Perhaps more than ever we are culturally focused on getting better. Many of us live amidst a 24/7 onslaught of messaging telling us we are not healthy enough, wealthy enough, good looking enough, disciplined enough, and our eggs are not free range enough. We live amidst an ever growing list of laws, standards, and measurements. We are told to exercise more, cold plunge daily, grow our own food, work harder, work smarter, and eat raw liver. And in case we miss the seriousness of this reality, consider this data compiled by author Abigail Shrier. Between 2010-2014 teens diagnosed with depression increased by 37%. The rate of self-harm among teen girls has risen 62% since 2009. The rate of self-harm among pre-teen girls has risen 189% since 2010. And anorexia, cutting, and suicide have spiked since the arrival of the smartphone.
Perhaps the hardest part of constantly swimming in the waters of innumerable laws and standards is that we know a lot of it is true. It’s true, we don’t live up to many good and wise standards. Anyone content with their parenting? Their health? Their Success? Their discipline around box of cookies? Their sleep habits? Their phone time? Their time management? We need and we want to get better. The problem is we are apparently crushed by condemnation and shame as we fail.
And as Christians we have God’s Law as our supreme standard and calling. We are called by God to glorify and enjoy Him. But anyone content with you’re walk with Lord? Your Bible reading and prayer life? Your love for others? Your joy in the Lord? Your peace you make with others? Your patience with your kids? Your kindness towards annoying people? Your self-control? We need and we want to get better. But even as Christians we are often crushed by a feeling of condemnation and shame as we fail.
Then the New Year rolls around and we talk of resolutions, goals, and new laws, but we know how goes. About 50% of Americans set goals but about 91% fail. The New Year reminds us that not only are we failures but we are failures at stopping being failures. So, what do we do? Well, unfortunately our culture isn’t helping. Heading into 2023 I searched the internet for what popular opinion was on New Year’s goal-making. Two of the top articles reveal our cultural confusion. The first article said we should not set goals but only resolutions. The article assured me it wasn’t splitting hairs here. The second article said more of the same. It said we should not set goals but rather make new habits, as if that difference was the problem all along. So, don’t set a goal to lose weight but rather make a new habit of exercising daily.
Both articles showed something clearly: we know we need to get better in various areas but don’t know how because the second we think of a new goal/resolution/law/standard/measurement, we wade into the realm of the law and often feel crushed by condemnation and shame.
Here is the question before us: as Christians heading into 2023, how do we think about our lives, lives meant to glorify and enjoy God, without living under the crushing weight of condemnation that can come when we fail to glorify and enjoy God? Rom. 3:19-26 shows us.
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” God’s Law speaks. It speaks from your own heart as God wrote the law on your heart (i.e. conscience) and it speaks in the Bible. You’re not the one who speaks it. It was first spoken by God and He continues to speak it today. He speaks His Law to you and it’s about you and your righteousness and holiness; your works.
The Law has a purpose too. It’s purpose is that every mouth may be stopped. What are our mouths busy doing? They are busy justifying ourselves. We are like people in the court of Law before God, making a case that we are innocent. But then the DNA results come in along with fingerprint analysis. Then we are shown camera footage of us in the act. We are undeniably guilty and fall silent. That’s what the Law does. It’s like a mirror that shows us, undeniably, that we are not healthy. We are held accountable. This means when faced with God’s Law, if you are still justifying yourself, you haven’t listened fully. When you go silent, feeling accountable with no case to make, then you know you’ve listened. God speaks the Law that the whole world may be held accountable to Him.
We assume through the Law will come knowledge of our own great holiness. But it does the opposite and here’s why. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” We think we will look in the mirror of the Law and be pleased but the opposite occurs. We go silent with a weighty knowledge of our sin and guilt and shame. When the Law speaks, you realize you’re not enough, you don’t measure up.
How do we think about our Christian lives in 2023, lives meant to glorify and enjoy God, without living under the crushing weight of condemnation that can come when we fail to glorify and enjoy God? First step: Listen to the Law. Don’t water it down. Don’t twist it to make it easier. Let it speak and show you reality. You have fallen short.
I know what you’re thinking. You said, “How do we live without a crushing weight of condemnation. It doesn’t sound like listening to the law is going to help!” And you’d be right, if the Bible only contained law. If the Bible was merely Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, or only a manual for WWJD?, or only the 10 Commandments, then crushing condemnation would be all there is. But the Bible speaks another Word, a second Word. And the Law of God is purposed to drive you to that better Word.
Here’s where the Law drives you. “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it”. That verse just said there is a righteousness, an acceptability before God, a justification before God, that you don’t get through working or being righteous in yourself. It is apart from the law but the whole Old Testament (“the Law and the Prophets”) has been pointing to it. You might read the Old Testament and think it’s nothing but Law but scholar Bruce Waltke summarizes it perfectly when he writes that the “...Old Testament is a masterpiece of indirection”. At first glance, you might think it’s all about you and your performance when in fact it’s actually about the lack thereof, all the while pointing your forward to Jesus.
What righteousness is this that is available to us? It is “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” God doesn’t want your righteousness in order to accept you, He wants you to have His own. God doesn’t want you to try to earn righteousness through works. He wants you to receive it for free as an unearned gift. And who paid for this? Who accomplished this? It is all “in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Why did Jesus come? Why was He born, why did He live, why did He die, why did He Rise, why did He ascend? Was it merely to leave us a better moral example than Moses? No! Jesus came so that you would stand before God and be considered enough. He came so you’d be considered as one who measures up, meets the standards, is innocent, is justified, is righteous, and is acceptable.
How do we think about our Christian lives in 2023? First: Listen to the Law. Second: Listen to the Gospel that the Law drives you to. The Law finds you to be in need of a Savior and the Gospel gives you Savior. The Gospel is about something done outside of you and for you, not by you. Listen to the Gospel over and over and over.
At this point you might be wondering how this all works together. It seems on the one hand the Law shows me my guilt but the Gospel gives me grace. How do I hold these together and not go insane? Do I balance them? Do I listen to the Law on Monday and the Gospel on Tuesday? Paul’s summary shows us how this works: “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
How does Paul know all have sinned and fall short? The Law reveals that. And this is key to notice: that’s where the Law stops. It leaves you knowing you fall short. The Law doesn’t then help you. It can’t save, redeem, or empower you. It can’t fix the problem. This means when you are burdened with a sense of condemnation, you must abandon the Law because it’s work is done. Martin Luther writes, “When the conscience is disturbed, do not seek advice from the Law, but rest your conscience in the grace of God and in His Word, and proceed as if you had never heard of the Law…If it is a question of faith or conscience, ignore the Law entirely.”
In other words, if you’re wondering about God’s acceptance of you, knowing all of your sin, abandon the Law for the Gospel. The only Word that matters in those matters is the Gospel. The Law can’t help you there. That’s what Paul does. He moves on to grace! There is not a Word about the Law there or your performance. Only grace.
How do we think about our Christian lives in 2023? First: Listen to the Law. Do you want to know how to love your neighbor well? Enjoy God? Glorify God? Listen to the Law. And as you listen to it and see all the ways you fall short, second, listen to the Gospel again and again and again. Lastly, listen in that order. Let the Law drive you to the utterly distinct Word of the Gospel again and again and again.
Feel convicted for your sin? Good. Rest in Jesus, convicted and crucified for sinners. Now you can live to glorify and enjoy God as one already alive. Feel ashamed of yourself? Rest in Jesus, shamefully crucified for shameful sinners. Now you can live to glorify and enjoy God with your head held high. Feel unrighteous before God? Rest in Jesus, the very righteousness of God for you. Now you can live to glorify and enjoy God, not earn Him. Feel rejected by God? Rest in Jesus, the acceptance of God for you. Now you can live to glorify and enjoy God never fearing rejection. Feel condemned? There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
