What about the Law?

Covid Restrictions

Well, it’s happened again. We had that crazy year last year, and I think we all thought coming into this year that the worst was behind us. Certainly we understood that the pandemic wasn’t over, but after we got through the North Sydney cluster at Christmas time without too much fuss (although I might have described that differently if I was actually in North Sydney), but certainly there was a feel that we’ll be able to handle anything with out anything too drastic.

I remember it was on Palm Sunday that we first were told that the restrictions on singing had been lifted. Our masks all got lost in the back of our cupboards, or perhaps gathering dust at the bottom of your bag.

But then it happened. A new cluster. I suspect most of you like me thought that a few targeted lockdowns and we’ll be back on track before you know it. But no.

But just to make life interesting, the rules are different this time. Previously, masks were generally never compulsory, with only a few exceptions. But now, even if you just want to fill up with petrol, you need to mask up for the 30 seconds you’re in the building.

Now for the last few weeks, I think we’ve all been constantly asking: ‘Am I allowed to do this?’, ‘Am I allowed to do that?’.

And I’m sure in the process, you’ve all found those weird inconsistencies. Those times when the rules just don’t really make much sense.

Now I wonder what your feelings are towards all these latest rules?

I pretty sure that amongst us here, our points of view would vary considerably.

Now for some, while you’ll no doubt acknowledge some of those inconsistencies, you’ll see the rules as very important to our health. …that we need to be taking all the measures we can to stop the spread.

Others however, while possibly recognising that the governments want to do the right thing, feel that the whole thing is unnecessary. …that the rules are more about trying to control us then anything else.

And of course, each of us will see it slightly differently.

But here’s an interesting question: do you obey the rules when you know you’re not going to get caught?

You see, where in an interesting situation. Many of us may surmise that the risk here in Tanilba Bay is quite low. Therefore, while you may comply in order to avoid a fine, but if that’s not an issue, then, well… things are a bit different.

You see, the argument is: the rules aren’t doing anything, so I’m free to do whatever.

I think the issue that these current covid restriction are raising is: what is our relationship with the rule of law in this country?

Now I don’t for a minute want to suggest that these issues are straight forward. There are a lot of very complicated factors, including epidemiology, human behaviour, the economy, and so on.

But sometimes we can use these complexities to argue our way out of what the law of the land says.

God’s law

Now, it’s not my intention to explore the issues of covid restrictions from the pulpit.

But I’m going to suggest there is a similar interaction that we have with God’s law.

Now just to be clear right from the start, I’m very clear that God’s law is on a very different level to the rules in place with Covid.

One is divine, the other is the result of fallible humans. There certainly is a place to lobby for improvements for human made laws.

Notwithstanding that, let’s just think about it a moment.

So the issue is: what is our relationship with God’s law?

It’s very easy to conclude that this doesn’t apply to me. And we can come to this conclusion from a number of angles.

You see, from one angle we look at the message of grace which has featured so strongly in Paul’s message. That is, you’ve been saved by grace, therefore the law has no control over you any longer.

But we could also look at this from the perspective that it’s impossible to keep anyway. You see, if we know that your going to fail, then it’s all a bit pointless.

The law is not there to save you, so why even bother?

Different approaches

Well, just like there are different approaches that people take to the covid rules, there are also different approaches that we can take to God’s law.

Legalism

The first I’ll call the legalist view.

The legalist takes God’s law very seriously. We must do everything in our power to obey God’s law. When we slip up, we fail God.

Actually, at the far end of this spectrum it goes even further. It goes to the point that you need to keep God’s law to be saved. This of course has already been rejected by Paul in this letter, but yet old habits die hard, and this idea of being wedded to the law can stick quite hard.

Even while being able to state that we’re saved by grace alone, I wonder whether you have some of these legalistic tendencies.

Antinomianism

The other approach to God’s law is the exact opposite. If you like big fancy words, then we could use the word antinomianism. That’s actually just a fancy way of saying that we reject the law.

The idea is essentially what I was describing earlier, that is, that you’ve recognised that the law can’t save you. You’ve recognised that the law has actually become a stumbling block. So we reject it as something bad.

Well, as we go through this seventh chapter, Paul is actually going to give us a healthy view of the law. And what we’ll see is that the law in fact is not bad - but actually holy and good.

So let’s dive in and see what it says.

Marriage analogy

Well, he starts with an analogy of marriage.

Now if teaching on marriage is what you want, then this is not the passage. There are a lot of great passages on marriage that you can turn to.

But Paul uses marriage here to give us an easy-to-understand legal framework.

You see, in marriage you have a legal bind with your spouse. Now leaving aside the issue of divorce, then that bond will remain till your spouse dies.

Well, in this analogy, the bond you have is not to another person, it is to the sinful nature.

Or to use Paul’s words in verse 5, we are in the realm of the flesh.

Now flesh, which is the Greek word ‘sarx’, is a word that Paul often used to describe our sinful nature. It is the way of the world.

And it can be very easy to forget just how wedded we are to this way.

But you see, this is where Paul’s analogy of marriage comes in. He’s saying that we are indeed wedded to this way, just as a wife is to her husband, and the only way it’s going to change is if there is a death.

Thanks be to God, there was a death - the single most important thing that has happened in this world - the death of Jesus Christ.

But what does the death of Jesus 2000 odd years ago have to do with me being wedded to the sinful nature today?

Well, you need to understand the nature of your sinful nature. You see, there is actually a supernatural aspect to it. It might be your nature, and you really are responsible for it, but it is also part of a nature that you have inherited. Something which is passed down from generation to generation. But when Jesus died… the only sinless person… God incarnate… this provided that legal framework which allows a separation from the realm of the flesh.

And this is what Paul is describing when he says in verse 4: “you… died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another”

So if we’ve been released from the sinful nature, who do we now belong to. Well look at verse 6: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and no in the old way of the written code”.

It is this verse then, that really gives us the first part of the perspective we need on how we approach the law.

You see, it first speaks to the legalist and says that the law does not make a good marriage partner. And that’s because the law does not save. So the legalist is in a bad marriage. But the person who rejects the law is also in a bad situation. That’s because whether you acknowledge the law or not, you’re still wedded to the sinful nature. You need a new way - and Paul tells us that it is the way of the Spirit.

So, it’s not the law, it’s the way of the Spirit that we should be concerned.

Way of the Spirit

So what is this way of the Spirit?

Well, Paul is going to give this more consideration in the eighth chapter which we will start to look at next week.

But for now, let me suggest that it is more than just that emotional high Christians can get on.

You see, after a few amazing experiences where you feel really close to God, it can be easy to equate the Holy Spirit with those experiences. And believe me, it is amazing when you get those experiences and you should treasure them dearly. But the way of the Spirit is a more constant, listening to his word, talking to him, and looking for him in the everyday ordinary things that happen around us.

And to be guided by that.

The Law is good

Right, so there we have it. Because of the death of Christ, we have died to the law and instead we serve in the new way of the Spirit.

So are we right to conclude that the law is bad? … that it is sinful?

Well that’s the question in verse 7, and Paul answers with a very emphatic “Certainly not!”

You see our view of the law needs to expand.

It reveals

You see, the law reveals what is bad.

Now, sometimes it is very clear what is wrong. If you deliberately injure someone, that’s pretty clear.

But Paul gives an example where it is less clear. In fact, it is the tenth commandment which tells us not to covet.

Now let’s just think about that a moment. If you consider the first nine commands, you could tell whether someone is obeying them or not (at least, on face value you can - I am of course aware that Jesus gave a more broad definition to the commands of murder and adultery).

But the tenth command which tells us not to covet, is something internal that happens.

Without God’s law, you could very easily think you’re doing okay, on the basis that you’re actions aren’t too bad, but all the while your heart is a dark place.

The law doesn’t make your heart dark, but it is when your heart is measured against God’s law that you see how bad it is.

A tape measure

So is the law bad?

Well, imagine a you’re doing some wood work. You need to cut a few bits of wood so they fit together perfectly.

You get your tape measure, but your a bit rough with marking where to cut. You do your cut, but given your poor work in marking it, it’s not surprising that the wood is all wrong. You get your tape measure out and sure enough, your a whole centimetre out.

Is the tape measure bad because your wood won’t fit together? Of course not. The tape measure did exactly what it was supposed to do.

You see, just because you can’t measure up to God’s law, doesn’t make it bad, doesn’t make it bad, it just reveals our problem.

And that is exactly why immediately following verse eleven’s declaration that law results in our death, it goes on to conclude in verse 12: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good”.

Law is holy

You see, what is the law?

The law is not just an arbitrary set of rules such that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit sat around a table and said: ‘I wonder what rules we should subject these humans to’.

There is nothing arbitrary about it. The law is rather a reflection of God’s character. God is love. And how do we summarise the law? To love God and love others. All the laws flow from this.

The law is holy because it reflects who God is. It is the measure we need to use. We won’t measure up. But it is still holy, righteous and good.

So we can add to our view of the law.

The picture we’ve got so far is that it isn’t a good partner, rather we should be Spirit led, but it most certainly shouldn’t be rejected, because it is holy righteous and good.

So we’re starting to see that a proper view of the law need nuance. Understanding that it is good, but not as a saviour.

Living it

Well, as we move through chapter 7, we then come to an interesting little section where Paul gets rather open with his own personal struggle. If you’re following along, I’m now in verse 14.

It’s one of those passages you tend to need to read slowly because a quick read leaves you all a bit confused.

But with a slow read, you can follow his logic well enough.

Essentially he’s saying that though he knows what is good, he can’t help himself, he does the wrong thing anyway.

He seems to want to make the point so strongly that he says essentially the same thing twice.

If you look, the logic of verse 14 to 17 is in essence the same as verse 18 to 20.

Let me give an example. (which is the same example I gave to the Thursday morning group)

Junk food

Junk food. Now I know very well that after eating too much junk food I feel terrible. I know that if I eat a healthy salad I feel much better.

But yet despite how I know I’m going to feel, I cave in. That temporary moment of satisfaction precedes the much longer feeling of disgust.

The same thing happens with sin.

We know it’s not good. But we can’t help ourselves. We cave into that selfish desire to put ourselves first. To care more about what we want then what others want.

Living the law

You see, this is the problem, isn’t it. It’s all well and good to have a nice theoretical discussion about the law. We can discuss the ways in which it is good, and the ways in which it can’t save us.

But the reality is, we have a life to live and it is effecting every part of it.

Now there is a debate that is often had whenever this passage is discussed.

When Paul discusses this issue of his struggle, the question is whether he’s talking about before his conversion or after.

In some ways, it fits neater into our understanding if he’s talking about before his conversion. After all, without Jesus in his life, he couldn’t change.

But the reality is, we also know that after conversion the same struggle persists.

I sort of sit on the fence. I suspect Paul is being deliberately a little bit vague.

The struggle is real but through Jesus Christ who delivers us, we can see victory in our lives.

Even after you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, while change will occur, this side of Christ’s return you will also suffer the consequence of the fall.

Conclusion

The message I really want you to take home this morning is that while the law is not powerful to save you - don’ reject it.

Even while the law will feel like a thorn in the side, feeling like it is a constant taunt to you all day long - don’t throw it away.

It doesn’t feel nice, because it tears down the facade we’ve painted around us, but it is necessary because it shows what God really wants for us.

And the end game to all of this is the most amazing thing.

The law is good, but our trust in not in that, but in following the lead of the Holy Spirit.

It is actually when we follow the way of the Spirit that we actually find ourselves in line with the law, because that is in the very nature of who God is.

So find delight in the law, because it is here that you will find God.

Now, as I conclude in my prayer this morning, I’m going to do something slightly different. I’m going to conclude with a prayer of confession, acknowledging that we are sinners, but I’ll follow that with a reminder of what Jesus has done.

So let me pray...