I shared with you last week that I am not big on following rules and that I struggle with obeying traffic laws I don’t agree with. Once a month Eric goes to church before me and I need to drive myself. Even if I have plenty of time to get there, I find myself racing. And the Holy Spirit says, “girl, how are you going to have a pure heart to worship when you can’t even submit yourself to something simple like traffic laws.” I sometimes shoot up a quick prayer of confession after the fact like it’s really no big deal. Even writing this for all the world to see means accountability I don’t want. I have struggled with this my whole driving life. Maybe I don’t really want to stop.
But the Holy Spirit won’t leave me alone. Ugh. Even though it doesn’t initially feel like it, this is a good thing. I know it’s not up there with major crimes, but does disobeying traffic laws inhibit my ability to hear the voice of God? That’s really my only motivation to stop. I cannot live without hearing God’s voice through His Spirit. I enjoy living full of the Spirit and I am rather addicted to this life. But am I willing to say no to anything that hinders me from hearing His voice? Even if it seems like in my flesh it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Does giving in to my desires and rationalizations keep me from living the rich, overflowing life of being full of the Holy Spirit?
Let the Law send me to Christ.
Until recently I operated under the assumption that because I am a New Testament believer, I do not need to subject myself to the Law of Moses. This includes all of the rules and rituals Old Testament believers needed to follow in order for a Holy God to be able to commune with them. It is true that because Christ set me free, I am not a slave to the Law. But studying the Law has value. Just as it did when it was written. The Law was put in place through angels to show man where he sinned. Its purpose was to make obvious we are out of right relationship with God and there is no religious system we could devise that would change that.1 It acted as a guardian or trainer, like the when you put up the bumper rails in the bowling alley so the ball doesn’t land in the gutter. It was to keep God’s people in line until Christ came. The Law always pointed to the need for a Savior.2 Satan would have you believe obeying the Law is how you prove yourselves holy, but if the Law could give eternal life, then Christ would not have had to come.3
The Promise came before the Law
The covenant promise God made to Abraham that all the world would be blessed through his Offspring, came 430 years before the Law. In Galatians 3:15, Paul uses the example of a last will and testament to explain.1 When the will is confirmed by signatures, the promised inheritance will be given. Even if there is an addendum to the will, the addendum does not annul the promise contained in the will. The Law of Moses did not annul the Promise of a Messiah that God made to Abraham.
But neither are the Law and the Promise at odds with one another. They work in harmony as the Law confirms the need for the Promise and makes it indispensable.3
As you picture the sin of all mankind, instead of giving life, the Law became a prison. Because no one could perfectly keep it, you were enslaved. God is not surprised. He had already planned and promised the Messiah’s arrival. The inheritance and blessing that comes through faith in Jesus Christ is given freely to those who believe. And sets them free from the prison of a rule keeping religion that cannot save.
Now that faith has come
When I was spiritually baptized into the union and communion of Christ Jesus, I put on the clothes of Christlikeness, holy conduct becoming of a child of God through faith and heir of love and devotion to Him.4 I want to obey God’s righteous standards out of love not compulsion. This leads to an overwhelming sense of freedom. There is nothing I can do to no longer be God’s child. He loves me as much as He is ever going to, not because of anything I do, but because it’s His grace to do so. Instead of using that freedom to do whatever I want, like breaking traffic laws, I can choose to do what He wants. His Grace amazes me and I don’t want to get over it.
There is no distinction in God’s family
It should not have been surprising to the Jews that God’s promise through Abraham was also intended for the Gentiles. But it was, and the Jews looked down on the Gentiles. They were willing to somewhat accept them if they followed their rules, but God said there was no distinction in His family.
Old divisions and wrongful attitudes of superiority make me sick. Who am I to look down on someone else. We were both sinners damned to hell without hope when Christ died for us. Is one of us more wretched than the other? That hardly seems worth making a distinction over. Now we have a common relationship because of faith that brings us together in unity with Christ. Unity does not mean sameness.5 There’s still beautiful diversity, but we are equal and without distinction in Christ.
Let true freedom ring
We end where we began. Let the Law send me to Christ. John Stott says, “we cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt, and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ.”3
I am still trying to figure out why I equate following traffic laws with bondage. But I am persuaded freedom in Christ doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want. Christian freedom means God’s presence is dwelling in me in the form of His Spirit, empowering me to use the way He made me and the gifts He gave me for His Glory for all eternity. The fuller I am of His Spirit here and now, the more of His fruit I experience. This fullness overflows from me to be used for others. It’s a gradual process of growth that continues until the work is completed when Christ returns. Let true freedom ring!
The Law and the Promise
15 To give a human example, brothers:[a] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. 19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[b] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1968.
Amplified Bible. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation. Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
John Macarthur, The Macarthur Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
