GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
One of the biggest deceptions in the world, especially in the Church, is that of performance-religion and self- righteousness. There’s a huge emphasis on maintaining the moral standards of the so-called “Judeo-Christian-value system.”
We hear: “I’m a good Christian.” “I belong to a church.” “I go to a home group.” “I read my Bible.” “I pray every day.” “I give my tithes.” “I try to live a good life and do my moral best.” “I don’t need to be set free because I’m already free.”
In reality, these are the people who need freedom the most.
I haven’t really struggled with knowing right or wrong and good or evil. For me, it was discerning between a life of self-righteousness and righteousness by faith.
Two Sides to Self-Righteousness
There are two sides to self- righteousness, both equally deceptive in keeping people bound.
The first area of bondage that self- righteousness produces is what Jesus called “making the word of God of no effect.” It’s the belief that I have it all together, and I’ve done my part or “better than most.”
Some people actually believe they have it all together and are fulfilling their side of a bargain with God. Jesus said to the Jews who thought they had it all together:
… “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. … Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition ….” —Mark 7:9-13 (KJV)
The Jews taught that there was a way to be righteous by keeping the law, even if it meant they had to bend the law to do so.
But Paul said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20 KJV).
The law was designed to draw man’s attention to his sin! What Jesus was saying to the Jews was that by bending the law to make it workable, they made the law or Word of God of no effect!
Simultaneously, there’s another side to this truth. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD! Legalism and self-righteousness makes JESUS and His work on the cross of no effect in our lives. If we could keep the law by our own efforts, then we’d have no need for Jesus!
Legalism and self- righteousness create guilt, condemnation, and obligation. One of the purposes of the law was to make people see and understand that no one can be made righteous by keeping the law. The Jews were serving God, governed by rules, regulations and performance, which could never make them righteous before God. They needed to be set free, and so do many people today.
True Freedom:
We can never experience any form of freedom if we are not freed from the deception of performance-religion, legalism, and self-righteousness.
When Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), He was saying: you will know “The Truth” (Jesus) and what He came to do. And Jesus will set you free from legalism, self-righteousness, and the condemnation and guilt of the law!
When we know “The Truth” about God’s love, we are set free from seeing an angry God who needs to be appeased and demands performance and sacrifice!
In Romans 3:21-25, Paul said:
“But now the righteousness of God WITHOUT the LAW is manifested … by faith of Jesus Christ … upon all them that believe… Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth … To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which BELIEVETH in Jesus.”
This is the freedom Jesus gave us. It’s this freedom we are to celebrate and grasp hold of every day!
Blessings,
Arthur Meintjes
John is known as the apostle of love. Let’s look at some well-known verses in one of his letters.
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God….
—1 John 4:7-8
Unfortunately, this scripture has caused much confusion. We think this means that we should love other people so God can love us, and if we love others, it proves we love Him. Then He can love us back. No! This is what I call a dyslexic verse.
This verse says: If you know God’s love for you, only then will you be able to love others, and when you love others, you understand God’s love for YOU! You can only share or give what you’ve received.
I John 4:9 and 10: “In this was manifest ed the love of God toward us (This is how the love of God is shown toward us). Herein is love (this is what love is), not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (parenthesis mine)
When “the love of God” is mentioned, people think they need to do something because that’s what we’ve been taught. But it says the love of God is “toward” us. This is about how He responds to you, not you to Him!
God is not concerned about whether or not you love Him. What is important to God is: Do you know that He loves you? You can put on your mask and say the right things, but God sees your heart. He wants you to know that HE LOVES YOU! Once you know He loves you, loving Him is no problem. Understanding His love for you is what brings peace and changes you!
Most Christians have heard about the love of God, but few believe it. It’s easy to believe that He loved the world. But we question it as individuals. We find it difficult to believe that He loves us in spite of our shortcomings. Our shortcomings and failures actually cause us to believe we are separated from the love of God.
This is my charge to you today. Don’t just listen to what His love is about, believe it. Start persuading your heart of His love toward you today. Don’t wait a moment longer. Your very life depends on you understanding His great love.
Love: The Foundation
The truth that most people seem to ignore is, love is the foundation for everything that God did.
John 3:16 is a wonderful reminder of this.
“For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)
I John 4:16 tells us that “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
Love is not something God does. Love is who God is. Therefore, no matter what God does, Love is doing it. It makes no difference how or when you come into contact with God, you will be contacting love. There is never a time that God is not love. Have you ever opened your Bible and found that God has changed His mind, said He doesn’t love the world and takes back everything He’s ever said and done for mankind? No! He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Jesus Christ is [eternally changeless, always] the same yesterday and today and forever. —Hebrews 13:8 (AMP)
Blessings,
Arthur Meintjes
There is a secret to living this Christian life, and it’s a secret most Christians don’t know. If you knew this secret, it would set you free from dead works and insecurity. Here it is:
This is a faithful saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him. (2 Tim. 2:11, NKJV)
If you don’t know that you have died with Christ, then you won’t really live. Instead, you will spend your life trying to die; dying to self, dying daily, and crucifying the flesh.
“But isn’t following Jesus a matter of dying daily to ourselves and our desires?”
Nope. The phrase “die to self” isn’t even in the Bible.
When Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt.16:24), he was showing us the way to salvation—it’s through the cross. If you would follow Jesus, then follow Jesus. Jesus died once and he will never die again. It’s the same with us. We were crucified with Christ once; we need never be crucified again. You do not need to die daily. Once will do the trick.
“But didn’t Paul say he died daily (1 Cor. 15:31–32)?”
Paul was referring to the dangers and hardships he faced in preaching the gospel. “I fought wild beasts in Ephesus!” He was not preaching a works-based theology of dying to self. We died to the law (Rom. 7:4, Gal. 2:19)—including the law that says you must die to self.
The problem with any message on self—even a noble-sounding message on self-denial—is that it promotes self. It fuels self-centeredness which lies at the root of all our problems.
In the church self-denial is usually packaged as a spiritual discipline. Don’t touch, don’t taste, don’t handle. But in truth it is nothing more than the age-old practice of asceticism, the belief that we can attain spiritual goals by abstaining from physical pleasures.
The truth is that you can do nothing to save yourself or make yourself pleasing to God. Jesus does it all. True gospel preachers understand this which is why they will never distract you by preaching messages that glorify self or self-effort. Like Paul they will say, “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5).
Double-minded Christianity
Christians who do not know they have died with Christ end up living two lives. On the one hand they are trying to walk in the new life they have received in Christ, but on the other they are trying to reform the old life they inherited from Adam. This is a recipe for misery. No one wants to be one person on Sunday and another on Monday. Live like this and it’ll tear you apart.
The cure for double-minded Christianity is not to “try harder” or “lift your game” or “follow these ten steps to a new you.” It is a revelation that your old self was crucified with Christ. What is your old self? It is the person you used to be before you met Jesus. It is who you were in Adam before you were put into Christ. Paul wrote that “we know that our old self was crucified with him” (Romans 6:6). Look at his choice of words; was crucified. Past tense. Done and dusted. Dead and buried.
Do you see how liberating this is?
The old man was unfixable. He was broken, corrupt, and completely screwy. He was a slave to sin and no amount of reform could fix him. But the good news is he’s dead. That incorrigible old so-and-so was nailed to the cross with Jesus and he no longer lives.
The end of the old man
Watchman Nee called this the gospel for Christians. “The self you loathe is there on the cross in Christ.” If the average believer could grasp hold of this truth—I died—half of our church programs would cease immediately. We would stop trying to reform the old man because the old man is dead.
Want to live, really live with Jesus? Then let this truth take root in your heart:
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. (Gal 2:20)
Extracted and adapted from The Gospel in Ten Words
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