Some part of us always wants our ability under the law to be just as important (or more) than grace.
As much as I believe grace is the bigger word, the more important word, the more impactful word from God, the "law" word, matters. It is an important and integral part of our faith. It is the place-setter for the dynamic law/gospel dualism found in all of Scripture.
The law is the fuse in which grace explodes into our lives. It is the ticking time bomb that counts down to only one solution.
"Grace Saves"
BOOM!
After all that build-up, that bomb goes off, and faith explodes into our hearts and minds. When we are at the end of our rope, and sin's presence and power feel overwhelming, God's gospel announces that something (and someone) greater than our obedience saves us. Something bigger than our best ability does the heavy lifting. The gospel teaches us that it's the power of grace that cleanses us from within. It's grace that leads us to peace.
And yet, the law still absolutely matters.
I don't think we just ignore the law. We don't look at God's commands and toss them aside like moldy leftovers, unworthy of a taste. There are too many instructions throughout Scripture to encourage us towards a better way to live for our own good and for the good of our family and neighbors to ignore. Solid truth that reminds us to love and serve others out of a grateful heart. The law reminds us what is good for society as a whole.
Despite all of those good things, the law will always come back to the ticking bomb, that fuse burning down to the TNT of grace.
Why?
Because of our struggle to obey. Because of our struggle to relish in our ability to obey. Because within our corruptible flesh, there will always exist the nearly dead legalist, trying to resurrect themselves in a boot-strap-like fashion. Part of us wants the law to justify us, to give us our legs back, to put strength back in our bodies. Some part of us always wants our ability under the law to be just as important (or more) than grace. This is why people make that point repeatedly, of grace not being an excuse to sin. We love it when that "paid for by Christ" stamp is slapped over our sins. But when everyone's looking the other way, we slap our own little sticker of "kept paid by law" right on top.
…so the clock ticks on...the fuse burns a bit shorter.
As much as the law is a curb for society and a guide for our personal living, its most important job is that it will always accuse us. It has to.
How do I know this is its primary job? As much as the law is a curb for society, those laws still get broken, even by Christians—the same thing with our personal living. We fail; we fall short. It doesn't mean the law is bad or we shouldn't heed its call for better. It just means none of us totally heed that call. We all fall short; we all sin, and if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). There is your plumb line for faith. True faith knows that as good as it is to follow the law, we won't. At least, not completely.
…and the clock ticks on ….the fuse burns a bit shorter.
When the law reaches critical mass and explodes as it does over and again throughout our lives, grace is there to remind you God loves you despite this. He loves you through this. He loves you past this. Even if you have a more evolved understanding of grace and know God loves you past all of it, that internal law-keeper in us loves to tell us that we are forgiven, but we should still feel overwhelmed with guilt. We did do a bad thing after all.
This is the trap I tend to find myself in more times than not. I get the concept of grace. I love to talk about it and remind people of it. But guilt is another trap. Overwhelming, unrelenting guilt of sin is just more justification by the law: "Look how I treat myself because of my sin. See how I give myself the guilt that I deserve. Now I am truly worthy because of my unrelenting guilt."
This is still my most current and constant battle in my life.
I think men especially need to hear this grace bomb after the law ticks down to zero. Men, by nature, are work-oriented creatures, building our reputations on the outside for people to see. Why? Because Christian or not, we tend to want people to see we are men of integrity and good fortitude. Pride is often our ally in this. Pride works to mask our flaws and our limitations. Pride hopes to convince people we've got this life thing down. Yet all of it - our works and our pride - is filthy rags. Not because integrity is bad or living decent lives is not good for society. But because as much as we know we shouldn't, we've all suffered from "long-arm syndrome." At times, we've made a point of patting ourselves on the back for our greatness, even sounding humble doing it.
But when we are honest, we know integrity, pride, and even guilt can't solve our problems. When we are honest, our thoughts betray us.
Tick...Tick…BOOM!
Listen to me again. The law is good. It is helpful in many ways. But it will always be the most helpful when we recognize that it periodically ticks down to zero as we are reminded once more that we couldn't fully keep the law and yet God saves us anyway. That explosion of grace changes us. That grace is now the driving force of good. The explosion of grace means the law has stopped ticking and we are at last free to serve, love, and live.
Despite my going on, someone addressed this better than I, someone with greater authority. The Apostle Paul does this in Romans 7:7-24. This wasn't brand new Paul. This is Paul many years in. This is Paul speaking present tense words, telling us of his present tense struggles, which is the Christian struggle that is in all of life. A right up-to-the-end struggle. This is the constant ticking of the law.
And here is Paul's grace "explosion":
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Rom. 7:25-8:2)
As much as I love the law for being a help to society and to me in a more personal way, I love it the most when it leads me to the cross. When it leads to Christ. When the bomb goes off, the "you did or did not do" is replaced with the relieving announcement, "well done."
Now I can serve and love with less worry and fear, with less…me. At least for a little while.
Until…
Tick…Tick…BOOM!
