therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. for i tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. [matthew 5:19-20]
there is a tension that followers of Jesus live in.
that tension exists between legalism and loose liberty in living life in a way that honors God.
many nonbelievers assume that christians live the way they do so they can get into heaven. this is legalism.
but matthew 5:20 clearly tells us that unless our righteousness is perfect (which ours isn’t), we will never get into heaven on our own. so, attempting to live a God honoring life can’t be just to earn our way into heaven.
others assume being a christian is signing up for a lifelong set of rules. sometimes in an attempt to view or portray the bible as something that isn’t rules and emphasize that grace abounds, christians will fall back into sin to prove this. this is loose liberty.
but matthew 5:19 clearly tells us that relaxing any of the commands of God and teaching others to do the same will not benefit us and will only hurt us and those around us.
there is a sweet spot in the middle. a life that aims to live in a manor that honors God and follows his commands because of how we have experienced his love and grace when we didn’t deserve it. this same life is one that knows that we will sin despite our best efforts and is quick to repent and receive grace and move on to continue following God.
take a time to reflect on your life. are there areas where you are leaning towards legalism or loose liberty?
galatians 5:1 says “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Christ has freed us from our slavery to sin and our slavery to legalism. we just get to be children of God, and live as ambassadors for him.
may we do that today.
amen.
~ john sandman