Tollroad Christianity

.

.

Tollroad Christianity …..  Receiving the things freely given by God

I live in Madison, Wisconsin.  Whenever I need to pick someone up at O’Hare Airport, the only real way to get there is via this highway called the Illinois Tollway.  I hate it.  Not because it’s a bad road….it’s a great road (now that a Spanish conglomerate has bought it).  But every few miles I have to stop and pay more money for the privilege of driving on it, like I’m being held ransom.   Really, I hate driving the Illinois Tollway.

I think that’s the way a lot of Christians view their relationship with God.  They think Jesus’ death on the cross only got them started on this thing called “salvation,” but that this salvation is really a toll road, and that payment on a regular basis is demanded along the way.

Matthew 17:24-26  And when they (Jesus and his disciples) were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doesn’t your master pay tribute?  He said, Yes.  And when he was come into the house, Jesus preceded him (Jesus spoke before Peter could open his mouth), saying, What do you think Simon?  Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute?  Of their own children, or of strangers?  Peter said unto him, Of strangers.  Jesus said unto him, Then are the children free.

This is the very first time in the New Testament that the word free is used.   A conquered country (in this case, Israel), had to pay tribute money to the conquering country (Rome).  But no tribute money was charged to Roman citizens, even those native to and living in those conquered countries.  The “children” of Rome were free from paying tribute to Rome.

So are the children of God free from paying tribute to God.  Unfortunately, most of us Christians have not learned this.

Payments are made in forms like……regular church attendance (sometimes more often than just Sundays), with proper attire worn at all times;  tithing;  making sure your children are behaving in the proper way in front of the proper people;  serving on the proper number of church committees, feeling bad when you sin and promising God you’ll never do it again;  feeling guilty that you don’t spend more time in the Bible, or do enough for God;  making sure you go on the requisite missionary trip.  The list goes on.

(Not all of the above activities are bad.  However, the need to do any of them is harmful in a Christian’s life).

Until God stops being your Lord and starts becoming your Father, you’ll feel you owe Him.  And that sense of debt will never go away.  It will never loosen its hold on your psyche.

You hear it all the time in Christian circles.  “We owe God everything.”  The truth is that we owe God nothing!  Why?  Because the price, the tribute, the debt, the toll has already been paid!

Romans 8:32  He that spared not His own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall He not by him also freely give us all things?

See that word free?  Same word as in Matthew 17.  God Himself supplied on our behalf the payment of any and all tolls or tribute He will ever require from us.  The result is that from Christ onward, all things given to us by God are free of charge!  Pretty awesome God, don’t you think?  It only remains for us to explore and discover those things freely given to us by God.

I Corinthians 2:12   Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; in order that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.

There’s that word free again!  In order to discover and enjoy what God has freely given us, simply walk by the spirit of Christ which God has provided for us.  The spirit of Christ, also known as the spirit of God, also known as the Holy Spirit, is the everything’s-already-been-paid spirit, which can only be utilized and enjoyed as a free gift.

Ephesians 1:13b, 14   In whom (Christ) also having believed, you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise.  Which is the earnest (good faith down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.

You see what God requires of us so that He can freely give us all things?  That we believe the toll’s been paid by His gift of His son.  So what does God get out of all this?  He gets to show us what He can really do.  He gets to show off His fantastic abilities to and within His children, to their own extreme joy and benefit……for all eternity.

Back to these “tolls” we endeavor to pay to or for God.  Most of them are really never paid to God, but only to the people we tend to stand approved before.  You know, the people whose judgments of us determine our standing in the church body we’re a part of.  The ones who can make life very difficult for us, should we get on their bad side.  The ones who might say bad things about us if we aren’t doing/acting/behaving the right way at the right time.

Here’s what Jesus had to say about standing approved before men:

John 5:44  How can you believe, who receive glory one of another, and seek not the glory which comes from God only.

And so here is the key to enjoying the toll free life.  Seek the glory which comes from God only.  As long as you weigh what others think in determining your standing with God, you will continue to pay tolls which God does not require, and which serve only to keep you from receiving that which freely comes from God.
__________________________________

..

The book, Give Me Christ … Revelations of the Glorified Christ is now available on Amazon.

You can subscribe at the upper right of this page by supplying your name and e-mail.  You’ll be notified by e-mail whenever a new study is posted, every couple of weeks or so.  Your e-mail is not shared with anyone else.  After you subscribe, add our address to your contact list, so that the notifications are not sent to your junk folder. 

See studies
What EXACTLY God wants from you.
What Pleases God
Freedom in Christ
The Law vs. Faith
The 2 Systems of God
The Law of God