Any of us who have been in the church for any amount of time, or have gone through MC have probably struggled, like me, with Relationship vs. Religion; Law vs. Grace.
Well, I came upon an interesting scripture the other day:
"For John (the Baptist) came neither eating nor drinking (law abiding citizen), and they say, He has a demon!
The Son of Man (Jesus) came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man an a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!"
- Matthew 11:18-19
I thought to myself, where would I stand? I don't want to be like the Pharisees that held so strong to the law and traditions that I wouldn't sit down and have a glass of wine with "the drunkard".
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3 comments:
That is great :) It funny sometimes the contradictions we just accept growing up and then when we are adults start to question. I can remember thinking how funny it was when I was a child that the same preacher who does a sermon illustration about Jesus first miracle, water into wine, would also preach about how horrible wine and drinking are! When you put it like that it doesn't really make sense but growing up I never really questioned it. Now we attend a church where they do drink wine/beer and I've never seen any of them go overboard, there seems to be a good balance and we're not condemning Jesus at the same time ;)
If you are interested this is a great audio program that really changed how we as a family view wine,
Hearts Made Glad: A Tribute to Wine
Our pastor was talking to me the other day about how it is bad when churches set two standards, one for the people, and one for the pastors, and the pastors standards are more holy than Jesus :)
That's great! I appreciate that! I just got done reading a really good book that dealt with that issue; that having a relationship with Jesus is the most important thing, and that we shouldn't get too bogged down by rules. Not to say that we should live a sub-standard life, but I think you know what I'm saying. (The book was "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller. I actually did a "book review" of it on my blog, in January.) I think there is freedom in realizing that, while God wants us to live a holy life, it wasn't His intention for us to be slaves to the "law". (ie: pharisees!) I think it all comes down balance and a relationship with Jesus.
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