Liturgy: “Why bother following God’s commands?”

What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.

This Week’s Lectionary Readings
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Psalm 19
Philippians 3:4b- 14
Matthew 21:33-46

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Dr. Paul Mueller, assistant professor of economics:

Why bother following God’s commands? Why try to be righteous when Paul tells us in Philippians:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord….not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

If our own righteousness is, as Isaiah puts it: “filthy rags,” and it is only righteousness from Christ that saves us, what are we to do? And why? Should we conclude, like one pastor, that we should “relax about trying to be righteous and morally perfect! Jesus did it for you.”

These are important questions. Answering them poorly will have serious consequences for your spiritual life. Some, particularly in the Catholic tradition, argue that we are working with Christ to become righteous. In this view, God is working to make us righteous in this life – making us righteous, not simply because it is good, but because we actually need to be righteous to inherit eternal life. And if we don’t quite reach the righteousness we need in this life, we can go through Purgatory to finish the process and be accepted into heaven.

Salvation by faith alone, on the other hand, means that only Christ’s righteousness is enough to justify us before God – no matter how much sanctification and improvement we go through in this life. Whether you have been a Christian for 5 minutes or 50 years, you are equally in need of God’s grace and of Christ’s righteousness. If we have Christ, we will inherit eternal life no matter where we are in our life. But salvation by faith alone does not mean we are equal in goodness, holiness, maturity, or sanctification.

This has led to the error among many Christians that how we live doesn’t really matter that much. We can’t make ourselves more acceptable in God’s eyes, so growing in holiness is a secondary pursuit at best. We live much like the world does, though we believe different things about human nature and the existence of morality. This is a recipe for luke-warm, unremarkable Christianity.

I often slip into this picture of Christianity – trying to “be nice” and work hard. Trying to honor God but mostly just going through life to accomplish my own goals and agenda, and to satisfy my own desires. But what then is the purpose of God’s law and the ten commandments? Are they just suggestions for living a better happier life? Guardrails to keep us from making train wrecks of ourselves and of those we love?

They are that, but they are much more. The law of God changes us when we follow it. I would even go so far as to say that following God’s moral law, pursuing holiness through spiritual discipline, is one of the most important means by which we receive the life of God. Our job is not to make the fruit of the spirit grow in our lives; just as it is not the job of the gardener to make her plants grow. The gardener’s job is to create the conditions and environment where her plants can flourish. Similarly, our job as Christians is to cultivate the soil of our heart – to prune, to remove weeds, to add water and fertilizer, etc; to create time in our day for prayer, reading God’s Word, and solitude to ponder his work in our lives and in the world; to engage in routines of thanksgiving, worship, charity, and encouraging others. We are creating room for God to work – preparing our hearts to receive the good news and the life of God.

We are called to be faithful and responsive to God’s work and his rule (through his laws). As Psalm 19 tells us, God’s law revives the soul, makes the simple wise, causes our hearts to rejoice, and enlighten our eyes. “The fear of the Lord is clean…The rules of the Lord are true…More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey…in keeping them there is great reward.”

Joy, wisdom, revival, enlightenment, cleanliness, truth, better than gold and sweeter than honey? That’s what Paul says comes from knowing Christ and following His good rule.

Sign me up!