Projectionist: show NicodemusHD.mp4
We are so glad you are here, whether in the house or on line for part two in our series entitled “Excess Baggage.” Just so we are clear, in this case we are talking about excess baggage in the sense of carrying extra stuff—stuff you don’t need. When we travel, it’s those items we think we’ll need, but end up never using. For our discussion, in the spiritual area, excess baggage refers to all the extra stuff we tend to unnecessarily add to our faith.
One of my favorite movies is the movie about the thirteenth century Scottish freedom fighter, William Wallace, entitled “Braveheart.” One of the most compelling scenes comes near the end of the film, where Wallace is being tortured in an attempt to get him to recant and swear allegiance to King Edward and the British Crown. The motivation for this act on his part will be a quick death rather than the lingering suffering he is enduring. You can see Wallace struggling to gain the strength to speak. His torturers leaning in close to hear what he is going to say, and King Edward listening to the proceedings from his own death bed. But, instead of recanting, Wallace musters the energy to scream “Freedom!” before his enemies can strike the final death blow to silence him.
Whether we realize it or not, centuries of Christian tradition has brought with it excess baggage—bondage really--that has made the Christian life unnecessarily difficult for Christians and needlessly unappealing to those who are watching us. We need to hear the cry once again of “Freedom” and be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to obtain it. The truth is, there are always more baggage-laden believers than there are freedom-loving believers; always more Christians who are going to be convinced that there are rules and regulations to which “good Christians” must somehow adhere. The term we use for such people is legalist.” The definition of a legalist is “one who adheres to a strict, literal or excessive conformity to a law or to a religious moral code of conduct.”
The problem is not a new problem. It existed in the first church and it exists in the church today. Last week we looked at this issue as it was addressed in 50 AD by the early church (recorded in Acts 15). In this case we saw two different groups, one a group of false believers called Judaizers who wanted to make people Jewish before they could become Christians, and a second group of true believers who had grown up in the Jewish legal traditions who wanted those who became Christians to submit to Jewish laws as a form of obedience. This group of believers was formerly Pharisees, and they were trying to introduce their pharisaical ways into the practice of the early church.
The argument of these Pharisaical believers was you could accept Christ as your Savior, but you couldn’t be a true follower of Christ unless you submitted yourself to the Law of Moses. You could be Christian by following Christ, but to be an obedient Christian you had to follow the Law of Moses as well. It only makes sense. It was God’s law and therefore it must still be binding upon us!
If you read Acts 15 you will discover that the early church leaders, led by James, the brother of Jesus Peter, Paul and the remaining Apostles (once the twelve disciples) totally rejected that view. What they believed, and what I believe, is that the Old Testament is foundational and important but not incumbent (that is not binding, not compulsory, not mandatory, not an obligation we must keep.) upon believers today! In other words, you don’t have to keep any part of the Old Testament Law today. That was a Law meant only for Israel. In the Old Testament we see God using the kingdoms of man to establish a new kingdom. In fact, the writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way, “The old rule is now set aside, because it was weak and useless. The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us, and with this hope we can come near to God.” (Hebrews 7:18–19, NCV).
When we church people were given our first Bible it contained both the Old and New Testaments. Most of us were taught that it is all God’s Word (and I believe that is true), but the problem was we weren’t taught how to properly use it or understand it. Enter the teaching of “the sect of the Pharisees,” meticulous law keepers then and meticulous law keepers today. The Pharisees who came to faith in Jesus because of the resurrection, came from a long history of following the Mosaic Laws (and then some as they added their own interpretations to it) and they had a real hard time letting go of habits that had been seared into their consciences through centuries of traditions. They had the same problem many of us still have today it was good enough then, it should be good enough now!
There are those in the church today who teach that while we don’t have to follow the ceremonial or dietary laws of the Old Testament, we still have to follow the moral laws. They teach that we have to follow the Ten Commandments—those they think are still applicable to us, the tithing laws, those they think are still applicable to us, and a growing number of Christians claim the Sabbath laws are still applicable to us, and they will fight tooth and nail arguing that to maintain the purity of the church there are rules and regulations, a code of conduct that must be adhered to.
The Apostle Paul faced down such a group in a letter that we believe was the first letter he wrote to churches. In our modern New Testament, that letter is called Galatians. In this letter, Paul is fighting passionately against those who want to mix and match Christianity--those who want to have a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of Moses. The problem is that a little bit of Old Testament Law quickly becomes our major focus; a little bit of legalism quickly robs us of the freedom Christ won at the cost of His life! So, if there is one cry that resonates from the pages of this ancient manuscript it is the cry of “Freedom.” Paul believed, and I believe, this freedom that Christ gives is worth fighting for.
We are actually coming into Paul’s argument late in the game. In chapters 1-4 of his letter, Paul lays a theological foundation for the practical application he gives in chapters 5 & 6. Now, just for the for-what-it-is worth department, none of the original documents either in the Old or New Testament were written in chapter and verse form. They were letters written as letters. Chapters and verses were not added until much later in history, our modern chapter and verse format coming in the 16th Century.
After building the case against the teaching of the Judaizers, Paul issues the cry: “Freedom!”
What does Paul say in this letter? “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” (Galatians 5:1, NLT) In other words, the Old Testament laws and regulations have no claim upon those who put their faith in Christ. None. Just the opposite, Paul says, “Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.” (Galatians 5:2–3, NLT)
You can’t pick and choose. “Okay, this part is still valid, but this part isn’t. I don’t have to obey the dietary laws, but I have to tithe. I don’t have to sacrifice animals at the temple, but I have to obey the Ten Commandments.” Paul says, “If you follow even one of the Old Testament laws you become responsible to follow all of them.” If you follow one, you have to follow all 613 of them, and good luck with that! Last week we saw Peter admit that even the best Jews couldn’t do that! At the end of his argument Peter said, “So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?” (Acts 15:10, NLT). “We grew up with it, and we couldn’t even keep it!”
If you believe that all of the Bible is God’s word (and I do), you have to believe these words given to us by Paul the Apostle. If you have to keep even one of the Old Testament laws, you become responsible for all 613 of them. You don’t get to pick and choose.
We are not under any part of the Old Covenant (Old Testament). That is for Israel alone, not for you today. This doesn’t mean, however, that we live unregulated, uncontrolled lives. That is what Paul’s adversaries accused him of saying, and what modern adversaries to the message of Christ accuse those of us who preach grace today. The true preaching of the good news of grace leads to the possibility that some will misunderstand it and misrepresent it. Those who opposed Paul’s teaching on this in his day accused him of giving people a license to sin. Those who oppose Paul’s teaching on this in our day accuse him of being “the great corrupter of the Christian faith.” The truth of the matter is, if our message does not open the door for people to misunderstand and misrepresent us, we are not preaching the gospel--the good news--about God’s marvelous grace.
In our text, Paul says something very troubling and something that many have misunderstood. He writes, “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.” (Galatians 5:4, NLT). This does not mean, as some wrongly teach, that it is possible to lose your salvation. Paul does not have in view the Galatian believers’ justification (being made right with God by the sacrifice of Christ) but rather their sanctification (how they are living their lives after having been saved). He is not talking about grace losing its grip on them, rather them losing their grip on grace and now trying to earn God’s favor in some way by their keeping of manmade regulations and traditions. Paul makes it clear: We don’t submit ourselves to the Law for sanctification any more than for salvation(justification). Law couldn’t justify us, nor can it perfect us! In fact, back in the theological section of his letter Paul wrote, “Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you?” (Galatians 3:2, The Message). Then he answers his own question by saying, “How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” (Galatians 3:3, NLT). These early Galatian Christians were not going to grow spiritually by smuggling in Old Testament Laws and we Christians today are not going to grow spiritually by smuggling in and trying to keep our own timeless treasured traditions! We are going to look at that more next week.
Like many today, the Galatian believers started off on the right theological foot; they followed the right teaching. But then the Judaizers came in and like false teachers everywhere they mixed God’s truth with their error. Before long, they had these early believers thinking that they had to do something to prove they were saved—or in their case they had to do something before they could be saved! The men had to have a little surgery to prove that they believed a covenant that didn’t even apply to them! Today, modern Judaizers come along and say stuff like, “You can’t be saved unless you are baptized,” and if you submit to that false belief, suddenly you find yourself confronted with a whole laundry list of requirements you must follow “if,” according to them, “you are truly saved.” When you start adding a laundry list of rules and regulations, no matter how reasonable they may sound or how spiritual they seem to be, if you are a believer “you walk away from grace” that is, law not grace becomes the operative factor in your life, and when law becomes the operating factor in our lives we become critical and judgmental. We give lip service to grace, but we don’t extend grace to anyone. If you are not a believer, grace is totally inoperative as you think you somehow can be “good enough” for God to accept. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said, “Grace is favor shown to people who do not deserve any favor at all. We deserve nothing but hell. If you think you deserve heaven, take it from me, you are not a Christian.”
“You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?” (Galatians 5:7, NLT). In other words, thinking you have to obey some Old Testament Law is a falsehood. “Who held you back?” Paul answers his own passionate question, “It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.” (Galatians 5:8, NLT). The teaching of following certain rules and regulations when it comes to the Christian life, of submitting to cherished traditions or long-standing standards, “isn’t from God.”
So much of the excess baggage that makes Christianity needlessly difficult for insiders and easily resistible to those outside of the faith are add-ons that are spurious, superficial, pointless, meaningless, worthless and uncalled for.
The problem with rule-keeping faith is that it renders the principle of grace inoperative in our lives, a fact shown by the fact that such believers become very critical, judgmental, and mean spirited as Paul points out in verse 15 of our text, “But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always critical and catty, watch out! Beware of ruining each other.” (Galatians 5:15, The Living Bible). It also spreads, “This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!” (Galatians 5:9, NLT). It affects everything and everyone! And here’s what I know: rule keeping Christians are never satisfied with their rules—they always are expanding the list! They have to: they are trying to cover every eventuality they can imagine. The result is they become like the Pharisee’s Jesus condemned for creating heavy religious loads for people to carry! Rules they didn’t follow—they had their loopholes—but rules that they expected everyone else to follow! Years ago I led a young man to faith in Christ after years of trying. He was so excited about his faith and couldn’t wait to tell the church we were in about it. I met him at the basement door of the church, and as we walked up the stairs we ran into one of the matriarchs of the church. David was so excited about his decision that he blurted it out to her. The problem was, David drove a small Honda motorcycle and he had on his leather jacket. This matriarch looked at David and said, “Huh, if you really had accepted Christ, you wouldn’t be dressed like that!” I’ll never forget it. David’s face fell, he turned on his heals and stormed back down those stairs and I never saw him again. By the way, it was this same lady whose comments drove my sister away from Christ and the church for 33 years.
Lest you think that this teaching is dangerous—and remember it is not me teaching it but the Apostle Paul; I’m just reporting it—here’s the caveat: “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” (Galatians 5:13–16, NLT).
Christian freedom is not the right to do whatever you want, but the power to live as you ought. Christian freedom is the ability to live the way God designed us to live. Christian maturity is demonstrated by how willing you are to control the limits of your liberty—not to do anything you want, but to do everything you ought. Those limits are not set by a laundry list of legal requirements but by the law of love. “The whole law—everything written for Israel in the Old Testament—is summed up in the New by the law of love. What does love require of me? And Paul says, “But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.” (Galatians 5:18, NLT). If you are a believer who feels obligated to the Old Testament Law or any part of it including the Ten Commandments, you have a serious problem. You are operating your life in your own power, not in the Power of God’s Holy Spirit.
What do you think would happen in your life if you relaxed your religious standards and start living in the hard won freedom that Christ paid for on the cross? What if you stopped worrying about what you needed to do to feel accepted by God and realized that His acceptance of you is unconditional? It is not based upon what you do or don’t do, how good or bad you are—but it is based upon what Christ has done for you! That doesn’t mean we can live however we like; it means that instead of struggling with impossible standards, we accept God’s freedom and forgiveness and power.
Don’t allow yourself to be enslaved by anyone whose lists of requirements becomes your channel to feeling accepted by God. This may be the result of an overly sensitive conscious or perhaps a traditionalism fed to you by well-meaning people—parents, missionaries, pastors or teachers-- who had the best motives. We need to constantly remind ourselves that we are free. We are no longer under condemnation. The truth is, most of us are better students of our sins and failures than we are of our position in Christ Jesus. I am not making light of the wrong in our lives, I am just saying it is wrong to keep focusing on it. Many of us are more conscious of sin than we are of Christ. How much better it is to live our lives focused on who we are in the Savior and remind ourselves that we are free.
If you did that, how would it change your life? Would it make your life more difficult or more bearable? Would it make Christianity more appealing to those who were watching you or easier for them to resist?
613 Laws. For Nicodemus following those laws was his life. When Jesus, at this point an unknown and untrained Rabbi from Nazareth (the wrong side of the good religious tracks) entered the Temple and the first thing He does is make a whip, drive out those who are selling the sacrificial animals, turns over their money tables and basically challenges their whole system, it got Nicodemus’ attention. To Nicodemus’ credit, instead of just writing Jesus off, he decides to explore things further. He meets with Jesus, and that night he met his Messiah. It changed the course of his life and it can change the course of yours as well.
Let me pray for us.
