that clear Jesus perfected us!  Jesus perfected all who would put their faith in Him!
      Understanding our perfection in Christ is important for us to grasp.  It frees us from trying to earn God's love.  When we understand our perfect standing with God we are released from the roller coaster of trying to earn God's love and approval.  We stand firmly on the truth that because of what Jesus did on the cross that it is not possible for God to love us more or less than He does right now.  He sees the perfection and righteousness of Christ on us ALL the time!  Some of us believe that if we just read our Bible's more, if we just prayed more, if we just shared our faith more, if we just ___________, than God would love us more.  That is a lie.  God cannot love you more than He does right now!  Rest in that glorious truth.  The opposite is also true, God cannot love you less than He does right now.  When we sin, when we fail to spend regular time with him, when we don't exhibit His love in our relationships, when we fail to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, God's love for us does not lessen.  Rest in that glorious truth.  You are perfect......
       Kind of.  In Hebrews 10:14 after talking about Jesus perfecting for all times it says for those who are being sanctified.  You are (notice the present tense) being sanctified.  It is a process that takes place over time.  The definition of sanctification is, "being made holy."  The word holy in the Bible when referring to God's people means being "set apart for God."  Sanctification is the process by which over time we are being "set apart" for God.  The process by which we are becoming more like Jesus.  Our need for sanctification reveals that we have not attained moral perfection.  It reveals that we still struggle with sin, we still fall short of the glory of God.  This truth teaches us about our moment by moment dependence upon God to make us Holy.  To make us more like Jesus.  It shows us our need for God's grace in a moment by moment basis and not only His grace to forgive, but also His grace to help us rely upon Him.  The truth that we don't reach perfection on this side of earth is a constant reminder of our need for God and that is a good thing.  When we are impatient we are reminded how much we need God's patience.  When we struggle with un-forgiveness we are reminded how much we need God to help us forgive.  When we struggle to love those who are hard to love we cry out to God to help us, and He does.  The beauty of sanctification is that although it is a process over time we will look back on our lives and we can see God working in us to make us more like Jesus.  The result?  We praise God!  We trust Him more!  We depend on Him more!  We ask Him to change us even more, and that is a good thing!
        You are perfect.... kind of.

When God's mission is not compelling enough...

      When God's mission is not compelling enough good things become god things.  Several weeks ago one of the big stories within the sports realm was focused on a college basketball player who shoved an opposing fan during a game.  Sadly, it didn't surprise me that an athlete who is thriving on adrenaline and emotion in a close game against a rival would lose their control and shove a fan that had been badgering them all game.  What shocked me was who he shoved.  As I waited for the video to load (does that make me a bad person that I wanted to see the video of the incident?) I fully expected to see him shoving another college student from the opposing team.  However, that was not the case.  As the clip plays you see a man in his middle ages (maybe older) pointing his finger at the player and screaming.  I was shocked.  My first thought was how is it possible for a middle age man to get so worked up about a college basketball game where men half his age are competing.  How is it possible for a middle age man to think that it is ok to point, and yell in the face of a player from the opposing team.  How do we get to the place where this can even happen?  It is a basketball game.   In the middle of my self-righteous judgement God stopped me in my tracks and reminded me that anytime His mission is not compelling enough in my life good things turn into god things.
      After we put our faith in Jesus we have been given a mission.  We have been called to be about making disciples of all nations.  God's mission, which is to make Himself known, becomes our mission.  Our mission is to make God known.  Our life is to be about making God known to the ends of the earth.  That is a God sized mission and it is a mission that is so massive in scope that it can and should dominate our earthly lives.  It is a mission that countless people have given their lives for.  It is a mission that countless people have made huge earthy sacrifices for.  It is a mission that God was and is so passionate about that He sent His son Jesus here to die on a cross to clearly communicate that He wants to make Himself known, and He wants to invite people into a relationship with Him.  The problem is not with the mission.  The problem is that somehow we take this God-sized mission and we file it away under "church" and unless we are at "church" this mission that God has called us to is pushed to the side and forgotten about while we dive head long full of passion, enthusiasm, and support into a basketball game.  You see, the problem isn't the basketball is bad.  The problem is that God's mission is not compelling enough in our minds so instead of those resources going to God's mission, they go to basketball and all of a sudden a good thing becomes a god thing.
       When we treat things that are not ultimate things, as if they were, we look foolish.  I look foolish way too often and up until this point I can be thankful that my foolishness was not caught on national television.  I look foolish when good things become more important than God's mission.  I look foolish when good things affect my emotions more than God's mission does.  I look foolish when I look forward to mindless entertainment more than I look forward to participating in God's mission.  I look foolish when I am more concerned about what others think about me than what God think about me.
        So what do we do?  I don't know all the answers, but one thing I have been doing is reminding myself of God's mission in every area of my life.  Reminding myself that....
-God wants my marriage to be a part of making Him known.
-God wants my work to be a part of making Him known.
-God wants my leisure to be a part of making Him known.
-God wants my parenting to be a part of making Him known.
-God wants my neighborhood to a place where I am making Him known.
-God wants my family to be a part of making Him known.
-God wants my gifts, and passions to be used to make Him known.
-God wants my money to be used to make Him known.
-God wants my time to be used to make Him known.
      I wish I knew exactly how this looks in each of these areas but I don't.  What I do know, and what I need to keep reminding myself is that God wants to use ALL of my life to be about making him known.  When I forget that good things will become god things and I will look foolish.  When I remember that truth, good things (like enjoying a basketball game) never become a god thing and are seen as another opportunity to be a part of God's mission to make Himself known to all people.