The church has been active for years in the arena of life around them. We celebrate William Wilberforce dealing with slavery, Mother Theresa opining the state of the poor and others over the century seeking for the right.
At the same time, we have been trying to bring people into an understanding of the grace of God to right wrong. Sin is conquered, not by our own efforts or ingenuity. It’s not what we do that rights the wrong. It’s what God has done.
The combination of these two is a balance we often strive to understand. Right now, much of North American Christianity is leaning on grace and light on moral actions. I’m trying to understand this in light of newly inducted Christians wanting direction while at the same time trying not to steer them into legalism and bondage.
That’s all nice words. But, at what point do we set out a list of right action that must be followed and what would that look like? The ten commandments seem fairly acceptable in this area. At the same time, the sermon on the Mount drills further into the question of motive and not just actions.
I guess I would start with the action of worship (first commandment in the ten commandments) – not sexuality or thievery or murder. Start with Jesus. Get people to commit to complete allegiance. Commit to asking Jesus what should be done minute by minute. Commit to checking what Jesus has already laid out in the Bible. Commit to giving God credit first and letting any credit that remains also go to God. This is the work of the saint – to believe fully in Jesus such that our life is affected completely by Jesus.
Follow those guidelines and you will run across all sorts of instruction on same sex relations, abortion, fraud, slander, and a myriad of other daily problems. Start with Jesus – end with Jesus.