Megachurch Pastor: Christians, Rules Cancel the Word of God
Pastor Chuck Booher of Crossroads Church in California recently warned against the danger of living with only rules and no love.
Booher, whose church has been listed as one of the largest churches by Outreach Magazine, discussed the topic of Christian rule-following in his recent "Now What?" series.
The pastor uses the Bible's example of the Pharisees to show that a life with all rules and no love creates an unhealthy relationship with Jesus. Those who are too hung up on rules miss the point of God's love, Booher continues, pointing to several instances in which he's seen churches become too obsessed with rule-following, as when he saw a young pastor get fired from his church for encouraging applause during live baptisms.
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In Luke 13: 14-17 (NIV), the Pharisees are upset with Jesus for disobeying the rules and healing on a Sabbath day, with the Synagogue leader saying: "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."
These types of rules "take away from what God wants," Booher says, adding that such a misinterpretation of God's love turns people away from the church and Christianity.
"Love produces right living. Rules produce miserable people," the pastor adds.
Instead of being controlled by rules, Christians must instead allow love to guide them in their relationship with Christ, and their obedience to the commandments will follow if they allow this love to come first.
The California pastor offers guidelines for Christians when dealing with rules: rules cancel the Word of God and confine you, while love gives you purpose and sets you free.
While some may find the statement "rules cancel the Word of God" to be shocking, Booher points to Mark 7:13: "Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down."
Rules can also be confining, the pastor continues, saying that as long as Christians allow their faith to be led by a love for Christ, obedience of the commandments will follow. The two most important commandments to keep in mind are love God and love thy neighbor, the pastor says.
Following love also gives us purpose, Booher explains, citing Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Rules don't work with these charateristics, Booher explains; rather, only the Holy Spirit can make things like kindness and goodness become real.
Lastly, love has the ability to set you free, the pastor says, giving the example of following a diet by suggesting that often times when people are told "no," they just want to do more of what they're not supposed to do.
It is better to center your life around what you love rather than things you cannot do, Booher advises. "Rules wreck things – rules actually inflame the wrong part of us."
The Crossroads Church pastor concludes his sermon by calling on Christians to open themselves up to God's love rather than rules to start a journey to freedom.
"Right now if you're battling something in your life […] then just give yourself to the Lord and let him take you on the journey to freedom […] but you've got to commit yourself to the Lord and not rules," the pastor concludes.
