Assumption #8.
‘Shoulds’ are Good
1.
The Christian goal… Matthew
22:37-40.
2. Why we think we are not free… Romans 7:14-15.
3. However, in Christ we are free from legal guilt (2 Corinthians 5:21) and condemnation Romans 8:1-5
4. The law of death brings wrath. Romans 4:15. If we are under the ‘shoulds’ of the law…
a. We expect God to be angry at us…
b. We get angry back at God and resent Him and His rules, and then move away from Him.
c.
We become angry at ourselves for doing so.
5.
Condemnation and guilt are not options for
the
Christian; only godly sorrow is. 2
Corinthians 7:8-11
6. We have been freed from guilt and condemnation so that we get our minds off the badness of our inadequacies and onto the lovelessness of our behavior. Hebrews 9:12-14
1. God loved us even when we were His enemies. Romans 5:10
2. The law will arouse in us the desire to sin more. Romans 7:5-11
3. If motivation is compulsion or a feeling of obligation it is not love. 2 Corinthians 9:7, Philemon 12-14.
4. Our actions are meaningless unless motivated by love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
5.
Does grace mean license to sin? No! Romans 6:1-7
6. If the ‘shoulds’ will not keep us in line, what will?
a.
Love for God. Romans
2:4, Ephesians 4:30
b. Love and deep connected relationships within the body of Christ. Matthew 7:12
c. We will be miserable living in a life of sin.
13.
The Bible offers no middle ground between
the options
of life and death. Romans 8:5-6
14. Finding the deeper life… Matthew 10:37-39, Matthew 5:6
15. ‘Shoulds’ as standards; God’s law is the way to life. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, Psalm 119:18,35
16.
A life of freedom… Joshua
24:15, Galatians 5:1