• Just Trying To Get By
• What Are The Bounds Of Christian Liberty?
• What Is The Least I Can Do And Still Get To Heaven?
• If you are asking this question, I can tell you that you won’t
make it there.
• Introduction
• The question lacks a motivation to serve the Lord with the whole heart.
• The question indicates that one cannot let go of the world and put their
trust in God.
• God warns us that we cannot love the world and still receive His blessings
of eternal life.
• Some Limitations
• James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with
the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of
the world makes himself an enemy of God”.
• 2 John 9 “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching
of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both
the Father and the Son”.
• James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse
your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded”.
• Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time
of need”.
• Limitations Of Liberty
• While we become free from sins through our obedience;
• We do not have freedom TO sin.
• Many teach that the grace of God (which is free) overlooks sin;
• So, if we have sin in our lives, God looks and sees Jesus and thus we
can be saved because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
• It doesn’t work that way.
• Here Is Our Problem
• People do not like restrictions placed upon them.
• God, by demanding obedience, is restricting what many people want to
do.
• That is not fair, in most people’s minds.
• Every religion has restrictions.
• The problem is that in each and every religion there are those who seek
to lessen the severity of ignoring the restrictions.
• We also have double standards applied by man.
• A man cheats on his wife, “Oh, well!”
• A woman cheats on her husband “That hussy”.
• We see how different political parties are treated by the media and
society.
• A white man does the same thing a black man does, but they are judged
differently.
• People from different cultures allow their culture to dictate what is
right and wrong, and not the Bible.
• God Has Always Had Limitations.
• Genesis 2:16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying ‘From
any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat, for the in day that you eat from it you
shall surely die”.
• Ten Commandments along with the whole Mosaic Law had limitations.
• Even with the freedom in Christ, we have limitations.
• Some Questions
• Back to our title, some are still asking: What can I do, or not do,
as a Christian, and still be pleasing to God?
• Wrong Attitude here.
• There are several questions we should consider.
• Am I a Christian in name only, or do I live like I am supposed to?
• Am I doing anything to bring glory to God?
• Do I want to go to heaven?
• Am I willing to give up all in order to go to heaven?
• Am I willing to grow and develop into a better Christian?
• Will my behavior demonstrate my love for God or friendship with the
world?
• Do my friends know that I am a Christian?
• Can I produce any evidence that I am a Christian?
• Can my actions be pleasing to God?
• Or, will I bring reproach upon Christ or His church by my lifestyle?
• Have I made any effort to lead others to Christ?
• Where We Need To Focus
• I am sure that we could ask many more probing questions.
• But these should be sufficient to make our point.
• The Christian has many responsibilities in our living to be acceptable
to God.
• Some of these areas of duty are:
• Our Focus In Worship
• Do we do it in Spirit and Truth (John 4:24)?
• Do we follow the commands and examples of the New Testament pattern
of worship?
• Or do I just occupy a pew and feel good about myself?
• Our Focus In Our Work
• Is it honorable work?
• Does it provide me the chance to provide for my family and others?
• Does it allow me time to serve God?
• Our Focus On Recreation
• Does it distract from serving God.
• Do I play with fairness towards all?
• Am I obsessed with it to the point of God taking second place?
• Our Focus In Our Speech
• Does it build up or tear down?
• Is it wholesome?
• Would anyone find it offensive?
• (Granted: speaking the truth is offensive to those not willing to live
by it.)
• Our Focus In Our Dress
• Does it speak of modesty about us?
• Does it belong to the world, or to Christ?
• What is our purpose for wearing what we wear?
• To gather attention or to show respect?
• Do we consider what others might say or think about us by what we wear?
• Conclusion
• So many more things we could consider.
• Our associates, our places of recreation, our habits, and just about
everything that people see as “you”.
• Serving God certainly has limitations in all these areas.
• Are you trying to serve God better than “well enough”?
By Carey Scott inspired by an article I saw online
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