July 21
2 Chron 4:1-6:11 | PS 17:1-15 | Prov 19:22-23 | Rom 7:1-13
On the front of one of the oldest churches in our country, the Church of the Covenant in Boston, recently hung a large banner on which is written: "And God said..."Protect Abortion Access 4 All"..."Ensure Black Lives Matter"...Honor Bodily Autonomy"..."Defend LGBTQ+ Rights"..."End Voter Suppression"..."Turn Guns Into Plows"..."Abandon Fossil Fuels"..."Provide Sanctuary"..."Abolish Prisons"..."Disarm Hate"..."Speak Truth"..."Breathe"..."In Other Words...Love"." This banner of wokism attempts to abandon the constraints of the written law of God, by writing their own new set of laws based on what they feel society now values. This is religion. Freedom is not obtained by eliminating one written code and replacing it with another. God's law is indeed good, and Jesus, himself said in Matthew 5:17-19, "“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." So, hanging a banner in opposition to many of the things which God states in His law is not freedom from the law, but a new form of bondage to a new form of rules. Only these rules are man made and anti-God.
We read in Romans 7:4-6, "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God...But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Our deliverance from the bondage of the law, was not replaced by a new set of man made laws, but by our entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Again the law is in fact good, as Paul reiterates in 7:12, "Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." This better relationship was prophesied about in Jeremiah 31:31-34, "“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”" Again we read prophetically in Ezekiel 36:26-27, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."
So, how do we as Christians, indwelt with the Holy Spirit respond to such false woke statements which are completely contrary to the law? The natural response is to point out their error by pointing to the law of God. This is indeed one way. But we are God's children, Jesus' bride. We are in a true relationship with the Creator of the Universe. We are under the New Covenant, prophesied in the Old testament by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, and implemented on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit indwelt. Jesus Christ is our offense and our defense. Our position and our strength comes from our relationship with Him and the Holy Spirit, Who resides within us. We don't fight on their level, because sets of rules can never lead to righteousness, it has no power to do that, only the gospel of Jesus Christ has that power. Living by the law will always end in frustration, because no matter how much we yell or make it our banner, no one can uphold it all. Living in the Spirit, in a genuine relationship with God, is the answer to peace.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: