E-Letters

Friends,

This e-letter is written by my friend Lance Thollander who taught in our home meetings on the book of Galatians. He has now written a book based on those teachings and this e-letter is an introduction to that book. The book is at the publisher and will be out in 6 months. If you are local you can hear Lance this Wednesday night in our home as we start a new season entitled "Recovering Our Christian Vocabulary." The first 3 weeks will be on the word "Mystery."

Jeff

Moving from Law to Life

By Lance Thollander
Sep 08, 2009

Walking the Galatian Road
Moving from Law to Life

A recent survey of Christians by researcher George Barna yielded this astonishing result: 81% of those surveyed said that maturity in Christ is measured by how well one keeps the rules. Did you get that? Eight out of ten believers think God is evaluating them based on how well they are behaving. Wow! While that may work to keep the house orderly on most days and church services under control, it sure isn't a recipe for the explosive love relationship God has designed us for.

So when did "keeping the rules" become a benchmark of those who follow Christ? And how have we traded in the Life giving power of the Lord Jesus for a set of restrictions? Evidently the damage is widespread. A Christian men's getaway I once attended started out with this statement: "The Ten Commandments are the framework upon which a successful Christian life is built." As these words rang through the room, the hair on the back of my neck stiffened. Was I back in one of the Galatian cities where over 1900 years ago a missionary named Paul had started several churches? It was in those Gentile cities around 49 A.D. that men from Jerusalem were trying to add the necessity of keeping the law to the good news of salvation through faith in Christ.

Now the person who said this was no Judaizer like those who were messing up things in Galatia. No, this man was giving the best he knew. But still, his message was clear: the life giving Spirit of Jesus isn't quite enough. There are rules we need to follow, there are things we must do. The pressure is on to order your life around those commandments. You can live the Christian life if you try hard enough, if you love God enough.

Again, how did we get there from here? Doesn't the New Testament point us in an entirely different direction? One that takes us away from self consciousness and sin management to focus on a resurrected Jesus whose life in us is the key to rich Christian living? Building your life on the Ten Commandments sounds like a tall order to me. It didn't work for the Old Testament people of God. Nor did it work for Paul. Nor did it work for those Galatian Christians who were losing their way in following Christ and getting angry and quarrelsome with one another. Of course for us today, it doesn't just stop with the Ten does it? No, there are those other things we need to do as well: witnessing, tithing, joining the church membership, committing to a small group, serving in the nursery, being on the building committee, making hospital visits, praying without ceasing, religiously reading our Bibles, etc. Any or all of these can somehow become part of our responsibility as believers. Things we must do. Now none of these are bad, just like no part of the law is bad. In fact, they are all good. Why would they be a cause of Christian burnout?

The issue at hand is the source of our actions. Has trying to please God by keeping the rules worked well for you? Have they given you a closer walk with Jesus? Are you growing into a deeper realization of the Father's love for you by practicing them? If not, that's why you're still reading. You're a seeker. You know there's a lot more out there than what keeping the rules has to offer. And you're right!

What are you seeking? Life! Freedom! In two words: Jesus himself. So what can you do to swell the numbers of those who have quit trying to keep the rules? First, drop out yourself. That takes courage. Then embrace the One who has invited you into the freedom that comes from no longer playing the expectation game; the One who died for you because you couldn't keep the rules and then put his life in you. Next get connected to others who are doing the same. That will put us together on the true Galatian road, moving from law to real life. May it be so, Lord Jesus.