The Challenge of Faith over Legalism

SPEAKER 02 : 0:05

So here we have Paul telling us how to respond to God, having presented ourselves because of his mercy. We make ourselves available for service. We take a look at our talents and we decide what we can do for the kingdom of God. And then he says this, Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another, not lagging, in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope. Oh, boy. What a challenge is this? I mean, we look at these passages, these verses, this is Romans chapter 12, verses 9 onwards, and we think to ourselves, well, that’s how I’m to live as a Christian, so let’s get to it.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:25

Now, wait a minute. If you are honest with yourself, you will say, I can’t do this. This is impossible.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:37

Well, I must try and practice and practice will make perfect and I’ll keep improving as I go along. But wait a minute still. You may well be falling into legalism, even in these verses that are not legalistic at all, but are expressing love. In other words, when I say legalism, I could be saying perfectionism. you may fall for the trap of thinking that you can emulate these verses by simply trying hard or obeying or dedicating yourself to them. You might say, okay, I’ve got to be without hypocrisy and without pretense, and I need to be sincere. I need to hate evil, and I need to cling to good. But if you are wise, you will come before God with these verses and say, even this love which Paul calls, or the Holy Spirit calls me to, based on your mercy, dear God, even this call, I cannot do it. I’m incapable of doing it. I never feel totally honest. I do feel a hypocrite. I don’t abhor evil enough. I don’t cling to good enough. So what do we do then? We exercise the same faith that we were called to do right from the beginning of this book. We are, our human nature is counted as dead. It is no longer able to condemn us. It is no longer able to challenge us to keep the law. It cannot declare us sinners anymore. Why? Because Christ has died the judgment for our sins. His death is the judgment for our sins. And therefore, we say something like this, Lord God, in my natural humanity, even this call to love is impossible. But I thank you that I’m counted complete in Christ, I’m counted as whole, and that therefore Jesus, who is my life, will do this loving through me, even though in my own humanity I am totally broken and imperfect. Now, when you take that attitude of faith, you do not fall into the trap of perfectionism or trying by your works or your natural willpower to walk this way of love. You say, Father, I don’t have a love that’s capable of doing this, but by faith I go forward treating myself just as Jesus does, as if I were righteous, and I seek, based on that, to love and to let you love through me. Now, this kind of understanding is consistent with the whole message of the book of Romans. How ironic if we should suddenly stop having faith and start with works all over again in order to take this advice. No. When it says, let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, when you’re meditating on that, you say, Father, in my flesh, in my natural humanity, I cannot live this way. But by faith in Jesus, who is my righteousness and my wholeness, and who loves through me, I go forward with the service I’m offering to my church or the community, and I’m going to love and let you love in me. I’m going to hate evil in my spirit even though I love it in the flesh. I’m going to cling to what is good in my spirit, even though my flesh does not cling to what is good. And as you go forward like this in faith, you see God working through you. Through the years in my own experience, I have been amazed sometimes when somebody has said to me, I remember what you said to me 30 or 20 years ago, and it has blessed me ever since. And I think to myself, my goodness, I can’t even remember that. But you see, we are living Jesus’ life in this world. You know when Jesus said, if you are brought before the magistrates, don’t think about what you will say ahead of time, for it is the Spirit of God speaking through you. That’s a tremendously encouraging thing to know. We are saying things, we are acting upon the world without being very enthusiastic about it, perhaps, without being fully dedicated or sincere, without clinging fully to what is good, but doing it out of some degree of fatigue or reluctance. But we have committed ourselves in faith to Jesus, and so… God is doing things through us that we’re completely unaware of. That’s what we need to understand. We have presented ourselves before God, and God says, very well, thank you. I can work through you. And so maybe you like to take up these verses one by one, one day at a time. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. You’re aware fully that you’re not affectionate with brotherly love to everyone. Maybe some people you like, but maybe some people who are a little bit more difficult. Yet you say, Father, I thank you that in Jesus, I am going forward in faith, and you are going to express your affection through me. In honor, giving preference to one another. Well, we have pride, we have envy, we have jealousy, we want to do better than others, we want to be promoted more than others. And yet we say, Father in heaven, I count my natural humanity as dead. It has no power to direct me or to tell me who I am. I therefore thank you that I, by faith in Jesus, can honor someone Do you see how this works? Don’t take all this advice as if your humanity could obey it. Don’t take this call to love as if this capacity to love were in you. It is not in your natural humanity. Paul is talking about the resurrected life. That is a life by faith. It’s not a natural life. We’re not resurrected. We’re dead people. We will be resurrected when Jesus comes, if we die before then. And when Jesus comes, he raises us from the dead. So, today, we do this by faith. We treat ourselves as if we were resurrected. And this enables us… to act upon the world beyond ourselves, because we believe Jesus is working in us. Not lagging in diligence, it says. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Look, you and I know, if we are honest, that we are often lagging in diligence. We’re often not fervent in spirit. We are often doing things in half measures. But by faith we say, Dear Father, today, today I trust in you as my righteousness, my wholeness. Today I trust in you that in Jesus I am complete. And therefore I’m thanking you that you are working through my lagging spirit, your energy and your fervent spirit in me. This is how we live peacefully. We’re not constantly dissatisfied that we cannot pull this off. We are satisfied that we cannot pull it off, but Jesus does the work in us. Rejoicing in hope. Verse 12. Patient in tribulation. Continuing steadfastly in prayer. Oh, Lord Jesus, how I have failed to rejoice in hope. How I get irritated and resentful and depressed. Lord, I’m not patient sometimes. I lose my temper. Lord God, I’m not constant in prayer, steadfast. I pray sometimes and then I forget and I pray for people one or two days and plan to pray for them every day and then I forget. But that’s what you overcome. by this truth that you are in Christ and Christ is operating in you. Father, I thank you that your joy is my strength. Remember that in Nehemiah 8 verse 10, the joy of the Lord is your strength. God is joyful, and his joy is your strength. Patient in tribulation. Lord, I don’t endure. I get antsy. I get irritated. I say, why, why, why, Lord? But that is my natural humanity which is counted as dead. By faith in you, I praise you that I am patient in tribulation. And the prayer of consistency, remembering, you just admit, Lord God, I forget to pray for those I love and who need me and who are sick and hurt. But Father, my prayer today, I ask you to hear it again next week, even if I forget to pray it, because you are present at all times. Do you see that we’re constantly relying upon God’s grace in us? We’re constantly relying upon his righteousness, his wholeness, his completeness in place of our unrighteousness, unwholeness and incompleteness. So a good practice is to go through all of these verses and practice believing them based upon who you are in Christ, accounted in Christ, not on who you are in yourself. Thank you everyone for listening today, Colin Cook and How It Happens. You can hear this broadcast any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Now, in regard to this radio broadcast’s continuance, I’m asking you for help. If there are five people out there who would like to become partners of this program at $50 a month for a year, would you please make your first donation and market partner? I would so appreciate it. The funds have been low lately, and this program is listener-supported radio. It relies upon you for support. This program is now in its 27th year. Each program is $39 per 15 minutes, $200 for a week’s programs, and about $850 to $900 for a month’s programs. 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