James 3:18 – “But, But, But …”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Who [is] wise and understanding among you? Let him display his works out of the good lifestyle in humility of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter passion and factiousness in your heart, do not boast over or lie against the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom is not coming down from above but [it is] earthly, animal, demonic, ¹⁶for, where [there is] passion and factiousness, there [is] disorder and every foul practice.

¹⁷But the from above wisdom is first pure, then peaceable, reasonable, agreeable, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, [and] without pretense. ¹⁸And [the] fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those making peace.

I think I want to put together one more post on James 3 before I take a break and go back and finish the book of Ruth. However, just because I feel like it, I want to record some current thoughts about the whole grace/legalism antipathy.

I have wrestled with the issue of grace vs. law pretty much the entire time I have known the Lord. I understood grace fairly quickly, that God loves me no matter what, that “while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me,” that nothing, including my sinfulness, “is able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” On the other hand, I understood that God created the universe and established laws to govern it, that when we violate those laws we sin against God and will invariably suffer consequences. So then, somehow, the rules were still very important. In fact, like pretty much everyone else, I reasoned the rules are so important that in fact we should reduce them to specific “standards” and habits which must be followed. In that thinking, we’re under grace but we’re still really under law. I would read passages like “You are not under law, but under grace” and, in reality, I knew I didn’t understand what that meant.

As I studied the book of Galatians, the Lord finally opened my eyes to see that grace really is grace, that I really am totally not “under the law.” He helped me see that it never really was ever about the rules, but rather that we were all created for the much higher glory of actually loving God, of entering into a real personal relationship with Him. That has always been His desire and purpose clear back to Adam & Eve walking with God “in the cool of the evening.” Frittering “rules” are no way to conduct a relationship. A real relationship is just that, a relationship, a mutual love, a desire to be together, to know each other, to treasure each other, and yes, to care what the other likes and doesn’t like. But it isn’t just about keeping a list of rules. It is about real love. And that, I finally understood is all the difference in the world between law and grace.

So, and this is the point of my post, I guess, do we just go out and tell everyone there are no rules, do as you please?

First of all, that very question would reveal that we are still legalists, that we actually haven’t yet comprehended grace. The fact that we’re still even focused on the rules means we’re still legalists (which is clearly where I was until I studied Galatians). If you jump up and insist the rules are very important and must be kept, then obviously you’re still a legalist. But, on the other hand, if you say, “There are no rules. Do as you please,” the fact is you’re still all about the rules. As long as we’re discussing whether we have to keep the rules or not and exactly which rules, and my rules (or lack of them) are better than your rules, and what we need is more rules, no less rules, no better rules, rules, rules, rules, we’re still all about the law, we’re legalists. All rules? No rules? It’s still all about rules.

Does anyone realize all of that leaves out something very important? God Himself. I think as He sits in Heaven and hears those kinds of debates, He’s probably thinking, “Hello? Is anybody out there? You’re missing the whole point of it all – a relationship with Me.” I love the passage in Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” He loves you. He really, really loves you. After that whole discussion about the rules, you see, the question remains unanswered, “Do you love Him?”

All of this is why Jesus made it crystal clear, the two great commands are “Love God and love people,” that every other law hangs on these two.

But, since humans are incorrigibly legalistic, the question remains, but what about the rules? Is it okay to just go wild, since it’s not about law? Since we’re all incorrigible legalists, we have to answer the question.

Here’s the deal, I think: If you don’t want to enter into an intense, personal love relationship with God, then yes, it’s all about the rules. The fact is God did create the universe and He did order it and establish “rules.” The fact is we all live in a world of truth and consequences. If you don’t keep the rules, you will get hurt. All of this is why “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If you don’t keep God’s rules for any other reason, you should so you don’t get hurt. For a person to realize this and choose to do right simply out of fear of the consequences is actually wise (duh). To ignore God’s laws is to be a fool.

Napoleon called it everyone’s “personal sheriff.” When he first ruled France, being an atheist himself, he discouraged religion. After a while, though, he realized it was to his advantage to have people walking around thinking there is a God who watches them and expects them to be good. So he began doing things to encourage the church in France.

Napoleon was right and I will say again, if you don’t want to enter into an intense, personal love relationship with God, then, yes, you should keep the rules. It is wise. However, even God said it is the “beginning” of wisdom. It is the beginning. But it is only the beginning. It is not the end. The “end” of the law is “to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself.”

The Israelites said to Moses, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do.” In other words, just give us the rules and we’ll keep them. They weren’t interested in really knowing Him. They just wanted a religion that “worked.” So God gave them the Ten Commandments and something like 618 laws and the rabbis went on ahead and created thousands more. The fact is, from the very beginning they missed the whole point of it all.

And that is precisely where each of us stands today. Is “religion” an appendage you hang on your life (in which case you do need to determine what are the rules), or is it really all about the glorious freedom of entering into this intense, personal love relationship with a wonderful Savior, Father, God, Friend? Here in the warmth of God’s love, I still want to know what He likes and doesn’t like, I want to know what pleases Him and displeases Him. But it isn’t about whether I keep the rules or not. That is so petty. It’s about love.

God is so awesome. He isn’t anything like what people think. And what He wants from us isn’t at all what people think it is. A real relationship with Him is something “exceedingly, abundantly above anything we could have asked or thought.” All we have to do is ask.