Colossians 2
Law Jokes Stories
Paul was concerned with the law.
I can identify with Paul
People can not understand Grace Vs Law. They know what Grace is but for one reason or another they just cannot let go of the Law
In part because of Jesus Teaching
At one point in the Gospel Jesus tells us that he upholds the law
And at another point Jesus says that he is the abolition, the end of the Law
And so Christians look at this and see a contradiction what Jesus Said
What we fail to see is that there is another solution to the seeming problem
The end result is that we hang on to the Law as a security blanket while trying to Grasp God’s Grace in Jesus and we partly understand, because we will not let go of the law
we only see a little bit of God’s Grace. That’s what Paul understood about people.
The Grace of God is probably the most difficult thing to understand.
Read Col 2
I. The first thing he says is
Keep believing in Jesus
just because you can not figure out this understanding of Law and Grace, that does not devoid Christ of his authority or power. it Just means that you have a little bit more to grow before you understand what God has done
Then He says do not be mislead
Probably because he knows That the most vulnerable time for the Christian to fall away, is when they are unsure of certain things that Jesus wanted to be the cornerstone of our faith.
II. in order to make sure that the people did not get mislead he erasures them of who Christ is.
He says that Christ is God Which means two things
A. He has taken your sins
B. He brought you into a new covenant
And he reminds them of their baptism. How serious of an occasion that was
because they were buried with the Law.
III. Whenever I am talking to people about Christ This issue of law and Grace seems to Come up.
And they usually phrase it like this
"How can God Give us law in the old Testament and Grace in the New Testament?"
The question arises because people want to make sure that God is not contradicting himself. and the real question they are asking is
Which one an I to live By.
If Christianity is about grace, Why do I have to follow the Law.
At one point Jesus says that he came to uphold the Law
in another place He says that he came to complete it
So which one are we under Law or grace
To answer that we have to look at the Character of God
1. God is eternal. God is and always was
2. Unchanging, This does not mean that he cannot change his mind it just means that his nature is unchangeable and incorruptible
3. Holy, Perfect, Pure, Not a flaw in Him
4. Love, Jonah said you are abounding in Love, merciful
5. Just, Because of His Holiness he hates sin, being the authority that he is it is his responsibility to be the Judge, He is called the lawgiver and the Just Judge.
He sets the standard for what sin is.
Here’s the thing, he gave us a Choice to not be able to sin.
What do you mean?
Picture this
God has just finished his Creation. He has created Adam then His wife Eve. And He put them in a beautiful Garden, And they could enjoy long life. and every day God would take a walk in the Garden. and He would talk to Adam and Eve. They were best friends.
Because at this point Man was sinless, Can you see it? The law does not exist because man does not know Good from Evil’
So there is no law. But there is one rule, one thing that they are not supposed to do.
In the middle of the garden there are two trees. One of those trees is the tree of Life. You could eat from that tree and it would give you life. Think of that, A person could eat from that tree and live eternally.
But another tree was in the middle of the Garden, a tree of Knowledge. Knowledge of Good and evil. and Man was not supposed to eat from that tree. The only one you cannot touch or eat from.
I find it to be an interesting choice. will you eat from the tree of Life or the tree of death.
So it was not possible to break the law because it had not yet been formed
and Adam and eve were innocent
But then something happened, Someone talked them into eating.
doing the one thing that was a sin
and it then became possible for man to sin because the fruit turned man’s attention from God to Himself. He then knew what Good and evil were.
Hold it are to telling me that if Adam had murdered eve that would not have been a sin
No what I am saying is that along with the knowledge of Good and evil came the ability to do good and evil. Before man had no choice. he knew no Violence, only love, he knew no swear words, He didn’t know how to mistreat his wife, because everything was in Harmony. There was a perfect peace. and when they ate, man’s eyes were opened and they were no longer innocent, we don’t have any Clothes.
too many people misunderstand that passage to say we see our sin
what they were really saying is we’ve lost our innocence.
I don’t want to get out of line but the bible does not say nakedness is a sin
but rather it points out that it is a point of our innocence.
every parent has a picture of their baby in the bathtub. The reason that parents are so attracted to those moments is they are awed by the innocence of the child.
For my mom it was just another embarassing thing she could show to every girl who ever had dinner at our house.
Adam had no knowledge of sin he would not had been capable of sin.
because every virtue that we posses comes from God
He was Created in God’s image. Holy, sinless, Love, compassionate
So when Adam and Eve Ate they became capable of sin
You say well let’s just act like we don’t know the difference between good and evil.
that’s not possible because once you have the knowledge the consequence was that man had to now deal with this knowledge.
Because Man disobeyed God, and the fact that God has to be Just, God has to kick him out of the Garden.
But God still Loves Man and He wants to help him so that one day the broken relationship can be restored.
So God gave us the Law, Hoping that we would obey the Law.
here is what man did with the Law that God Gave
1. Tried to find Loopholes
2. Twisted the Law
3. Began to use the Law to fulfill their purposes, but felt no obligation to the law
Woman Prostitute.
Throw the first stone
Man misused the Law. It was meant to bring us closer to God
Romans tells us that no one had obeyed the whole law
Jesus tells us that even if a person breaks the smallest part of the Law they are still guilty of breaking all of it.
So everyone was a sinner and the relationship between God and Man just seemed to deteriorate
Here’s where Jesus Comes into the Picture.
God needed to bridge the Gap.
1. He was sinless
2. He was God
Jesus is the only one who has the authority to exchange Life under the Law for Life under the Cross.
Now I mentioned that Jesus said that he Came to uphold the Law
And he also came to complete the Law
Here is how those words are reconciled.
Jesus was sinless, Jesus upheld the law. he was the fulfillment of the Law
But in Making Himself a Sacrifice
Upon His death the Law was completed. Finished
No longer needed,
Because the one who had the authority to Create the law took our sins as our atoning Sacrifice.
The only one with that power had to be a sinless savior who was also God.
Here it says he canceled the written code and nailed it with him to the cross. and with that written code go the sins of the people, and the legalism that stifles grace
So you are free from Law
But you still know Good and evil
which means 2 things
1. You are saved by Grace ALONE Martin Luther
2. You are accountable to God
So which do I live under law or Grace?
Depends on two things.
1. Deciding to be legalistic instead of gracious
Jesus did say if you want to get mercy you have to give it.
Christians wanted to Live under the law, Paul; had the same problem
2. Whether you had decided to become a Christian or not.
If you are not a Christian You are trying to live by the law
But in this text baptism is what brings a person into the covenant of Grace
Just as Jesus died and abolished the law.
If you want to abolish the Law and Live under Grace then you have to Die
to your old self when that happens you not only die to your old self but you die to the Law. be buried in baptism and when you come up out of the water you are born into His new covenant, a covenant of Grace. We Live by Law until we really meet Jesus then we live by Grace, It is then that we understand what it means to walk by faith and not by sight.
