Bewildered # 6? Still infant?

Righteousness is not earned , it is a free gift from God. When we find difficulty in accepting this, and continue to use our own effort to get righteousness from God , then we are not ready for solid food.

Hebrews 5 :13

13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.


Rejoice.

OUTRAGEOUS

"Why did the religious leaders of the first century get the harshest rebukes of all? Shouldn’t such words be reserved for the worst sinners such as the tax collectors and the prostitutes? I can only imagine one answer to these questions. Grace was coming in Jesus Christ, and it was a very dangerous thing to stand in its way. If you stood in the way of grace, you could get flattened."


Please click on this link to find out : http://www.thorncrownjournal.com/dougreed/outrageous.html

Rejoice

The New Covenant

Please click on this link which explains the new covenant in the scheme of God's plan - it is not an afterthought or plan B of God
http://godstenlaws.com/law-grace/new-covenant.html

Rejoice

Two Veils by Milt Rodriguez

Please click on the title to get into the link. Rejoice

Law in perspective

Excerpts from "Free in Christ" by Cecil Hook on law in perspective. Have a read. Rejoice

One man defied God and was put to death for gathering firewood on the Sabbath (Num. 15:32-36). But Jesus put the law in true perspective. He considered mercy shown to a sheep to be more important than the Sabbath law (Matt. 12:9-12). He also explained, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27). Law was made for the benefit of man. Man was not made to comply with arbitrary law.

There are two levels of responsibility. One person passes a school with reduced speed and great caution because of concern for innocent children. Another person speeds by with no concern. For this reason, a sign must be posted which defines fifteen miles per hour as the speed limit and a policeman must be around to help enforce it. Since the second person does not accept responsibility out of concern, he must be forced to accept it by law. Paul explained that "the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient…" (I Tim. 1:9). The first person needed no law. Law was made for the second.

There are two levels of obedience. A man has two sons who go out on their dates. To each he says, "Come home early; please don't stay out late." The more mature son realizes that his father and mother won't sleep a wink until he comes home and that he himself must go to school the next morning. So he comes home at a very reasonable hour. The less mature son comes in at two o'clock. When confronted about it, he exclaims, "Dad, you did not say how late late is and how early early is!" For this son, the father must make a rigid law: Ten o'clock or you will be punished! One son is guided by principles; the other is guided by legal specifications.

We see both levels of responsibility and obedience in God's family. Our immaturity has been evident. We often search earth and heaven to find all the legal requirements and limitations. We discuss, wrangle, debate, judge, and censor to the point of alienating and dividing while missing the principle that God had in mind. Often where authoritative specifications have been lacking, we have formulated our own by specious logic. And, in case all else fails, we have devised elder authority to define and bind lawful specifications. That is the ultimate legalism. Such an approach will keep us confused, enslaved, and divided.

Jesus spoke out against those who sought justification by keeping legal requirements. The scribes and Pharisees were so scrupulous about keeping the law of the tithe that they would not overlook the sprigs of seasoning herbs in their gardens - mint, rue, and dill (Matt. 23:23; Lk. 11:42). God's directive concerning tithing was not given because He had need of food or money, nor because God wanted to lay a burden on man to test him. God wanted this to be given for the welfare of His people. The Pharisees were looking for specifics as to how to keep the technicality of the law when they should have been using what they had to promote love, mercy, justice, and faith which the tithe was meant to promote. They were seeking to be justified by keeping law when they should have been seeking to accomplish its purposes.
We should not perform just to obey commands, but also for the value to be received from what was commanded. It is truly a trust in legal justification that causes a person to obey commands simply because they are commands. The person who has mercy, justice, faith, and love as his concern fulfills the principle and does not need a law to tell him how much of his resources to use in accomplishing these. He is free from lawful requirements because he has the principles written on his heart.

God wants us to gather for mutual edification (1 Cor. 14:26). In assemblies, we pray for each other, teach each other, teach and admonish one another in singing, give to help each other, and proclaim the atonement to each other. But in too many cases the thing stressed is the importance of assembling in response to a command rather than fulfilling the purposes God had in mind. To make the lawful case stronger, appeal is made to elder authority to specify the lawful time of assembly. Providing uplifting services will more nearly fulfill the purpose than demanding attendance will.

Organisational vs Organic by Frank Viola

Some food for thought. Please click on the title to read this illuminating article by Frank Viola. Rejoice.

Miss the forest for the trees?

Romans 9:30-33(NLT)

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law[o] instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said,

“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem[p] that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”[q]

It is ironical to see the Gentiles not trying to follow God’s standards were made right with God, and yet the people of Israel who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, missed it. This becomes a stumbling block, a disgrace for the Israelites, to see the Gentiles justified by God, yet they miss it. This is how grace of God works - it flows from trusting in Him, as this was what the Gentiles did .. only believe in Him. Period.

When we trust in our own strengths, abilities, talents to please God, akin to the Israelites trying to get right with God by keeping the law, we are basically telling God that we can come to Him by our own strength,.. that we do not need Him to come to us…that we still want to take some credit for our actions. When a person finds difficulty in accepting the grace of God and to embrace His finished work, there is still that lingering self that is crying for attention and recognition.

Praise God, when we come to an end of ourselves we can declare …..For when I am weak, then I am strong (2Corinthians 12:10). This is how to experience the grace of God.

Please take a look at this encounter between Jesus and the Jews . Jesus told the Jews in John 5: 39-47
39-40"You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
41-44"I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?

45-47"But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?"

The behaviour of the Jews, surprisingly, is no different from our times. It is easy to give honour and profusing accolades to “well known” preachers when they come to preach, yet we can find difficulty to acknowledge the goodness and grace of God. We can talk convincingly on all about the Law of Moses yet we can miss the main plot that they are shadows/tutors all pointing us eventually to Jesus. This is amazing and ironical!

Rejoice, we can see Jesus when we acknowledge Him. He is resident in us, all because of His finished work on the cross. The purpose of the Law is to bring an end to ourselves so that we can see our dire need of the Saviour Jesus,.. so that we can acknowledge that it is not about what we do but what He has done. When we fail to understand what the purpose of the Law ( Point of the Law) is for in the scheme of salvation, we will find difficulty in comprehending the grace and love of God and His finished work for us.

Rejoice. Let us see the forest amongst the trees.