"LIVING WITH AN EDGE"

Chapter 5 – “Condemnation-Free Living”

In the 2003 movie, “Open Range”, Kevin Costner plays the crusty cowboy Charley Wade.  In one scene he and his trail-boss, played by Robert Duvall, are lying by a campfire, reflecting on their lives.  At one point in the conversation, Charley Wade says, “I can sometimes make it through most of the day without remembering who I am or what I’ve done.”  Many of us have those same feelings.  We live just like Charley Wade, bombarded by memories of the past: feelings of guilt, tormented over missed opportunities or failures of one kind or another.  And the result is that we pile condemnation on ourselves which further complicates our lives.  The worst part of this kind of thinking is that we assume God also feels that way about us.

We’ve all done things, said things, thought things we’re not proud of or that we wish we could forget, but the “tapes keep playing” in our minds and that keeps us from “Living With An Edge.”  In this chapter we want to explore the truth that the Good News Jesus came to bring us really will set us free from that kind of thinking, liberate us from those past failures and give us “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).  The Bible says of Christ-followers:  “No condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 Ph)

In our study of what it means to “Live With An Edge,” we’ve determined that Christ-followers are people committed to the Person of Jesus Christ with a radical, all out, no-turning-back mind-set that gives meaning, purpose and direction to our lives. As Christ-followers, we have power in life because our consciences have been washed clean from all the mistakes and failures of the past and are able to enjoy life, facing the future with confidence (Hebrews 10:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:13-14; Romans 12:1-2). Living with Christ in the driver’s seat of our lives promises freedom from guilt, the past and the worries that come in life.  It also liberates us from the unknowns of what the future holds.  This is life-changing because it clears the path for us to enjoy the process of becoming what God created us to be. Yielding to Him unleashes His power in our lives and gives us the capability of facing even the hard times that come in life “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”  (I Peter 1:8 NIV)

Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we’ve seen Jesus as a “Man of Action”.  Mark uses the word “immediately” at least 41 times in his account of Christ’s life and ministry.  In chapter 7, we read of Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees and some scribes who came to “check Him out” theologically.  The Pharisees were a group of religious people who lived one way outwardly, but lived differently on the inside.  They tried to show they were alive spiritually when they were really dead on the inside.  This led to an inauthentic life. 

Many of us have that same problem: our outward and inward lives don’t match.  This comes when we try to be something we’re not and rather than trusting Jesus, we try to live godly in our own strength and by our own resources and we’re simply incapable of doing it.  We try to watch our language, keep positive attitudes, but still fall short of even our own standards, let alone God’s. The Good News is that Jesus wants us to live in a genuine, authentic fashion and He will empower us to do so.  In this passage we see His diagnosis of the problem and a prescription of a remedy.  As we would expect, His recommendations are radical, but necessary if we are going to “Live With An Edge”!

The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all th