Mark 10:1-12 People of the Way of Jesus 1/13/13 JK
Pharisees… there to TEST…
Commanded NOT to test God, yet they sought to do so…
“Is it lawful…?”
Always this concern about what is lawful and not…
Paul said, “All things are lawful… not all things are helpful…
All things are lawful, but not all things build up.”
I Cor. 10:23,24
Jesus gave them the whole history of Divorce…
God says “No”
God allowed it because of their “hardness of heart”
A man’s ticket out… sanction of his abandonment…
In Jesus’ time… women could do so on grounds of
adultery ONLY…
But STILL, marrying another is adultery…
Jesus gives the HARD LINE on the Law…
TO MAKE A POINT…
The Law, according to Paul,
When the basis by which one lives with God…
CONDEMNS US… our sinful nature precludes faithfulness
But we still try to do so…
Instead of embracing the GRACE OF JESUS
‘cuz someone we don’t like might get away with something…
So, we dance with the LAW…
But it is a jerky, inconsistent dance…
Sometimes leading, sometimes following…
It becomes a matter of doing JUST ENOUGH
Thus the question – “Is it lawful?” - looking for loopholes…
Doing just enough for the Law…
To sneak into righteousness…
To be just good enough…
10 Commandments become a check list/litmus test for
righteousness
Being Baptized and therefore having our ticket punched for life
Putting our time with butts on the pews, breathing sanctuary air,
and filling our redemption stamp book for salvation
Taking Holy Communion 1x a month, because that is the standard,
but ONLY that often, need not do it more…
when it is truly God’s Grace and needed DAILY…
Saying the “Sinner’s Prayer”, as if WITH IT, the deed is done,
a “guarantee” of salvation
or as if WITHOUT IT, my salvation is impossible for God –
a certainty of the Kingdom of God somehow… like “magic”
Doing JUST ENOUGH…
It is all about APPEARANCES
It is all about EXTERNALS
It is all about SURFACE LEVEL COMMITMENTS
Because it is always about doing JUST ENOUGH for MYSELF
It is SELF oriented… SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
SELF REDEMPTION, SELF SALVATION
Jesus does not ALLOW THAT…
It is about a GENUINE, DEEP LOVE for God
It is about and AUTHENTIC, ACTIVE, COMMITTED LOVE
for Neighbor (even enemy and stranger)
which Jesus EQUATES with love for God
It is about RELATIONSHIPS – Genuine and Authentic
which is NOT just about SELF, but about OTHER
Jesus throws out check-lists
Jesus ignores superficial rules and empty practices
Jesus breaks unhelpful laws that tear down people
Jesus exposes superficial treatments
Jesus blows apart unhealthy, unscrupulous motives
Jesus renders IMPOSSIBLE any notion of self-centered
Righteousness
Jesus calls us to a deep, abiding love for God… for Neighbor…
Jesus calls us to make it NOT about what is lawful,
but what is helpful and what builds up
Jesus calls us to an active, committed faith and love,
lived out in RELATIONSHIPS
with the recognition that our human relationships are a
PART OF our RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!
Jesus lifts up relationships!
Jesus lifts up hanging in there with commitments in faith, love!
Jesus makes it NOT merely about what is LAWFUL,
because being LAWFUL is NOT necessarily being FAITHFUL
or HELPFUL…
One can be lawful and sin… be lawful AND unrighteous …
No! Jesus says, ‘YES” to faithfulness in Agape Love…
Active Commitment on behalf, not JUST of self, but the
OTHER
As a genuine, authentic expression of Faith and Love in God!
It makes superficial laws irrelevant to faithfulness,
makes surface-level “religious practices” absurd
It makes LOVING and ACTIVE COMMITMENT that
changes and lifts up peoples’ lives the Standard of life with God
I want to live my life in Jesus more deeply, more authentically,
more genuinely, than a superficial keeping of law allows…
I want to live my life in Jesus in His GRACE… and live it with
others around me! I want to live it in His AGAPE LOVE…
and with others around me… THAT is helpful and builds up!!!
Doing "just enough" for MY SELF, will not do!!!!
Pharisees… there to TEST…
Commanded NOT to test God, yet they sought to do so…
“Is it lawful…?”
Always this concern about what is lawful and not…
Paul said, “All things are lawful… not all things are helpful…
All things are lawful, but not all things build up.”
I Cor. 10:23,24
Jesus gave them the whole history of Divorce…
God says “No”
God allowed it because of their “hardness of heart”
A man’s ticket out… sanction of his abandonment…
In Jesus’ time… women could do so on grounds of
adultery ONLY…
But STILL, marrying another is adultery…
Jesus gives the HARD LINE on the Law…
TO MAKE A POINT…
The Law, according to Paul,
When the basis by which one lives with God…
CONDEMNS US… our sinful nature precludes faithfulness
But we still try to do so…
Instead of embracing the GRACE OF JESUS
‘cuz someone we don’t like might get away with something…
So, we dance with the LAW…
But it is a jerky, inconsistent dance…
Sometimes leading, sometimes following…
It becomes a matter of doing JUST ENOUGH
Thus the question – “Is it lawful?” - looking for loopholes…
Doing just enough for the Law…
To sneak into righteousness…
To be just good enough…
10 Commandments become a check list/litmus test for
righteousness
Being Baptized and therefore having our ticket punched for life
Putting our time with butts on the pews, breathing sanctuary air,
and filling our redemption stamp book for salvation
Taking Holy Communion 1x a month, because that is the standard,
but ONLY that often, need not do it more…
when it is truly God’s Grace and needed DAILY…
Saying the “Sinner’s Prayer”, as if WITH IT, the deed is done,
a “guarantee” of salvation
or as if WITHOUT IT, my salvation is impossible for God –
a certainty of the Kingdom of God somehow… like “magic”
Doing JUST ENOUGH…
It is all about APPEARANCES
It is all about EXTERNALS
It is all about SURFACE LEVEL COMMITMENTS
Because it is always about doing JUST ENOUGH for MYSELF
It is SELF oriented… SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
SELF REDEMPTION, SELF SALVATION
Jesus does not ALLOW THAT…
It is about a GENUINE, DEEP LOVE for God
It is about and AUTHENTIC, ACTIVE, COMMITTED LOVE
for Neighbor (even enemy and stranger)
which Jesus EQUATES with love for God
It is about RELATIONSHIPS – Genuine and Authentic
which is NOT just about SELF, but about OTHER
Jesus throws out check-lists
Jesus ignores superficial rules and empty practices
Jesus breaks unhelpful laws that tear down people
Jesus exposes superficial treatments
Jesus blows apart unhealthy, unscrupulous motives
Jesus renders IMPOSSIBLE any notion of self-centered
Righteousness
Jesus calls us to a deep, abiding love for God… for Neighbor…
Jesus calls us to make it NOT about what is lawful,
but what is helpful and what builds up
Jesus calls us to an active, committed faith and love,
lived out in RELATIONSHIPS
with the recognition that our human relationships are a
PART OF our RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!
Jesus lifts up relationships!
Jesus lifts up hanging in there with commitments in faith, love!
Jesus makes it NOT merely about what is LAWFUL,
because being LAWFUL is NOT necessarily being FAITHFUL
or HELPFUL…
One can be lawful and sin… be lawful AND unrighteous …
No! Jesus says, ‘YES” to faithfulness in Agape Love…
Active Commitment on behalf, not JUST of self, but the
OTHER
As a genuine, authentic expression of Faith and Love in God!
It makes superficial laws irrelevant to faithfulness,
makes surface-level “religious practices” absurd
It makes LOVING and ACTIVE COMMITMENT that
changes and lifts up peoples’ lives the Standard of life with God
I want to live my life in Jesus more deeply, more authentically,
more genuinely, than a superficial keeping of law allows…
I want to live my life in Jesus in His GRACE… and live it with
others around me! I want to live it in His AGAPE LOVE…
and with others around me… THAT is helpful and builds up!!!
Doing "just enough" for MY SELF, will not do!!!!
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