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  Religion
Rules or Relationship…"Love God and do what you want." Augustine By Pastor Philip Howle web posted April 21, 2010 RELIGION – How many of you like rules? I am not a big fan of them; I have a rebel streak in me that is a mile long. I remember being in third grade and having a teacher who hated chewing gum, like it was introducing the black plague into the classroom or something. Anyway, after being busted countless times, I figured out a solution. I would bite my fingernails and chew them, pretty much just to spite. She would call me out suspecting chewing based on the motion of my mouth and then I would defiantly proclaim my innocence while showing her the very fingernail I was chewing on! Rules cannot bind me! Kids, I don’t recommend doing things just to spite your teacher or anyone for that fact. So, I don’t like rules, but I like people. I like relationships. I like talking and I like listening, far more than I like rules. You see I believe that one of the great joys of being a Christian is focusing on a relationship with Jesus and not on rules. Get this, it is relationship over rules. This is life-changing stuff, so pay attention. Imagine for a moment if my relationship with my wife was based on keeping rules. Daily my wife Rebecca would hand me a list of rules. She may have a list of commandments like. “You shalt not talk too much”, so then all day I am constantly worried about saying too much. Then she may add “You shalt always wear matching clothes.” And seeing that I’m color blind, I would be constantly worried. Then rules like “You shalt take the trash off before I ask you,” “You shalt give me at least three hugs and two kisses a day, but not more that six hugs and four kisses a day,” “You shalt compliment me four times a day, but not more that seven times a day”, “You shalt bring me flowers six time a year” “You shalt surprise me with a gift four times a year “ “You shalt not embarrass me in sermons or mention my name on Edgefield daily.” See how awful that would be! You might think this all sounds crazy, and it is. A marriage based on rules would be terrible. I want to be a blessing and help to wife because I love her and I am learning more of her every day. As we grow in our relationship, I grow in my love for her. Trying to keep all those rules would turn my focus from loving my wife to making sure that I have not broken one of her rules. In essence, trying to keep all those rules would only build resentment and frustration in me towards her. One of the perennial problems of the church has been the problem judging each other by external behavior. This is generally referred to as legalism. Legalism is a focus on what we do or don’t do. It adds to the gospel of grace a number of "qualifying clauses". Philip Yancey writes, "legalism contains enough inherent dangers to elicit the strongest warnings in the Bible. No other issue-not pornography, adultery, violence or the things which most rankle Christians today-inspired more fiery outburst from Jesus.” Think about Jesus and the Pharisees. He was harder on those guys than anyone. He said they were going to hell because they hijacked the church, and they were sending others there as well. But He welcomed the prostitutes and the sinners. Sadly living by rules over relationship is how many people seek to live the Christian life. If you asked a large group of people what it meant to be a Christian, you would get lots of different answers. I am willing to bet that a lot of them would be focused on a list of do’s and don’ts. Do you see why this over focus on rules is dangerous? If you asked the typical non church goer to describe Christianity what would they say? Rules, not Jesus, so have we misplaced our focus? Yes. Sadly, in that group surveyed there would be few who would say being a Christian means having a close, daily, loving relationship with Jesus Christ, creator and Savior of the universe. Why is that? Don't they see the joy and freedom that comes from forgiveness? Don't they see the tremendous satisfaction that comes from God’s grace? Don't they see the peace that passes all understanding? No, they don’t see it. They see us ramming rules down their throat and not sharing the love and grace of Jesus with them. Let me ask you right now up front, "What is your Christianity like? Is it focused on yourself or on Christ? Is it focused on sin and failure or grace and forgiveness? Is it anchored in personal experiences or in the Word of God? Has it set you free or tied you up? Does it make you cry, or dance? Do you pray for others when they sin or do you judge, criticize, and talk bad about them? Do you love Jesus as your Savior or resent Him as a taskmaster? Because people have this rule based, performance based Christianity, so many Christian are terrible to be around. With this attitude, Christians can be judgmental, self-righteousness people who run down others who they feel are not as good as they. When Christians act in this manner, they are missing a close personal relationship with Jesus. This is why so many lost people say “I hate rules and I am having no part of that.” I find very few folks who say “Jesus was a jerk and I don’t want to have anything to do with Him.” Now, I am not saying there is no place for holiness, obedience to God’s word, and rigorous self-discipline. There is, but we do these things because we have been saved by grace, not to earn grace, merit, or standing before God. Like the illustration above with my wife, it is love and joy that is our primary motivator in all actions that we undertake for God. We will look at this further next week as well. Praying to be like Nehemiah in 8:10 who said “do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Pastor Phillip © Copyright 2010
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