“You Want Me to Cut the Skin Off of What!?!”

Read: Acts 15

If Jesus has transformed us… if he is changing our hearts and minds… then what is the role of “the law”? What is the purpose of all these “rules” that we have outlined for us? This has been a debate between Christians since the beginning. We don’t know what to do with all these “rules”. The simplicity of the good news that we have in Christ does not sit easy with us… “Surely there is more to it! There must be something we have to DO!?!” Singer / songwriter Jess Ray says this about the beautiful “starting over” that we have in Christ: “It may be too good to be understood, but it’s not too good to be true.”

Our salvation is found in Christ + NOTHING. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”, no one comes to the Father except by him alone. (cf. John 14:6) Our salvation is found in none other than Jesus. All of these rules… the “law”… were designed to lead us to Christ. These “rules” / the “law” show us our need for HIM. There is a funny way that the law works in us, look at what the Lord says through Paul: “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.” (cf. Rom. 7:7-8) The law reveals sin in us . Haven’t you ever experienced this? as soon as you read or hear of the rule… you want to break it? The sign that says “Don’t Touch” makes you want to touch whatever it is! In this way, the law leads us to our need for Christ… but these RULES / LAW HAVE NO LIFE OR SALVATION in and of themselves. Christ is the one who saves. Christ is the one who transforms. The funny thing is, that the law can do something similar for us as sons and daughters in Christ. Once we have been transformed, in our FREEDOM from sin… IN CHRIST… the law can awaken in us the desire to do RIGHT. In the same way that the law can lead us to Christ, the law can reveal to us our having been changed by Christ! With our new heart… our new self… we begin to hunger for the things that Christ hungers for. Following “rules” for rules sake is empty… that is dead religion… but when good works flow from life change… THAT IS NEWNESS OF LIFE IN CHRIST. (cf. Rom. 6:4)

Jesus says that “you will know a tree by its fruit”. (cf.Matt 12:33) No amount of “rules” will make an apple tree bear oranges. No amount of outward disguise or manipulation to make an apple tree look like an orange tree will result in an apple tree bearing oranges. We are in need of having the type of tree we are transformed. Once Christ has done this, the fruit will follow. There are a lot of things you can do to help cultivate an apple tree bearing apples, but none of them will change the type of tree that it is. Rules or the law show us what type of tree we are. Christ has fulfilled the law for us, and the law has brought us to Christ… we are no longer under the law. This is what Paul declares to those who would heap the rules upon those who were once on the outside and are now being brought into the family of God: “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:10-11)

Have we made a bunch of requirements that people must follow to “be like us”? Have we forgotten that you know a tree by its fruit? What you do with your life matters. How you live matters. Bearing fruit matters. And yet, rules have never produced fruit… only trees! What you do doesn’t save you… and yet what you do once you are saved is powerful… and exciting. Have the rules kept you from wanting to go deeper with the Lord? Have the “hoops” presented to you by “the church” to jump through kept you on the outside? Unwilling or unable to enter into community? Don’t worry, there are proverbial Pauls and Barnabas’ that are arguing for you. God is awakening his people and bringing new life. He is making room for those who were once far off. The TRUE sign of being sons and daughters is the powerful presence of God in us… not the yoke of the law. This truth is highlighted time and time again here in Acts 15: “And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith…And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them…” (v.8,12) This is what the Lord is doing through you… BEARING FRUIT. He has given you his SPIRIT. his presence in you and work through is what declares who you are… not some adherence to a set of rules. And yet, those rules not only lead you to Christ but can steer you towards a life that will reveal for you how Christ has CHANGED YOU. You are no longer a sinful tree bearing bad fruit… you have been transformed. God is caring for you, pruning you, watering you… that you may now bear GOOD FRUIT. Love you guys. - JDP