Sunday, October 10: If you are under the Law, the yoke’s on you!

Have you ever spent time with the Lord early in the morning and desired to go an entire day without sinning just to please Him? Even if I cloister myself from the rest of the world where I am less apt to find conflict, I continue to sin. It might be anger when stubbing my toe on the corner of the sofa or impatience when I forget to save the file I have been typing on the computer, but it seems that sin always creeps in. While Satan may look at that sin in a believer’s life as a small victory, God never looks upon it as a defeat. Why? Because our Father already has won the war!


After we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, He already has forgiven us for all past, present and future sins. Certainly, that is a part of what Paul refers to when he says that we have received all of the spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). In a society where chaos would exist without rules, it is extremely difficult for us to understand that we are not living under the rules any longer. What occurs when 99.9% of the drivers adhere to the rules of the road, but one decides that green, yellow and red lights all mean, “Go?” There is going to be at least one wreck involving the Lone Ranger and those following the rules!


When Jesus died on the cross, He carried each believer on His shoulders to the place of grace, rather than the Law. That work He accomplished involved great physical pain in addition to the most painful aspect, His separation from the Father when the sins of the world were placed on the shoulders of Jesus. The Ten Commandments were given to us as a tutor, to demonstrate the impossibility of living a life without sin. Additionally, once we learn those commandments, we have a much deeper understanding of which of our actions cross into that sinful realm. In the Old Testament, that awareness of sin was heightened as the remedy of the sin offering was extremely time consuming. Awareness of sin is a great attribute in the life of the believer, but defeat from sin is not where God desires for us to be.


Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Galatians 5:1-6


As Christians, we are no longer bound to sin, or bound to the Law, as Jesus has set the captives free! The “yoke of bondage” discussed in the passage above was easy to picture for those in an agricultural setting. If that yoke was not carved correctly, it would cause the oxen to put the strain on soft muscle tissue rather than the more solid bone structure. Additionally, other problems occurred when the oxen pulled in teams. When an ox was alone, he pulled straight, but when there was more than one pulling from the same yoke, it was difficult to move in a straight path due to the unequal strength of the oxen.


Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
2 Corinthians 6:14

Paul gave us this example to understand close relationships with unbelievers, whether it be in marriage or business. While a believer is bound to grace, an unbeliever is bound to the Law. Those bound to the Law will continue to be judged by the Law, where one sin makes a man a sinner and the wages of sin is death. As Christians, God does not desire for us to walk in defeat, but instead, to know the joy of the Lord as Jesus won that battle for us! That does not mean that we are to ignore the 10 Commandments. In fact, our world will not allow that to happen in cases of murder and robbery. Yet we are to live in a manner pleasing unto the Lord. The rules have now become principles, as we desire to obey God because of our love for Him, not because of the ramifications of breaking those rules. Obey Him out of love, not out of fear of punishment!


That brings a freedom to the life of believers, who will not be defeated. Sometimes, believers make bad decisions and feel bound to their sins, once again. Yet that occurs when we are not allowing God to pull the yoke for us. When a believer is bound to Satan, the straight and narrow path no longer can be followed! With God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, we are no longer self-powered. Instead, we are powered by God, if we allow Him to be the Lord of our lives. Are you struggling under your own power? Turn your life over to God!


13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14


20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Galatians 2:20-21