09-04-11 Freedom and Rules Pt. 2

We are studying the book of Romans,

and our study has brought us to the 6^th principle given to us by Paul

for healthy and productive life within the church.

It is a long passage,

36 verses in all,

beginning with Romans 14:1 and running through 15:13.

It is a passage in which Paul talks with us

about one of the most potentially volatile issues between Christians -

how to relate to one another

when our personal rules for correct Christian living differ from one another.

We saw last week

that man-made religious systems try to solve this problem

by creating and enforcing a universal list of rules for all members.

Good Christians will do the following...

and they will NOT do the following...

Then we group ourselves around the list

and the organization we feel most comfortable with

and use it as our basis for unity

and our guide for successful Christian living.

This is not true Christianity,

and it is certainly not the kind of life

our God offers us through faith in Christ.

There was a point in Christ’s teaching

during His time with us

when He presented an illustration

that captures the heart of what we see Paul doing in greater detail here in Romans.

It is a fascinating word picture

that Christ offered in response to some criticism He was receiving

from those in the religious community around Him

who felt He was not keeping the rules properly.

Specifically, He was not enforcing the kind of devotional practices on His disciples

that the Jewish leaders thought He should be.

If we read just a little bit between the lines,

what was really driving these Jewish leaders crazy

was that they were seeing a freedom of spirit in the lives of Jesus’ Disciples

and it made His critics furious.

During the few years Jesus was with His followers

He never ever structured or regimented any kind of religious or devotional life for them.

He didn’t begin their days together

with devotions.

He didn’t spend three hours a day in diligent, structured study of the Psalms

or the writings of Moses or the prophets.

He didn’t require anything from them

apart from their willingness

to just be with Him

and to build a friendship with Him.

The rest of the devout Jewish community by contrast,

had to spend every day

weaving their way through an ever expanding list of rules and regulations

that were used to define faithfulness.

What can they eat?

What can they not eat?

When should they fast?

When should they pray?

How much should they tithe?

What can they touch or not touch?

How many feet can they walk on a Sabbath?

And on and on and on.

And then Jesus came on the scene,

and required just one thing from His men.

All He said was, “Follow Me.”

And at one point in His earthly ministry

His enemies finally couldn’t take it any longer

and they demanded that He explain this outrageous behavior.

LUK 5:33 And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink."

OK, His attackers begin by calling upon the authority of the most highly recognized religious leaders of the day.

In fact, they called upon examples

from the broadest possible spectrum.

On one side were the disciples of the Pharisees,

those who had immersed themselves

in the established religious system of the day,

diligently learned the rules of success under that system,

and then sought the kind of social success and recognition that a religious facade can generate.

On the other side

they called upon the example of the disciples of John,

the prophet sent by God to call the nation to repentance

in preparation for Jesus’ arrival.

And with both of these groups

there were regular religious devotional disciplines

that provided the foundational structure

for their relationship with God.

Jesus’ critics mentioned two such activities -

regular fasts,

and a structured routine of prayer.

But Jesus required neither of these from His men.

In fact, He required no structured religious activities whatsoever.

All He wanted or expected from them

was their willingness to be with Him.

But it wasn’t long before their obvious freedom of spirit

and genuine enjoyment of life in the presence of the King

began to infuriate Jesus’ enemies.

There is nothing quite so offensive

to a person immersed in religious duty

as a person who is truly free in spirit.

And when they could stand it no longer

they finally demanded an explanation from Jesus.

Basically, what they were saying is, “Jesus! Why don’t you cram Your men into a religious structure like everyone else?”

Jesus responded first by making a brief comment about the true nature of fasting.

He tells them that fasting was never intended as a religious tool with which to earn points in heaven.

True fasting was simply the natural response

of a heart filled with pain.

There are times when we hurt too much to eat.

But then He went on to offer two illustrations

designed to picture what would happen

to the whole concept of rules-based religious systems

in the lives of those who would come to Him.

And let me read the second of those two illustrations

as preparation for what we’ll see happening as we return to this passage in Romans.

Jesus said,

LUK 5:37 "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.

LUK 5:38 "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

The illustration used by Christ

was one that was immediately recognized by His listeners.

As wine ages it ferments,

as it ferments it builds up pressure inside the container that holds it.

If new wine was placed inside an old, brittle leather skin,

rather than the skin stretching and accommodating the fermentation process,

it would split wide open,

destroying the skin

and losing the contents.

Now, on the surface that illustration is deceptively simple

until we look more closely at what Christ was really saying.

He was explaining why His people were not abiding by the accepted religious structure of the day

and He answered His attackers by saying that the rigid, inflexible religious structure they were accustomed to,

with all of its little rules defining success and faithfulness,

could never contain the kind of living vitality He would bring.

He did not call people to a system,

He called them to a living relationship with Himself,

and that relationship will look different in every believer.

And it is this truth

that made it necessary for Paul to give us the instructions he gives us in Romans 14 and 15.

He wanted us to know first of all

that we will not all live with the same structure and boundaries in our lives,

and then second he wanted us to know

how we should relate to one another

given the differences.

And before we return to Romans

I can’t leave this passage in Luke

without reading Jesus’ final comment about this new and old wine.

He ended His parable by saying,

LUK 5:39 "And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good enough.'"

In context, the “old wine” He is talking about

is that old religious spirit

that measures success and faithfulness on the basis of a list of religious duties.

Two such religious duties were mentioned in the passage - fasting and a structured prayer routine.

In our modern culture I believe it could have as easily included things like daily devotions

and church attendance.

And Jesus would not end His parable

without including a comment

about the addictive power of that religious spirit.

Once a person gives himself over to a relationship with God based on keeping a set of religious rules

it is extremely hard to break free from that mentality.

More often than not,

the person will simply say,

“Give me that old time religion -

give me the rules,

that “living-by-relationship-with-the-King” thing is way too risky.”

In fact, once religion has taken hold,

those who have been captured by it

will cling to it with all their strength,

and they will not even consider giving it up

unless the circumstances of their lives become so painful,

and the inability of their religion

to equip them to cope with that pain becomes so obvious

that they are driven to cry out for help,

and for reality,

and for healing to God Himself.

And even then,

like an addict returning to his poison,

once the pain stops

many will once again replace the reality of their God

with the security of their religion.

From the very beginning

all God has ever wanted,

all He has ever sought

is us living our lives in friendship with Him.

He doesn’t want our dutiful devotion to whatever religious system we may be in.

He doesn’t want us to mentally check off

whatever religious duties we think are required of us this day.

I love the way the Old Testament Prophet Micah put it:

MIC 6:6 With what shall I come to the Lord And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves?

MIC 6:7 Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

MIC 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

He was speaking within the context of the Old Testament system of sacrifices, of course,

but the heart of his message is as applicable to us today

as anything our God has ever said to us.

What our God wants,

what He has always wanted

is us with hearts daily reaching out in trust to Him.

That’s it.

That’s all there is.

That’s all there has ever been.

But that kind of union with our God

is a terrifying thing for us,

especially in its early stages.

And so we instinctively look around for some religious structure

that we can substitute for the living reality of our God.

And there is always one nearby offering us what we think we want.

“Here are the rules.

Here is the system.

Here is the pattern you must fulfill.”

And in truth, all He’s ever wanted is us

living our lives in daily, trusting friendship with Him.

Whenever I get near this truth in my teaching I find myself getting frustrated

because it’s not an action,

it’s an attitude,

and attitudes cannot be taught.

Let me show you what I mean.

The religious person gets up in the morning

and their religion says to them,

“I am a Christian.

A good Christian must have “daily devotions”.

I will read my Bible.

I will pray for a few minutes so that I can be a good Christian.”

The person who is living with His Lord gets up,

and somewhere in the transition into the day,

the great truth of life fills his mind once again.

“Lord, it’s You and me again this day.

I need You...

I need You for life,

I need You for leadership,

I need Your Spirit within me

to live out your will through me,

to give me eyes to see

and a heart to follow You.

I don’t know where we’re going,

but I’m so very thankful we’re going there together.”

And then, frequently,

this daily walk with God

will begin with this fellow spending some time reading a passage from the Bible,

not because he has to,

but because his spirit hungers for truth.

Now, from the outside,

to a casual observer,

these two people appear to begin their days with similar routines.

But in truth

one is simply living out his chosen religious system,

while the other is walking with God.

And having said all that,

I can’t move on without also offering some advice for those of you

who may realize there is far more religion than reality to your Christianity.

If you see the evidences of religion,

and they are easy to spot if you’re looking for them,

if you see yourself feeling guilty when you fall short of some religious duty,

or if you find yourself feeling secure with God

because you have kept your religious duties current,

and yet you still find your spirit hungering for more,

thirsting for a reality with God

that goes beyond anything you’ve ever been able to derive from your religion,

then here’s my suggestion.

Throw your system away,

and reach out for reality with your God.

Shall I put it into a prayer?

How about this:

“Lord, I don’t want religion.

I don’t want some little system of duties I must fulfill in order to earn Your acceptance.

What I want is You.

What I want is a living, growing, changing daily walk with You.

I want to know what Your voice sounds like,

I want to know what it is to hunger and thirst for You.

I want to walk with You Lord.

I know my little list of religious duties has not done that within me.

I have been trying to do in the flesh

what only You can truly accomplish within my spirit.

So I’m going to let them all go.

And I ask that You will replace them with Yourself.

Teach me now how to walk with You.

Teach me how to live in Your presence.”

And then, let go of your system.

Now obviously, after taking all this time for our reintroduction of Romans 14

we don’t have much time left

to get back into the passage.

But I do want to move one more verse into the passage

because there is something that happens in the 4^th verse of Romans 14

that directly ties into this whole discussion of the difference between

living by the rules

and living in relationship with our Lord.

As we move through this final section of Romans

we are going to see this contrast between rules and relationship

woven throughout the entire section.

And right from the beginning

Paul shares with us the heart of what he wants us to know.

We saw last week

that Paul uses the first 3 verses of Romans 14

to draw a contrast between less mature Christians

who use certain rules to protect themselves in areas where they are weak,

and more mature Christians

whose ability to hear and follow the voice of their Lord

has made those rules unnecessary.

And he instructs the stronger Christians

to accept and encourage the weaker ones

as they continue to grow in their walk with the Lord.

ROM 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

ROM 14:2 One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.

ROM 14:3 Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

But that is not where Paul stops in his opening comments.

In the 4^th verse he goes on to say:

ROM 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

I do love what I see Paul doing in that 4^th verse.

In just a few words he captures the very heart

of everything he’s seeking to say to us here.

God did not call us to a system,

He called us to Himself.

No system,

no religious form,

no rule,

no law can ever transform us.

It cannot give us the ability to do it right.

It can only tell us when we’ve done it wrong.

But when Paul says, “To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand...”,

he is reminding us of the living reality of our God to change our lives,

to make us other than we would have been

had He not entered our lives.

And I see a dual application in this truth.

First of all,

in context this is obviously the attitude God wants us to have toward our fellow Christians.

Believe in their victory and tell them so.

“You’re going to beat this.

You’re going to win.

You’re going to find your God more than adequate to bring you through.”

Whenever you have the chance,

tell others the truth about our God

and His ability to change us.

Are you married?

Then tell your mate.

Are you a parent?

Then prophecy your children’s victory...in their presence.

But let me warn you of something here.

We are so conditioned to speaking the negative,

to pointing out the faults and the failures and the shortcomings,

that, if you begin to do what Paul does for us in the 4^th verse,

at first the words will sound strange coming out of your mouth.

Be courageous.

Be bold.

And then, the second application I see here,

and the one that will be the hardest for us,

is to realize that this is not only the attitude Paul wants us to bring to others,

but it is also the attitude he wants us to bring to ourselves.

I don’t know what battles are going on in you right now.

I do know that one of Satan’s greatest weapons in that battle

is his determination to create in you the anticipation of failure.

He will use your past.

He will use the failures of those around you as his ammunition.

His words will sound like this...

“Look at you! Look at your past.

You’ll never get on top of this.

You’ll never pull this off.

You’ve failed before,

and you’ll always fail

because that’s who you are.

You’re a failure.

And look at those around you.

Get real! You’re way out of step with the world you’re living in.”

And to those lies,

speak the truth to yourself.

“My Master is my Lord Jesus Christ.

His Spirit dwells within me.

His love surrounds me.

His strength is my strength.

To my own master I will stand or fall; and, wonder of wonders, by His grace, stand I will, for my Lord is able to make my stand.