The freedom that Christ gives us is the desire to obey the law not out of fear or duty, but out of love for God. We are still commanded by God to live a life worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1). The way we are to do that is by living a life that is rooted in love.
The Bible clearly teaches that love is the motivation that makes what we do pleasing to God. Consider Matthew 22:37-40,
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments! When you act out of love, you act rightly. What God is looking for in us is not any specific action but the motivation of love with our action. This is the clear teaching of Romans 13:8-10,
He who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
If you act out of love, you are going to be in line with the Law. The Law shows us what love is like in concrete situations. Love will keep you from committing adultery. Love will keep you from coveting, stealing or murder. Even doing things that might be done out of love, when they are done without love, lose any moral value and do not please God at all. 1 Corinthians 13:3 (NLT) says, If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. If love is not the spring from which our actions flow, then they are of no value whatsoever because doing the right thing with the wrong motivation is called hypocrisy. Paul says in Galatians 5:14 that The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” When we act out of the motivation of love, we are living like Christ.
Unfortunately, sometimes we fall into the trap of fearing that we need to somehow measure up to stay on God’s “good side,” work at living out God’s commands and laws to make ourselves either worthy of God’s grace or to avoid God’s punishment.
But fear is a trap. Doing things primarily out of fear is sin. Fear can keep us from doing all that God wants us to do. Fear of loss or failure can actually keep us from pleasing God. Think of the third servant in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:24-30,
Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
I want you to notice some things here. Had this servant committed any crime? No. Did he keep his master’s money safe? Yes. Did he have it to give to his master when he returned? Yes. Yet listen to the master’s reply:
‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The master did not give his servant the money to not lose it. He was given the money to invest it. The fact that the servant did not lose it did not mean anything. The servant completely missed the point of why he was given the money in the first place. He was so concerned about what would happen to him if he lost the money that he did not do the job he was given. His motivation was selfish. Fear is selfish by nature. It keeps you from loving others as yourself.
1 John 4:18 says that There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Why? Because you are accepted in Christ! You have no more need to fear that God is going to make you pay for your sins. You already have through Christ.
If you think you have a problem with being motivated by fear, you need to remember Romans 8:15 which says, you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. You don’t need to be afraid of God being out to get you. When you became a Christian, you became a son or a daughter of God and heirs with Christ. Paul says in Galatians 3:26-29,
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
You cannot earn your salvation by keeping the law but you do show your salvation by keeping the law. We are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is never alone. A heart full of love for God is a heart that wants to obey the law.
Another common trap that we need to look out for is obedience that is grounded in duty. When you do something out of duty you are doing the right thing just because it is the right thing to do. It sounds good. It sounds selfless. And that is the problem with it!
The Bible teaches that doing things primarily out of a sense of duty is sin precisely because it removes your heart from your actions. God says through the prophet Isaiah in 29:13 These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. If your words do not reflect love from your heart for God they do not matter. If your prayers are not the fruit of a life rooted deep in a love for God and your neighbor, they will fall on deaf ears.
God is not looking for people who can go through all the external motions of religion. He is looking for people who want a relationship with Him. God says in Hosea 6:6 (ESV) For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Remember 1 Corinthians 13:3 (NLT), If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. Without love, dutiful service doesn’t mean much. Edward John Carnell writes:
Suppose a husband asks his wife if he must kiss her goodnight. Her answer is, “You must, but not that kind of a must.” What she means is this: “Unless a spontaneous affection for my person motivates you, your overtures are stripped of all moral value.”
Love needs to be the motivation behind our action. Duty can be a secondary motivation but never the first. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing can be a secondary motivation but it must never the first.
God did not free us to do things for Him. He freed us to love Him and allow Him to do things through us.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 
Reblogged this on The love of God and commented:
A very good reminder…
LikeLike