Gospel Saturated

Legalism takes different forms at different times and is often hard to pin down, manifesting itself in subtle ways.

There is much that can be said about legalism and the hypocrisy that arises from it. An emphasis on externals makes it very easy to fake what is really going inside.

Right now, the world is being sharply delineated. Nearly as quickly as the virus has spread, so too has the chatter and the differing opinions about both the cause and the cure.

However, the most disturbing aspect of all this is the noticeable polarisation of people into two opposing groups; them and us. And the church is not unaffected in this.

The focus of this episode, particularly in light of the global pandemic, is another issue that I believe arises from a spirit of legalism. This is the issue of extremism; when we begin majoring in the minors instead of majoring in the majors.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/majors-and-minors/

The area of Asia Minor was a huge melting pot of ethnicities and also one of the first areas to flourish with converts to the new religion of Christianity. It was also part of the expansive Roman Empire, at the height of its glory, and was therefore subject to Roman law and Roman customs.

Living in the shadow of the Empire would prove a difficult tension for Christians to navigate. No longer giving allegiance to Caesar as ‘Lord of the earth’ but instead confessing that this title belonged to Jesus Christ, how were they to behave as people in the world but not of it?

As citizens of heaven, did the laws of Rome no longer apply to them?

And, as people of the kingdom, how were they to live out the values of the kingdom in the society around them? Were they justified in using force to make the kingdoms of this world the kingdom of the Lord and Christ?

These are all important questions, not just for those in the first-century church but for every generation of Christians who have come after them.

How should Christians conduct themselves, living in the shadow of the Empire?

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/in-the-shadow-of-the-empire/

What’s beneath the skin of our collective Christian identity?

Has Christianity lost touch with its original radical and beating heart? Are we so enamoured with the power and prestige of this present world that we have forgotten our own history?

Are we, the church, so entertained by the lights and sounds, by the choreographed music, by the dimly lit stages and almond-milk-lattes-after-service that we’ve forgotten the ancient truths our early Christian brethren lived and died for?

Have we become mere spectators to our own Christian faith?

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/beneath-the-skin/

The room was filled with the pungent aroma of bitter herbs, the freshly baked scent of Matzah, the rich meaty smell of roasted lamb, and the earthy sweetness of the wine.

Everything on the table represented something. Everything eaten with the humble dinnerware told a story. 

Gathering now with his disciples to celebrate Passover once again, Jesus understood, as no one else did, the true significance of what was symbolised by this festival and what kind of deliverance God had always had in mind. Turning to his disciples, his voice warm with feeling, Jesus said “I have earnestly desired to eat this with you before I suffer.”

It was the night before tomorrow and this was to be his last Passover.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/the-night-before-tomorrow/

Jesus was both the son of a human mother and the son of a divine Father; the human and the divine embodied within the one individual. He was born specifically and uniquely, after centuries of human failure, that, in him, the Creator might redeem His creation.

He was God-With-Us – the ‘one and only of his kind’; a man, but not merely a man and in him, ‘the entire fullness (completeness) of God’s nature dwells bodily’ (Colossians 2:9).

To know God is to know Jesus, whom He sent (John 17:3) and, therefore, the true starting point of our theology as Christians is looking to Jesus and, fundamentally, to God, in Jesus, crucified.

It is in this that we see the extent to which God was prepared to go in order to rescue and redeem us and why Jesus, and Jesus alone, truly human and truly divine, was the hope of the world.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/jesus-the-hope-of-the-world/

Jesus was both the son of a human mother and the son of a divine Father; the human and the divine embodied within the one individual. He was born specifically and uniquely, after centuries of human failure, that, in him, the Creator might redeem His creation.

He was God-With-Us – the ‘one and only of his kind’; a man, but not merely a man and in him, ‘the entire fullness (completeness) of God’s nature dwells bodily’ (Colossians 2:9).

To know God is to know Jesus, whom He sent (John 17:3) and, therefore, the true starting point of our theology as Christians is looking to Jesus and, fundamentally, to God, in Jesus, crucified.

It is in this that we see the extent to which God was prepared to go in order to rescue and redeem us and why Jesus, and Jesus alone, truly human and truly divine, was the hope of the world.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/jesus-the-hope-of-the-world/

When Jesus arrived on the scene, he began preaching, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jesus demonstrated the power and reality of the kingdom of heaven, through the miraculous – evidence that he was Lord of all. He qualified what the kingdom of heaven looked like; a kingdom defined by mercy and love, failure and forgiveness, exile and homecoming. He stated plainly the way to this kingdom; by believing in him and being born again of water and of spirit.

And he taught that the kingdom was not in some far-off place, out of sight, but here, right now, in their midst. Now, but not yet... 

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/the-kingdom-now-but-not-yet/

Centered and rooted in the goodness of God, fidelity is a crucial element to friendships built in a culture of goodness.

Friendships built on either utility or pleasure aren’t innately wrong in and of themselves. But they are both transient and short-lived, simply because one’s needs and pleasures are apt to change over time.

Yet, as humans, and particularly as Christians, we’re encouraged to go deeper in our friendships. Our relationships are intended to be built on something far more permanent and meaningful than simply passing transactions of utility or pleasure.

The Bible offers life-changing wisdom on how we’re to approach friendships and what a friendship of fidelity, built in a culture of goodness, looks like.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/fidelity-friendship/

Centered and rooted in the goodness of God, fidelity is a crucial element to friendships built in a culture of goodness.

Friendships built on either utility or pleasure aren’t innately wrong in and of themselves. But they are both transient and short-lived, simply because one’s needs and pleasures are apt to change over time.

Yet, as humans, and particularly as Christians, we’re encouraged to go deeper in our friendships. Our relationships are intended to be built on something far more permanent and meaningful than simply passing transactions of utility or pleasure.

The Bible offers life-changing wisdom on how we’re to approach friendships and what a friendship of fidelity, built in a culture of goodness, looks like.

Walking with God is sometimes equated to simply ‘living a moral life’, but I believe this misses the point. Walking with God is about a life spent alongside God and, as a result of that choice, producing the kind of faith that is real and pleasing to God.

It isn’t an intellectual exercise – knowing things about God – but a choice of the heart, intimately knowing God. It’s about relationship.

“He has told you, O human, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” | Micah 6:8 NAS 1977

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/walking-with-god/