Faith in Jesus Makes Free
When the Lord Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, he pointed out that they tithed even of their garden herbs. In other words, they were very scrupulous about this down to the last mite. However, they ignored the more important matters of the law, as Jesus said, judgment, mercy, and faith. They strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel (Luke 11:39-42, Matt 23:16-26). Christians are not automatically immune from falling into the same pattern of blindness. If we were immune, the Lord would not have warned us to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matt 16:12). There are many important lessons to be learned from this parable but the part that I want to talk about today is the curious conclusion of Jesus' teaching: He said that they should have paid attention to the weightier matters of the law and also not neglected to tithe of their garden herbs. So Jesus is not reproving the Pharisees for their fastidious attention in tithing, He is reproving them for their neglecting of the things of first importance. It's interesting that if you neglect what is of first importance, the things of secondary importance that you actually pay attention to become causes for your reproof rather than for your commendation! They are commendable only when they follow in their proper order of importance--and even then they are only part of one's duty. Furthermore, as we will see from the following story, they follow in a particular way when the things of first importance are put in proper order, and in a different and wrong way when out of order.
Anyway, this blog post is about something that happened to me while I was at work at the pizzeria. Most days I run the place myself. I'm the only one there. A young girl came into the restaurant and wanted to buy a meat-lovers' slice but in the end I made her a small pizza instead. I had taken a slice earlier in the day and a pop and had not paid for it and was planning to buy a whole large pizza to take to my friend's house after work. I was planning on paying only for the large pizza and maybe for the pop as well. I don't own the restaurant but the boss seems to have a loose policy on eating food. Within reason, workers can take the odd slice or drink or potato wedges here and there. But being Christian I have been especially scrupulous about paying for whatever I take. The only time I don't pay is if a slice is left over at the end of the night and it would be thrown away. Then I will take it for free. But today I took a hot slice fresh out of the oven and a pop and I hadn't paid for them and I was considering in my mind that perhaps it was stealing.
At the same general time, I was thinking about how faith is the cure for OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) because it makes you free to do things however you choose without guilt. OCD is a form of legalism or self-righteousness. I am trying to justify myself by performing a self-chosen token task. It's a form of trying to be justified by the works of the law. But if instead I trust in the death and resurrection of Christ for my justification, then I don't have to resort to self-justification through performance of any task. In other words, I was meditating on faith. Jesus said to the Pharisees that they should have meditated on this weightier matter of the law and not left the tithing of garden herbs undone either.
Now here's what happened, here's grace working through the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ to set everything right. Here's ceasing from one's own labour and sabbath rest and fulfilling the righteousness of the law.
A young girl came in the restaurant asking for a meat-lovers' slice but we were all out so I made her a small pizza instead. I didn't want to charge her much more than the price for the slice she originally asked for so I charged her for a two-topping pizza instead of the true specialty price. But while I was making it I also stopped to consider that my generosity was really being paid for by the owner. It wasn't really my right to undercharge her since I did not own the toppings. Then the girl gave me a $5 tip on her debit card. She was quite young and the debit system is structured in such a way that it would be easy to accidentally leave a tip, and this is what I thought she must have done, since the tip was probably 50% of the total purchase price. Once I realized this, I hurried after her to her mother's car to return the money and explain what had happened but the girl said that she had given me the tip on purpose, because, as she said, "I had made her this", motioning to the pizza. She must have considered it special that I had quickly made her a fresh pizza conforming to her request for a slice. What a generous and loving act!
I got back to the store and realized that the $5 tip covered my slice, my pop, and the discount I gave her on her pizza. So I put the $5 in the till for the owner and everything added up just right. Faith which works by love. Walk by faith and you are not under the law but you will see God's righteousness which fulfills the law manifest in your life and you will be in a position to declare the wonderful works of God!
God Himself in my life tithed the mint, cumin, and rue and He will do it for you too; by grace and mercy these will flow according to His judgment, through faith.
God made all my spiritual quandaries under the law go away. He solved them all at once, in such a gracious and beautiful way. And HE did it, not me. I was simply walking by faith. And so aren't we extremely free? Aren't our steps directed by the Holy Ghost? What a blessing to live as an heir of the world to come while yet in this present evil world!
In context, Jesus also speaks about how the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup but left the inside dirty, whereas they should have cleaned the inside and the outside would be cleaned automatically in the process. Do you see it as the same lesson? When you clean the outside in self-righteousness, the inside remains unclean. But when you clean the inside through faith, the outside gets cleaned also by God's grace.
Anyway, this blog post is about something that happened to me while I was at work at the pizzeria. Most days I run the place myself. I'm the only one there. A young girl came into the restaurant and wanted to buy a meat-lovers' slice but in the end I made her a small pizza instead. I had taken a slice earlier in the day and a pop and had not paid for it and was planning to buy a whole large pizza to take to my friend's house after work. I was planning on paying only for the large pizza and maybe for the pop as well. I don't own the restaurant but the boss seems to have a loose policy on eating food. Within reason, workers can take the odd slice or drink or potato wedges here and there. But being Christian I have been especially scrupulous about paying for whatever I take. The only time I don't pay is if a slice is left over at the end of the night and it would be thrown away. Then I will take it for free. But today I took a hot slice fresh out of the oven and a pop and I hadn't paid for them and I was considering in my mind that perhaps it was stealing.
At the same general time, I was thinking about how faith is the cure for OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) because it makes you free to do things however you choose without guilt. OCD is a form of legalism or self-righteousness. I am trying to justify myself by performing a self-chosen token task. It's a form of trying to be justified by the works of the law. But if instead I trust in the death and resurrection of Christ for my justification, then I don't have to resort to self-justification through performance of any task. In other words, I was meditating on faith. Jesus said to the Pharisees that they should have meditated on this weightier matter of the law and not left the tithing of garden herbs undone either.
Now here's what happened, here's grace working through the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ to set everything right. Here's ceasing from one's own labour and sabbath rest and fulfilling the righteousness of the law.
A young girl came in the restaurant asking for a meat-lovers' slice but we were all out so I made her a small pizza instead. I didn't want to charge her much more than the price for the slice she originally asked for so I charged her for a two-topping pizza instead of the true specialty price. But while I was making it I also stopped to consider that my generosity was really being paid for by the owner. It wasn't really my right to undercharge her since I did not own the toppings. Then the girl gave me a $5 tip on her debit card. She was quite young and the debit system is structured in such a way that it would be easy to accidentally leave a tip, and this is what I thought she must have done, since the tip was probably 50% of the total purchase price. Once I realized this, I hurried after her to her mother's car to return the money and explain what had happened but the girl said that she had given me the tip on purpose, because, as she said, "I had made her this", motioning to the pizza. She must have considered it special that I had quickly made her a fresh pizza conforming to her request for a slice. What a generous and loving act!
I got back to the store and realized that the $5 tip covered my slice, my pop, and the discount I gave her on her pizza. So I put the $5 in the till for the owner and everything added up just right. Faith which works by love. Walk by faith and you are not under the law but you will see God's righteousness which fulfills the law manifest in your life and you will be in a position to declare the wonderful works of God!
God Himself in my life tithed the mint, cumin, and rue and He will do it for you too; by grace and mercy these will flow according to His judgment, through faith.
God made all my spiritual quandaries under the law go away. He solved them all at once, in such a gracious and beautiful way. And HE did it, not me. I was simply walking by faith. And so aren't we extremely free? Aren't our steps directed by the Holy Ghost? What a blessing to live as an heir of the world to come while yet in this present evil world!
In context, Jesus also speaks about how the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup but left the inside dirty, whereas they should have cleaned the inside and the outside would be cleaned automatically in the process. Do you see it as the same lesson? When you clean the outside in self-righteousness, the inside remains unclean. But when you clean the inside through faith, the outside gets cleaned also by God's grace.
