Keep The Christ In Christians – 4 of 12

JESUS BELIEVED THAT OBEYING GOD’S TRUTH AND LOVING HIS NEIGHBOR WERE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

Flip a coin.  Heads or tails?  It depends on a lot of factors that we’re not in control of…and not supposed to be, unless we’re trying to cheat the system.  But both sides are there, ever present at both ends of the tiny little cylinder we call a “coin.”  We flip coins when we can’t figure-out something mentally without making a faux-pas socially.  The coin decides for us, and the two parties agree to abide by the result.  Wouldn’t it be great if relationships & decisions in life were that easy?!  There are some correlations here for what it means to follow Jesus.

Some may say that following Jesus is all about studying & knowing God’s Word inside & out, concentrating on adhering to His commands every minute of every day and avoiding temptations to sin.  These folks would probably love scriptures like these from Proverbs:

Proverbs 1:7“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 12:1-2
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. Good people obtain favor from the Lord, but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.”

I can almost see the rule-followers nodding their heads and saying “amen” now!  On the opposite extreme would be the those who say that following Jesus is all about loving and serving others…that doctrine and rules are secondary to sincere love that can cover over the sin in us and others.  This group would like these scriptures:

John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Romans 13:8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

Which one is right?  The answer is YES….I think Jesus embodies and teaches a BALANCE OF BOTH, and calls us to be like Him.  In various situations, we need to emphasize one or the other…but always a measure of both.

It seems like most of us tend toward one of the extremes when it comes to how we think & act toward God and others.  Erring on either the side of truth or grace.  An overly pious person may struggle with legalism and find themselves a slave to “sin management”…while a bleeding-heart person may fall into co-dependence and exude a form of “sloppy agape’.”

The trouble is, you can’t pull grace & truth apart…in Christ, they are inter-dependent and meant to stay together.  “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). When we focus on one at the expense of the other, we misrepresent our Master’s character and mission, and muddy the lens through which He is seen by those He seeks to bring into His family.  It is our mission, as Christ-ians (literally “Little Christs”) to be His presence in our world.  There will always be forms of persecution against us from those who simply do not believe in Him, but let us repent daily of the ways we obscure their vision of the real Him.

Consider these scriptures:

Romans 13:8-10 (note that I’m restating v.8 to show it’s full context!)“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”a and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. 

Ephesians 4:15-16
“SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”