He Came To Replace Rules With Relationships
QUESTION
–
who here likes rules….?
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.
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) There are no guarantees in marriage.
If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a Sears battery.
7) 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…
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….
I. 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 there were more rules, there are 613 commandments in the law of Moses…
613 rules that God’s people were supposed to keep...
Under the law, under this system of rules;
A. 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…
1. Israel meeting with God at Sinai…
God’s people are just a few months out of Egypt.
After 400 years of slavery they are now free…
They had marched 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 camped at the base of Mt Sinai.
Exodus 19:9-13 (NIV)
9 The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to
you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will
always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the LORD what the people had
said. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today
and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day,
because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all
the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be
careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever
touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 He shall surely be stoned
or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he
shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast
may they go up to the mountain.”
God’s presence had settled on the top of that thundering mountain –
AND during that time God was distant…
God told Moses to set boundary lines, that the people were not to
cross.
Warn them, “Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries.
Those who do will certainly die!”
The people were not to come up to see the LORD, for those
who do will die.
ii.
This distance from God, was also seen in the design of the Tabernacle and
Temple.
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…
B. The Practice Of Faith Was A Burden…
Some
people today, may think that it’s a burden to have to get up and drive to church
on Sunday morning.
Some may think that it’s a burden, to spend time in God’s word and in prayer…
But, 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.
Leviticus 4:27-31
If a member of the community sins
unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, he is
guilty. 28 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. 29 He is to lay
his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the
burnt offering. 30 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. 31 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.
THINK
ABOUT IT
– 613
commandments, and each time you were made aware that you had broken one, that 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 animal hair, the feathers, the animal parts – the dark smoke filling the air…
WHY, did God make them do this?
LISTEN, God wanted the smoke from the altar to burn the eyes and noses of all 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…
C. 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
Galatians 2:21 (NIV) 21 I do
not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the
law, Christ died for nothing!”
James 2:10 (NIV)
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet
stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Romans 3:20 (NIV)
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the
law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
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.
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…
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?
II. Relationships The New (and better) Way
How Do We Know That Jesus Came To Do This?
To replace rules with relationships?
Before Christ; the law, rule keeping, was the only game in town,
the only choice that people had….
Jesus came to replace rules with relationships; FIRST -
A. Because Of
The Way He Came..
In the first verses of the Gospel of John, we
read
that the word became what? Flesh….
And the word did what? Lived among us…
God
was here, in the flesh… He came near!
“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
We know, 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…
He didn’t come thundering on the top of distant mountain.
He didn’t come issuing decrees from some ivory tower.
NO – he came as 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
Don’t
you just love the way that Jesus came?
Does it help you to realize, just how much God wants to be with you….
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;
B. Because Of What He Did…
Actually,
I want to talk about 2
things that Jesus did.
1. 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
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!
Do you see just how much God desires to be with you?
The
Father sent the Son, AND – the Son shed His blood, just so He could be with
you!!!
2. He Hung Out With People…
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…
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…
3. 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…
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….
a. 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 the days
of relationships had begun…
The setting was a grassy hillside overlooking the Sea 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…
A great crowd of people has gathered to hear the carpenter from Nazareth speak…
About half through His message, Jesus began teaching about prayer…
He said, this is how you should pray… “Our Father…”
NOW – I want us to focus on those first 2 words…
You need to understand, that at the time,
those 2 words were the most unique opening line in the
history of prayer!
To the people of Jesus day, when you used a name,
you make a statement about the nature of the relationship you have with that 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 a uniquely close relationship.
There is no record of anyone ever coming to God in prayer, and addressing him as Father, until Jesus did.
But more than that, Jesus used 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…
Again, there’s no record of anyone 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 the awesome thing is, that He invites us 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….
b. 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
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 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.
A friend is interested in what you think.
Even though some of your opinions might be a little strange.
A friend is someone you can say anything to.
Amazingly, God says that’s
the role He wants to play in your life.
One of the main things friends do, is they talk to each other.
They talk to each other a lot.
A friend is someone you want to get to know better.
The Bible teaches that God’s desire, 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…
c. God
wants to be your best friend…
When
something in life really frustrates you
– gets
you down…
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 smack right into you?
You go to your friend, and talk it through with them, and ask them for help.
God wants to do that with you.
And when something in your life really goes well… you get a raise, you pass the class, they say yes…..
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.
When you have a relational problem, maybe it’s with your spouse – or with your parents –
or your kids, or maybe it’s in a friendship.
When you have a best friend in your life, you go to that person, and they’ll listen to you.
They 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…
He came to get rid of the…
The distance
The barriers
The not measuring up
The rule book
The sin
SO – He could hang out with us!
With you!
SO – we would have a Dad in heaven and a Friend for life!!!