Why are there so many rules for Christians? How can I possibly live up to all that? This is a question I heard several times from the unchurched when I was part of a Bible study at West Central Community Correctional Facility. You may have heard this from non-Christians also. They might also ask, “What are the rules and why do different churches have different rules? These questions usually relate to the requirements of various Christian denominations. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that our salvation is by faith and not by following rules but, it also contains lots of guidelines for Christian behavior that might be called rules.
Jesus gave us some rules to follow. He said the first rule is to “love God with all your heart, soul, mind and body and your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:36-40. He also told us to “do to others what you would have them do to you” Matthew 12:7 and finally, He also gave us the Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” Matthew 28:19,20.
There are lots of other, somewhat lesser, rules in the New Testament: live in peace; help the poor/weak; be kind; be patient; be joyful; pray continually.
But, again, the question of why?
We are God’s children, and in some ways, we behave like children so perhaps the main reason for following the rules is respect and gratitude for our Savior. Since our salvation doesn’t depend on it, I would submit that honoring our Lord and Savior is the main reason for behaving according to His instructions.
Colossians 1:9-11 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience“
Think about it. Remember how good and sweet and well behaved your children are for the first few hours after opening their Christmas gifts? While thoughts of the gifts are fresh on their minds, they want to please their parents out of respect and gratefulness for the gift. Later, when other thoughts have replaced that feeling, they return to their usual self. It’s the same with Christians. Our behavior reflects our gratitude for our awesome gift of salvation when we slow down to allow ourselves to think. And so we have a desire to live a life worthy of the cost of the magnificent gift of salvation we have received. With time however, other thoughts pollute our minds, and we forget to display the same grateful, respectful attitude. We are still human, still sinful, and still subject to human weakness.
Have you seen the movie Saving Private Ryan from 1998? If you haven’t seen it: Spoiler Alert! It’s a great movie based on a true story from World War 2 about a rescue mission to find Private Ryan–the sole surviving son of an American family who had already lost 3 sons in the war and the fourth son was somewhere in Germany behind enemy lines. The movie depicts the perilousness of the mission and the sacrifices of the rescuers and their assignment to find and save Private Ryan. The leader of the mission, Captain Miller, and several other rescuers were killed as they were saving Private Ryan.
Near the end of the film, after Private Ryan had been found, and Captain Miller lay dying from the wounds he had suffered, he pulled Private Ryan close to him and whispers to him, “Earn it.”
While we can’t earn our salvation, like Private Ryan, we should all be inspired to live a life worthy of Jesus’ rescue mission. Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
