Freedom WITH responsibility not from it.

Many Christians think just like this:
“I am an adult and responsible for my own life. What I do and how I act has no bearing on others and their walk with the Lord so they should stop looking to me for an example.” Or there is this one,
“The liberty in Jesus means I can do what I want and everyone just needs to watch out for their own. If I want to do this and that, I can and if they can’t, well, then don’t!” Our hearts have become so selfish and hard towards our brothers and sisters in Christ, not only them, but the unbelieving world. Like Cain, we say, “Am I my brother’s keeper?“ (Gen 4:9) Unbelievers look at us and they see no difference; divorce, alcoholism, drug addicts, sex addicts, active homosexuals and active single heterosexuals. These people are not struggling to fight the vice, they walk in it joyfully saying,
“Jesus set me free to sin, I’ll be fine!” These Christians(and I used to be one of them) grab onto verses like,
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.“(1Corinthians10:23) And this is where most Christians stop, never reading on through to verse 33. If we did, the whole Christian community would look so different that many in the world would run after Jesus. They would learn that we are supposed to consider one another in all things and if something we are doing affects the conscience of a person in our presence, we are to not do it. In other words, if I think that drinking a wine cooler on a Saturday in my back yard pool is fine, than it is fine. However, if one of my younger Christian friends feels it could destroy me or that it is wrong, I will have a pool party just for me the following Saturday and keep the wine cooler in the fridge. I am to do all in my power not to stumble a brother or sister in Christ.
Grant it, there are many Christians who fight the good fight with God’s help against their own flesh but this is the silent minority. Mostly, the unbelieving world sees the rest and says,
“Why should I believe in Jesus, I’ll be the same, not full, not at peace, not content, not calm or joyful and I‘m sick of chasing things to make my heart feel better!” The loud majority are making Jesus look like a liar! Jesus told the truth when He said,
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 Also the verse Romans 15:13 says it beautifully,
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with the hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
These Freedom from responsibility Christians asked Him to take over their life one day and have spent the rest of their days chasing things of this world and living in selfish inconsideration of their brothers and sisters in Christ and unbelievers. In buying into the world’s lie of what is good for another might not be so for a different person, what I love to call “Moral Ambiguity,“ they have stumbled brothers and sisters in Christ, something we have been told not to do,
“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.” What does this mean? If you are doing something that your conscience bothers you about or a brother’s or sister’s conscience bothers them about stop. Especially while they are around.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the Church of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31-32. Jon Courson wrote commentaries on the WHOLE bible and I use them in my studies, he points out that Paul gave us a guideline in three questions from this verse. Anything you are about to do as you strive to walk with Jesus should be filtered through these three questions,
1) Can I thank the Lord in it?
2) Will God be glorified through it?
3) Will someone be tripped up by it?

If you can’t remember those three questions, I think the question from the book, In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, fabulously wrapped them into one question, “What would Jesus do?” This will answer all three and if Christians seriously asked themselves this question we would turn the world upside down!! We would have our liberty in Christ and it would be right, Freedom with Responsibility!
Having once thought in this fashion, I lived for three years in the idea that I was free from responsibility, I hate to think how many unbelievers I turned away from the Lord. I hate to think how many sisters and brothers in Christ I stumbled and for that I am so sorry. God has used this past year and 8 month separation from my soul to teach me, that He gave me freedom from my sin, not from responsibility. He saved me from this lie! The fullness and peace I have in Him now I cannot describe. I love being with Him and fellowshipping with Him and my brothers and sisters in Christ! He has filled the Jesus-shaped hole in my heart and I am content. He promises that He will do just that in Daniel 11:35,
“Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.” God plucked my selfish walk from me and because He is so good and loving He took the extreme measures necessary to get it done. Thank God that He opened my eyes to His truth and gave me the courage to say yes and follow Him! Christians will stumble and the world uses that at every chance to point out the lie that is Jesus to use it as an excuse to stay lost. To those of us striving to stay upright, remember that Jesus gave us this gift of salvation and freedom and when we fall, He is the one there to pick us up and dust us off, just like a great big dandy daddy does when his toddler topples. Daddy knows his baby is going to fall, but he walks with him, waiting to pick him up, what a beautiful picture of Jesus with us! I love the story of the Pharisees who came to the disciples and asked them why Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus hearing them replied,
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:11-13 What an amazing truth? We have no mercy for ourselves when we stumble, the world will crucify us if they catch the fall but the only perfect being to walk the face of the planet, God in man, His only begotten Son, came to save the stumbling, bumbling sinners who are willing to run to His arms! It boggles my mind and I just fall more in love with Him every day!
So if we started living in the freedom of Christ with Responsibility what would happen? I think we would turn the world upside down, they would see these masses claiming to be in love with Jesus who looked so different for the most part. Sure, they would see the trips, but they would see the mercy that we used in response to one another and to them as unbelievers. It is not about the stumbling as a Christian, if you stumble or you stumble someone else, go to
God for help in getting up, help your brother and sister in Christ by apologizing and dusting them off. How amazing would that be? My mom used to say to me,
“Dani, life is going to knock you down, you’ll get bruised and hurt, but it isn’t about the wounds and falling, it is about getting up!” And so it is in our walk with the Lord, do not revel in the falling, do not stay on the ground, rejoice when you run to the Lord for help in getting up!

Self -Righteous vs. Jesus’ Righteousness

We’ve all been there; we look at someone else’s life and stand in awe at how bad they are messing it up. We say things like if that was me . . .Right, if it was, what would you do? Wouldn’t the same life experiences have shaped you similarly or is it your superior brain housing group that would make sure you didn’t “screw it up?” Are you sure your way would be better? Romans 3:9-10 says it all:
“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: There is none righteous; no not one.” Right, so that means no, I wouldn’t do it better. That means I am supposed to pray for people not second guess them, not judge their decisions. That is very hard for humanity to do, we for some reason not only like to blame others for our problems, we also want to change others.
So what are we to do about ourselves? Why is it so easy to find fault in others but not ourselves. Well, like our Superhero will save us from Hell, He will also save us from the loveless, lonely existence on earth that self-righteousness brings.
First, Jesus will save us from our inability to see our own wickedness. You ask, how is that? I live in this body, I know what I think and feel! I hate to be cliché but since it would be yourself looking at yourself it would be the equivalent of the blind leading the blind. Proverbs 21:2 says:
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs in the hearts.” This verse tells me two things. First, it confirms what I had been saying but it points out that all I can see about people are their actions. I do not know their hearts, their intentions or their strivings! I only see the cover of the book and we would never judge a book by its cover.(sorry for another cliché) So now what? We want to admit we have sin, this is the first step to turning around(the meaning of the word repent). However if we do 1 John 1:8,
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” we can go no further. Once we have that sorted we must as the Lord to reveal our hearts to us, like David, the Psalmist did in Psalm 139:23-24,”
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.” God will be faithful to your prayer and gently reveal to you areas He intends to shape like Jesus. At this point I must emphasize that the focus needs to be on God, not our short comings and not others‘. If you go to Him and lay your prayer at the feet of Jesus - He will take care of he rest. Just like a doctor cannot cure a disease by focusing on symptoms, sin is simply a symptom of something darker that only God can heal so we keep on our knees and keep praying Psalm 139:23-24.
Secondly, we don’t think about how the Lord should shape and change others. Our walk with the Lord should be our greatest concern. Others’ issues are smoke and mirrors that keep us from running to the Lord for OUR healing! Jesus was emphatic about this in Matthew 7:5,
“Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out from your brother’s eye.” This means even towards people in the church. Many times people look at actions of people to determine the reality of Christ. This is a bad move because all are bad carbon copies. We are all at different places in our walk and must focus on loving one another. Romans 14:12 says,
“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” That means other people’s beliefs and actions will not matter - what did we decide for ourselves? Did we accept Him and chase hard after Him? I think of parents with children, my own Mom in fact. I remember once getting in trouble for something I did at a friend’s house. I remember saying,
“Mom, every one was watching Alien!” She put her head into her hands and looked up into my face and said,
“Darling, I don’t care what they all were doing, I care about what you were doing.” What an amazing picture of Jesus! I don’t want to be standing before Him and say,
“I thought it was good enough to be just that bit more committed to You than my neighbor because they said they were a Christian and they did this and that . . “ Jesus would look into my face, eyes filled with love and the mist of imminent tears,
“But Dani, I’m concerned about you, their walk and life is not your own. I was the standard not your neighbor.”
So now I’m asking the Lord to show me my heart, I’ve stopped comparing myself to others and stopped judging others. Although I am sure I will have to pray for continual help in this as I am human and judging is what humans do.
So now what? Help our brothers and sisters in Christ! We are to love each other with the love Christ pours into us. That means unconditional, that means agape! 1 John 3:16 says it best,
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” So we are to love them so much we would die for them, we cannot do that without the power of the Holy Spirit. How would it look in reality? How would our actions show that love?
Romans 15:1
“We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
Colossians 3:13
“bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
1 Corinthians 13:7
“(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (Parentheses mine as it starts in the middle of Paul’s description of Love.)
We cannot do this without the Holy Spirit in us and giving us the ability. So that is why we remain on our knees in humility.