Mat 5:17-20
17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Tonight, our lifegroup talked about this passage and what it means in the grand scheme of our faith. Sometimes we don’t like to talk about there being “Rules” because everybody already harps on that “oh, Christians can’t smoke or chew or go with girls that do” “Christians are hypocrites (because we can’t follow our own Rules)” The basic view of most non-Christians and, unfortunately, a good amount of people in our pews is that to be a “Good Christian” you’ve got to DO and NOT DO certain things.
And don’t you just get tired sometimes? i know in ministry, it is easy to just feel like you’ve got to get things done, “we’ve got to get more volunteers for ____” or “dang, i forgot to call that person AGAIN” or “we need more money for _____” And in our lives, its the same thing, “i’ve gotta make sure to get to church this week” “ugh, i forgot to read my bible AGAIN” “i’ve gotta find some money in the budget to give because the pastor just gave that big sermon on caring about the needy”
ugh, i get tired just thinking about it. The Rules can bog us down. And here’s the thing, the Jews knew rules. The Pharisees were the ones creating and keeping the bajillion rules. But you know what? if following “the Rules” is the highest aim of our faith or checking things off the list is what we live for, we. will. get. exhausted. We’ll get burnt out. And we won’t even know why.
The end-all goal can’t be “doing life right” Because, eventually, we lose our drive. we lose our focus. We’ll lose momentum because we lost sight of our “why” Why am i running around, day in and day out, trying to get all these things done? why does this even matter? why is this ministry i’m investing in doing? is it making any impact at all? Eventually we discover our passion has run out and we don’t know where to find it again.
The ONLY WAY i know to keep that passion, to not get worn out by “the Rules” is to Put God First. i know, revolutionary, huh? God’s been teaching me, yet again, that anything i do that is not first rooted in Him, burns me out. It’s hard to get excited about a mission when the beating Heart of God has lost its place in the center. Its hard to adhere to a standard of living if there’s not a picture bigger than the Do’s and Don’ts. It is hard to really find joy in things like giving our money away, serving another person, even going to church if it doesn’t rise above just another task on our list or place we’ve got to be.
See, my hypothesis is if i am pursuing God and what he wants (which we can find a pretty good guideline in the Word he gave), then he’s going to give me the strength and energy and enthusiasm and PASSION to live the way he’s laid out to live. The rulebook flows from the relationship. My love and pursuit of God makes me want to do what he loves.
Revelation 2:4 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
Let’s cultivate this love for God and THEN let that inspire our steps.