There is a teaching today that has bewitched our followers of Jesus. It is a teaching that is throwing our brothers and sisters of Christ into confusion and into spiritual stress. This teaching is actually perverting the gospel as Paul stated to the Galatian church many years ago. This is not a new teaching; it’s quite old, yet it has been resurrected into a new form. Its roots are deeply seeded in what the Judaizers of Paul’s day were teaching the Galatian church. What’s the teaching? Jesus plus something.
The Judaizers taught the Galatian church that in addition to faith in Jesus, they needed to also add the Law of Moses. They were focused on works instead of the gospel of grace. While most likely you may not find a church body arguing over whether they should be circumcised or not, you will find them arguing over other things that pertain to our present culture. A lot of energy is placed in the following teachings that have been added to Jesus: we should be attractive, enticing, entertaining, and serving. Those seem like really good verbs to be, but so was obeying the Law of Moses. Certainly the Law of Moses was holy and it provided boundaries for the people to live within. But its boundary was set before the Son of God came to teach us about God’s ultimate work of grace and love.
Take note: to be attractive, enticing, entertaining and serving has the tendency to focus on the works of man not the work of God. All of these are fruit of doing God’s work. However, most churches have this concept upside down or backward. The next question we must answer is “What is God’s work?”
Paul could not have put it anymore clearly, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatian 5:6). You could easily replace the word “circumcision and uncircumcision” with our modern day words. An example: “For in Christ Jesus neither attractive or unattractive has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” The reality is this, being attractive or not can’t be the goal. Likewise, nothing else can either. These modern day verbs may draw people to our churches, but they do not draw them to the heart of Lord. In time, when the attraction becomes dull and there is no love being expressed, you can count on these people disappearing and remaining as lost as they were when they first came.
As I said before, attraction, enticement, entertainment (the wow factor) and service are only fruit of God’s work of faith being expressed through love. When we get this upside down, we humans have the tendency to set our efforts, agendas, ideas, and hard work as the god to follow. Suddenly God’s work of love is a secondary thought or confused with only being expressed through our work. In the end, we tire and have no energy to love anyone.
What is God’s love? There is a clear definition given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; instead of a list of works to do, use this definition as a list of love to express. One of the reasons a church family reaps the fruit of being attractional, is because of the love expressed. For example, I may have my list of things to do on a Sunday morning; and believe me, it’s a long one as I am the Children’s Minister, but I will say, none of them matter when a hurting soul approaches me and needs my listening ear and my grace. My joy is made complete when I can practice one part of the biblical definition of the love of God everyday. A listening ear practices patience and kindness. A helping hand provides protection and shows perseverance.
All the works of man mean nothing to the work of God if done without his love. If we need Jesus plus something, then we don’t need Jesus at all. Adding the something replaces Jesus in the end. When lived like this, we reap only as far as a human can go, which is quite limited by the way. But when we do God’s work of love, there is no measure in the fruit that God will bring. His love covers a multitude of sin; His love repairs the broken heart; his love replaces despair with hope; his love changes anger to understanding; his love brings peace to our anxious spirit; the list is limitless when it comes to the fruit of God’s love.
Beware of this false teaching: Jesus plus something. Jesus is enough! All the “somethings” we reap is the harvest of Jesus being enough. Yours and my job today is to express our faith in Jesus through love. Practice love today not man’s energy.
The Judaizers taught the Galatian church that in addition to faith in Jesus, they needed to also add the Law of Moses. They were focused on works instead of the gospel of grace. While most likely you may not find a church body arguing over whether they should be circumcised or not, you will find them arguing over other things that pertain to our present culture. A lot of energy is placed in the following teachings that have been added to Jesus: we should be attractive, enticing, entertaining, and serving. Those seem like really good verbs to be, but so was obeying the Law of Moses. Certainly the Law of Moses was holy and it provided boundaries for the people to live within. But its boundary was set before the Son of God came to teach us about God’s ultimate work of grace and love.
Take note: to be attractive, enticing, entertaining and serving has the tendency to focus on the works of man not the work of God. All of these are fruit of doing God’s work. However, most churches have this concept upside down or backward. The next question we must answer is “What is God’s work?”
Paul could not have put it anymore clearly, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatian 5:6). You could easily replace the word “circumcision and uncircumcision” with our modern day words. An example: “For in Christ Jesus neither attractive or unattractive has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” The reality is this, being attractive or not can’t be the goal. Likewise, nothing else can either. These modern day verbs may draw people to our churches, but they do not draw them to the heart of Lord. In time, when the attraction becomes dull and there is no love being expressed, you can count on these people disappearing and remaining as lost as they were when they first came.
As I said before, attraction, enticement, entertainment (the wow factor) and service are only fruit of God’s work of faith being expressed through love. When we get this upside down, we humans have the tendency to set our efforts, agendas, ideas, and hard work as the god to follow. Suddenly God’s work of love is a secondary thought or confused with only being expressed through our work. In the end, we tire and have no energy to love anyone.
What is God’s love? There is a clear definition given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; instead of a list of works to do, use this definition as a list of love to express. One of the reasons a church family reaps the fruit of being attractional, is because of the love expressed. For example, I may have my list of things to do on a Sunday morning; and believe me, it’s a long one as I am the Children’s Minister, but I will say, none of them matter when a hurting soul approaches me and needs my listening ear and my grace. My joy is made complete when I can practice one part of the biblical definition of the love of God everyday. A listening ear practices patience and kindness. A helping hand provides protection and shows perseverance.
All the works of man mean nothing to the work of God if done without his love. If we need Jesus plus something, then we don’t need Jesus at all. Adding the something replaces Jesus in the end. When lived like this, we reap only as far as a human can go, which is quite limited by the way. But when we do God’s work of love, there is no measure in the fruit that God will bring. His love covers a multitude of sin; His love repairs the broken heart; his love replaces despair with hope; his love changes anger to understanding; his love brings peace to our anxious spirit; the list is limitless when it comes to the fruit of God’s love.
Beware of this false teaching: Jesus plus something. Jesus is enough! All the “somethings” we reap is the harvest of Jesus being enough. Yours and my job today is to express our faith in Jesus through love. Practice love today not man’s energy.
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