WEBVTT 00:00:06.183 --> 00:00:07.387 Phenomenal, phenomenal. 00:00:07.387 --> 00:00:10.929 I love the story that Grace shared there. 00:00:10.929 --> 00:00:13.067 What a powerful reminder. 00:00:13.067 --> 00:00:30.176 You know, maybe for you it wasn't athletics, but I think in some way, shape or form, we can all relate to that sense of placing an identity, our identity, our worth, and something other than God. 00:00:30.176 --> 00:00:32.783 For me it was sports. 00:00:32.823 --> 00:00:42.309 I grew up playing football and for a long time my goal was to make it to the NFL and obviously that didn't happen because I'm here right now. 00:00:42.309 --> 00:00:48.232 I went close to that and it became clear pretty quickly that that was not going to be in my future. 00:00:48.232 --> 00:00:49.302 Actually, I take that back. 00:00:49.302 --> 00:00:59.173 My first goal was the NBA, but when you're six foot two and you can't jump and you play the center position on your high school team, that dream dies really quickly. 00:00:59.173 --> 00:01:02.228 And then from there it became the NFL and that dream died too. 00:01:02.228 --> 00:01:07.272 And here's the thing, here's what I know now, that I didn't know then. 00:01:07.272 --> 00:01:22.246 If God had allowed me to achieve at the level in the athletic arena that I wanted to, I would have gotten really prideful, like you couldn't have been in, you wouldn't have been able to be in the room with me, I would have thought I was something. 00:01:22.246 --> 00:01:47.152 And the reality is, I think God allowed me to experience some of what I experienced in athletics the difficulties, the hardships, the trials to show me that there's a bigger story at play, and what I was in danger of in that moment, growing up, was giving my life to chasing after a shadow, something that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. 00:01:47.152 --> 00:01:49.380 Athletics isn't a bad thing, it's a great thing. 00:01:49.380 --> 00:01:54.172 Chasing a career a career is not a bad thing. 00:01:54.172 --> 00:01:58.370 Chasing after a number in a bank account it's not a bad thing. 00:01:58.370 --> 00:01:58.990 To have money. 00:01:58.990 --> 00:02:07.509 Giving all your time and energy and effort into building a business or building a family A business is not a bad thing, A family is a great thing. 00:02:07.509 --> 00:02:18.971 But anything less than Jesus is a shadow, and good things make bad gods. 00:02:18.971 --> 00:02:24.300 And that's where we're at today in this story of the path. 00:02:24.820 --> 00:02:31.548 We were at the point in this series in Colossians where, like I'm starting to lose Colossians one and two from my Bible, it's starting to fall out. 00:02:31.548 --> 00:02:33.400 We've been in this series now all summer long. 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:40.331 The nine o'clock did not think that was amusing either, so I don't know what that means either, but I don't know. 00:02:40.331 --> 00:02:53.213 I don't know my position's in Christ, thank goodness, because my jokes are bad, but we're at the point in this series where Paul is going to get really practical about what it means to be a Christian. 00:02:53.213 --> 00:02:56.229 And that's a great question, is it not? 00:02:56.229 --> 00:02:58.360 Like, all right, our faith is in Christ? 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:03.360 Last week, we talked about how now, because of Jesus, we are positionally in Christ. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:05.227 Our life is hidden. 00:03:05.227 --> 00:03:07.175 With His, we are no longer our own. 00:03:07.175 --> 00:03:08.400 We were bought with a price. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:14.073 It's not about our performance, it's about what Jesus has done on our behalf. 00:03:14.073 --> 00:03:20.400 Like that's where we're at in the story, and now Paul wants us to get practical and answer the question. 00:03:20.963 --> 00:03:23.340 Okay, now, what does it mean to be a Christian? 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:25.379 And that's a great question. 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:42.093 And it's a question that if you ask a hundred people what it means to be a Christian, you might get a hundred different answers Depending on background and what denomination someone grew up in or whether or not they even have faith in Jesus. 00:03:42.093 --> 00:03:59.891 If you ask someone who believes in Jesus and is following Jesus what it means to be a Christian, and then you ask someone who doesn't believe in Jesus and follow Jesus, but only knows about Christianity, you're going to get very different answers as to what it means to be a Christian. 00:03:59.891 --> 00:04:10.962 But there's a chance, a good chance, I would say that a lot of the answers are going to have to do with a list, and what I mean by that? 00:04:11.022 --> 00:04:21.654 For a lot of people, their perception, perspective of Christianity, is that it, at the core, boils down to a list of do's and don'ts. 00:04:21.654 --> 00:04:25.346 Here's what you should do, here's what you shouldn't do. 00:04:25.346 --> 00:04:34.269 Y'all are wondering what I'm going to say next with this, and to an extent it's true. 00:04:34.269 --> 00:04:35.985 And Paul gets there. 00:04:35.985 --> 00:04:38.399 The next two weeks, that's what we're going to talk about. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:46.426 Paul says hey, now that you're a follower of Christ and you're a new creation, there's a list of shouldn'ts and there's a list of shoulds. 00:04:46.426 --> 00:04:57.622 But before we get there, paul says I want you to know that to follow Christ is to walk in freedom At its core. 00:04:58.344 --> 00:05:00.990 Following Jesus means freedom. 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:10.312 It means freedom, and the question that we're going to ask and hopefully answer today is what does this freedom look like? 00:05:10.312 --> 00:05:30.594 Because there's a very real risk for the church in Colossae 2,000 years ago that Paul's addressing, that the church was going to replace the freedom they'd been given by Jesus with the weight of expectations and law that they could not live up to. 00:05:30.594 --> 00:05:46.084 And I think, if we're honest in our day and time, some of us are at risk of doing the same thing, taking a relationship with Jesus by grace, through faith, and replacing it with a list of do's and don'ts. 00:05:46.084 --> 00:05:52.495 And the reality is that following Jesus is so much more than a list. 00:05:52.495 --> 00:05:58.096 Following Jesus is so much better than just a list. 00:05:58.096 --> 00:06:04.437 It's about a relationship with the life-giving, resurrected Son of God. 00:06:04.964 --> 00:06:15.935 And so, with that in mind, paul says in Colossians, chapter 2, verse 16, he says Therefore, because you're now in Christ, he's your Savior and your Lord. 00:06:15.935 --> 00:06:17.851 Your life is hidden in Him. 00:06:17.851 --> 00:06:26.334 Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:06:26.334 --> 00:06:29.304 These are but a shadow of the things to come. 00:06:29.304 --> 00:06:34.594 Don't chase shadows, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:06:34.594 --> 00:06:53.491 Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by His sensuous mind, not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God. 00:06:53.491 --> 00:07:02.253 If, with Christ, you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? 00:07:02.253 --> 00:07:09.971 Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teaching. 00:07:09.971 --> 00:07:23.837 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 00:07:23.837 --> 00:07:41.596 Father, we pray as we open your word together, that, god, you would cut through human wisdom, that you would cut through the narratives of our past, the weight of expectation, the pressures of life, the chains of shame and guilt and regret. 00:07:41.596 --> 00:07:46.073 Father, that your voice would be louder than anything else in our life. 00:07:46.073 --> 00:07:56.933 Father, help us today to see your word, to see the beauty in your word and, father, to see Christ through the pages of Scripture. 00:07:56.933 --> 00:08:02.505 We love you, we thank you, we're grateful today in Jesus' name, and everybody says Amen. 00:08:02.505 --> 00:08:08.616 So I want to talk this morning about the relationship between grace and law. 00:08:08.616 --> 00:08:12.375 This is what Paul is getting at here in Colossians, chapter 2. 00:08:12.375 --> 00:08:17.836 He's addressing a very real scenario that's happening in the church at Colossae. 00:08:17.836 --> 00:08:30.378 We talked the last few weeks about the false teaching that had risen up from within the church and we get a little more clarity in this passage today about the nature of this false teaching. 00:08:30.378 --> 00:08:40.677 He wants us to do a little Bible study this morning to talk about what is going on 2000 years ago and then we're going to apply it to us today to see how we can walk in freedom. 00:08:40.677 --> 00:08:41.870 That sound good to you guys? 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:44.182 Fantastic, you all are awesome. 00:08:44.182 --> 00:08:45.268 I love it. 00:08:45.268 --> 00:08:46.970 So here's what Paul says. 00:08:46.970 --> 00:08:53.927 There are three elements, or three components, to the false teaching that's happening in Colossae. 00:08:53.927 --> 00:09:03.409 The first element is this believers are being told that their salvation is dependent on their keeping of the law. 00:09:03.409 --> 00:09:04.553 How do we know? 00:09:04.553 --> 00:09:06.447 Well, colossians 2.16. 00:09:06.447 --> 00:09:17.096 Paul says Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:09:17.096 --> 00:09:31.853 What he's saying is that what's happening in Colossae, there are teachers that, as people are coming to faith in Christ, they're receiving forgiveness for their sin, they're being freed to walk in new life. 00:09:31.853 --> 00:09:39.327 There's other teachings that are coming out saying to these Christians okay, that's great, you know Jesus. 00:09:39.327 --> 00:09:42.793 Now here's what else you need to do. 00:09:42.793 --> 00:09:48.173 Y'all like those fried shrimp, y'all eating bacon, egg and cheese biscuits. 00:09:48.173 --> 00:09:55.572 Y'all got to cut it out because we don't eat shrimp, we don't eat bacon, egg and cheese biscuits. 00:09:55.684 --> 00:09:56.951 Think back to the Old Testament, right? 00:09:56.951 --> 00:09:58.771 God gave his people rules. 00:09:58.771 --> 00:09:59.929 He gave them the law. 00:09:59.929 --> 00:10:02.656 There were 10 to start with, and then he added some more. 00:10:02.656 --> 00:10:16.626 And then, over time, the religious leaders added layer upon layer upon layer and suddenly what started this 10 became 600 plus laws and regulations that the Hebrew people, the Israelites, the Jewish people were supposed to keep. 00:10:17.485 --> 00:10:23.707 And what is happening in Colossae is people are saying to the church okay, you've got faith in Jesus. 00:10:23.707 --> 00:10:25.312 Amazing, now keep the law. 00:10:25.312 --> 00:10:29.432 And they'd never been Jewish a day in their life. 00:10:29.432 --> 00:10:37.016 But now they're being crushed under this expectation, this pressure that they are now supposed to keep the law to. 00:10:37.016 --> 00:10:47.515 And you imagine if you came to church and you gave your life to Jesus and you were baptized, or you joined the church, and the next thing we said was okay, fantastic, no more bacon. 00:10:47.515 --> 00:10:49.548 You'd be like well, what do we do? 00:10:49.548 --> 00:10:52.732 Right, this is not what I thought this was about. 00:10:52.732 --> 00:10:54.290 I can't eat shrimp any longer. 00:10:54.290 --> 00:10:56.951 Why are we going back to that? 00:10:56.951 --> 00:10:59.312 But this is what's happening. 00:10:59.312 --> 00:11:07.709 They're being told that in order to be right with God, they've got to keep the law, in addition to their faith in Jesus. 00:11:07.709 --> 00:11:09.434 But not just about food and drink. 00:11:09.434 --> 00:11:10.870 It's about festivals as well. 00:11:10.870 --> 00:11:16.155 All these celebrations, these holidays you've never celebrated a day before in your life. 00:11:16.155 --> 00:11:22.489 You got to celebrate them now, and your Sabbath day has to be on Saturday these new moon celebrations. 00:11:22.489 --> 00:11:24.514 You got to keep those too. 00:11:24.514 --> 00:11:28.409 But not only is it about law. 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:39.336 Paul is also addressing this teaching that there's a higher level of spiritual revelation available to the church. 00:11:39.336 --> 00:11:41.549 So, yeah, okay, that's amazing. 00:11:41.549 --> 00:11:42.689 You came to faith in Jesus. 00:11:42.689 --> 00:11:44.870 Now you know Jesus is Savior. 00:11:44.870 --> 00:11:46.014 But there's more. 00:11:46.014 --> 00:11:47.466 There's more. 00:11:47.466 --> 00:12:02.975 You can actually worship angels too, and when you worship angels, you're going to get this new level of mystical knowledge that's withheld only for people who reach a certain stage of their spiritual growth. 00:12:02.975 --> 00:12:05.348 You see what's happening, right? 00:12:05.348 --> 00:12:14.506 So it's the pressure of law and it's also oh, once you achieve this level of spirituality, then there's more knowledge available. 00:12:15.465 --> 00:12:30.177 But not only that, there's also this leveling of asceticism that's happening, which simply means they're being told that you've got to self-deny to the point of starving your flesh. 00:12:30.177 --> 00:12:34.798 You got any natural desire that you have. 00:12:34.798 --> 00:12:36.687 You've got to cut it off because the flesh is bad. 00:12:36.687 --> 00:12:45.805 And Paul's like why are you going back to that In Christ? 00:12:45.805 --> 00:13:04.966 Paul's message is simply this if in Christ you died verse 20, if with Christ you died, then why are you putting yourself under a weight that Jesus died to lift from your shoulders? 00:13:04.966 --> 00:13:11.158 Like, why are you trying to earn your place when Jesus died to give you your place? 00:13:11.158 --> 00:13:13.236 This is Paul's question. 00:13:13.236 --> 00:13:17.069 Like you've died, you've received the fullness of Christ. 00:13:17.069 --> 00:13:19.939 Like the fullness of God dwelt in him. 00:13:19.939 --> 00:13:23.448 There's no more special revelation beyond Jesus, right? 00:13:23.448 --> 00:13:24.828 Like that's Paul's point. 00:13:24.828 --> 00:13:26.509 Like, why are you praying to angels? 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:30.309 You've got the resurrected son of God filling your life. 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:35.298 His spirit is within you, and not only that. 00:13:35.298 --> 00:13:41.136 But why are you starving your flesh from gifts that God has given you? 00:13:41.136 --> 00:13:42.490 Right? 00:13:42.530 --> 00:13:48.399 My father-in-law's favorite chapter in the Bible is when Peter is told arise, kill and eat. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:55.678 Right, what a great day that was for all of us who like bacon and shrimp, right? 00:13:55.678 --> 00:13:56.713 That's amazing. 00:13:56.713 --> 00:13:58.211 It's Paul's like. 00:13:58.211 --> 00:14:00.257 It's not about that. 00:14:00.257 --> 00:14:04.894 It's not about the food or the drink, it's about Christ. 00:14:04.894 --> 00:14:06.439 It's about Christ. 00:14:06.549 --> 00:14:15.419 Paul's message, paul's response, and as a response to this legalistic teaching, is hey, you've encountered the fullness of God in bodily form. 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:17.514 His name is Jesus. 00:14:17.514 --> 00:14:24.097 Everything that you need to be right with God was accomplished by Jesus on the cross. 00:14:24.097 --> 00:14:28.516 You don't add to it, you can't take away from it. 00:14:28.516 --> 00:14:38.620 Like he's done it all and by grace, through faith, you enter into this life-giving relationship with Jesus. 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:51.218 Paul says the goal of faith is that we would be nourished from the head as we hold fast to Christ, who's in charge of this whole thing, that the whole body would be nourished and knit together. 00:14:51.218 --> 00:14:52.894 That's the picture. 00:14:52.894 --> 00:15:02.163 Meanwhile, you've got this church at Colossae that is infiltrated by this false teaching. 00:15:02.163 --> 00:15:06.621 They're crushed under the pressure of law and expectations. 00:15:06.621 --> 00:15:20.215 They're being told that you can't do this and you can't do that, you can't eat, that You've got to kill all the desires on the inside of you, and they are being buried under the weight of religious legalism. 00:15:20.215 --> 00:15:28.476 Faith for the church at Colossae, paul, is worried that it's going to be reduced to this list of do's and don'ts. 00:15:28.476 --> 00:15:34.260 In Paul's message is Jesus died to set you free. 00:15:34.260 --> 00:15:39.699 Jesus came to give you life, and life to the full. 00:15:40.529 --> 00:15:43.360 Now this raises a question for us today. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:51.739 What then, is our relationship as Christians to the law, or to the old covenant, or, to put it really clearly, to the Old Testament? 00:15:51.739 --> 00:15:54.698 How do we read the Old Testament? 00:15:54.698 --> 00:15:56.736 Well, I thought the Old Testament was good. 00:15:56.736 --> 00:15:59.957 I thought the law is a good thing. 00:15:59.957 --> 00:16:01.914 Right, that's like God gave it. 00:16:01.914 --> 00:16:03.894 It's in my Bible, isn't that good? 00:16:03.894 --> 00:16:08.600 Well, 1 Timothy 1, verse eight, paul says the law is good. 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:16.119 We know Paul says that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. 00:16:16.119 --> 00:16:31.038 So then the question becomes okay, well, how do we use the Old Testament lawfully and not allow it to become a list of do's and don'ts, a weight that we place back on our shoulders when we're supposed to be walking in freedom? 00:16:31.038 --> 00:16:34.179 I wanna talk about that question just for a moment today. 00:16:34.269 --> 00:16:37.379 Well, what is the point now of the Old Testament? 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:40.718 What's the message, the story of the Old Testament? 00:16:40.718 --> 00:16:42.857 What does it mean for us today? 00:16:42.857 --> 00:16:49.515 I would summarize the Old Testament like this God is holy. 00:16:49.515 --> 00:16:51.533 Why do we have the law? 00:16:51.533 --> 00:16:58.838 Because God's holy and his bar, his standard, is really really high. 00:16:58.838 --> 00:17:02.478 We know the law is good if one uses it lawfully. 00:17:02.478 --> 00:17:03.813 Why does God give the law? 00:17:03.813 --> 00:17:09.158 To show us the standard that God requires for relationship with his people. 00:17:09.158 --> 00:17:11.735 You wanna be right with God. 00:17:11.735 --> 00:17:14.775 Paul says later on be holy, be perfect. 00:17:14.775 --> 00:17:19.476 It's God's perfect right, high bar, high standard. 00:17:19.476 --> 00:17:20.816 That's the point of the law. 00:17:20.816 --> 00:17:23.057 God's bar is really really high. 00:17:23.330 --> 00:17:26.919 Now, the story of the Old Testament is that people are broken. 00:17:26.919 --> 00:17:38.294 God's holy and people are broken, no matter how hard Israel tries, how many laws they layer upon layer upon layer, the law that God has given. 00:17:38.294 --> 00:17:39.859 Can Israel be right with God? 00:17:39.859 --> 00:17:45.422 No, over and over and over, israel falls short. 00:17:45.422 --> 00:17:47.916 People fail, people falter. 00:17:47.916 --> 00:17:49.872 So God is holy. 00:17:49.872 --> 00:17:52.540 We are broken, we are sinful. 00:17:52.540 --> 00:17:54.133 We need a hero. 00:17:54.133 --> 00:17:56.937 That's the message of the Old Testament. 00:17:56.937 --> 00:17:59.498 We need a hero. 00:17:59.498 --> 00:18:06.618 We need somebody who can step in and bridge the gap between broken people and a holy God. 00:18:06.618 --> 00:18:13.939 And if there's a promise in the Old Testament, the promise of the Old Testament is this the hero is on the way. 00:18:13.939 --> 00:18:16.917 And isn't that good news for all of us today? 00:18:16.917 --> 00:18:21.421 You know, this changes how we read the Old Testament. 00:18:21.421 --> 00:18:21.897 It really does. 00:18:22.690 --> 00:18:26.321 I think about for a moment the story of David and Goliath. 00:18:26.321 --> 00:18:28.173 Okay, david and Goliath, you grew up in church. 00:18:28.173 --> 00:18:28.836 You know the story. 00:18:28.836 --> 00:18:30.296 If you don't, here's a little background. 00:18:30.296 --> 00:18:36.519 David was a shepherd hanging out in the field, right, keeping watch over the sheep, doing what he's supposed to do. 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:40.518 All of a sudden, the prophet comes to David and says hey, you're actually not gonna be a shepherd forever. 00:18:40.518 --> 00:18:43.997 You're gonna be the king of Israel, but it's gonna take you a while to get there. 00:18:43.997 --> 00:18:45.476 In the meantime, just keep shepherding. 00:18:45.476 --> 00:18:46.513 And so David does. 00:18:46.513 --> 00:18:50.439 And until one day David is tasked by his father. 00:18:50.439 --> 00:18:57.036 Hey, your brothers are on the front lines of a battle against the Philistine army and your job is to door hub. 00:18:57.036 --> 00:19:05.303 You know this Chick-fil-A Door-Dash, this Chick-fil-A to the front lines of the army for your brothers. 00:19:05.303 --> 00:19:06.373 And so he does. 00:19:06.413 --> 00:19:09.496 And he ends up on the front lines and when he gets there, what's he find? 00:19:09.496 --> 00:19:25.024 And the army is cowering in fear before Goliath, who's nine feet tall and he's got a sword that's twice the size of the Israelites, and like they're cowering before this giant. 00:19:25.024 --> 00:19:28.025 Nobody wants to fight this Philistine. 00:19:28.025 --> 00:19:30.265 And Dave is like what's wrong with you guys? 00:19:30.265 --> 00:19:32.045 God's on our side. 00:19:32.045 --> 00:19:37.954 Like somebody needs to step up and take this giant out because he's defying the armies of the living God and this isn't good. 00:19:37.954 --> 00:19:38.721 And he can't do that. 00:19:38.721 --> 00:19:40.484 Who's gonna fight this giant? 00:19:40.484 --> 00:19:44.673 All the army of Israel is like looking around, like we're not fighting this guy, and Dave is like I'll fight him. 00:19:44.673 --> 00:19:48.425 And Saul is like well, if you're gonna fight him, at least take my armor. 00:19:48.425 --> 00:19:50.434 Dave is like I don't need your armor, I got God on my side. 00:19:50.434 --> 00:19:55.445 And he takes his sling and five stones and goes to the front lines. 00:19:55.445 --> 00:20:03.525 He went from delivering Chick-fil-A to standing before Goliath with a few rocks and a sling. 00:20:03.525 --> 00:20:05.325 And what happens? 00:20:05.325 --> 00:20:07.284 Goliath's talking junk. 00:20:07.284 --> 00:20:09.545 David's like you better enjoy it. 00:20:09.545 --> 00:20:19.405 I'm about to be over Wines up rock goes right to the forehead and David chops off Goliath's head with his own sword. 00:20:19.405 --> 00:20:25.125 And all the Israelites are like, ooh, didn't see that one coming, amazing. 00:20:25.730 --> 00:20:35.998 And we read that story, we hear that story and then the application so often becomes well, we need to be like David, right, we need to find the giant. 00:20:35.998 --> 00:20:43.008 And then we need to find the giant in our life and we need to grab our rocks and our sling and we're gonna cut that giant's head off with his own sword. 00:20:43.008 --> 00:20:55.811 And then, three months later, three years later, three decades later, we're still staring at the same giant in our life. 00:20:55.811 --> 00:20:59.622 Because here's the point of the story. 00:20:59.622 --> 00:21:02.653 The point of the story is not that we need to go be David. 00:21:02.653 --> 00:21:11.031 It's that we need a hero who can step in and kill the giant that's keeping us bound and afraid and enslaved. 00:21:11.031 --> 00:21:13.752 We're not David in the story. 00:21:13.752 --> 00:21:16.314 We're not the hero who kills the giant. 00:21:16.314 --> 00:21:23.771 We're much more like the Israelites who were cowering in fear, unable to move forward, afraid of what's in front of them. 00:21:23.771 --> 00:21:27.535 The giant is not whatever's in front of our lives. 00:21:27.535 --> 00:21:30.554 The giant is sin that keeps us bound. 00:21:30.554 --> 00:21:36.152 Jesus is the greater David who steps in and cuts off the head of the giant. 00:21:36.152 --> 00:21:42.590 That's the story, and so we read that story and our minds need to go okay, wait a minute. 00:21:43.005 --> 00:21:46.669 What I need in my life is not a little more courage, it's more Jesus. 00:21:46.669 --> 00:21:52.967 For Jesus to be at work and involved in my heart, in my life. 00:21:52.967 --> 00:21:56.296 I need Jesus to remove the giants from my life. 00:21:56.296 --> 00:21:58.954 I need Jesus to lead me into freedom. 00:21:58.954 --> 00:22:04.513 I need Jesus to step in for me and do what I could never do for myself. 00:22:04.513 --> 00:22:18.873 And the good news is our hero has come, and what you and I were powerless to do in the face of our giant called sin, jesus has done on our behalf. 00:22:18.873 --> 00:22:34.254 And so when we read the Old Testament, we understand it's all pointing us forward to the moment where the Son of God steps into the world, where the hero comes to do for the people of God what we could not do for ourselves. 00:22:34.254 --> 00:22:43.711 So when we read the Old Testament, we read to be inspired by what God has done for his people in Christ. 00:22:43.711 --> 00:22:49.275 He killed the giant called sin that keeps us bound and afraid. 00:22:49.275 --> 00:23:01.432 He released us from the chains of slavery, and he leads us into the future through the person and the work of Jesus Christ, and that's really good news for all of us. 00:23:04.105 --> 00:23:11.451 I think the greatest picture of the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is in Galatians, chapter two and three. 00:23:11.451 --> 00:23:14.373 I just want to read a chunk of scripture here this morning. 00:23:14.373 --> 00:23:35.290 This is Paul again, and he's explaining to the New Testament church what it looks like to walk in the freedom of the Covenant of grace, to live in the freedom of Christ, to not submit again to a legalistic perspective that reduces our faith down to a list of things I have to do and things I shouldn't do. 00:23:35.290 --> 00:23:38.915 Paul writes these words, beginning in Galatians 2.15. 00:23:38.915 --> 00:23:42.755 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 00:23:42.755 --> 00:24:02.434 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, and so we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified or declared righteous by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 00:24:02.434 --> 00:24:09.951 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? 00:24:09.951 --> 00:24:20.492 Certainly not, for if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor, for through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 00:24:20.492 --> 00:24:22.292 I've been crucified with Christ. 00:24:22.292 --> 00:24:28.632 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, in the life I now live, in the flesh. 00:24:28.632 --> 00:24:33.791 I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:24:33.791 --> 00:24:42.334 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. 00:24:42.334 --> 00:24:47.692 Paul says if you could save yourself, then Jesus doesn't have to die. 00:24:47.692 --> 00:24:59.334 But because we can't save ourselves, jesus chose to lay down his life to redeem us from the weight and the curse of the law. 00:25:00.485 --> 00:25:03.134 Paul goes on verse seven of chapter three. 00:25:03.134 --> 00:25:12.449 He says no, then, that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. 00:25:12.449 --> 00:25:19.256 Preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying in you shall all the nations be blessed. 00:25:19.256 --> 00:25:27.776 So then, those who are of faith or blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. 00:25:27.776 --> 00:25:33.513 For it is written cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. 00:25:33.513 --> 00:25:41.016 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. 00:25:41.016 --> 00:25:42.730 But the law is not of faith. 00:25:42.730 --> 00:25:44.668 Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. 00:25:44.668 --> 00:25:45.552 It's by works. 00:25:45.552 --> 00:25:58.791 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that, in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. 00:25:58.791 --> 00:25:59.694 Who are the Gentiles? 00:25:59.694 --> 00:26:08.137 Anybody who's not Jewish, that includes us so that we might receive the promised spirit by faith. 00:26:09.085 --> 00:26:13.128 And then Paul says in Galatians, chapter five, verse one, for freedom. 00:26:13.128 --> 00:26:15.173 Christ has set us free. 00:26:15.173 --> 00:26:22.152 Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 00:26:22.152 --> 00:26:33.873 Y'all, the bottom line for us today is this a list of dues and don'ts will never compare to the freedom of knowing Jesus Christ. 00:26:33.873 --> 00:26:40.053 Don't reduce your relationship with God down to a list of things you can do or can't do. 00:26:40.053 --> 00:26:53.995 Don't reduce your relationship with God down to 15 minutes in the morning where you read the word, and if you don't read the word, you feel guilty and ashamed because you didn't read the word in the morning Like it's so much better than that. 00:26:53.995 --> 00:27:10.170 Christ has come and Christ has died, and Christ has resurrected from the dead and his spirit now lives in us so that we can walk with God every single moment of every single day. 00:27:11.713 --> 00:27:26.805 And Paul says what happens when you submit to this spirit of legalism that says you can do this and you can't do that, and if you miss your quiet time then you gotta be guilty and ashamed, and if you didn't pray before dinner then your food's not blessed and you probably need to repent of that burrito you ate. 00:27:26.805 --> 00:27:31.213 Like when you reduce your faith to that, and that's what it becomes. 00:27:31.213 --> 00:27:40.993 Paul says you're just layering shame and condemnation on what is supposed to be the most freeing experience in the human story. 00:27:40.993 --> 00:27:51.394 Paul says to the church Colossae, don't let anybody disqualify you, don't let anybody pass judgment on you. 00:27:51.394 --> 00:28:07.412 What's happening in the church is that these false teachers are looking at new Christians who are trying to follow God and they're heaping laws and requirements and regulations on their shoulders and they're being crushed by the weight of expectation and pressure. 00:28:07.412 --> 00:28:29.700 And these false teachers are looking at people and pointing the finger and saying hey, you know what you're actually out, you're disqualified, your faith is not real, it's not as legitimate as you thought it was because you didn't live up to the standard, you didn't achieve the level required. 00:28:29.700 --> 00:28:30.923 You're out. 00:28:31.852 --> 00:28:34.739 Can you imagine the feeling, the sense in that church? 00:28:34.739 --> 00:28:56.210 Can you imagine what our lives would be like today if that's what it was like to relate to God, where our relationship with God becomes more about what we have done or haven't done, becomes, more about our church attendance or our small group attendance, or whether or not we check the box in a quiet time, in a prayer, before a meal. 00:28:56.210 --> 00:28:58.240 None of those things are bad. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:28:59.265 We want you in church. 00:28:59.265 --> 00:29:06.210 Please pray, please be in the Word, but don't make that the totality of your faith in God. 00:29:06.210 --> 00:29:11.062 You are in a relationship with a resurrected King Jesus. 00:29:11.062 --> 00:29:24.583 That's the goal, that's the focus, that's why we read our Bibles, that's why we pray, that's why we show up and lift our hands in church, because we know the Son of God, who is the substance of our faith. 00:29:24.583 --> 00:29:27.190 So how do we avoid the spirit of legalism? 00:29:27.190 --> 00:29:29.210 Four things, really quickly, and I'm done. 00:29:29.370 --> 00:29:32.178 Number one keep your focus on the substance. 00:29:32.178 --> 00:29:34.716 Don't lose sight of Jesus. 00:29:34.716 --> 00:29:37.170 Don't lose sight of Jesus. 00:29:37.170 --> 00:29:41.738 We've got so many distractions, so many opportunities to chase a shadow. 00:29:41.738 --> 00:29:50.317 So many opportunities to pursue something that isn't a bad thing, it's just not a God thing. 00:29:50.317 --> 00:29:55.620 It's Adrian Rogers who said if Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. 00:29:55.620 --> 00:30:00.210 Keep the focus on the substance of Christ. 00:30:00.210 --> 00:30:04.055 It's where your nourishment comes from, it's where your fulfillment comes from. 00:30:04.055 --> 00:30:06.922 In him, the fullness of God dwells and he lives in you. 00:30:06.922 --> 00:30:11.721 Second thing don't get caught up in chasing the shadows. 00:30:11.721 --> 00:30:24.946 Careers, another dollar, the next position, the next office, up the version of yourself that you think you're supposed to portray to the world on social media. 00:30:24.946 --> 00:30:26.615 Don't get caught up chasing shadows. 00:30:26.615 --> 00:30:28.953 None of it's bad, it's just not God. 00:30:30.269 --> 00:30:34.190 In Colossians, too, it's the shadow of people's expectations. 00:30:34.190 --> 00:30:36.136 Have you ever been chasing that shadow? 00:30:36.136 --> 00:30:38.575 People expect me to be perfect. 00:30:38.575 --> 00:30:42.170 People expect me to have the answers, have it all together. 00:30:42.170 --> 00:30:45.210 People expect me to never show weakness. 00:30:45.210 --> 00:30:46.334 Have you felt that before? 00:30:46.334 --> 00:30:50.080 And the reality is that's a shadow, because we're all weak. 00:30:50.080 --> 00:31:05.576 We all have questions that we don't have answers to, we all have moments where we fail and fall short, and we need to be honest about who we are and where we are, because that lets the light in so God can work in our lives. 00:31:05.576 --> 00:31:14.623 Tom Cruise in the new Top Gun movie, who looked at the higher ups and said I'm just trying to manage expectations. 00:31:14.623 --> 00:31:17.336 And isn't that what so many of us do? 00:31:17.336 --> 00:31:21.190 Just try to manage the expectations of people around us. 00:31:21.190 --> 00:31:26.534 Paul says don't worry so much about people, just worry about who Jesus is. 00:31:26.534 --> 00:31:31.239 Let that be the guiding principle for your life. 00:31:31.239 --> 00:31:37.021 And then, number three seek the wisdom of the Spirit. 00:31:37.021 --> 00:31:43.742 As we navigate this freedom in Christ, seek the wisdom of the Spirit. 00:31:44.210 --> 00:31:51.796 I think sometimes we get concerned that if we tell people, hey, you're free in Christ, then they'll just think that means they can do whatever they want. 00:31:51.796 --> 00:31:54.162 I mean, some of y'all got kids. 00:31:54.162 --> 00:32:00.063 If you tell your kids, hey, you're free, your house may not be standing in the next hour. 00:32:00.063 --> 00:32:08.002 If I tell my kids, hey, you're free, you can do whatever you want, they're going to go get a chainsaw and something's coming down in the backyard. 00:32:08.002 --> 00:32:08.964 You know what I mean. 00:32:08.964 --> 00:32:11.210 That would not go well and that's the fear. 00:32:11.210 --> 00:32:15.982 If I tell people they're free, they're going to throw off restraint. 00:32:15.982 --> 00:32:18.170 They're going to do whatever they want. 00:32:18.932 --> 00:32:27.300 Paul even says in one place to the letter to the Corinthian church they say all things are permissible, some free in Christ. 00:32:27.300 --> 00:32:35.601 But he says not all things are beneficial and that's where we need the wisdom of the Spirit to get involved in our life. 00:32:35.601 --> 00:33:11.257 We were talking about this the other night at our life group and somebody made the point that we live in a day and time where you can find somebody to affirm and amen any way you want to live, and the unfortunate reality is that you can find a church to affirm and amen any way you want to live, which is why we've got to be people who are spirit, filled in spirit, land and who anchor our lives in the truth of God's word, together, so that we can discern what is right from wrong in the freedom that we have in Christ. 00:33:11.257 --> 00:33:16.160 There are some things that there is not a clear black and white answer to. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:18.997 There's not a right versus wrong issue. 00:33:18.997 --> 00:33:21.210 This is not a should versus shouldn't issue. 00:33:21.210 --> 00:33:23.190 There's some freedom that we have in Christ. 00:33:23.190 --> 00:33:36.483 We need the spirit to help us discern, to be wise, and together we can get there, so that our light can shine in the world, so that people will see the church and say, hey, they're different. 00:33:36.483 --> 00:33:40.178 There's a different power, a different spirit at work there. 00:33:40.178 --> 00:33:45.210 Freedom is not the license to do whatever we want. 00:33:45.210 --> 00:33:59.126 Freedom is the ability to choose Christ over self every single day, and by the power of the spirit, by the wisdom of God working through the truth of God's word. 00:33:59.126 --> 00:34:06.563 That's the invitation on the table for us to walk in the wisdom of the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:34:06.563 --> 00:34:14.864 And then, number four remind yourself that you are in the story of God. 00:34:14.864 --> 00:34:18.941 How do we keep the legalism off of our shoulders? 00:34:18.941 --> 00:34:26.483 How do we make sure that we don't put ourselves back under the curse of the law and reduce our faith to a list of do's and don'ts? 00:34:26.483 --> 00:34:30.693 Remind yourself that you're in the story of God. 00:34:30.693 --> 00:34:41.588 And then church your whole life and, like I know that, but I want to make sure that we not just know that but we feel that we believe that we understand how big of a deal that is. 00:34:42.436 --> 00:35:00.961 A couple of years ago, tara and I had a chance to go to Israel and before we went we're on the Google machine and we're Googling places that we're going to see in Israel and we're talking to people that have been before us and we're like, hey, tell us your stories. 00:35:00.961 --> 00:35:02.345 What was your favorite point? 00:35:02.345 --> 00:35:07.322 Where did you really like encounter God the most and what was it like for you? 00:35:07.322 --> 00:35:09.309 Like how did the scriptures come to life. 00:35:09.309 --> 00:35:12.219 Like tell us about your experience, tell us about your story. 00:35:12.219 --> 00:35:22.702 It was amazing, like hearing the stories, seeing the pictures you know through, like Google, being able to Google, and Google just great, you can Google whatever you want, you can be there. 00:35:24.677 --> 00:35:36.695 Then we get on a plane and we fly to New York and in New York we meet another guy who's part of our group and he's from West Virginia, and we're talking to him and we're like hey, man, is this your first trip to Israel? 00:35:36.695 --> 00:35:39.280 And he's like no, this is my seventh trip to Israel. 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:41.407 And like that sounds excessive and expensive. 00:35:41.407 --> 00:35:43.940 Like why do you keep going back? 00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:47.548 And he's like man, just wait, just wait. 00:35:47.548 --> 00:35:53.186 And I was like we got 11 hours on a plane, so I mean nothing else to do but wait. 00:35:53.755 --> 00:36:01.838 And so we get on the plane and we fly from New York to Tel Aviv and we land and we get off the plane and it's just an airport still. 00:36:01.838 --> 00:36:08.565 I mean it's an airport in Israel, which is cool, but it's still just an airport, and everything's in Hebrew and Arabic and it's like I can't read that. 00:36:08.565 --> 00:36:15.188 And so we get on the bus and it's still like it hasn't quite yet set in and we drive a couple of hours north to Haifa. 00:36:15.188 --> 00:36:31.655 We get off the bus, we go around our hotel to look out kind of the back and all of a sudden in front of me is the Mediterranean Sea and all of a sudden, what was just a picture on my phone I now see with my own eyes. 00:36:31.655 --> 00:36:35.119 I can smell the salt water in the air. 00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:42.110 And then later that day, tara and I were walking the beach and our feet are in the sand next to the Mediterranean Sea. 00:36:43.175 --> 00:37:05.585 Then, as the week goes on, we're sitting on the steps that lead to the temple in Jerusalem where Jesus would have walked as he entered the temple, and we're in Bethany, walking a cobblestone path thousands of years old that Jesus would have traveled, and we're seeing the stories come to life before our eyes. 00:37:05.585 --> 00:37:09.695 We can see it, we can smell it, we're eating the food, we're touching the ground. 00:37:09.695 --> 00:37:11.538 All of a sudden it's like wait a minute. 00:37:11.538 --> 00:37:18.597 What I just saw through a screen and heard from somebody else, it's real and I'm here and y'all. 00:37:18.597 --> 00:37:23.326 That's the story of God for every single one of us. 00:37:23.326 --> 00:37:27.695 It's not just a story in a book or from someone else's experience. 00:37:27.695 --> 00:37:37.471 You get a chance every single day to see it with your own eyes, to breathe in your lungs the gift of life. 00:37:37.471 --> 00:37:39.675 That is this life we call life on planet Earth. 00:37:39.675 --> 00:37:50.695 You get a chance every single day to walk in the forgiveness of Almighty God, to experience the feeling of his spirit, to know his love, to receive his mercy. 00:37:50.695 --> 00:37:55.764 Every single day, your feet are planted in the story of God. 00:37:55.764 --> 00:37:57.608 It's not just a Monday. 00:37:57.608 --> 00:38:09.782 It's an opportunity to see the kingdom of God come in your life and through your life, to see his will be done in your life on this earth as it is in heaven. 00:38:09.782 --> 00:38:12.186 You wake up and you plant your feet. 00:38:12.186 --> 00:38:18.858 You plant your life in the story of God and you walk with him. 00:38:18.858 --> 00:38:24.648 His spirit is within you, his word is available to you. 00:38:24.648 --> 00:38:28.305 Your mind is being renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:38:28.305 --> 00:38:31.695 Your heart is being refreshed by the love of God. 00:38:31.695 --> 00:38:36.681 You're walking out the kingdom's story of God. 00:38:36.681 --> 00:38:45.490 On a Tuesday afternoon, when it's 98 degrees and the humidity is through the roof in Somerville, south Carolina. 00:38:45.490 --> 00:38:49.863 It's an opportunity to be in the story. 00:38:49.863 --> 00:39:08.695 What a gift that is when we understand that it's really really hard to reduce our faith down to a list of things that we shouldn't do and we shouldn't do To adopt this legalistic perspective that says I've got to do enough so that God will love me. 00:39:08.695 --> 00:39:13.222 We understand that Jesus died because God already loves us. 00:39:13.222 --> 00:39:21.177 Everything we need to be right with God was accomplished in Christ on the cross and by grace. 00:39:21.177 --> 00:39:26.947 Through faith, we now walk in freedom, today and every day. 00:39:28.954 --> 00:39:30.499 Mary and Martha, luke, chapter 10. 00:39:30.499 --> 00:39:34.767 Jesus comes, he's at their house, martha, what's she doing? 00:39:34.767 --> 00:39:39.172 She's in the kitchen, she's cooking, she's cleaning, she's trying to make it all perfect so Jesus will be impressed. 00:39:39.172 --> 00:39:39.655 It's a good thing. 00:39:39.655 --> 00:39:42.641 She's trying to serve Amazing Mary. 00:39:42.641 --> 00:39:43.302 What's Mary doing? 00:39:43.302 --> 00:39:46.188 Just sitting at Jesus' feet. 00:39:46.188 --> 00:39:50.501 She's in His presence, in all of who he is. 00:39:50.581 --> 00:39:55.389 Martha comes in, martha's ticked, she's like tell her to get up, make Mary go do something. 00:39:55.389 --> 00:40:03.229 And Jesus, he looks at Martha and he says Martha, you are worried and anxious about many things. 00:40:03.229 --> 00:40:13.927 And isn't that where a legalistic perspective leaves us, when we're trying to do enough, to perform enough, to show God we're worthy enough, worryed and anxious? 00:40:13.927 --> 00:40:22.909 And Jesus says but Mary has chosen the one thing that is necessary and that will never be taken away from her. 00:40:22.909 --> 00:40:28.282