4th Gospel Life Change Dynamic: Our Responsibility In Life and on The Day of Judgment. Liability vs. Liberty
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Responsibility is something that interests a lot of people. Folks want a concrete definition of responsibility. They are most often talking in terms of social responsibility, while this is more about spiritual responsibility, but the concepts are the same. What concerns most people more than this is their liability for what they do, and they want this defined in terms of their liberty, or their liberty and freedom.
The Bible has a lot to say about living by the law, and this is often defined as right Christian living. Hopefully you will discover something very different here. You see, the New Testament is actually about vicarious liability, as we will see. It is because of this that we have reconciliation with God. Because of the cross our liability is eradicated. But our responsibility still remains. As you will see, that responsibility is for gospel belief.
Modern day Christianity is so often focused on US that we lose sight of God. We are not blessed as the pure in heart who see God, and what he has done, in everything. Instead, we look at us, our responsibility, and the liability imposed by it: on what we do and don‟t do. Often, our focus is on sin, and we miss the gospel truth reality of God. I often consider the ministries Paul talks about in II Corinthians. The Old Covenant was the ministry of condemnation and guilt (II Cor 3:6). Most of us know this doesn‟t mean us today: “There is now NO condemnation in Christ.” This means we will not be held in liability for sin on the day of judgment.
There are two New Testament ministries: (1) the ministry of righteousness (II Cor 3:9), and (2) the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor 5:18). Righteousness is our state of being today if we are in Jesus. This means our total right standing with God because of our belief and trust in the finished work of the cross and the blood of Jesus. This then produces reconciliation with God.
Reconciliation is a lot more than God just forgiving us, patting us on the head and letting us be part of his Kingdom. It speaks to total reformation of all things for us. Paul says it like this: “Old things have been left behind; behold, ALL things have been made new.” It speaks of the restoration of ALL things to us that were lost at the fall of man.
It speaks of total ‘atonement’ with our Father – being „at one‟ with him. This is what Jesus describes in John 17:21, 23: that we are ONE with him and the Father. The picture is one of a Father lovingly hugging his child on his lap. It speaks of the ‘two become one’ thoughts of Genesis 2:24, and Ephesians 5:31-32. If we put reconciliation with God into an equation, it would be: 1 + 1 = 1. We are joined with him as one.
We are taught about our Christian responsibility, but not much about our divine reconciliation with God because of our righteousness. Today I want to look at this through the lens of us being free from liability for sin, so we can live as responsible people.
LIBERTY IN THE GOSPEL
The gospel we have been given is one of liberty (Gal 5:1). Liberty is a divine gift of the finished work of the cross. This is the life we are called to live in the New Testament. But you cannot live in the liberty imparted to us by the gospel, if our thoughts are focused on sin consciousness, and the religious responsibility that we have. Thus Paul draws the line between ‘instructors in Christ’ and „fathers of the gospel‟ (I Cor 4:15). Instructors keep us focused on what we DO: our moral, religious responsibility – what I call being buried under a never-ending pile of ‘religious do-do.’
The message of instructors is, “Here is the principle for the week – now go and apply it the best you can.” Hopefully they tack on to this by saying, “Remember to pray for help.” But in the next breath they say, “Come back again next week, and I’ll give you another principle to go out and apply.”
According to instructors, if we do good, are successful at battling sin, and do well at implementing their principles, then we are accepted. This was the same thing God said to Cain after he murdered Abel (Gen 4:7). It‟s remarkable that God said he would still be accepted – even after murdering his brother. Isn‟t this the grace of God?
Gospel fathers keep us focused on what God has DONE: he has made us reconciled, righteous and at one with him. Liberty does not mean the freedom to do whatever it is we want to do. It does not even mean this in our western-world understanding of liberty. My freedom stops where your nose begins. We aren‟t talking about freedom ‘to do our own thing.’ Gospel liberty means being free from liability. We‟ll see more about this.
THREE TIME PERIODS OF HISTORY
It‟s important to understand the three 2,000 year time periods of human history:
(1) 2,000 years from the fall of man to the giving of the law;
(2) 2,000 years during the time of the law to the cross of Jesus;
(3) 2,000 years since the cross.
It is imperative to know the REALITY of the period we live in!
Romans 5:13 says, “For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law.” This describes the first time period. Note: sin was not absent – it was active. But there was no liability for sin – it was not imputed against folks.
Then mankind lived through the period of the law, where there was total responsibility to the law – in fact to keep ALL of it, not just PARTS of it. People couldn‟t pick and choose what they would do good, — to be rewarded or blessed by God. They had to keep all of it. Of course, we know God instituted a system of animal sacrifices to deal with this, because “No one was righteous, no not one” (Rom 3:10).
Now since the cross, we have returned to a similar situation as existed in the first 2000 years, only much BETTER. Jesus has become sin for us (II Cor 5:21). He came to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb 9:26). God doesn‟t even remember our sin anymore (Heb 8:12, 10:17). No wonder it’s a better, new covenant (Heb 11:39-40).
It is here we come to see vicarious liability. It is best explained in Romans 5. We had vicarious liability because of the sin of Adam, and were held responsible for his sin. In doing so, God did NOT have to hold us in responsibility for our own sin. We already had experience liability because of Adam’s sin. Some think this isn’t fair, but when you see the gospel, you see how BRILLIANT this is, and how much for our benefit. In holding us in liability for Adam‟s sin, — and NOT for our own sin, — God is now able to give us righteousness and reconciliation because of the obedience of Jesus. All we are required to do is to believe in him and his obedience.
THE PLUMB LINE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
In the Old Covenant, the plumb line for righteousness was the law. The law declared everyone guilty before God (Rom 3:19). The law is directed to the flesh (Heb 7:16), and in the flesh, no one is justified (Rom 3:20). People had to do everything right to be righteous, and of course no one could (Acts 15:10).
In the New Covenant, the plumb line for righteousness is the cross.
It was the obedience of Jesus that imputes his righteousness to us (Romans 5). We are to take every thought captive to remember it‟s his obedience, not ours (II Cor 10:5). Jesus had the law nailed to his cross, so it is no longer an issue (Col 2:14). The enmity with God that had been established at the fall of man was thereby abolished (Eph 2:15).
The problem so many have is that they mix the covenants. They try to live in the New, but under the dictates of the Old. This is living in AD with a BC mindset, and it simply doesn‟t work. You must know the time period you live in, and what governs it.
INSTRUCTORS: TEACHERS OF THE LAW
In I Timothy 1:7, Paul is talking about „instructors in Christ,‟ who teach about all the things we should do and shouldn‟t do and he says, “Wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying, or the matters about which they make confident assertions.” They are IGNORANT of gospel faith, and focus on Old Covenant law.
Instructors in Christ today point us to the law to hold us liable to it. This is wrong. Should we be responsive to the law? Yes! I live by all the law of God that I possibly can because I know it’s good for me. Paul says the law is good. It‟s the divine heart of God to help us live in the best way we possibly can here on earth. If I eat right, and exercise right and don‟t commit adultery on Eileen, and don‟t punch my brother in the face or steal his property, — as the law says, I‟m going to be a lot better off.
This is simple logic. It doesn’t require divine revelation.
Paul also says the law is NOT for a righteous man (I Tim 1:9). This is true, but he is speaking spiritually with regard to our relationship with God, and how we connect and relate to him. It is not speaking practically about everyday do‟s and don’ts. It’s still GOOD to live the way God says to live. It just doesn‟t apply to spiritual life in the Kingdom.
But the law can create liability in our lives, not just responsibility, if we will let it. Living by the law makes us fear the day of judgment. Sadly, many people just think this is normal Christian living. It is not — or at least it should not be.
DEUTERONOMY 6:24-25 DEFINES THIS
“The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive” (Deut 6:24). Amen! The law is for our good. It keeps us healthy and gives us prosperity and good in life.
“Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe ALL these commandments before the Lord our God” (Deut 6:25). Absolutely not! This is the way it was in the OLD Covenant, not the NEW. The New has abolished the Old and has replaced in regard to righteousness (our right standing with God).
Thus Paul tells us to ‘rightly divide the word of truth.’
When Paul says the law is not made for a righteous person, he means the cross of Jesus makes us righteous, and therefore the law is not for us as the means by which we are held LIABLE before God for not keeping it. It was nailed to the cross.
WHAT DOES LIBERTY REALLY MEAN?
I’ve said it does not mean I‟m just free to do ‘whatever.’ There is a degree of RESONSIBILITY that I’m held to by the word of God, but not LIABILITY. Liberty is being free from liability. You know what it means to be ‘tax exempt.’ If you are tax exempt, you don’t pay taxes. No tax can be imposed on you. Similarly, in the gospel, it might be said that we are ‘sin exempt.’ We are free from accusation, judgment, or any type of liability for sin. Jesus says he won’t accuse us (John 5:45). Thus we have boldness in the day of judgment (I John 4:17).
We lawyers know we must be accused, you can‟t be held liable. Satan has been tossed out of heaven on his butt – Jesus said ‘he fell like lightning’ (Lk 10:18). Jesus says he won’t accuse us. Who is left to accuse us and bring accusation and condemnation? No one! We will hear the same words Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery who was going to be stoned: “Where are your accusers?” Like her, we have none.
If we are in Christ, we won’t be judged for sin on the day of judgment.
The justification of Christ by means of faith, which results in our righteousness, has produced peace with God (Rom 5:1). There is now no condemnation (Rom 8:1).
It is outside the scope of our subject here, but I think we will be judged for our BELIEF at the judgment seat of Christ. This is what Jesus says in John 12:47-48. If we fail to believe the truth of the gospel, I feel we will be judged for it. This is why I preach it so hard. Paul says much the same thing: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (II Cor 5:11). He doesn‟t persuade them to live by all the „do-do religion.‟ In verse 16 he says no one is known by means of his flesh. So what does he persuade them of? He persuades them of the gospel of the finished work of Jesus.
LIBERTY IS BEING REDEEMED FROM SOMETHING
Liberty means we have been rescued from something, and that it has no hold on us. Any obligation we had toward it, and any right it had on us has been erased, cancelled and expunged. We are at liberty from sin. “Jesus gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” The evil world is the world of sin, condemnation and judgment. The cross has eradicated this. We actually have what can be called DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY from sin.
The gospel talks about many things we are set free from: sin, death, darkness, offenses, tradition, the priesthood, the law, fear, guilt, curses, and the religious world. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
Living in the gospel gives us liberty. Living in law keeps us in captivity. “The man who does these things shall live by them” (Rom 10:5). We are all captive to something. The gospel puts in captive to LIBERTY! The gospel is why we have liberty and freedom.
THE ISSUE IS LIABILITY VS. LIBERTY
Most Christians live in liability because they are sin-conscious, driven by the law. This is shown in Romans 7:5. It is the law that drives this (Heb 7:16), and that then produces condemnation (II Cor 3:6). Living in condemnation, you cannot live in faith, as we are required to do in the New Testament. Thus Jesus says don‟t pour new wine into old bottles. You can‟t mix the old and the new. They cannot be joint tenants.
What are we to do? Paul says, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son. The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman” (Gal 4:30).
If you live under the liability of the Old Covenant, you cannot live in the liberty of the New Covenant. But if you live in the New Covenant, you avoid liability of the Old Covenant that found fault with us (Heb 8:8). Due to this liability God says, “I regarded them not” (Heb 8:9). But as we‟ve seen, if we live in the liberty of the New Covenant, then we are righteous, and totally reconciled to God – at ONE with him.
THIS IS WHERE RESPONSIBILITY COMES IN
But in responsibility, it is not just driven by the flesh, by means of laws, rules, precepts and principles. That’s the way of the Old Covenant. In the New, because of our intimate 1 + 1 = 1 relationship with our Father, we simply respond to HIS ability in us:
Response-ability
This is how we are meant to live in the gospel, and we‟ll look more closely at this as we go along and progress into other Life Change Dynamics. But see this clearly: it is not LIABILITY that produces responsibility. To threaten someone with hell, fire and damnation doesn’t always get their attention. RIGHTEOUSNESS produces responsibility, and this is seen expressed through the love of God. It is God‟s love that gets our attention, arrests us, and empowers us. We‟ll see this in depth later, but it is God‟s love that both (1) produces faith in us, and (2) evicts fear from us.
“The love of God constrains us” (II Cor 5:14). When you truly see the love of God, and all he has done for us in the gospel, you’re only response is to love him back, and fall at his feet in worship. When you totally discover your righteousness in Christ, solely due to the finished work of his cross, then you are connected at the hip with God himself and know total, constant reconciliation. Not knowing gospel truth keeps you blind and in total darkness where there is grinding of teeth.
God‟s love is the greatest force in the world. But it can’t exist in law and liability. It must exist in liberty. Our response to God must be the same as Mary’s: “Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.” This is what releases us from liability, and releases God’s ability – the power of God into us.