Blog

Well, since Katie was in such a song-quoting mood in the opening of her blog on Monday, I thought I'd get in on that action. One of my favorite rock songs from a little more recent of a time than the one Katie quoted was "Renegade" by Styx. The song opens with the following words: "Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law". It goes on from there to talk about how this "renegade" has broken the law and has been running from it for a long time. His choices have put fear in his mind because he knows that he can only run away from them for so long before he will finally have to pay the penalty for breaking the laws to the very ones who made them. Webster defines a renegade as "anyone who chooses to live outside laws or conventions". Most of us would say that we are not renegades because we don't intentionally make that choice and because we generally don't even view ourselves as lawbreakers. But I assure you, friends, that we all fit into this category when it comes to both worldly laws and God's Law.

The biggest reason that we generally don't see ourselves as renegades is because we compare ourselves to those who either have lengthy criminal records or have committed more severe crimes than we have. But that is not what defines a lawbreaker. Just by the sheer meaning of the word itself, anyone who breaks even one law is then a "lawbreaker". Guess what I did today on the way to Toledo, OH for required work training with several other passengers in the vehicle I was driving? That's right, I decided to exceed the speed limit! Now, all the excuses and justifications are valid. I was going close enough to the speed limit that the cops likely wouldn't care. If I went slower while everyone else was going faster, it could actually be more of a factor in causing an accident. And finally, I was able to do it safely and get us to our destination a few minutes ahead of schedule. Yet, with all those things being said, I still broke the law and willingly chose to do so! The fact that I've never been sent to jail or done anything "major" does not change the reality that I am a lawbreaker. I would suspect most of you are as well.

The same is true when it comes to God's Law. Jesus' brother, James, wrote that "whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (2:10). God is completely holy and perfect. Therefore, His standard of righteousness is to NEVER stumble. Do you understand what that means? If you do, then you understand that it is hardly possible. But, as Katie shared on Monday, that's the main purpose of the Law - to show us just how far we are from achieving the standard of righteousness on our own (Romans 3:20). Fortunately, we don't have to live with the "Long Arm of the Law" chasing after us to make us pay. We need only to accept that God made it possible for us to be seen as righteous in His sight through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Grace sets us free when our lawbreaking would have doomed us.

The problem facing many of the early Christians in the first century was their temptation to still try to justify themselves by their ability to follow the Law even after they had already trusted Christ as their Savior. This temptation was perpetuated by false teachers who came to be known as "Judaizers". These were Jews who taught that Gentiles and Jews alike needed to follow the Jewish Law in order to be justified and establish a relationship with Christ. The Apostle Paul dealt with these teachers and their lies in his letter to the Galatians. He even goes so far as to say they have alienated themselves from Christ by trying to justify themselves rather than accepting the free justification through his blood (Galatians 5:4). Wow! Do you realize that is the danger we put ourselves in anytime we point out where someone else is lacking in righteousness according to the Law (or our version of it)? More importantly, do you realize this is the danger we put ourselves in anytime we compare ourselves to others based on our "righteousness"?

Paul deals pretty harshly with these people throughout Galatians 5 because he knows how critical it is to understand who and what has saved us. "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law" (5:2-3). Paul was dealing specifically with circumcision here because that was the sign of the covenant between God and the Jews, from all the way back in Genesis. But he's not talking about anyone who is circumcised, as it is still a tradition in many cultures including ours. He's specifically talking to adult Gentile males who had not been circumcised at birth, due to it not being their custom, and who were being told they needed to have the procedure done to be right with God. Not only does Paul deal sternly with those who were possibly going to buy into that garbage, but he's even more stern with the ones who were causing them to abandon Christ's justification in favor of "obeying the law". In talking about the Judaizers who were preaching the falsehood, Paul says, "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves"! (5:12)

Friends, Paul's point is clear. If we choose to live as though Christ's sacrifice were not sufficient to justify us, then we are also choosing to be held accountable as lawbreakers. And if we are held accountable as lawbreakers, we have no chance for salvation. Paul talks about emasculation because of its natural connection to the process of circumcision (hopefully I don't need to go into details). But the same is true in any way that we try to justify ourselves by deeds alone. If you decide that is how you are going to be justified rather than by Christ's blood, then what is stopping you from going ever further? What is stopping you from leaving everything and going out to live in the wilderness as an ascetic waiting for God to supply all your needs as you faithfully "suffer for Him"? I hope and pray that none of you have fallen or are in danger of falling into that trap. I, for one, am very thankful that I don't need to justify myself. I can freely try to live righteously in obedience and service to Christ without fear of failure, knowing that his blood has already covered my failures so that I can just get back up and keep pressing forward. That reality gives me great peace and I know it will do the same for you as you trust that Jesus has truly paid it all!