Habakkuk trilogy part 2

We have a dilemma. God requires perfection. There was a system that told us how to be perfect. How to live perfect. Everyone failed under that system. This is the Law.

Under the Law was only ever a curse

Deuteronomy 27:26 ESV

“ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

If a person does the law, he shall live because of them.

Leviticus 18:5 ESV

You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

But we are told

James 2:10 ESV

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

so there is no hope or way of being saved in this law of Moses.

We have to understand a some things about “the law” though. We can divide it into three parts, Ceremonial, Civil, and Moral. These collectively are generically referred to in the new testament as the law. Moses was given the law and specific instructions about all three of these were first written down through him.

All of the law was fulfilled in Christ.

The Ceremonial law dealt with the worship of God, The Civil law dealt with judicial issues that arise among people and the moral law has always existing because it comes out of the character of God. Is the law relevant to our lives? YES of course. Not because we follow the law to save us though.

The Ceremonial law was put aside and we now worship in spirit and in truth. We don’t worship through ceremony, special clothes, fancy hats *cough* or through special rites done in prescribed specific means. It did point toward Christ. It showed the way to the messiah.

Neither do we live under the rule of ancient Israel where we need to know if the owner of a bull is liable for the life of a man who was trampled by that bull. That is spelled out in the Civil law of the old testament.

Then there is the Moral law which is still applicable to this day. It is a law that is not performative like the ceremonial, or legislative in how to handle a situation, but a law of negatives. Do NOT idolize, murder, steal, covet, etc. The summary of the law as it applies to us today is simple. Love God, Love People while pursing that you won’t violate the do nots.

We have two extremes that have become common among Christians dealing with the law.

The first is easiest to spot. It’s the legalism mindset. “You must do or do not do all these things or you aren’t a Christian.” From that you might have heard the saying “I don’t smoke, drink, er chew and won’t date a woman that do.” This legalist mindset is oppressive and not at all helpful.

Have you Experienced that?

The second is antinomian. This literally means anti - law - ism saying there is no law, no law in the old testament applies at all to the Christian today. This in my view is more dangerous because it is subtler. I used to think I must have had a legalism mindset about Christianity because I felt all this pressure to do good things and not do bad things. I didn’t find out until much later it was this antinomian mindset that birthed the idea of the “carnal christian” in the church.

This very bad idea of the carnal christian was one I was taught. It makes the mistake of saying someone can come to Christ making a profession of faith and being saved but then never producing any fruit. They are told they’re saved but haven’t yet made Jesus “Lord of your life” as if these two things could be separated.

Here’s where I win some points with Robert and throw in a Wesley quote.

“Here is Satan’s masterpiece—we are to believe that men are holy, without a grain of holiness in them! Holy in Christ, however unholy in themselves. They are supposedly in Christ, although they have not one jot of the mind that was in Christ. They are “complete in Him,”* although they are as proud, as vain, as covetous, and as lustful as ever. They think they can continue in unrighteousness because Christ has fulfilled all righteousness.” - John Wesley in Is Holiness Legalism

The antinomian person elevates the idea of WWJD. What would Jesus do? They think I’ve run into this situation, what would Jesus do because I need to surrender lordship in all of my decisions to him. Now this is subtle because that idea sounds very good. Where does it go wrong? It goes wrong by moralizing the Bible and Jesus into a decision matrix of right and wrong. This is the problem of the “dare to be a Daniel” bible studies I got as a kid, and that are so very often still given to our kids. Let’s look at this Character in the bible, lets remember to be like them when that situation applies to our life. The Bible is not a moralistic guide for our life. It is Law and Gospel. The law shows that we have failed and deserve punishment, the gospel is that Christ has paid for that punishment with his blood and even more has restored us by imputing His righteousness into our accounts. We live as righteous people.

I have spent a decent amount of my life in martial arts. I’ve seen similar things there that I can relate to and I hope it will be understandable to you. There are systems that are extremely rigid. Forms and memorization are heavily emphasized. Rituals to prove you have attained your rank are enshrined. This legalism martial arts looks amazing. If you want a show, go to a demo event from one of these places. On the other hand I’ve seen the antinomian martial arts traditions that ignore specific forms and requirements of knowing certain skills to move up. Instead they tend to emphasize the time you’ve spent there to gain rank. Along with that comes some of the same what would instructor do ideology. Either of these two groups put into a street fight don’t have the advantage you would think. Often someone who’s just been in a lot of fights will win over either of these two groups. When in the real world they tend to fail and often fail in the same frustrated way. Thinking they know how to easily win a confrontation and walk away. They go to do things and the move they try doesn’t work like it does in the dojo. This analogy breaks down, like all analogies do because the martial art solution is having specific trained moves against active resistance fighting with partners who aren’t trying to let your techniques work.

Most of this time we’ve been talking as if “Shall Live” is to be understood about how we go about our daily life living. I don’t think that’s bad to understand but we could also be talking about this in the way of life or death. Do these and you shall live Leviticus style. The alternative is don’t do these and you shall die. So, the unRighteous shall die by their unbelief is a good way to contrast what we’re talking about here as well.

I feel like we have identified the wrong way but haven’t touched on the right way. Christian Liberty. We focus on Jesus Christ. We don’t focus on the doing, or the not doing. Sinclair Ferguson put together such a good list that I’m going to use it, like many other teachers before me have also done. The four principles of Christian Liberty.

One - Don’t flaunt it. Paul is talking about this very liberty in Christ in Romans 14 and he cautions this in verse 22.

English Standard Version Chapter 14

The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

Two - Don’t only welcome Christians that agree with your perspective on x or y. Romans 14:1-2

English Standard Version Chapter 14

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Three - Don’t use your liberty to cause doubts to arise in another Christian. Romans 14:13

English Standard Version Chapter 14

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

Four - Don’t please yourself - Romans 15:1-3

English Standard Version Chapter 15

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

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