Is Your Life Freedom Based Or Law Based? (Jake Enns)

It is good to be together again in the House of worship and to

praise God together as we ever have done.

I've titled our sermon this morning, Is your life freedom

based or law based? And there's a big difference

there. Do we live by the letter of the

law or do we live by the principle of the law?

And there's a difference. I've had conversations with

people. One man mentioned to me one time

in how some in some countries how they have laws, but then

it's the letter of the law by which every decision is made.

The implications of it or the spirit of the law is not that

important. It's the letter of the law

versus other countries where, Oh yes, the intent was right, the

reason the person disobeyed the law or the person circumvented

the law or went around the law. And so that is taken to account

as well. And so the law may not be judged

the same way. The law may not judge the same

way. Every time when the letter of

the law is given more weight than the intent or the principle

of the law, a shift has been made that does more harm than

good. In 1998 and a warm spring

evening, a young guy named Christopher Searcy was playing

basketball with a few friends half a block away from

Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago. 3 teenage Latino gang members

looking for a black target approached and shot young Searcy

in the abdomen. His frantic friends carried him

to within 30 feet of the hospital and ran inside

Ravensbrook Hospital for help. The emergency room personnel

refused to go outside to assist the dying boy, citing policy

that only allows them to help those inside the hospital.

The boys called for nearby police to attend their wounded

friend. When the officers arrived on the

scene, they proceeded to call for an ambulance, but the

officers themselves, they refused to carry the boy inside.

While passersby pled with the officers to get the boy in the

hospital, he lay in a pool of blood, unconscious.

When after several minutes, the ambulance had not yet arrived,

the police gave in and carried Cersei into the emergency room.

But then nothing could be done to save his life.

As is often true when we legalistically insist on the

letter of the law, the needs of others are overlooked.

Beholding to a standard operating procedure, the Royal

Law of Love was pinned to the mat.

Initially, hospital administration vehemently

defended the E Rs lack of involvement and only after a

barrage of community outrage did the Ravensbrook Ravenswood

Hospital reverse its policy of treating only those inside its

doors. How does one decide as to

whether something is the right thing to do, the permissible

thing to do, the lawful thing to do or not?

As human beings, we know that life is bigger than just us

individually. What I do effects those around

me, my wife, my children, grandchildren, in my wider

community. What we do as a church effects

those around us. We do make an impact.

There are biblical principles to follow in life that we need to

know and live out. There are some things that are

always just wrong. They're never right.

For instance, idol worship. We've heard a little bit, quite

a bit about idol worship recently.

That's always wrong. Denying Christ is always wrong.

It's never the right thing to do.

We have stories in the Bible where people were forced to make

that choice, and they chose to suffer the consequences for

doing the right thing by refusing to do the wrong thing,

even maybe for a good cause. And vice versa.

For instance, the story of Daniel's three friends who chose

to face the fiery furnace instead of buying before the

huge idol King Nebuchadnezzar had made last Sunday, Pastor Joe

preached on Feed your love for the Lord.

That's what those guys were doing.

And he went on to explain what the fallout is.

If we find something or if we feed something else then our

love for the Lord. And he'd made reference to idols

in particular. Feeding selfish motives and

desires where the focus is on self preservation instead of

glorifying God is always wrong. I'm not saying we should not

take good care of ourselves or we cannot enjoy good things in

life, but whatever it is that we do in our inmost being, we must

always be on guard against our own selfish motives.

We've been going through the book of First Corinthians here

for quite some time now, and I believe today is sermon #21 and

we've got quite a ways to go yet.

But it's amazing to me as I'm preparing sermons, as reading

what Joe is preparing, Jonah is preparing, how this all is one

big picture in terms of freedom and how God wants us to live as

His servant, as his servants in this world.

The Corinthian church had a lot to learn, and so do we.

But I'm very grateful for this letter in Scripture to reflect

on. Look at how they were instructed

to work through their issues that they were facing.

As I mentioned, for a while now we've been looking at the theme

of freedom and what it is and what it's not.

We've learned of the importance of not putting the value of

weight on dead things like idols and food offered to idols.

And Paul wrote the church, idols are nothing.

It's not sinful to eat food that's been sacrificed to an

idol because idol is nothing but that.

Freedom to eat was not to be used if it was a stumbling block

for another weak brother who had a weak conscience, for whom

eating meat offered to idols was a problem.

So in order not to be a stumbling block, Paul instructed

them to use the principle of love to address the situation.

Then we see how Paul used himself as an example in

explaining this concept. Paul did not use his freedom,

his rights to financial compensation for his work and

this church. He had the right to be paid for

his work. He reminded them that he had the

right to get paid for what he was doing, but for the sake of

the gospel, he said he didn't want to do that.

One commentator that I read made this comment.

He said because Paul had decided to not take pay for his work as

a missionary, church planter and pastor.

And Corinth, there were people who were thinking he was a

lesser apostle, not not as much of an apostle as the other guys

who were taking the payment for the for their work.

And Paul refutes this strongly says no, that's that's not true.

He used the radical illustrations from daily life to

highlight what his rights were and why he was refusing this.

This morning. We're in chapter 10, starting

verse 23, and in this passage Paul deals with one benchmark by

which we must decide and by which we do decide daily, how we

live out our faith. Pastor Jonah covered some of

this already in chapter 8 when he preached on the right use of

knowledge. We heard that knowledge by

itself just puffs up. We're given knowledge not for

the purpose of prideful focus, self focused living, but for the

purpose of loving one another. There's a difference.

In chapter 8, Paul emphasized the importance of considering

others more important than ourselves when it comes to

eating and eating in temples. And we'll get there in a bit,

but that get that phrase, eating in temples.

So you could actually go and eat an idle temple.

One commentary put it this way. In chapter 8, he writes, we have

a weighty paragraph in which one phrase, one phase of the

difficulties dealt with the question whether a Christian

ought to attend a feast in an idle temple, Chapter 8, verse

10, where of course, the different food items had been

sacrificed to the idols. But in chapter 10, he deals with

the case in which the meat had been bought in the meat market,

where the meat might have been coming from a temple sacrificed

to idols. What do you do?

Well, let's read 1st Corinthians 10 verse 23. 1st Corinthians 10

verse 23 to 11 verse one. All things are lawful, but not

all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not

all things build up. Let no one seek his own good but

the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever sold in the meat

market without raising any question on the ground of

conscience, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you

are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you, without

raising any question on the ground of conscience.

But if someone says to you, This has been offered in sacrifice,

then do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you, and

for the sake of conscience. I do not mean your conscience,

but His. For why should my liberty be

determined by someone else's conscience?

If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of

that for which I give thanks? So what?

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the

glory of God. Give no offense to Jews, or to

Greeks, or to the Church of God, just as I try to please everyone

and everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of

many, that they may be saved, the imitators of me as I am of

Christ. When reading a letter in

general, there's so much that can be learned just by paying

attention to the way a letter is written.

The letter, of course, tells us what's in the writer's mind as

he writes, but it also tells us a lot about the questions that

are being addressed and responded to.

The way the letter is constructed.

In this case, no doubt one serious matter.

The church was eating meat. Worship, worship have been

sacrificed to idols. You can just imagine living in

Corinth, temples everywhere, big business meat being sacrificed

to idols, sold in this, in the restaurants, in the temples and

whatnot. And in fact, you could actually

go and eat inside of a temple. There was some eating places

where Christians actually could do that, so to speak.

And it was not always easy to know where to draw those

boundaries. What do you do?

How does one live in a society like that?

How does one go about one's daily life?

Does nothing matter? Is everything OK?

Or are there boundaries? And which ones are?

Then how far do they go? Paul says all things are lawful

but not all things build up. Help.

All things are lawful, but not all things build up.

Commentators don't all explain this verse the same way, and

some say that this phrase all things are lawful but not all

things are beneficial. It was not a statement from Paul

saying that all things are lawful, but instead Paul was

using their own slogan language as a comment to say that's what

you Corinthians say. You believe this, all things are

lawful. And the case in chapter 5 with

the adulterous man was a case in point.

It's OK, they said, in fact they were proud of it.

But that doesn't work that way. And it's true.

In Corinth they had gotten to the idea that sin didn't really

matter anymore. Again, in chapter 5, that was

not lawful. It wasn't even permissible, but

they thought it was. Then of course, there are some

commentators. Take the other side, won't go

into that. But he says in verse 24, let no

one seek his own good but the good of his neighbor.

So that's the benchmark. There's there's more we'll get

to a bigger one. But this is one the idea or

comment it is lawful does not address the deeper issue.

What's the motive and what is it I'm doing?

How is it affecting someone else?

Just because something may be OK for me from a legal standpoint

does not mean it's the right thing to do.

The first point we'll look at this morning is don't focus on

the law. Just don't do that.

Not the law is bad. It's not unholy.

It's not sin. No, the law is not bad, doesn't

say it has no value. God created, it's good, it's

holy, but it was never and never had the power to save a person.

It can't redeem a person, it can't pay for the consequences

of sin. It can't do none of that.

It can only shed light who God is, what God is, and what his

expectations are. And then also reveals we just

can't do it. We just don't measure up.

The law of God is specifically an outline of what God wants,

what his, what he, who he is, what he expects.

It doesn't specifically outline every last the detail of our

lives. Oh, but it would be nice,

wouldn't it, if we had a big book?

Oh, I have this thought. This is a thought sin.

I thought about that. Is it sin really?

I think I'm going to buy an extra something.

Is it sin? Let's oh, let's look at that

law. It doesn't work that way.

We must ask, is it helpful? What will this do to my

relationship with Christ? And of what kind of heart am I

asking the question? We as human beings need to know

what God wants and does not want, but then to do what God

wants and not to do. And that's where grace comes in.

That's where a relationship with Jesus comes in.

The law is not what a follower of Jesus focuses on and how to

live his or her life. Yes, it's there, the commands

are there, and it's all good. And the Jewish leaders were

fixated on this. What does the law say?

What does the law say? And they would do what the law

said. Does it hurt somebody?

I don't care. And Jesus broke the law all the

time. Touching, touching lepers and

the unclean and all not proper hygiene.

Even Subs and wash their hands and they eat and stuff like

that. The whole eagle system, very

strict and rigid rule based living.

And many people love this even today.

It's amazing how people love rule based living and

oftentimes, well, what should we do?

Let's make a rule. Let's make a rule.

That's what happens when rule following becomes the end.

Jesus came to bring a new covenant.

Jesus came to restore us to himself and for us to have a

relationship with him not based on a legal code, but on grace.

If our claim is to live by the law, then we live beneath what

we're called to. Paul is saying the legal code of

the law is not how this works. As God's children, we no longer

ask, is this lawful? We look to a different benchmark

and that doesn't mean that there are not some things that God's

strictly forbidden. There are some things that are

actually wrong, sinful. The benchmark that Paul uses is

relationship focus to ask is it lawful and that of that make a

decision can be religiously right, legal, terribly

misguided, however insensitive and I days are even wrong.

Legally right but morally wrong. Think of the young boy who died

of his wounds because the hospital followed rules.

Paul is teaching his readers here to ask the question is it

lawful? That question does not address

the real issue. It does not go to the heart of

the matter. It does not address address the

motive of the heart and that is why because in so many cases it

was day-to-day living. It just doesn't go well.

The law of the Old Testament with all its rituals, its

ceremonies, it had passed, it was, it was, it was good.

But the New Covenant changed things.

And as we read in chapter 8 verse one a few weeks ago,

knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

There are things in life that are not wrong, as in being

against the law, but they're not right either as they relate to

from what motive they're lived out.

Just because a person is allowed by law to do something, that in

itself again, is not the right thing to do.

So instead of looking at the law as a religious Jew would, we'll

call to freedom. Notice Paul's next words.

Words here. Eat whatever is sold in the

market without raising any question on the ground of

conscience. For the earth is the Lord's, and

the fullness thereofs. Wow, what a relief.

Now I can go shopping, I don't have to worry.

Just take my grocery cart out by the faster check out and who

cares? Sacrifice to idols are not just

meat. Idols don't count anyway.

I'll just eat it. Whatever they have.

Embrace your freedom. For some people, they realize

they're sinners. They realize they need to

repent. And it's not that they were bad

people from a social standpoint. They just know they need to

repent and surrender to Christ to be saved.

And So what do they do? They go inward in their hearts

to the right to remember all the wrongs they've done, all the

sins they committed and repent of them and confess them.

And it's good. I'm not, I'm not knocking that.

OK, but then they fail because they do not embrace freedom.

They're still bound not by living in sin, but by trying to

live by a moral performance based code in which the law

breaking becomes more important than the grace factor.

They're not living in love. In essence, they're not sinning

by doing wrong things, but sinning by doing the things out

of the wrong motive and often times pride in self self

righteousness, which is still sin again.

So they're still in bondage. They're still not free.

And I know this because I was there many years ago.

That's hard for many people who are Christians.

Living life is very dark and very burdensome because they're

constantly questioning how saved am I?

Am I really saved? Maybe I can't transgress the

law. Is this right?

Is this wrong? And they spend all their time

fixating on that. He pauses.

No, just go shopping. Don't worry if it's me to offer

to idols or not. Jesus clearly said you will know

the truth and the truth will set you free.

And he says in verse chapter one 830-6836 So if the sun sets you

free, you will be free indeed. With Jesus there's freedom, not

the focus. Don't do this, don't do that.

Yes there are do's and don'ts. Imagine going on a trip, if you

would, let's say I'm planning on it, to go on a trip, let's say

to Texas. We go sometimes.

OK, the first thing to do, how many signs will there be on the

road? OK, how will I obey the signs on

the road? Now as I go on there, I make a

checklist. Have I obeyed all the signs so

far going down the road? What a trip.

Sure, there's signs. I hope there's signs.

I sure hope there's some signs. Stop light, so don't run a run

into somebody. And signs that show where the

curves are, how fast and safe to go here.

I want signs, but you don't think about them because that's

not the motive for the trip. And in 1st Corinthians 10 here,

the question has to do with eating meat that's sold at the

butcher shop. And it's interesting that Paul

brought the matter of eating meat up in his letter before and

it's it's a must be a big issue. In chapter 8 verse 10, it was

sacr eating meat in idol in temples.

So they they actually would did that.

Paul talks about now he's talking about buying meat that's

been there and now brought to the to the to the shop and he

says he says why they shouldn't worry.

But he says verse verse 26 for the earth is the Lord's and the

fullness thereof. God owns it all.

This should be a great comfort to people when people when a

person becomes free and can freely enjoy the life the way it

was meant to be enjoyed and not attach moral values to things

that are not sin. So does this now mean we have no

responsibility anymore? No, doesn't mean that just

because the signs are not the focus does not mean we don't

live by some of them. But it's because we're free that

we're free to eat or not to eat, not under the law that we're

driven by the law of love, he says.

We're 27. If one of the unbelievers

invites you to dinner, you're disposed to go eat whatever is

set before you without raising any question on the ground of

conscience. Be free as a Christ follower,

accepting the invitation of an unbeliever to go to a meal

restaurant, wherever, maybe even idle temple.

It's not wrong can be a good thing.

In fact, the going out to eat is not the issue.

But the next verse he says, but if someone says to you this has

been offered in sacrifice. Now you have to think.

Then don't eat it for the sake of the one who informed you and

for the sake of conscience, he said.

I don't mean your conscience, but his.

For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's

conscience? Now it's getting to where we

would say getting into the weeds.

How do we navigate this without getting all tangled up and sunk?

Let me just do point #3 have the others best interest at heart.

You do not want to be the cause of someone stumbling because

something that you enjoy with freedom is something another

person has a conviction about, a conscience about.

If my personal freedom, my personal tastes and desires

matter more to me than the weaker brother, than I have an

issue. However, having said that, a

question must be asked. Does this now mean that we go

and see who has the strongest convictions, the weakest

conscience and the most reserved and traditional, whatever you're

going to call it, and use that person's freedom or that

person's conscience as the benchmark on which we decide

everything? No, it's not that all either.

To refrain from eating meat offered to idols in light of the

weaker brothers conscience does not mean Paul's conscience had

now changed. He was still as before, but out

of love for the wicked brother. He's going to slow down,

restrain himself, use his freedom to not do what he can

do, but to abstain for the sake of the wicked person, to build

him up. Not Paul has not changed his

mind, his conscience hasn't changed, but for the sake of the

wicked brother, he refrains from eating.

He's free to not eat for the sake of the weaker brother.

Paul was very sensitive to the people around him.

Paul was very careful not to cause disunity if he could help

it. Paul was a man who always

considered others before himself.

But, and this does not imply that the man with the weakens

conscience is now in control, this is only used in cases where

it's not a matter of violating the law of love.

For instance, if what a person decides to say no to for the

sake of the wicked brother, he does so only in so far as it is

honoring to Christ and helping him up.

Christ must remain center focus. If saying no to the meat does

not honor Christ, does not build a person up, then don't say no.

The point is the law cannot be the goal.

The law cannot be the objective. The intent of the law is what we

must look at, not the letter of the law, but the purpose.

Sometimes this kind of thing takes careful discussion and

good decision making because even Christians, God fearing

people, are not in agreement. They're not on the same page.

There's a story in scripture that I want to use this morning

to highlight this in Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

I won't read it this morning. I'll read some passages later

on. I'll put them on the PowerPoint

here. It happened in the chapter 15,

the book of Acts, the church had started in Antioch and Gentiles

of all people have become Christians.

That was kind of new to the Jews early on in, in the book of

Acts, that Gentiles could become Christians too.

And so they accepted that. But then there's some Christians

from Jerusalem who called and they say, are you guys, you got

to be followers of Moses. I mean, you got to follow the

laws of Moses to be a Christian. You got to be circumcised.

You find literally that's what they said.

And then the apostle said, we're not going there.

That's not true because Christ saves not circumcision.

Circumcision is no, has no value for salvation.

We're not doing that. And they had a big debate and

they go on and on. They finally said, you know

what, we're going to send Paul and Barnabas to to Jerusalem.

We're going to figure this out in Jerusalem.

They get together and they discussed this and, and there's

this discussion. They didn't agree there either.

They discussed this. Now, what do you think they did?

You think they went to the Jews with the weakest conscience?

The bigs convictions use that as the benchmark from which they're

going to instruct the new Gentiles how to live.

Nope, they didn't do that. They reached an agreement that

did not require the laws of Moses as far as certain decision

was concerned, and most dietary laws and so on.

But they did set boundaries that would contribute to helping the

other person up. James, the leader in Jerusalem,

had something interesting to say to all of this.

He's in the closing arguments. He says my judgement is that we

should not trouble those of the Gentiles that turn to God, but

should write them to abstain from the things polluted by

idols, from sexual immorality and from what's been strangled

and from blood. They reached an agreement.

As to the message the Ruge sent to Antioch, we don't find this

was a message for all churches at all time in in the new in the

new church in Rome in the Roman Empire.

We don't find that. But this is what happened here.

And he says the reason for that is in verse 21.

For from ancient generations, Moses has had in every city

those who proclaim him for he is read every Sabbath in the

synagogues. And this would fall in line

with, you know, being no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the

church. What I find interesting,

however, is how James goes back to Moses and again, I I don't

find it and that should do some more research perhaps, but I

have not found it that this is actually an application for all

the churches throughout the Roman Empire.

But from reading the whole of the New Testament, I'm assuming

that this is not universally binding for all churches.

It's very interesting in this meeting and Jerusalem, they left

something out and you probably think what it was.

The very reason for which the meeting happened in first in

Antioch and now in Jerusalem, the very core reason why this

meeting happened that was left out.

Circumcision, the biggest, heaviest, weightiest matter in

the Jewish code. You got to be circumcised or as

you're not part of the part of the congregation of Israel, you

got to be circumcised or you don't count that.

They left out by not demanding the Gentiles to keep the laws of

Moses except restrictions of eating meat offered to idol and

so on. This was an indicator they were

no longer law based, but principle based, spirit based.

It must have been hard for some Jews obviously to, you know, OK,

we've got to reconcile this. They had to accept the system

was not the goal. They recognize the system has no

saving power because they did not want to add to the work of

Christ. Christ for circumcision equals

salvation. They're not going to go there.

Often times people do that. How much did he follow the

rules? OK, set a confession of faith.

But how much did he follow the rules?

What rules did he follow? And without my rules, then he's

out. Let's look at the letter they

wrote here. Acts 1523.

The brothers, both the apostles and the elders.

To the brothers who are of the Gentiles and Antioch, Syrian

Cilicia, greetings. Since we've heard that some

persons have gone out from among us and troubled you with words

unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it

seemed good to us, having come to an accord, to choose men and

send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men

who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus

Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and

Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of

mouth. For it seemed good to Here it

goes. It seemed good to the Holy

Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these

requirements, that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to

idols, from blood, from what's been strangled, from sexual

immorality. If you keep yourselves from

these, you will do well. What was at stake here was their

freedom. There were things the leaders in

Jerusalem decided they would teach the Gentiles not to do.

Now he listened carefully, not from a standpoint of being under

the law, but because of the right use of freedom in Christ.

I read a commentary one time about a writer who put it this.

We said, what if, what if the Yep, OK, we're going to

introduce circumcision. I guess that's the best thing to

do, less and less of an offense and the Gentiles get used to it.

We'll introduce circumcision. What would have happened then?

Because then circumcision would have been become part of the

salvation process and it would have been just as one of many

religions would have devolved into something totally different

than it was. And now is of course, we believe

it was God leading through these, these men to to decide

this. He said, and Paul continues on

in verse 30 and 1st Corinthians 10, he says, if I partake with

thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that which I give

thanks. He says my freedom should not be

pressed into the mold of someone's conscience.

To him, it was not an issue of eating meat, but building this

guy up. He's for the sake of others.

He's he's sensitive to them. It's interesting because he

notes in this letter that we assume it's not just one person,

probably the whole, it was the whole congregation.

So he says in verse 31, he says, so whether, and here's the

here's the sent, here's the theme verse for this passage.

Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the

glory of God. That's the benchmark.

All of our actions in life should be governed by the reason

for which we do them. What's the motive?

There's a story in the New Testament of Jesus going, Jesus

telling a story of the Pharisee going to the temple to pray and

a tax inspector goes to the temple to pray and both pray to

prayer. Both did the right thing.

Praying is the right thing to do.

Both were the right place to pray.

Time was the right place to pray, pray.

However, very different men, very different prayers.

The Pharisee prayed reminding God how good he was, how was he,

how much he was doing and that he was better than everybody

else and and better than the tax collector over the corner there.

And the tax collector he prayed too.

He just prayed, Lord, be merciful to me, a Sinner.

It wasn't a very big prayer, not a long prayer, but a very deep

thorough prayer directed towards God.

Look, I need help, Lord Jesus the tax collector went home

justified rather than the Pharisee.

You see, the Pharisee was a law keeper, a rule keeper, and the

rules were not necessarily wrong, they were actually good

rules, but for the wrong reason. Often times you find it easier

to follow the letter of the law and be totally blind to the

heart of the law. If we glorify God in all we do,

what's the best way to do it? Well, Paul continues.

He says give no offence to Jews or to Greeks or through the

Church of God. Just as I try to please everyone

and everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of

many, that many may be saved, Paul uses himself as a role

model. He says be imitators of me as I

am of Christ. It's not self, it's God.

Too often people who claim to be Christians live such poor

testimonies. Their witnesses are destroyed

not so much for doing sinful things, but doing the right

things with sinful motives. Paul says whether Jew or Greek

or the church is aimed as in all things, glorify God and all

situations live so that God is honoured that others may be

saved. So how are we doing?

What's our benchmark from which we decide how we should live we

will not face issues of eating meat necessarily offered in

temples. That doesn't happen anymore and

it still happens that people dedicate meat.

There's halal meat you can buy and there's kosher meat you can

buy won't go into that doesn't affect us.

But last Sunday Pastor Doe preached and this this line has

stuck with me. He says whatever cools our

desire for God is idle version and this can sometimes happen so

imperceptible we're hardly aware of it.

And that's why we need each other to remind us remind each

other, hold each other accountable.

We can do this without even thinking.

And so sometimes the question is, Hey, pastor, would it be sin

if I or would it be sin if we OK, I get it and I understand

the the intent of behind the question and I'm not judging

them to ask that question, but I there's a but there's a flag

there and the flag is this. So why not ask would it glorify

God if I would it glorify God? If we use that phrase as the

starting point, that changes it. Because if I say, hey pastor,

would it be sin if I I'm looking there?

Or if I say would it glorify God if I it's a different direction

And that's how Paul lived his life?

Will what I do help up my brother and bring glory to God?

Will that do that? If it does, great, then I want

to do that. If it doesn't do that, well,

it's not about me. I shouldn't do it.

Paul filtered everything he did through that grid.

How should this change us today? This the things that Satan wants

to use to tempt us, We have to evaluate.

We're free. Let's, let's not create a

catalogue of rules for which we consult every conceivable

situation where we only need to click a button.

Oh, that's the rule for this thing.

Click about. That's the rule for that thing.

The Christian life is not a pathway of rules.

Oh, that's the rules, but not for the purpose for which people

apply them. The Christian life is a

relationship with Jesus founded on the law of love and truth.

It's a life surrendered to Christ that means death to the

old life and new life through grace.

We must ask ourselves, what have we to learn?

It's important we learn from the right source, from Scripture,

from the Spirit. And in the fellowship of the

Saints. Jesus condemned the Pharisees

for their religiosity. They were so fixated on all the

other things like following this and that and the other rule.

So is my life is your life, Is our life freedom based or is it

law based? Again, verse 31.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the

glory of God. Who am I living for?

May God give us grace to live in freedom, the power of his

Spirit. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you

that You've not left us as people to ourselves.

You did give us the law, and it's a good law.

And as people, many times we've turned that into an idol where

it became more important than the reason for which she gave

it. We replaced it with you, and we

worshiped the law instead of You.

Lord, from your word we see that you set us free to be free, not

to again be slaved in legalism, but give us the eyes to see the

hearts to understand what it is you've done for us and what you

require of us as your servant, Paul wrote.

Help us, Lord, to do all we do for your glory and Your honor

with Thanksgiving. Amen.