The Gospel on Death & Dying: 3

Living by Laws, Rules, Precepts, etc. is Hard If You Face Death!

Last time I shared differences: a life in RULES vs. RELATIONSHIP with God. I’ll share more soon. This time I want to show WHY living by rules and laws hurts us later in life when we’re closing in on death.

Laws and Rules Present a Very Hard Life to Live

God has done so much for us in his gospel. It is so good that many people think it is biblical error the first time they hear it. Why? Because church pastors and preachers just don’t preach it very much. Paul infers the ratio is 10,000 to one: rules over the gospel (I Cor 4:15). He may have been exaggerating, but sometimes I don’t think so.

“Children live what they learn.” If they learn rules, they live by rules. It’s just the way the game of life is played: “As a man thinks, so is he.”

In many churches, we are presented an endless parade of rules. Paul says that law is easier to preach, thus many pastors want to preach it.

“DO go to church, read the Bible, pray, do quiet time, serve in the church, attend small group, and give lots and lots of money.” OR: “DON’T lie, cuss, cheat, steal, commit adultery, yell at your spouse, kick the cat, or be a brat.” Of course the lists are usually longer and often a lot harder.

The Gospel Focuses on God: A Much Easier Life

The gospel focuses on GOD: (1) what he has done, (2) what he’s doing now, (3) what he will do later on. It is ‘the good news of good things.’

God wants to bless us and empower us. The Old Testament law demanded what it could not produce. The New Testament gospel produces in us what it does not demand.

Why would anyone want to live by rules? As a lawyer I used to think living by laws and rules was the way to live. Thank God I got delivered from law!

The gospel tells us God’s blessings over and over and over again. God doesn’t withhold anything from us (Rom 8:32). We have all his blessings (Eph 1:3). All he has is ours (Luke 15:31, I Cor 3:21–22). Jesus says that God gives us his entire Kingdom (Luke 12:32).

But if we don’t see all of this, and only hear about laws and rules, we are DIS-empowered. You must be tuned into the gospel to hear it!!

Nobody keeps all the rules (Acts 15:10, Rom 3:10). And both James and Paul say if we choose to live by law we must keep it all. If you think you can, it’s pride talking: one of ‘the 7 deadly sins.’

Don’t miss this!!! The laws and rules were never meant for us Gentiles at all (Rom 2:14). And we are all Gentiles — unless you were born a Jew.

Living By Laws and Rules Is Really Hard In Death

But living like this puts all the focus on YOU. Your whole focus is on all the things you should do, and things you shouldn’t do, to be good. This is what my segments on living by ‘RULES vs. RELATIONSHIP’ are about.

Often, rules can be very subtle: they sound so good and reasonable.

This is troublesome all through life, but especially in facing DEATH! This can do a real mind-trip on you. Any type of peace is non-existent. And you can’t live in God’s grace if you’re piled under laws and rules.

Thus laws and rules are ‘the ministry of condemnation (II Cor 3:9). They make us feel guilty before God (Rom 3:19).

Please Don’t Face Death Feeling Like This

Paul says this makes us feel like we’re facing ‘the terror of the Lord.’ This is why he continually persuades people to live the gospel. Religion is living by RULES. The gospel is living in RELATIONSHIP.

The gospel gives us confidence and boldness in judgment (I John 4:17). Jesus says we are not to even think he will accuse us (John 5:45). God chooses to not even remember our sin (Heb 8:12, 10:17).

If we live under laws and rules, we die anticipating judgment for sin. If we live life in the gospel, we die knowing God’s love and comfort.

So many don’t even know what the gospel is, except it’s just some kind of Bible-jargon that Christians talk about, but nobody really explains. That’s why, as ‘The Gospel Life Coach,’ I show a new LIFE EXPERIENCE in the gospel. We’re told in Hebrews it is God’s ‘new and living way.’

The gospel is a way of thinking. Paul says it renews our mind and transforms our thoughts. In other words, it straightens out our thinking.

This allows us to think God’s thoughts, not just ours (Is 55:8–9).

The gospel is a way of living and experiencing life in a dynamic way.

And this dynamic way includes having no fear or death.

None of Us Like the Thought of Dying

Of course all of us dread the dying experience. Do I want to experience a lengthy time of cancer before I pass on? Of course not! Do I want to have Alzheimer’s, like my sister-in-law Judy, who no longer even remembers my name? Of course not! Neither do you!

But anything we experience is not half as bad as a lot of folks experience. In the law we dread death. All we think about is US, and what we lack.

In the gospel, we don’t dread death. We die with a smile on our face, not a frown, — whether we die at 19 or 91 or older. The gospel places a hope in us that we can’t explain, but that we can share its reality with others.

We All Must Die! And After that, Judgment!

But in the gospel, judgment does not fall on us if we live this life in RELATIONSHIP with God in his gospel, and not under all the RULES!