He Came To Replace Rules W/Relationships
What Jesus Came To Do – part two
QUESTION – who here likes rules….?
We have rules at home….
Wash your hands before you eat
Take off your shoes before you come into the house
Don’t touch the thermostat
Ask before you eat
There are rules at school…
Elementary school – traffic light’
Hiss Ave or Cafeteria/Cafeteria All/Hiss Ave All
Shortly after graduating High School in August of 1978 (yes, I know it’s been 25 years…) I left for boot camp at the naval training Center in Great Lakes Illinois. AND – I was introduced to a lot of crazy rules… I mean there were rules about how you had to fold your under wear… your under shirts, roll up your socks… and how to make your bed.
I remember sitting in this big gym waiting for some shots – and this huge guy was sucking down a diet coke – yelling at us, telling not to let our hands touch his floor.. Anytime that you were outside – the rule was no talking… When you stood in line at the ‘chow hall’ there was a rule about how close you needed to stand next to the guy in front of you, there were rules about how long your had to eat. There were rules about tucking in your shirt (gig line had to be straight). There was even a rule that said you had to shave every day – no matter what… SO – every morning I shaved – my skin…
AND – perhaps the craziest rule there had to do with my ‘utility’ jacket… YOU SEE - the was a rule about how far you were allowed to zip it up. We were only allowed to zipper it up to a point even with the top of the pockets.. Now this was about 4 inches from being zipped up all the way… AND – let me tell you, in Great lakes Illinois it gets pretty cold in October… AND – you’d get outside and you wanted to zip that jacket up all the way – but you were not allowed… I remember one day when I was standing watch in the barracks while the rest of the company was out marching or something… About an hour later some of my friends came back all excited… “Steve you’ll never believe what we got to do – we got to zipper our jacket up all the way..” (I was absolutely devastated that I missed it..”)
Erma Bombeck – wrote something called rules…
1) Never have more children than you have car windows.
2) Never loan your car to someone to whom you have given birth.
3) Pick your friends carefully. A "friend" never goes on a diet when you are fat or tells you how lucky you are to have a husband who remembers Mother’s Day--when his gift is a smoke alarm.
4) Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.
5) Know the difference between success and fame. Success is Mother Teresa. Fame is Madonna.
6) Never be in a hurry to terminate a marriage. Remember, you may need this man-woman someday to finish a sentence.
7) There are no guarantees in marriage. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a Sears battery.
8) Never go to a class reunion pregnant. They will think that’s all you have been doing since you graduated.
Rules – they are nearly everywhere – sometimes they make sense and sometimes they make you crazy…
THIS MORNING – we continue our message series, “What Jesus Came To Do…” last week we saw that Jesus came to seek & save the lost… In that message we got a glimpse of the Father’s heart in regards to lost… We saw how the father feels about lost people…
We learned that lost people matter to God (regardless of their race, culture, looks, hang ups, education or social standing) – And we also learned that lost people are valuable to God (and God will light the lamp and sweep the floor until he finds him…
AND – the last thing we saw in the story of the prodigal or lost son – is that God desires all lost people to come home.. Pig dukey and all… AND – when a lost person is found it is time for a cosmic celebration…!
TODAY - as we continue in our series, What Jesus Came To Do, we are going to look at the awesome truth – that Jesus came to replace rules with relationships….
Prayer…
The first point in your outline is;
Rules Are The Old Way….
LISTEN – the law, the old covenant was about trying to keep rules… AND – there were a lot of rules… You had the 10 commandments…
I. No other God, but God
II. No idols
III. Don’t misuse God’s name
IV. Keep the Sabbath day holy
V. Honor your mother & father
VI. No murder
VII. No adultery
VIII. No stealing
IX. No lying
X. No lusting for your neighbors stuff
BUT UNDERSTAND – there were more rules, then just 10… In College I took a class called, ‘The law of Moses’ – and I learned that there were 613 commandments in the law of Moses… 613 rules that God’s people were supposed to keep... 248 ‘Mandatory’ commandments & 365 ‘Prohibition’ commandments.
AND LISTEN - under the law, under this system of rules;
God was distant…
There was a very real separation between the presence of God and the people of God. Let me use two examples that underscore this distance…
The First is a scene from the book of Exodus… God’s people are just a few months out of Egypt. After 400 years of slavery they are now free… They had marched triumphantly out of Egypt and through the parted waters of the Red Sea… God had provided them with bread from the sky and water from a rock… AND – now they are camp at the base of Mt Sinai.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a thick cloud so the people themselves can hear me as I speak to you. Then they will always have confidence in you." Moses told the LORD what the people had said. Then the LORD told Moses, "Go down and prepare the people for my visit. Purify them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day, for I will come down upon Mount Sinai as all the people watch. Set boundary lines that the people may not pass. Warn them, `Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Those who do will certainly die! Any people or animals that cross the boundary must be stoned to death or shot with arrows. They must not be touched by human hands.’ The people must stay away from the mountain until they hear one long blast from the ram’s horn. Then they must gather at the foot of the mountain." So Moses went down to the people. He purified them for worship and had them wash their clothing. He told them, "Get ready for an important event two days from now. And until then, abstain from having sexual intercourse."
On the morning of the third day, there was a powerful thunder and lightning storm, and a dense cloud came down upon the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook with a violent earthquake. As the horn blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply for all to hear. The LORD came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.
Then the LORD told Moses, "Go back down and warn the people not to cross the boundaries. They must not come up here to see the LORD, for those who do will die.
Exodus 19:9-21 (NLT)
God’s presence had settled on the top of that thundering mountain – AND during that time God was distant…
Set boundary lines that the people may not pass. Warn them, `Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Those who do will certainly die!
Go back down and warn the people not to cross the boundaries. They must not come up here to see the LORD, for those who do will die.
AND – This distance from God was also seen in the design that God gave for the Tabernacle and for the Temple (NOW - the only difference between the 2 was that the Tabernacle was temporary – a tent that the Israelites could set up and take down as the traveled throughout the desert and the Temple was a permanent place of worship…)
CHECKOUT – the design of the Temple… (talk about it…)
There seemed to be one barrier after another that separated the people from the presence of God…
UNDER – this system of rules; God was distant – AND…
The Practice Of Faith Was A Burden…
NOW – some people today may think that it’s a burden to have to get and drive to church on Sunday morning (Especially when we just set the clock ahead 1 hour) AND SOME – may think that it is a burden to spend time in God’s word and in prayer…
BUT – let me tell the practice of faith under the old way was a real burden… Let me give you just one example… IMAGINE – having to do this (and God’s people did for over 1400 years…) For many this was all they ever knew.
"If a member of the community sins…and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD . In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.” Leviticus 4:27-31
THINK ABOUT IT – 613 commandments and each time you were made aware that you had broken one this is what you had to do.
QUESTION – how many Israelites were there? Thousands…
How many altars were there? One..
IMAGINE – what that altar must have looked like…. The blood everywhere forming puddles in the sand, the hair, the feathers, the animal parts – the dark smoke filling the air… WHY? Did God make them do this? LISTEN – God wanted to smoke from the altar to burn into the eyes and noses of all of Israel… God didn’t want anyone to think that sin was trivial, not a big deal…
UNDER – the system of rules; God was distant, the practice of faith was a burden, AND…
No One Could Ever Measure Up…
CHECKOUT – these Scriptures…
“We who are Jews by birth and not ’Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” Gal 2:15,16
“I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die…”
Gal 2:21 (NLT)
“And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God’s laws.” James 2:10 (NLT)
“For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.”
Romans 3:20 (NLT)
By observing the law no one will be justified…
No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands…
If you break just one command you are guilty of breaking them all
LISTEN – under the way of rules; not only was God distant, not only was the practice of faith a burden, BUT – no matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried you would never measure up… You always feel short. YOU SEE – living under the law could really be summed up by these three words, “Do to be.”
UNDER – the system of rules – you had to do to be; BUT the problem was you could never do enough to measure up…. to be righteous in God’s eyes…
AND – under this system of rules the Pharisees had made things even worse…
The Pharisees Made It Worse…
The Pharisees – really loved rules, so much so that they made up many of their own that the people had to follow… By the time of Christ they had made up a huge list of extra rules for the people… AND many times they saw their ‘new’ as more important then God’s rules.
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ’unclean’ hands?"
He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " ’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
‘They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." Mk 7:1-7
AND – Jesus in his final encounter with these religious rule makers said to the crowds gathering to hear him at the temple and pointing the Pharisees…
“They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.” Matthew 23:4 (NLT)
SO – what do you think about the old way of rules? Is it appealing to you? (To some perhaps it is) Do you want to sign up?
The next point in your outline is;
Relationships The New (and better) Way
Like I said Jesus came to replace rules with relationships… AND – I am convinced that as we spend some time today looking at this, that you will conclude that this new way is really a MUCH better way .
AND – the way I want to discuss this point is to answer the question;
How Do We Know That Jesus Came To Do This;
To replace rules with relationships…
UNDERSTAND – before Christ; the law, rule keeping was the only game in town, the only choice that people had….
BUT LISTEN – we know that Jesus came to replace rules with relationships; FIRST -
Because Of The Way He Came..
Last week we read familiar words from the first chapter of John’s Gospel which said that the word became what? Flesh…. And the word did what? Lived among us… God was here, in the flesh… he came near!
NOW LET’S CHECKOUT – the opening verses of John’s first letter;
”That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. 1 John 1:1-4
John is saying that God was here!
They heard him with their own ears
They looked at him with their own eyes
They touched him with their own hands
LISTEN – we know that when God came 2000 years ago in the person of the Son, that he came to replace rules with relationships because of the way he came…
UNDERSTAND;
He did not come thundering on the top of distant mountain
He did not come issuing decrees from some ivory tower
NO – he came as one of us…
RAISE YOUR HAND – if you have a pet….
QUESTION – if you really wanted to relate to your pet at the most intimate level (and anything as possible – except going to the pet phycic) What would you do? You’d become one of them… NOW – you may love your dog or cat but are you willing to go that far….
UNDERSTAND – that is exactly what God did…
That is how strong his desire to be with you really is…. He became one of us…
“For 33 years he would feel everything you & I have ever felt. He felt weak. He grew weary. He was afraid of failure. He was susceptible to wooing women. He got colds, burped and had body odor. His feelings got hurt. His feet got tired. And His head ached. To think if Jesus in such a light is – well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it? It’s not something we like to do; it’s uncomfortable. It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. He’s easier to stomach that way… But don’t do it. For heavens sake don’t. Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him into the muck and mire of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us out.” - Lucado, God Came Near
QUESTION – don’t you just love the way that Jesus came? Doesn’t it pump you up? And stoke your fire? Does it help you to realize how much God wants to be with you….
FRIENDS – Jesus came to replace rules with relationships - no more distance – no more trembling mountains – no more posted warning signs they say come to close and you will die - no more veiled rooms and walls of separation…
AND – a 2nd reason why we know that Jesus came to replace rules with relationship is;
Because Of What He Did…
AND – I want to talk about just 2 things that Jesus did; First -
q He Nailed The Rule Book To The Cross…
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Col 2:13,14
read it again…
2,000 years ago Jesus nailed the rule book to the cross… YOU SEE - the law that told us that we could never measure up – no longer applies. Those rules have been canceled… Our sins CAN be forgiven!
FRIENDS – do you really understand? Do you really get it? Do you see just how much God desires to be with you?
LISTEN – the Father sent the Son AND – the Son shed his blood just so he could be with you!!!
AND – the 2nd thing that Jesus did that shows that he came to replace rules with relationships is that;
q He Hung Out With People…
LISTEN - Jesus was a people person… He loved being around all kinds of people. Sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, demon possessed, women, men, children, old, young, Jew, gentile, Roman soldiers… - YOU SEE – when God came in the flesh he didn’t hang out in a monastery – NO he hung out with people… laughing with them, teaching them, playing with them, eating with them, crying with them… grilling steaks with them…
A 3rd reason why we know Jesus came to replace rules with relationship was;
Because Of The Things He Said…
NOW – Jesus said a lot… he said that he was our shepherd and that we can know his voice, he prayed in the garden that we would be one with him and the Father… BUT – I just want to look closely at 2 things that Jesus said that underscore the truth that he came to have a relationship with us….
FIRST;
q He said that God Is Our Father…
In His very first sermon to the multitudes Jesus said something that was totally radical – something that blew the people away to a degree that we will never fully understand… Something that without a doubt thundered the message; that the days of distance and rules was over and that the days of relationships had begun…
The setting was the grassy hillside outside of the city of Galilee, I picture the sky blue – a few small clouds, a slight wind blowing and the Sea of Galilee looks like smooth blue glass… AND - many people had gathered – hundreds perhaps thousands to hear the carpenter from Nazareth speak…
AND – Jesus about half through this message began teaching about prayer… AND – he said, OKAY GUYS – this is how you should pray… “Our Father…” NOW – I want us to focus on those first 2 words…
FRIENDS – you need to understand that at the time, those 2 words were spoken they were the most unique opening line in the history of prayer–"Our Father."
UNDERSTAND - when you use a name, you make a statement about the nature of the relationship you have with another person. That’s why names are so powerful.
A name expresses the relationship you have. You state how much closeness exists. In a fairly formal relationship, you say Mr. or Mrs. If it’s a friend, you call them by their first name. If it’s a real close friend you might have a nickname. If it’s a family member there might be a pet name, which expresses the fact that this is a uniquely close relationship.
When John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, Life magazine published photos of his children, John Jr. and Caroline, playing with their toys on the floor of the Oval Office. AND those images captured the hearts of the American people like nothing before or since. Why? I think it’s because it bridged a gap between two thoughts: Kennedy was the President of the United States, but he was also a father. He held the ultimate political power in the Free World, but playing at his feet were two little kids who called him Daddy. I don’t think your kids would have been allowed to do that. Nor mine. But his kids were. Why? He was their father. He was not only President of the United States; he was also their dad.
In the same way, God is both our Father and the Lord of glory. Yes he is the Sovereign Lord of the universe – but we must never forget that He desires to have a relationship with us because we are His kids.
Now there were records in the Old Testament of people using the image of a father to describe God. That had happened before. But there is no record of anyone ever coming to God in prayer and addressing him as father until Jesus did. Then Jesus uses an Aramaic word "Abba." It’s a real tender word. Little children used it. Adults would use it too – it’s like our word dad…
AND AGAIN - there’s no record of anybody coming to God in prayer and calling him ‘dad’ until Jesus. IN FACT, in the time of Jesus the distance between men and God seemed to widening, and the names of God were increasingly withheld from public speech and payers.
BUT this trend was completely overturned by Jesus. Jesus always called God, “Father” and this must have blown the disciples away… AND LISTEN - the awesome thing is that he invites you and I to do the same thing. That’s unbelievable. No more barriers, no more thundering mountains, no more veil of separation just a dad and his kid….
The second thing Jesus said was;
q That We Are His Friends…
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15
QUESTION – what does it mean to be a friend of God? What does it mean when Jesus said you are my friend?
Well, think about what it is that friends do. A friend is somebody who wants to be with you. A friend is somebody who genuinely likes you, who actually enjoys your company. And amazingly enough, God says that’s the role he wants to play in your life. A friend is interested in what you think. Even though some of your opinions or mine might be quite strange, a friend wants to know that stuff. God wants to be that with you.
AND - a friend is someone you can say anything to. YOU SEE - one of the main things friends do is they talk to each other. They talk to each other a lot. A friend is somebody you want to get to know better. AND LISTEN - the Bible teaches that God’s desire, (and beyond that God’s offer), is to live every day in authentic, living friendship with you, for you to do with him the kinds of things that friends do together. AND – the really awesome thing is that since he is God—He is not limited by time or space—SO - you can do this friendship stuff with him all the time…
God wants to be your best friend…
You know when something in life really frustrates you – gets you down… AND – you go to your best friend and pour your heart out… WELL – God wants you do to that with Him… (cast all you cares)
HAVE – you ever been confused by something or had some difficulty come and smank righ into you – and ypou go that friend and talk it through with them and ask them for help. God wants to do that with you.
AND – do you know how when something in your life really goes well… you get a rasie, you pass the class, they say yes….. AND - one of the first things that you do is you go to that best friend and you tell them. And the two of you celebrate together. God wants to do that with you.
AND - when you have a relational challenge, maybe it’s with your spouse – or with your parents – or your kids or maybe it’s in a friendship. WELL - when you’ve got a best friend in your life, you go to that person and they’ll listen to you, and they’ll help give you guidance and counsel. When you’re worried about something and you’ve got a friend, you have a great gift. Because instead of just sitting and worrying, you can go talk to somebody, and you can get advice from them, and you can receive encouragement and support. UNDERSTAND - God wants to do that for you.
I have called you friends…
Jesus came to replace rules with relationships…
q He came to get rid of the…
q The distance
q The barriers
q The not measuring up
q The rule book
q The sin
SO – he could hang out with us! With you
SO – we would have a dad in heaven and a friend for life!!!
QUESTION – WHO, does God want a relationship with? Everybody
WHAT, can a relationship with God do? Anything
LET – me close with a story – the illustrates the power and beauty of a relationship with God..(from a Lee Strobel Message)
Billy Moore grew up in a tough city in Ohio. He was very poor growing up. He would spend time with a bunch of other teenagers in the community getting high and breaking into taverns at night and stealing cash registers, breaking into vending machines. Then he got married and joined the army and his wife ended up leaving him. He was destitute financially. One night he went out with a friend of his and they had gotten drunk and were smoking grass and talking about how they needed money. His friend started telling him, “Not far from here there is an old guy who lives in a house and I can give you the address. This guy doesn’t believe in banks. He’s got all his money in his bedroom. That’s the rumor anyway. The guy’s harmless. Old guy, wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Billy Moore’s listening to all this and he’s starting to hatch a plot. He goes back to the barracks and gets his gun and loads it and he pulls up to a home and breaks in the front door.
Put yourself in the position of this elderly man. Seventy-seven years old. He liked to go down to the park at the end of the block with his grandchildren and push them on the swing. Gentle kindly seventy seven-year-old man named Mr. Stapleton. He’s in the bedroom and he hears somebody break in the front door of his house. He’s scared to death. He doesn’t know what to do. He hears someone rummaging through things in his house and then he hears someone trying to break in the door to his bedroom. The handle didn’t turn and he tried to break in the door. He didn’t know what to do. He had this shotgun for hunting purposes. So as the door broke in and as Billy started coming in the bedroom with his gun this elderly grandfather takes the shotgun and shoots in the direction of Billy and missed him. And Billy takes his gun and he aims and he shoots twice and he kills that kindly old grandfather. The guy falls dead. Billy searched the body for any cash. Steps over it and searches the bedroom, finds $5600. Then he flees and goes to his trailer in rural Georgia.
It didn’t take long for the police to track Billy Moore down. They found him the next day. They came to his trailer, arrested him and charged him with capital murder. A death penalty case – home invasion, murder. And Billy was taken to prison and he sat that first night in his jail cell and he realized at that moment that life was over for him. That was it. There’s no hope. There was an electric chair setting down the corridor from him and he knew he was going to be sitting in it before too long. They were going to kill him and he was never ever going to see the light of day again.
Billy’s mom was a Christian. She calls some friends of hers that lived not too far from that jail, a husband and wife. She said, “Would you please go talk to my son Billy? He’s charged with murder and he’s going to face the death penalty. And he doesn’t know Jesus.” So this couple went over and asked if they could see Billy. They sat down with Billy and they told him about the Jesus that they knew and they said, “Billy, God is willing to give you a fresh start. He’s willing to forgive you. He’s willing to give you a second chance at life.” And Billy looked back at them dumfounded. He said, “But you don’t understand. I went into somebody’s house and I murdered an innocent old grandfather. I’ve been charged with capital murder. I am all out of fresh starts. My life is over. I’m going to die in that electric chair before too long. It’s too late for a fresh start for me.”
The pastor said, “Billy, it’s never too late. The truth of the matter is I don’t care what you’ve done, God loves you. God wants to adopt you as His son. God wants to forgive you and lift this burden of guilt off your shoulders. God can find a way to make your life count.”
Billy Moore not only heard the Lord in that couple, he saw Jesus in them. He saw Jesus in their countenances and in their words and in their love. He said later, “No one had ever told me that Jesus loved me. No one ever told me that Jesus died for me. This was the love I could feel. It was a love I wanted. This was a love I needed.”
So Billy Moore, as broken and as hopeless an individual as you’re ever going to meet, said yes to Jesus Christ, “Yes, forgive my sins. Yes, adopt me as Your son. Yes, do something. I don’t know how You’re going to do it but do something to make whatever life I have left count for something.”
God heard that prayer. There was a little bathtub setting there that they used for bathing the inmates that hadn’t been used in a while. They got permission to fill the bathtub with water, and they put Billy in it kneeling, and they leaned him back and they baptized him that day.
When Billy More came out of that water he was a different man. Billy’s life from that moment on began to change. He went into court. What could he do? He can’t lie and say he didn’t do it. He committed the murder. He said, “I did it. I killed him. I intended to. I went with a loaded gun.” He pleaded guilty. They brought down the gavel and said, “Death. You’re going to the electric chair.”
But you know how court cases drag on and on. It was sixteen years that Billy lived in a cage waiting to die. During that time, Billy opened his heart and his life up more and more to God and God began to change this man’s attitude and his demeanor and his philosophy and his actions. Everything about Billy began to change. He became a model inmate. The guards had a nickname for Billy. They called him The Peacemaker. The cellblock – Death Row – was a place of despair and hatred and hopelessness. Billy led many other inmates to Jesus Christ and their lives began to change. The whole environment Death Row changed for the good. It went from a place of being hopeless and full of violence and hatred to a place of hope. To a place where people cared for each other. They studied the Bible together. They asked God, “Change us! Please.”
It was an amazing thing. There were so many people on Death Row and beyond Death Row that were impacted for eternity because of a guy who lived in a cage for sixteen years.
August of 1990 is when the court system finally caught up with Billy Moore. The sentence had been affirmed all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said, “That’s it! Time to die!” The date set for him to die was August 22, 1990. As the hours ticked down to that moment his lawyers started calling Billy. Billy was put in the Death Watch cage right next to the electric chair.
His lawyers later commented on those visits… They said, “It was the strangest thing. We called Billy with the intention of consoling him but what happened was Billy Moore consoled us. Billy said things to us like, ‘Are you guys doing ok? I know this is hard on you. I know this is really difficult. Are you getting through this ok? Is there a way I can pray for you guys?’ It was an amazing thing. We tried to console him. He ended up consoling us.”
On August 24 of 1990 just 7½ hours before they were going to shave Billy’s head for the electrodes to be attached and shave his legs so the electrodes could be attached to his left leg so the current could course through his body, something absolutely amazing took place. The Georgia Pardon and Parole Board decided to hold an emergency hearing about this model prisoner everyone was talking about and who’d had this incredible impact on so many lives. And guess who came to this emergency hearing of the Pardon and Parole Board? All of the relatives of the kindly old grandfather who was murdered by Billy Moore. They got up before the Pardon and Parole Board and they begged them to spare the life of Billy Moore. Why was that?
“Because,” they said, “Many years ago Billy Moore asked for our forgiveness and we gave it to him. How could we not forgive him? God has forgiven him. How could we not forgive Billy Moore? If we’ve been forgiven our sins by God how could we withhold forgiveness from Billy.” They said, “Please, spare his life.”
The largest newspaper in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution ran an editorial that referred to Billy Moore as a saintly figure. Mother Teresa called all the way from India and offered a simple bit of advice. She said, “Just do what Jesus would do.”
Billy knew something on that day beyond a shadow of a doubt. He knew he was guilty. He had committed a heinous crime. No question about it. He admitted it and under the law in the State of Georgia the appropriate justice was for him to be strapped to that electric chair and be killed. Billy knew that on that day.
But the five members of the Pardon and Parole Board did something so amazing and so unprecedented that the next day it made the front page of the New York Times. They looked out at this repentant man and they said unanimously “We are going to show mercy to Billy Moore.” And not only did they throw out the death penalty against Billy Moore they set the gears in motion for Billy Moore to be set free from Death Row, to go out in society. The first time in America history that a confessed murderer on Death Row had been allowed to go free. When that Parole and Pardon board announced its decision spontaneously everyone in the audience stood up and started singing “Amazing Grace”.
TODAY - Billy Moore is an ordained minister and his church is located in Rome, Georgia right between two public housing projects, finding all the people who had been forgotten by everybody else and reaching out to them and loving them and caring for them and providing for them.
Lee Strobel tells of visiting with Billy;
We were sitting in his living room and I thought I’d kind of goad him a little bit. I said, “I’m just curious. There’s just the two of us here. You can tell me the truth. What was it that led to the transformation of Billy Moore? It was the prison rehabilitation system wasn’t it?” He laughed and said, “No, it wasn’t that, Lee.” “Then was it a self-help program? Was it like developing a positive metal attitude? Was that it?” “No, that wasn’t it either.” “Was it Prozac? Was it transcendental meditation? Was it psychological counseling?” He said, “You know the reason.” I said, “Billy, I know the reason but I want to hear you say it. What changed Billy Moore?” He looked me in the eye and said, “Lee, plain and simple it was Jesus Christ. He changed me in ways I never could have changed on my own. He gave me a reason to live. He helped me do the right thing for a change. He gave me a heart for other people and He saved my soul.”
