Liberty in the Law of God

It will surprise many to discover the liberty that God provides in His law.  The steady influence of semi-antinomianism has helped many to think of the law only as restrictive and therefore often something to be relegated to rarely useful in the life of a Christian.  People will often reference the restrictive nature of God’s law and over-emphasize their “freedom” in Christ.  Too often their freedom in Christ is misunderstood as freedom to do as they please.  The resulting feelings which appear as guilt and shame, and may actually be the gracious convicting power of the Holy Spirit, are pushed away as the “bad feelings” that come from the law.  We are free in Christ to obey God which is important because apart from the Holy Spirit we are prone only to disobey God.  True joy is only found in the obedience that freedom brings.  There are at least two positively liberating affirmations I would like to mention about the law of God.

The law of God is liberating in its protections.  As a loving Father, God cares enough about His children to tell them “no”.  Every time that God says “no” He is setting a protective barrier in the lives of His children.  He knows the destruction that sin will bring far better than we can know and so He sets up danger signs calling us away from that which destroys.  The Ten Commandments reveal this principle clearly.  Liberation is the introduction of the Commandments, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (Exodus 20:2)  This divine provision of freedom also provides a proper motivation of the obedience to the Law God expects of His people.  The divine acts of protection in the Law are at least the following.  To have any other gods would be to mislead a soul from the only God who can satisfy. (vs. 3)  To make a carved image would be to misrepresent the Creator in the form of a creation and prevent one from the fulfillment that only the one true God can provide. (vs. 4)  A falsification of God’s true identity would be the result of taking the LORD’s name in vain as well as falsifying that individual’s identity. (vs. 7)  If one is not even honest with himself then he certainly would not be helping himself.  The Sabbath is God’s gift of rest to mankind and to break it is to literally break oneself. (vs. 8)  These first four commandments deal with man’s relationship to God and to disobey them is to place oneself in bondage as it prohibits that which is best for man in personal fulfillment.  

The following six Commandments are also liberating in their restrictions.  The fractured relationships that would occur from breaking these commands is not good for anyone.  The love of neighbor expressed in the obedience to these laws helps to produce a healthy society where people can live freely with mutual respect and enjoy human flourishing.  To take away any of these Commandments is to take away the potential for enjoying the liberty the law provides.  A broken relationship that would come from dishonoring father and mother is a certain measure for misery. (vs. 12)  Murder causes so much pain not only in the life of the victim but also their family, society as a whole, and deep personal torment in the life of the assailant. (vs. 13)  Adultery brings a yoke of pain in relationships and to the conscience of the guilty party. (vs. 14)  It not only destroys the trust and intimacy of one relationship but also robs the adulterer of the pure joy God gives to those who practice marriage biblically.  Theft is a violation of the property rights of others but also steals personal liberty from the thief who spends his life hiding in the shadows always trying to not get caught. (vs. 15)  To bear false witness against one’s neighbor is not only to hurt another’s reputation but also to repetitively shackle the liar in telling more lies to cover up what has been said. (vs. 16)  The tenth Commandment fights against covetousness which produces a life always eluding the contentment God provides for those who are thankful for their own blessings. (vs. 17)  These last six commandments deal with man’s relationship to man and to disobey them is to miss that which is best for man in personal enjoyment.  

The law of God is liberating in its lack of restrictions.  An aspect of God’s law that often goes unnoticed is the freedom which is allowed in the shortage of prohibitions.  I focus primarily on a few of the Ten Commandments because of their prominence.  Consider the command to “not steal”.  It is a financially oriented command with the idea that one person does not take advantage of another person in their trading or robbing another of the opportunity for trade.  It requires consent in the transaction process.  This eighth Commandment certainly has application beyond commerce but it does provide a great deal of freedom in economic practice.  For example the law could have stated, “You shall only participate in financial transactions Monday through Thursday from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  And you shall provide a socialistic or communistic form of economics.  And you shall charge a 15% transaction fee on all financial exchanges.”  The list could go on ad nauseum but this helps illustrate the bondage God could have placed on the people through the Law.  Instead He just says, “Do not steal.”  You are free to operate in a vast multitude of ways financially but don’t steal from anyone.  J.A. Motyer adds clarity, “The Ten Commandments is the Bible’s fundamental statement of ‘the law of liberty’... a negative command is far more liberating than a positive one, for a positive command restricts life to that one course of action, whereas a negative command leaves life open to every course of action except one!”

  For further clarity we might consider the First Commandment, “you shall have no other gods”.  A libertarian freedom is found in the negation of how “not” to worship.  The following commands give further instruction regarding how “not” to worship.  We are not to make carved images of God nor are we to take His name in vain.  But consider the amount of freedom in worship with what is not said.  God did not say you must worship Me only in a highly liturgical format while wearing flip-flops with your hands in your pockets while you hum one particular song.  You get the point.  There are a variety of ways God can be properly worshipped.  Of course the New Testament explains we should worship Him in “spirit and truth” (John 4:24) but in Exodus it is the liberating command to worship Him and “have no other gods”. (Exodus 20:3)  This is a law of liberty. 

Creating a Culture of Evangelism

Part 9

1.   All Church Staff Must Be Evangelistic - certainly it is true that we are all gifted differently but every Christian must be engaged in leading others to Christ.  Any person on the staff of a church should be courageous enough to share their faith in Jesus with others.  If they are not, go find some lost people and help them get saved and let them serve in some position on staff.  New believers are zealous about Christ and have not grown comfortably numb in a church bubble.  They will not yet have been around enough lifeless presentation of Christianity to know any better (worse) but to tell others about Jesus.  Every staff member (or if a smaller church get every leader) must be engaged in the work of evangelism throughout their daily lives.  Empower them to be intentional.  Equip them to be effective.  Challenge them to always be considerate of this most important task.  I once heard of a pastor of a large church who would close down the office on certain days of the week at 3:00 in the afternoon.  On those days at 3:00 all of the church staff would join him in making door to door visits throughout their community.  Every single person on staff would follow the pastor in engaging the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have not been able to confirm the story but it sure is a good example of how every church staff should function.  
2.   Utilize Personal Meetings - always be inviting people to get together and visit.  Don’t leave it open with a “we need to get together soon”.  Take the initiative and schedule it on your calendar immediately.  Ministry is people.  Spending personal time with people is effective ministry.  Show them how much you care with your time and your attentive compassion.  Jesus was always spending time with people.  He eats with His disciples, attends weddings, interacts with multitudes, visits the sick.  Jesus did have His times of solitude but most of what we know about Him is time among the people, and they loved Him for it.  A wise pastor will get out of the office and into the field of ministry.  Meet someone for lunch almost every day.  Meet for coffee.  Meet for ice cream or yogurt.  Go to people’s homes to visit.  Pray for them during these meetings.  Listen to their struggles.  Share in their victories.  Richard Baxter once said that some of his most productive sermon preparation time was time spent visiting the people.  How else can you know their struggles?  How else can you rejoice in their victories?  Always let personal meetings be gospel-centered whether meeting with church members or lost people.  Talk about Jesus and He will use you to lead others to salvation and eternal life.  

Thoughts from a Church Planting Roundtable Discussion:

What have been your greatest struggles?

• The Temptation to Quit - planting a church is harder than anyone could ever imagine.
• The Assimilation of Other Ethnicities into a New Culture - one important role of the pastor of a church from another ethnic background is helping his people function in commerce and education in their new culture.
• Obtaining Facilities that Communicate Stability in Our Culture - it is hard to communicate stability in our society while meeting in a house or even a store front yet land and buildings are so expensive.  It is especially difficult for a new church with little money in areas where real estate is so incredibly expensive.
• Establishing Leaders - biblical leaders do not appear immediately but must be built and this takes time.  

How can we help each other in these struggles?

• Encouragement - we must be relational with other pastors/church planters.  Everybody needs a Barnabas.  We need each other, you cannot do it alone.  This relationship must include random phone calls just to check in on one another.  Personal visits are a must and email alone is not sufficient.  We must be in mutually edifying friendships with other pastors/planters with whom we may share our struggles and celebrate our successes.     
• Assimilation - the local pastor can utilize relationships through the local association for the sake of networking to help church members connect with others.  We have people in the churches who can assist our brothers and sisters in Christ to get jobs, transportation, education and anything else they need.  The resources they need are in the relationships to be built.  
• Working Ahead - one way to help with facilities is to do what may be called “over-seeding” by working with churches that have been experiencing decline.  It is prudent to be a blessing to these churches by allowing them the privilege of continuing the kingdom work through a newer congregation.  It simultaneously blesses the new church by helping provide facilities for their outreach and meetings.  The discussion must begin with caution in order to not offend the declining congregation.  One effective way of beginning this relationship has been for a pastor to simply call the pastors in the area to see if a joint effort may be possible.  This type of over-seeding will often require crossing denominational barriers and each congregation must decide the details of their cooperation.  It is best to approach this relationship with a spirit of serving the congregation.  Whatever could be done to help the people.  Possibly providing some maintenance or visitation and maybe gathering for some joint worship services.  It will help for the church to truly be a part of the new missions effort.  The purchasing of property is such a challenge that we should also be considering the   possibilities of buying land in projected growth areas.  The land would now be affordable and could be found by consulting future development maps in many parts of the DFW metroplex.  When the population growth comes to these areas we would already have property for new churches which would be of great assistance.
• Leaders - we all know the disappointment of investing in another only to see them fall away or be moved elsewhere.  Sometimes those who are closest to us end up hurting us the worst.  We should love and build them up anyway.  Building leaders takes time and hard work.  Everyone falls, including me.  Just as Jesus picks me up and helps me keep going, so I can also do with others.  It is important to not be in a hurry to place people in positions of influence.  We must follow the exhortation of Paul to Timothy, “do not lay hands on anyone hastily.” (1 Timothy 5:22)  It must always be the intentional priority of the church planting pastor to train leaders.  “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  (2 Timothy 2:2)