Comments on: All Jazzed Up http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/all-jazzed-up Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:30:58 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: John http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/all-jazzed-up/comment-page-1#comment-16233 John Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:26:26 +0000 http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/56/all-jazzed-up#comment-16233 Also don't forget, as many are, the "all things are lawful to me" is sarcastic co-option of a libertine mantra: just as "meat for the belly and the belly for meats": if all things were lawful how could Jesus say (when time comes) "depart from me, ye workers of lawlessness"? The liberty we're given is from sin first; then we're God's slaves, but not to be re-enslaved by ideas or voices except our own good Shepherd's. (Though we might be slaves to masters, to which we're obedient, we're not to be to sin...or to so-called "liberty".) Also don’t forget, as many are, the “all things are lawful to me” is sarcastic co-option of a libertine mantra: just as “meat for the belly and the belly for meats”: if all things were lawful how could Jesus say (when time comes) “depart from me, ye workers of lawlessness”?

The liberty we’re given is from sin first; then we’re God’s slaves, but not to be re-enslaved by ideas or voices except our own good Shepherd’s. (Though we might be slaves to masters, to which we’re obedient, we’re not to be to sin…or to so-called “liberty”.)

]]> By: Lynn http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/all-jazzed-up/comment-page-1#comment-10209 Lynn Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:12:47 +0000 http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/56/all-jazzed-up#comment-10209 This is my immediate reaction -- for someone getting away from true, unbiblical legalism, the foggy bog of Blue Like Jazz (going by the reviews of the book, since I haven't read it) needs some balance. These verses, from I Corinthians 6, and 10, respectively, provide that balance: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! . . . Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." In our great freedom, we do NOT own ourselves -- God is our owner. And the great commandment, to love one's neighbor as one's self is seen in the verses from I Corinthians 10. In our liberty from legalism, we must never forget the two greatest commandments -- that we love God, and love our neighbor. We must not forget that in our freedom, we still are not the owners of our bodies, but God is. It is love for fellow believers which Jesus said would be the testimony by which all men know they are His disciples. It is a good thing to say, about legalism, that this or that isn't in the Bible, but thinking about those verses above, just because I may be free do do something doesn't mean it will be what pleases God -- or is for the good of my neighbor. In our freedom we must remember God owns our bodies, and we can never throw off the constraint of the command to love. This is my immediate reaction — for someone getting away from true, unbiblical legalism, the foggy bog of Blue Like Jazz (going by the reviews of the book, since I haven’t read it) needs some balance. These verses, from I Corinthians 6, and 10, respectively, provide that balance:

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them.

Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! . . . Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

“All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.”

In our great freedom, we do NOT own ourselves — God is our owner. And the great commandment, to love one’s neighbor as one’s self is seen in the verses from I Corinthians 10.

In our liberty from legalism, we must never forget the two greatest commandments — that we love God, and love our neighbor. We must not forget that in our freedom, we still are not the owners of our bodies, but God is.

It is love for fellow believers which Jesus said would be the testimony by which all men know they are His disciples.

It is a good thing to say, about legalism, that this or that isn’t in the Bible, but thinking about those verses above, just because I may be free do do something doesn’t mean it will be what pleases God — or is for the good of my neighbor.

In our freedom we must remember God owns our bodies, and we can never throw off the constraint of the command to love.

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