Breaking the Law

ME:

Welcome

Series Review

Our focus recently has been on a united church…and the things that satan would…will…is using to cause division in the church. I think I can say safely that it is our goal, as a church family, to not allow satan to get a foothold in our church family’s life to ruin the mission of Jesus’ purpose for us here in this community.

Division will cause the mission of the church to falter in any community. Specifically we’ve been touching on government and politics too…and how these things can dis-unify the church. This week we’ll continue this…addressing something that happens often inside government and politics.

THIS WEEK - we're going to explore a single law that makes unity, not only possible, but inevitable.

Question: (I promise this is not a trick question) How many of you consider yourselves 'law-abiding citizens?'

Most of us do.

How many of you are REALLY 'law-abiding' citizens?'

• Did you ever roll a stop sign?

• Did you ever copy a video/cd/song? (I had a fantastic bootleg library of albums)

• Did you ever share your password for Netflix/Prime/Hulu?

• Did you ever jaywalk?

• Did you ever sing 'Happy Birthday' in public?

• Did you speed on the way to church today?

If you have done ANY of those things (and dozens more) you have broken the law.

Now… let's be real, none of those are the crime of the century. You're probably not going to jail for violating any of those laws.

And then there are those laws that we just don't like. The ones we don't agree with and we didn't want in the first place and the guy/gal we voted for didn't vote for the law… but it still became a law.

• Obama-care

• In some states - gun registration laws

• Certain tax code items.

We don't like them. We think they're stupid. We think they're unfair or unjust. So, we just kind of ignore them.

If we're being honest, we may not be quite as LAW-ABIDING as we think we are.

Now… what does ANY of that have to do with the great divide in our nation and churches? What does any of that have to do building UNITY in the church so we can help bring UNITY to our culture?

I am glad you asked.

Open your bibles to GALATIANS 5. Pg. 797.

GOD:

Galatians Set Up:

• Not really a book, just a letter written by Paul.

• Remember Paul was not a follower of Jesus… then he meets Jesus.

• Paul planted several churches (Jesus communities) around the Roman Empire

• Several of those churches were in a region called Galatia

• This letter was written as a 'circular letter' to this group of churches

o Each church was to read it and pass it on to the next one.

• The Jesus followers in the region of Galatia were, for the most part, not Jewish.

• They were Gentiles who had heard the message about Jesus and had decided to give their believing loyalty to Jesus alone.

• In this letter, Paul is addressing the issues raised by a group called 'the Judaizers'

• The Judaizers were Jesus followers who were Jewish (all of the first followers of Jesus were Jewish)

• But this particular bunch were saying that, you couldn't be a follower of Jesus if you weren't Jewish or if you didn't adopt Jewish religious practices and follow the Jewish law.

• To become Jewish it meant you had to change your traditions… it meant you had to change your diet… it meant you had to change the way you worship…

o Worship on the Sabbath

o Only eat certain foods and abstain from others

o Follow hand washing rituals

o Follow rituals for cleansing your utensils

o For guys… It required a bit of surgery!

The Jewish believers were actually making it hard for the Gentiles to become followers of Jesus. They were telling them that, to follow Jesus, you had to follow the law. And not just any law, but OUR law. The Jewish law. The law God gave to Moses for governing a group of escaped slaves more than 1500 years earlier.

They were accusing these new Gentile Jesus followers of "BREAKING THE LAW."

And so, Paul - in his typical, colorful and very direct fashion - sends an open letter that makes it very clear that there is ONLY ONE LAW being broken…

Heads up… I'm going to give you that law right now. No long build up to the reveal..

The law that Paul says is being broken?

THE LAW OF LOVE!

• By making it hard for others to follow Jesus…

• By demanding people follow YOUR rules to follow Jesus…

• By demanding that your traditions be observed before someone can be a follower of Jesus…

• By demanding that people with a different background and a different culture become LIKE YOU before they can be REAL Jesus followers…

Paul says… YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW OF LOVE.

Church, I'm afraid that we're a little bit like the Judaizers. We may not tell people outside the church that they have to be Jewish to be a part of our group… But we do the same thing the Judaizers did.

• You have to dress a certain way.

• You have to abstain from certain drinks.

• You have to come down on OUR SIDE on certain social/cultural issues

• You have to be a part of OUR POLITICAL PARTY

• You have to follow our voting guide

• If you're REALLY a follower of Jesus, you will…

• If you're REALLY a follower of Jesu, then you must…

We want people to follow our LAWS…. When it comes to those pesky laws we don't like (speed limit, copywrite laws, etc.) we ignore them. But when it comes to the 'laws' we've set up for being a part of our group… for being a follower of Jesus - you better follow our laws. And when they don't follow the laws/requirements/expectations we have set up, we accuse them of BREAKING THE LAW.

This is the very attitude Paul is battling. This is what he is addressing in Galatians

And as he does, he sets the record straight. He says… all of these laws, rules, customs and traditions can be summed up in ONE LAW.

• It's a law that works for JEWS and GENTILES.

• It's a law that works for DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS.

• It's a law that works for LIBERALS and CONSERVSATIVES.

• It's a law that works for YOU and ME and anyone who calls themselves followers of Jesus.

Paul puts it like this.

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:14 CSB

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Paul, following the lead of Jesus. Basically just repeating what Jesus said, tells us that the entire Jewish Law… the ONLY LAW that matters is keeping this ONE COMMAND.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

All of the laws, rules and traditions we expect others to follow are impacted by that one law… but Paul says all of it can be summed up in one law.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Church, just imagine for a minute what it would look like if we loved our neighbor as ourselves…?

Now we’re not necessarily talking about those times when you really don’t like yourself or what you’ve done or times like that. That’s a different focus…where we can definitely go someday for sure. But here are some questions that might help us see what Paul is talking about…really what Jesus calls us to.

• What would you do differently?

• What expectations would you place (or not place) on others?

• How much more grace would you show?

• How much more leeway would you give?

• How much more understanding would you be?

Because how do we love ourselves? We love ourselves A LOT… We love ourselves FULLY…

• I give myself the benefit of the doubt… I don't do that for you.

• I judge me by my motives… I judge you by your actions.

• I cut myself slack… I expect you to toe the line.

• I look at my failures, and my mis-steps, and my shortcomings in light of all the things I know about me… in light of my ATTEMPTS to get it right… in light of how I FEEL at the moment. -- But YOU? You just better get it right.

We love laws/rules/traditions/expectation when they apply to OTHERS… we want grace and mercy when it comes to us.

And knowing that. Knowing that is how we tend to operate, Paul takes this whole attempt to make Gentiles follow Jewish law and debunks it with a single sentence…

Just a few sentences before telling us that the entire law is summed up as LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF, Paul says that our whole faith journey… our whole experience as followers of Jesus cannot be judged on how many laws we follow. It can't be judged on how well we adhere to a list of THOU SHALTs and THOU SHALT NOTs.

Paul says…

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:6 (CSB)

6 ... what matters is faith working through love.

Church… we don't get to determine if someone else is a follower of Jesus based on how well they follow our set of man made rules and regulations. We don’t even get to determine if they're a follower based on how well they follow the Old Testament regulations given to Israel.

Paul says, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Or, to put it another way…

THE ONLY LAW THAT MATTERS IS THE LAW OF LOVE.

Let me say that gain, because it bears repeating…

THE ONLY LAW THAT MATTERS IS THE LAW OF LOVE.

WHY IS THE LAW OF LOVE THE ONLY LAW THAT MATTERS?

• BECAUSE IT IS THE COMMAND JESUS GAVE US.

John 13:34 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.

Jesus - having just washed his disciples feet (all 12 of them)… knowing that he was about to lay down his life - literally - for them and everyone else, even his enemies, tells them that he has a new command.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.

Now - the command to love one another doesn't sound all that new. In fact, you can go back through the OT and find multiple places where they were commanded to show love. What's so NEW about this command?

It's the qualifier. It's the phrase Jesus tacked on after, 'Love one another.' It's the AS I HAVE LOVED YOU PART.

How did Jesus love them… and us? COMPLETELY. SACRIFICIALLY. He LAID DOWN HIS LIFE for people who hated him.

And he then he commands us to do the SAME.

WHY IS THE LAW OF LOVE THE ONLY LAW THAT MATTERS? Because it is the COMMAND Jesus gave us.

• BECAUSE WHEN WE BREAK THE LAW OF LOVE WE BREAK UNITY IN THE CHURCH.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:2–3 (CSB)

2 ...with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

WHY IS THE LAW OF LOVE THE ONLY LAW THAT MATTERS? Because when we break the law of love we break the UNITY of the church.

• BECAUSE WHEN WE KEEP THE LAW OF LOVE, THE CHURCH BRINGS HOPE AND HEALING TO THE WORLD.

The whole focus of this series is the divide in our nation… our world.

And there is no political solution to solving it.

But when the church starts to live by the LAW OF LOVE. When we begin to be in unity because of our love for one another, the world will see it… and know Jesus is real… and long for what we have.

John 13:35 CSB

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

WHY IS THE LAW OF LOVE THE ONLY LAW THAT MATTERS? Because when we KEEP the law of love, we bring HOPE and HEALING to our world.

Before we wrap up, I want to address what I know is an objection that some of you have…

"But, Ed, if we're just all nice and loving to people, won't they just keep on sinning? Don't we have to address sin? Didn't Jesus call us to a standard of holiness that we must pursue?

I get it. I get why you're worried. So let me try to address it. Let me explain, briefly, what following the LAW OF LOVE does and doesn't mean.

FOLLOWING THE LAW OF LOVE DOES NOT MEAN…

• Excusing or tolerating bad behavior

• Never having tough conversations

• Allowing sin to go unchecked

• Lowering biblical standards

FOLLOWING THE LAW OF LOVE DOES MEAN…

• Graciously addressing sin

• Allowing for differences in 'non-issues'

• Seeking the best for the you next to you

• Humbling serving in the church and through the church serving the world

• Loving your enemies

SO WHAT?

YOU:

So, what’s the takeaway, Ed? What do we do with this?

I want to invite you to do a self-evaluation. I want you to prayerfully consider whether or not you follow the LAW OF LOVE.

And remember, in this political atmosphere we’re in, many times we see one side or the other saying …or seeming to say…if you don’t believe like this or like that…you’re less of a person. You’re open to receiving hate. You’re inferior.

Galatians - The Judiaizers were making the claim that these new believers weren’t really believers until they looked like this, did things like that…etc etc.

How can you tell?

• Are you more concerned with how someone dresses, drinks, votes, or stands on an issue than you are that they are a part of the Body of Christ?

• Do you need someone to be ‘more like you’ before you feel comfortable calling (and treating them as) a brother or sister in Christ?

• Are you prone to put up guardrails and fences around the church or are you prone to inviting people in?

• Is what someone believes more important to you than how they behave?

• Do you seek to humbly serve others – especially those you disagree with – or are you more concerned about getting them to see your way of thinking.

Here’s a picture of what we’re saying. There’s an artist I love to listen to and run to. His name is Christopher Greenwood but as an artist he goes by Manafest. He’s from Canada and he’s a Christian rapper/rock artist. He sent out an Instagram post recently and talked about something that had really changed him. And I think he gave a great explanation to something he heard... that has a lot of what we’re talking about today.

He said…instead of trying to get other people to believe what you believe…share with them that you believe…why you believe…how your belief has changed you…always trying to treat them as someone who might believe. Loving them as you love yourself. Allowing Jesus spirit to change them through you. You can’t save them…you can’t change them. But you can love them…as Jesus did.

Spent some time this week prayerfully inviting God to help you take an honest evaluation of how you’re doing with the law of love.

And, if you discover you are breaking the law…. I would challenge you to start looking for ways to serve those who need to be served. I would challenge you to start bearing one another’s burdens and allow healing, hope and unity to grow.

Watch for attitudes, emotions, that might allow Satan to get a toe nail in the door of your heart…causing disunity between you and Jesus…disunity between you and the larger church body.

This week....vote with the law of love. Pray for God’s will to be done. If we pray for that…we know we can’t lose…or be a loser…right? God’s ways and His purposes. And …with living out the law of love…we can begin to close that division, that disunity, with the love of Jesus.