Anti Legalism Not Anti-Law

Legalism is trying to achieve right standing before God through keeping the rules of the law (the do's and don'ts of the first five books of the Bible). And as Christians, we are anti legalism. We believe we have right standing before God by his grace through our faith in Jesus, not by keeping the rules of the law. Ephesians 2:8-9 says "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift of God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it." But just because we are anti legalism, doesn't mean we are anti law.

The law of God is a mirror of sorts, showing us our sinful state. Through the mirror of God's law we see that we are sinners and under the curse of the law. But you cannot wash your face with a mirror! Cleansing can only come through the water of God's grace through our faith in Christ. But just because the mirror of God's law cannot cleanse from sin, doesn't mean it's not profitable for other things.

On the contrary, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Remember that when Paul wrote this he was thinking of the Old Testament, because at this time the New Testament had not yet been compiled. Based on this verse we see that the law still has value to instruct and inform (instruct us in God's truths and inform us of God's ways). Just because the law cannot help us obtain right standing before God, doesn't mean it has no value at all.

The law was never given as a means of salvation. It was given to reveal sin and show sinners their need for grace and to instruct and inform God's people on what to believe and how to best live their lives. Look at Deuteronomy 6:24, "The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today." The law cannot save from sin, but it was given for our prosperity and preservation. Or look at Deuteronomy 10:12-13, "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?" The law can't save from sin, but it was given for our good!

I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to cast off something that was intended for my prosperity, my preservation and for my good! We are not bound to the letter of the law, but as we read the Old Testament we should invite the Holy Spirit to teach us the spirit of the law. Remember, while the law cannot cleanse us of sin, it still has value to instruct and inform.

Here's just one example of what that would look like. Leviticus 13:4 and 13:31 both teach that if an Old Testament Jew had an infectious skin disease, he was to remain outside the camp for seven days. Remember, in those times they were traveling through the desert, so outside the camp simply meant “away from everybody else”. Now obviously, today, if you have some kind of contagious infection, you aren’t legalistically bound to climb up a mountain and live in isolation for seven days away from everyone else. You don’t have to follow the letter of the law. But following the spirit of the law, you might want to stay home from work if you’re sick so that you don’t get others sick. Or if your kids are sick you might want to not bring them to church, so they don’t get the other kids sick.

So in summary...Legalism is trying to earn salvation by keeping the law. As Christians we are anti legalism, because salvation is by grace through faith. But while we are anti legalism, we are not anti law. Just because the law of God cannot obtain us right standing with God, doesn't mean it has no value whatsoever. The law was given for our prosperity, our preservation and our good. When we read it we aren't bound to the letter of the law, but we'd be wise to invite the Holy Spirit to show us the spirit of the law, because the law still has value in instructing us in God's truths and informing us of God's ways. The law can't save us, but that doesn't mean it's not still useful (2 Timothy 3:16-17) for other things.

The Power of Perspective

If you were standing at the bottom of a skyscraper looking up, the thing would appear huge! And if you were flying at 30,000 feet in an airplane looking down on the skyscraper that same skyscraper would appear very tiny. It all depends on your perspective.

When you are overwhelmed with problems and trouble, what you need is some perspective. I don't know about you, but I have the tendency to feel as though what I'm going through is the end of the world. The truth is: it's not. And nothing can help you realize that more than a healthy dose of perspective. So how do you get perspective? Here's three suggestions:

1) Make a list. I recently made a list all the things that were overwhelming me. By making a list I tend to find that the number of problems really aren't as many as I think. Writing them down helps me to see that. This immediately helps me start feeling better.

2) Focus on someone who is going through more than you are. One time when I was overwhelmed by problems I started thinking about a biography I read by former President George W. Bush. On his list of problems was 9/11, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the AIDS epidemic, etc. When I compared his list with my list I immediately felt lest stressed.

3) Spend some time in prayer. When we deal with problems on our own, we are at the bottom of the skyscraper looking up at the huge problem. When we pray, we are flying in a plane looking down on a tiny problem. Why? Because when we pray God gives us his perspective. And from where he is sitting all the problems look tiny.

Our problems are often much smaller than we make them out to be. So next time you're feeling overwhelmed, try and get some perspective. It's powerful and I know it will help.

Interview with Rick Warren

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD..

Five Reasons to Plan In Advance

"Somebody pays the price for the sermon. The preacher will pay the price of advanced planning or the people will pay the price of wasted time."

Five Reasons to Plan In Advance

1. Stress and anxiety are significantly reduced and you become a better teacher

2. It becomes possible to integrate other areas of your church in with the weekend services when you know what you're preaching on in advance (i.e. preach on the value of small groups prior to growth group sign ups, preach on water baptism prior to scheduled water baptisms, preaching on serving prior to a ministry fair, etc.)

3. You can be more creative with worship and promotion when you know which message series is coming months in advance. Your dance team, drama team and/or worship team can't coordinate complimentary elements to the worship service the night before.

4. Planning in advance helps you to balance your preaching calendar around the five purposes of the church (evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, and ministry). Unless you have an intentional plan to balance your preaching calendar, you'll lean towards the purpose you are most passionate about and place a greater emphasis on that purpose to the neglect of the other purposes.

5. Many churches no longer have a Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night service. Many churches now only have Sunday morning service and then the midweek growth group. Since you're only preaching a maximum of fifty two sermons a year, you have to be strategic with what you preach. This requires advanced planning.

Planning and the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit can direct your preaching calendar just as clearly a year in advance as He can the day before. Saying you don't want to plan in advance because that takes the Holy Spirit out of the equation is often an excuse for laziness. Planning in advance gives the Holy Spirit a greater opportunity to work in your preparation than if you wait till the last minute. Planning in advance is preparing in faith.