Grace, not Sacrifice

[Laurie KRB]

Some people like rules; others need them; others just feel more comfortable when they know the limits.

There were over 600 rules in the Old Testament.

But even then, the priests and scribes (those who were entrusted to keep and teach the laws to the people) weren't satisfied; they added more. They had added, through the years, certain rules, traditions and ceremonies to the original laws Moses handed down.

Hard rules. Oppressive rules.

And when the Pharisees and priests managed to use all their will-power and strength to keep those rules (tough, tough way to go, I imagine), they felt smug in their actions.

How do we know they felt smug about their accomplishments? Because of all the times Jesus reprimanded them. For all the times He warned His disciples to not act proud or arrogant, to not consider themselves higher up than others, to not "lord it over" others like "the Gentiles".


He taught them to remain humble; stressed serving others and strove to teach them His way, which was a higher walk.

Regarding the Pharisees, Jesus had this to say about all their many difficult rules:

Matthew 15:8, 9 (HCSB)

These people honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
They worship Me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commands of men.

They had handed down their own rules, as if they had originated from God! And they expected others to follow them.

Hard rules which oppressed the people, weighing them down (both with pressure to try to follow the rules AND guilt about not being able to) instead of making them free:

Matt. 23:1-7 (HCSB)

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples:

"The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you and observe [it]. But don't do what they do, because they don't practice what they teach.

They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people's shoulders, but they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger to move them. They do everything to be observed by others: They enlarge their phylacteries* and lengthen their tassels. They love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called ' Rabbi' by people.

*Footnote: Phylacteries - Small leather boxes containing OT texts, worn by Jews on their arms and foreheads

Jesus wasn’t about weighing people down; He was about lifting people up!

He came to free the captives, to heal the broken hearted!

Luke 4:17-19 (HCSB)

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me
to proclaim freedom to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Yet time and again, He kept coming up against those who had been entrusted with His Father’s law, to protect God's chosen people. And yet they had instead gone the way of Satan and pride, oppressing instead of freeing:

Luke 11:52 (HCSB)

“Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge!

You didn't go in yourselves, and you hindered those who were going in."

When Jesus said “The Spirit of the Lord has anointed Me”, that was good news! That meant that the Spirit had come to set things right (or would come once Jesus was glorified and returned to the right hand of God). Emmanuel - God WITH us!

And it means, today, that we don’t have to live oppressed lives. We don't have to worry about keeping the man-made traditions and rules of the Pharisees; we don't have to worry about animal sacrifices and guilt (see the book of Hebrews for a detailed study of our clean consciences because of Jesus' one-time free sacrifice). We can take, by free grace, the liberty that Jesus came to give us:

Zechariah 4:6-7

So he answered me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of Hosts. 'What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!' "

Zerubbabel had begun to rebuild the Temple, the physical Temple of God. Now, thanks to the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, WE are the Temple! And we can do the work of building up the Temple (the body of Christ, Christians united in love by faith)by the Spirit, by grace!

1 Cor. 6:19-20 (ESV)

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

No more works of the flesh; no more trying by might and will-power; no more guilt and condemnation. This is good news! Through Christ we have been made the righteousness of God and are more than conquerors. His Spirit is the power we need to follow His statutes, walk His way and set free the captives.

Peace.

 

[deg]

Hello Laurie; blessings!

I wrote a rather large post in response, but only had the presence of Spirit to come to a clear conclusion on works after the first run through. So this is the post, version 2. I believe it encapsulates a more mature view of the Grace of God, though I am sure correction is possible.

The restoration of the soul (salvation, that is), arrives through a process. We have surely met the Lord. We having also been given a promise that we will possess both the power and grace needed for our journey, so that we might eradicate all filthiness from both our flesh and spirit. We don't have to use this ability; we can sit on the haunches of yesteryear, and fail to apply those things that were provided in Christ to grant us our freedom.

To know the availability of these spiritual tools, and to deny their use, is to bring condemnation upon yourself; it doesn't turn God's available favour from you, not at all, but it does bring terrible consequences which you will regret. Galatians 6:8 is very clear, and is written to believers.

[BIBLE]Galatians 6:8[/BIBLE]

It is incredibly important that believers understand their great responsibility in knowing the Lord. The degree to which they know the Lord is the degree to which they may incur judgement or blessing. Simply to know OF the Lord is not enough. There is only one way to life, and very few find it: put to death the misdeeds of self. If you do not, you will die to some degree. Romans 8:13 lets us know this is true.

[BIBLE]Romans 8:13[/BIBLE]

Our burden to operate in our faith corresponds to our ability. The demand by Christ for all his followers to take up their cross, their burden (works, law, obedience demanded), is one side of the 'FAITH' coin. The other side is heart intimacy (trust) and transparency with God. They are both sides of one coin. It's important that works are not forgotten!! James tells us all about this coin in 2:14-26. The burden that is laid, the burden of works, duty, obedience, sacrifice, is laid according to the spiritual strength that has been given to you. That far, and no further. Be free in that knowledge! The requirement is met; all that is left is to progress through the event, confident and free.

There is no burden laid on you that you cannot deal with. Conversely, no spiritual strength is ever granted to you, unless it is duely tried and well used in the workshop of the Lord. You may be assured, however, if you fail to appropriate the spiritual understanding you are given, it may result in things you will greatly regret.
​

In any event, the real blessing is not on staying free from burden!! Oh no!! You are missing the REAL blessing if you feel free of burden. Instead, the blessing is in accepting burden and pursuing the strength which is given with it so that we can develop into 'overcomers.'

Overcomers are those who do the work of the Lord as a way of life, accepting greater burdens to release the glory of God upon themselves, and a generation. Their job is to accept, and overcome with all settled confidence. Simple huh; easy to say, hard to do. They overcome as a privelege, duty, and honor; they are given great opportunities to both succeed and fail. Some of us are weak though, and are not given the duties of others.

Don't worry, and don't be troubled: the spiritual stength for any battle is found nestled right inside the burden! But that strength must be expressed in works; because works are simply faith with a direction. We don't get strong apart from the burden though, so don't feel burdened by burdens!! It has been granted to you, not only to believe, but to suffer! Praise the Lord!

In hope for clarity,
and with affectionate zeal,
Degory

 

[graysparrow]

Mercy I want, and not sacrifices, says the Lord

 

[Laurie KRB]

Hi Deg!

I'm not sure if there is any disagreement here at all.

My post is directed, (not sure how clearly) at the man-made rules imposed on us. Rules today as rules in time of the Pharisees. Rules about prayer, church, baptism, tithing, gender, age, fasting, ANY and ALL works of the flesh.

Many, many people are weighed down beyond belief with fear that they are not in God's will, fear they they have not tithed enough to their church, fear that they are going to be hurt, guilt at not following all the rules about when to go to church, how many times to be baptized for their sins, guilt at forgetting to say grace over their food, worry that they haven't read the Bible enough or called their moms enough...

Satan tries to get us into the flesh, out of the Spirit. And whatever the man-made doctrine that we as individuals are trying to follow, we must give it up to God and trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He said "Not by might but by My Spirit".

The SPIRIT of the law, not the letter of it, which kills according to Paul.

God's rules are simple, and as Jesus said, His yoke is light!

1) Love God by obeying His commandment which is:
2) Love others as yourself, treating them as you want to be treated.

That is THE Royal Law (according to James) and as we begin to stop trying of our own might, we realize that the Spirit within us sanctifies, guides, teaches us through love to stay in the Light which is in our hearts, shed abroad by the Spirit.

When we ask for His help to make us right, He does the work. We are not able to sanctify ourselves or make ourselves right. Only Jesus was able to do that, and He did accomplish it on the cross, "It is finished."

Our work now is to obey Him, loving others.

I'm not advocating not following rules; I'm just saying, as Paul said, there are no rules which please God other than LOVE (God is love, according to John).

If I have offended anyone, please accept my apologies. NOT my intention. My intention is to proclaim the liberty that Jesus died to give us: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

To unburden the sin and bondage that keep people down and guilty. God is please with His kids because of Jesus' redeeming work on the cross. There is no more work we can do than accept that and begin to follow Him.

Peace, Deg! And may you walk in His abundance today!

 

[Laurie KRB]

Ok, let me just add one more small 'qualifier' to what I said in my last post.

Although Jesus simplified things by invoking His new commandment ("Love"), He did not make things easy.

Loving others means dying to self every day, like Deg wrote. Loving others and putting the needs of others ahead of our own hurts. It is probably the most difficult thing to do, at first.

But I can say from experience, that once I made the commitment to step out in faith to obey Him, it got easier. The more I put the needs of others ahead of my own, the easier it gets to flow in the love of the Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit is a choice, and when we dedicate ourselves to this walk, and ask for His constant help and guidance, He comes into our lives to help us do things His way.

That was one of the goals of the Spirit, to help us walk His way. And the Spirit helps us as we walk in the "fruit" of the Spirit: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

All excellent. But we don't get any of it on our own; it is a work of the Spirit IN us. We can't decide to love others and then just do it (or at least I couldn't!). We don't just institute a bunch of rules that say 'do this' or 'don't do that' or else.

We have to have Spiritual help, which we don't get by instituting man-made rules; we have to stay in constant touch with Him, in prayer and thanksgiving for the work the Spirit does WITHIN us.

Not of ourselves, lest anyone should boast. But His work within us helps us stay with Him. I believe the Spirit is the way, when He said He would "write my law upon their hearts and they will obey me and be My people" (my paraphrase).

Not by following man's rules of how to be holy, but by following the Holy Spirit who sancitfies and makes us holy by His work IN us.

And "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

 

[deg]

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

First of all, what a scripture!

Laurie, good postings.

This post is a general question, and a slight diversion from the original post. It doesn't require a response, but if you feel to, please do so!

The above verse is one of the verses my soul most responds to, out of the entire written Word. I often consider what that liberty looks like when it is being operated in the human soul. What sort of liberty is it? Which parts of life are liberated? Which are constrained? What is proper, in the eyes of Christ? How far, just how liberal does this liberty get?

I don't mean sin; its clear that that is innapropriate. I have a more congregational/inter-personal question.

Reflecting on my limited experience, when that scripture is read or spoken on, or even when it rises in my own heart, I often feel a compelling, joyful urge to speak in tongues to worship in a strong flow. Sometimes it is to speak out what I am seeing inside. But I almost always experience a thought which counteracts that 'liberty,' saying that appropriateness and right conduct are better. Chaste conduct, the mature voice says, is preferable. It seems like a mighty wave is quelled when this occurs, and so much of the rising tide of joy and language gets put still. The joy leaves. Cold.

[BIBLE]2 Corinthians 5:13[/BIBLE]

These tensions play on me mightily. No kidding. I want so badly for the Lord to have the right of way, but my discernment may lack. I am afraid of wrongly giving way to the liberties and joys of deep heart and tongue worship. My congregational experience with these sorts of things are very limited. The strangeness of the Spirit, or my lack of discernment, may cause real problems. If those problems are from God, then I'm ok with that, I don't mind being made a fool for the Spirit's sake. But if I am injuring any part of the ministry of Christ (and I am afraid of that), it would be better to not speak.

I must say, I love the times of ecstacy when God falls on me with this kind of concentrated experience. There is no greater joy! And I would love to see this same joy, and the purposes of these visitations, spread for blessing. I want God to move as He once has, in the true prophecy and Divine language of years gone by. I want God to release His Glory so badly, and I surely do not want to be the bottleneck in the supply chain of God's Power.

I also suppose that no one can answer my question. Where is the line for innapropriate spiritual conduct? Having been baptized in the Spirit yourself, do you walk with the Spirit in a congregational message delivery way? When should I be willing to let go, to fall into the great arms of God (congregationally, spiritually speaking)? What does the liberty of 2 Cor 5:13 look like? Where is it experienced?

 

[Laurie KRB]

Hi Deg,

You're right, I don't think any person is going to be able to answer those kinds of questions for someone else, except the Spirit inside of each of us, as we deepen our walk with Him.

But here is a slight "limitation" on our freedom, again as it relates to obeying THE Law (love others):

Gal 5:13, 14

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

In another scripture Paul speaks to the liberated about the level of maturity, warning them not to confuse the newer converts. The Jews were not to eat certain foods, by law or by tradition, and Paul says something along these lines:

"You're free now. Eat whatever you want. BUT if you're eating with someone who thinks it's wrong to eat certain meats, don't interfere with their faith by eating the forbidden things right in front of them. Don't confuse them by eating what they think is wrong. Abstain yourself! Don't argue with them, don't try to change their minds. Just act in love and forego the meat on this occasion, for the sake of your brother."

Romans 14:23

But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned [before God], because he is not true to his convictions and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful].

Whatever is not of faith is sin.

This is probably the hardest part of the liberty aspect for me, because it is completely rule-less. God is saying, through Paul,

"If you think it's wrong, then it is, for you. Don't go against your conscience."

One of my favorite verses, that comes up again and again in my spirit, so that I've learned to remind myself of it when I am afraid or in doubt (Isaiah 7, I believe?), the Words of God:

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all."

That's a hard concept, isn't it? But I believe that is where we all must get to, as His kids, in learning to "Walk by faith, not by sight."

I have learned to tell myself: I don't care what it looks like. I don't care how it feels. I have read and believed the Word. I know the truth and the truth has set me free.

Since you don't specify the situation when you stop the flow, so to speak, I will give you a few general examples from the Written Word:

1) David - as King! - danced in joy before the Lord ("a man after God's own heart"); his queenly wife didn't think it was appropriate.

2) Jesus - as Lord of Lords - wept in clear view of many people on more than one occasion; how many of us will cry in front of others?

3) The Pharisees must have witnessed Jesus drinking wine because Jesus Himself says they called Him "a wine drinker"; He turned water into wine; can we say drinking wine is wrong?

From my own experience, the joy and flow that you are describing IS coming up from inside of you; the Spirit operating within you.

(Jesus said the Spirit would flow as springs from the heart after baptism, in Acts 1, I believe.)

Also, in the past (and still, at times, although I now recognize the origins) I have had problems with guilt. I used to let guilty feelings guide me, instead of following the Word of the Spirit. I then learned from scripture that that is NOT the Spirit.

The Spirit urges gently, does not yell or invoke fear or guilt ("is not hard, sharp or pressing").

When I hear from God, it seems to come from a direction either behind me or up from somewhere inside (the heart?). It seems different from my own thoughts which seem to originate from my head. To me, it sounds like you are aware of the difference, of what is you and what is the Spirit.

Re praying in the spirit: I do so alot, very quitely. When I'm at work or walking down the hall, or when I feel especially pressured by life and circumstances, I pray in the spirit. I pray in the car, and before falling asleep at night. Very softly, a quiet whisper, when I want to or when I feel the urge to. God hears.

And I think I understand that feeling you describe when you hear about liberty. I tend to have those "quenching" thoughts about JOY. I heard a pastor say once, "It's ok to be happy; let yourself be happy!"

Good news -- Joy is good, a gift from God, our strength! (Jesus came that we might have AND enjoy life, the AMP says.)

And it's ok to be free, as long as we don't hurt anyone else. Liberty is good!