Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 036
False Presuppositions, pt3
In the past two podcasts, we have discussed some of the false presuppositions that are starting to affect our current church culture.
Presupposition #1: Jesus was an accepted and beloved figure in His culture.
(You can listen to the podcast HERE.)
Presupposition #2: If we preach the Gospel and people are offended, then we did a bad job.
(You can listen to the podcast HERE.)
Presupposition #3: The law and love are opposed to one another.
A statement that we hear often: “If you really love God, you don’t need someone to tell you what to do.” What this means is, “If you really love God, you don’t need the law.” This has no theological content whatsoever.
God is the definer of love.We are not the definer of love.We are not so righteous and wonderful that we can automatically figure out how to love each other and how to love God. If you have been married more than a week, you know this. When your wife asks, “Do you love me?” What she’s really is saying is, “I want you to show your love for me in different ways.” You can totally love someone and completely miss how they want attention, affection, and devotion shown to them. There are a lot of people who believe they have a pure heart (deception #1) and they know how to love, therefore no one can tell them what to do (deception #2).
The word “love” is in the New Testament about 150 times. 111 of those references, tell us more than justto love; they tell us HOW to love. They give us a specific things that we should do to demonstrate love to someone. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what love is and what love isn’t. God’s Word defines love.
Romans 13:9
For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus defined love through the Old Testament law.
Romans 13:10-11
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
Jesus is giving us a definition of love. He did not invent His own definition of love. He personified what love was.
Love and the law do not oppose one another.
29 times (8 of them in the Old Testament) the Bible tells us to love God and obey His commandments. In other words, we love God according to His commandments. Do you think God wanted to be loved differently in the Old Testament than He wants to be loved now? Of course not! God is the same. When we unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament, we begin to declare that God has changed. Once we believe God has changed, everything is shifting sand.
The presupposition that is out there thinks that if we just have love in our hearts, we do not need the law. That is a gross error. God defines how we love Him. God defines how we serve Him. God defines how we honor Him. Those definitions are found in Scripture. We love God by keeping His commandments. We aren’t talking about salvation or His favor. This is about loving God by the prescription that He desires to be loved by.
We have to be armed with the Word and address these false beliefs. We have to teach what Scripture says about these things. Let Scripture define grace, law, love.
Next week, I am going to continue discussing the ramifications of this type of philosophy.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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