Stumbling blocks – Cultural or legalistic taboos; the solution is the law of love, part 2. John 16:1; Eph 5:1-2.

Title: Stumbling blocks - Cultural or legalistic taboos; the solution is the law of love, part 2. John 16:1; EPH 5:1-2.

 

 

There are four laws of Christian behavior which are designed only to operate on spirituality - in the confines of the plan of God under the filling of God the Holy Spirit.

 

These are laws and not theories. They are non-negotiable. And they cannot be accomplished unless they are fueled by divine power.

 

Law #1: The law of liberty - directed toward self, it is the function of the believer priest to serve the Lord in freedom without interference.

 

The first of these laws of Christian behavior is the law of liberty which operates in the filling of the Spirit. The believer has the freedom to serve the Lord and that is the first meaning of the law of liberty. The law of liberty is always directed toward self.

 

This law gives peace and tranquility to the soul of the believer when he is doing something that isn’t causing him to sin and lose fellowship with God. It is not a law to sin. When others who are under cultural or legalistic taboos put him down he retains his peace. If he does sin he has been given the right of rebound, the only action of the believer priest when he is outside of fellowship, and in privacy he receives his due from God and not from man.

 

When we sin we fall under the law of volitional responsibility, not a spiritual law, but a natural one. That law brings a level of misery, though it may not be directly from God. In certain cases divine discipline is incurred. Divine discipline is directly from God.

 

When we rebound the natural misery and/or the divine discipline may be removed, it may diminish, or it may remain at full strength, but the curse is turned to a blessing.

 

That flies right in the face of the cosmos thinking. Rebound works every time [490] and upon confession we are immediately filled with the Spirit. Whatever the pain is, that remains after that, it is used for instruction and therefore blessing and is no longer under the category of discipline.

 

Law #2: The law of love - directed toward others, it is a lack of MAS’s toward others as well as the avoidance of offending a weaker believer or becoming a distraction to their spiritual growth.

 

This law supersedes the law of liberty if what you do, though not a sin to you hinders the spiritual growth of a weaker believer.

 

The law of love takes spiritual growth since you have to desire the growth of another more than what you can legitimately do with your time.

 

This is the overcoming of the “my time” complex in which I have every right to do something from a doctrinal standpoint, but I actually lose that right because what I’m doing will hinder a weaker believer.

 

You hear a lot about the fiscal cliff. This change in a believer is a spiritual cliff. It is truly losing your life.

 

Matt 10:39

He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.

 

This is a statement of what divine love will do to a believer. Notice that I didn’t say what a believer will do with divine love, but love becomes an infection to which you are the host. The OSN also needs a host, and yet the difference is as big as heaven itself.

 

This is the love commanded by the Lord as laying down your life. So often we are commanded to love the brethren and in that love you see them as more important than yourself.

 

This also flies in the face of the cosmos thinking. It is weakness by world standards and that only speaks of satan’s failure to see the value in submission to the one and only God and Savior.

 

My fall and my world has propagandized me to think that no other person is more important than myself and no one is worthy of my loss of time. And even if I concede that some might be worthy never do I acknowledge that all are worthy of my sacrificial love.

 

Yet, God said and did different. So how is it possible?

 

Faith in the reality of what God has done through the cross bridges the gap between love and loss and fear of that loss.

 

Is this too difficult for you? Will this cause you to stumble as well? Where am I to go? You alone Lord have the words of eternal life and I have come to believe that You are the only holy One of God.

 

1 John 4:18-19

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.

 

If God won the AC through love then having the same love means that all my enemies or monsters or skeletons are more than conquered through that same love. I have nothing to fear.

 

Also, the God is going to get you complex has no foundation, and it is wrong. If discipline remains after rebound it is always for your instruction in righteousness; it is always for your good.

 

The law of love is the biggest step in the Christian way of life, bar none.

 

And remember that it will supersede the law of liberty, if it didn’t, it wouldn’t be love at all.

 

The law of love is not some overt manifestation of sweetness or kindness. It is the direct function of understanding and acceptance of God’s love, which in the believer is a miracle. It is what you think more than what you do, and when you do it is a direct understanding of this love in your heart.

 

It is a totally relaxed mental attitude towards yourself and others. It is thinking doctrine that concerns the situation meaning that you know enough doctrine for many situations. It is a love of God’s word and the wonder of sitting back and watching its results. In essence, with divine love, through what you’ve thought, said, or done you are literally watching God in action. At the same time you are realizing that you have left behind your normal sins of the mentality like jealousy, envy, pride, anger, bitterness, etc.

 

EPH 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [operating in the flesh], by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

EPH 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger [MAS] and clamor and slander [SOT] be put away from you, along with all malice [vicious character or lack of virtue].

 

EPH 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

 

EPH 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God [filled with the Spirit and applying doctrine], as beloved children;

 

EPH 5:2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

 

Law #3: The law of expediency - directed toward the unbeliever it is a change of legitimate behavior so that the issue of the gospel is not hindered, 1Cor 9:16-23; 10:23.

 

Basically it simply says that at any time you are doing something in your life, no matter how right or how good it is, which destroys the issue of the gospel to an unbeliever then it is expedient that you change your modus operandi in order to make an issue of the gospel.

 

Law #4: The law of supreme sacrifice - directed toward God it requires the believer to often forsake normal living and legitimate function in life in order to serve the Lord in a specialized capacity or in an historical emergency, 1Cor 9:1-15.

 

This is the highest law of Christian behavior.

 

Illustration: the apostle Paul. He did not get married, although he has a right to be married. The reason that Paul was not married and did not have a family was because he was on a specialized program before the Lord which involved a great amount of traveling and the great concentration of developing churches — evangelization, doctrinal teaching, the organization of a church, and moving on. In this type of operation it would have been absolutely impossible for Paul to have a wife and children without deserting them. The principle is that because of the nature of his service before the Lord it was impossible for him to have a wife. Consequently he operated under the law of supreme sacrifice.

 

These four laws resolve your modus operandi for anything that is not specifically declared to be wrong in the Bible. Inside of every believer is the Holy Spirit. When He controls the life the believer imitates God, Ephesians 5:1, and the Holy Spirit produces in the believer divine good.

 

It is one thing to do a right thing, but it must be done in a right way. If I stand arrogantly in what I am doing, saying that it is legitimate for me, while at the same time it is hindering the gospel or hindering a weaker believer than I am doing in the wrong way and so I am wrong.