Perfection

The Lord’s teachings are perfect. The Lord’s rules can be trusted. Psalm 19:7

There’s not a lot of things in this life that we think of as perfect, and few rules that we can fully trust to keep us out of trouble. That’s in spite of the laws of our land being based on the commandments and principles of God’s Word.

The Psalmist in chapter 33:12 says: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. These verses of the Psalmist automatically take our mind to the state of our nation. Our laws were indeed initially formed from the basis of God’s Word, but do you still see that intent today as laws and amendments are made to accommodate the sin sick society we now live in? Changes to reflect our view of sexual sins in particular come to mind which the Bible is so clear about. Now we also make it so easy to terminate life in the womb, and also by ending life by euthanasia of the old, and the not so elderly? Beware the ‘good’ we think we do!

The Bible is clear that any nation will be blessed when they honour God. Can we truthfully say that our once great nation still honours God? Is it possible, or perhaps even certain, that our nation’s fall from grace is directly linked and due to the clear fact that we no longer honour God, not only as our Law Giver, but also as our Lord and Saviour at both a personal and national level? May God forgive us and have mercy on our nation!

Legalism?

I didn’t realise it at the time, but apparently I am branded as a legalist (usually spoken with a hiss!) because I grew up in an apparently legalistic church. It was my church. The place where I found my faith and I saw obedience to the law of Scripture as a benefit to my Spiritual welfare, and a good thing for growth. I learned the importance of salvation, the reality of hell, and the assurance of heaven. I also learned the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. If it was seen by some as being legalistic, I didn’t, and was ok with it, and even appreciated and embraced it for what it was.

The Ten Commandments are a legalistic list and we are ok with that. The New Testament also has its share of things taught by Jesus and the apostles which are clearly right and wrong, good and evil. These can all be viewed as faith’s requirements, after all when we come to Jesus just as we are, our Saviour in His wisdom does not leave us in that same sinful condition. We are changed from the inside, and that affects our whole life. Some of those changes could be considered by some as legalistic, but I see them as good, to be desired, and perhaps even natural.

Nowadays, any form of legalism in church is frowned upon, and actively discouraged as being old fashioned and plain wrong. As a result, there is a generation of church folks, who rest on grace to the extent that it can give a green light to a behaviour which is less than Godly, and verging on immoral. We don’t like anyone telling us what to do I suppose. After all, we are not under law (the rules) but under grace (above the law) we argue. Perhaps we need to take a closer look at the verses which could be used to soften our attitude to sin or immorality even at some small level. To put it another way, if our nation didn’t have laws and rules, we would have anarchy and be out of control. We need rules, laws, and yes some legalism in our churches too, or we get out of control. Can I suggest one of the reasons the Church is in decline today is that we want to decide for ourselves the laws of God we want to actively obey? Then the laws of Scripture take a poor second place.

I suggest there are two camps in the legalism debate. Either you believe that in order to be saved you must FIRST obey the rules. Or in response to God’s saving grace you THEN become happy to obey and fall into step with God’s will, rules and laws. The answer to that question says a lot about the kind of Christian you are, and the opinions you form of others. Which camp do you fall into? Or to ask it another way, which camp do others think YOU fall into?? Paul saw this problem in the early church, and addressed it head on:

Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace. So what should we do? Should we sin because we are under grace and not under law? Certainly not! Romans 6:14,15

Free?

In the beginning, the world wide web was introduced with a fanfare of freedom, uncensored useage, and unrestricted content, but especially free and unrestricted. Brilliant, a place where you can say what you like, display what you want, express yourself without worry, and no one will pull you up for it.

This past week the UK has seen the suicide of another teenage schoolgirl, who was cyber-bullied to such an extent she saw only one way to stop it. I said ‘another’ because this is not the first, and will not be the last. In the meantime, the anonymous bullies (that’s a nice word for them) slink back into the shadows where they belong.

Is this the way it should be? I am sure this kind of ‘freedom’ wasn’t seen as any way to abuse the privilege. After all, every freedom comes with cost and consequence. Now, late in the day, our politicians are trying to find ways to govern this kind of misuse of the internet social media sites. Oh hold on, isn’t this censorship? The very thing the advocates of the www were trying to avoid? In a word, yes, and rightly so. Do we really need websites which show child abuse, pornography, and gratuitous violence to name a few? While this is going on, there are those ultra liberals who reckon this is a price we pay for our personal freedoms. Eh?? Run that by me again, or better still, talk to the growing number of grieving families.

Rules in some form or another have been with us from the beginning. Remember Adam being told not to eat the forbidden fruit? The ten commandments? The rules of your local club, or your own church denomination? The speed limit? The laws of the land? All of these are necessary rules to live by, not because personal freedom isn’t important, but because we must take care of the greater good of our wider society and community. That’s just putting others before ourselves. It is no mistake that the best guide book in the world, the Bible has rules to live by. Some parts say ‘do not’ and some say ‘do this’, and every one makes our society a better place, while at the same time protects our own freedom. What’s not to like about that?

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 1 Peter 2:13,14 NIV