2005-08-26
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Now that we have taken a good look at Christ's teaching on revenge and our interaction with others against the faults in our present system of justice, we can now turn to an important question: Did Christ come to change the law? While His answer in MT 5: 17 comes quickly, the question itself really deserves a deeper inspection, so that we can have a more profound understanding. MT 5 :17, "Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true."
In the final analysis, no person's opinion of us is more important than that of God Himself. Once again, we are hampered by the imperfections of our human perception. We simply can't conceive of how that impacts our reward in heaven, except only to guess that different people will reap different degrees of reward. We get more light on this subject from MT 5: 19-20, "So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven. I tell you, then, that you will be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven only if you are more faithful than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in doing what God requires." Can we see why it is that God holds teachers, leaders, and clergy to a higher standard than others in this? The obvious reason is that they impact a greater number of people in the course of their work. There is a component not as obvious. Each of these individuals probably takes a vow or in some way makes a serious commitment to carry out his duties with godliness, responsibility, and honor. It must be remembered that any vow taken in God's name is serious indeed. As to what it means on a practical level to be "least" or "greatest" in the Kingdom of heaven, we must wait until we are there to learn the details of it. All we know is that it is more desirable to be "greatest" than to be "least." To make things clearer, Christ gives us a comparison to make between obeying the Law as the teachers of the it and the Pharisees do and the opposite [more the ideal].
The Father handed down the Ten Commandments, and I am sure He had specific goals in mind as to how it should be carried out. The problem is not with Him, but instead, with what mankind does with them. Christ's mention of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees indicates that their legalistic approach to obeying the Laws was not at all what He had in mind. The very fact that 10 simple, straight-forward rules became 613, so many that no one but Christ Himself could obey them all, points this out. To the traditionally Jewish mind, ritual overtakes content in importance. Is it no wonder that Paul had to deal with a conflict between Jewish Christians and ones that had converted from paganism during the time of Romans? The time of Paul's ministry was the beginning of God's "mid-course correction" away from legalism and back to focusing on God's real intent for the Law. We must now see that changing the intent of the Law was never the Father's plan, only to alter how the Law was obeyed by sinning mankind with their limited perspective.
The statement Paul makes in RO 7:12 still holds. "So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right and good." And, it's not just pastors, leaders, and teachers that are held to a higher standard, it is really all of us. Once we truly understand God's true intent of the Law, we recognize that we are called to obey it as He intends. As for vows, we have made such a vow to be God's partners in the Covenant of Grace when we came to faith in the Son and decided that a life of slavery to sin was not what we want. As serious as this vow and it's commitment to obey His Laws are, it can't compared to how serious God is about blessing those who honor Him. We see this all over the Scriptures. Here are three examples. 2 CH 16: 9, "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." PS 107: 43, "Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord." RO 8: 28, "We know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him, those whom He has called according to His purpose." The Ten Commandments haven't changed since the time God first handed them down to Moses on Mt. Sinai. These statements of God's behavior code for mankind were and still are designed to bring us closer to Himself and to separate us from our sinful nature. That has never changed, nor will it ever. God chose to reveal to John His intent that nothing evil should ever enter the new Jerusalem in REV 21:27 is a fact that points this out. The greatest desire of both God and the Son is to bring mankind back to heaven for an eternal life of bliss [JN 6: 39-40; EPH 1: 4-5].
PRAYER: O Lord, we stand before Your throne to answer the call to lives of holiness You have made to us [LV 11: 44-45; LV 19: 2; 1 PET 1: 16]. We acknowledge our imperfections and our spiritual poverty. That is why we ask You to come into our lives and to take over leadership of them. With You, we can live righteously and spend our time on earth serving You honorably. There are many questions which we are called upon to examine that seem simple and easy when the answer is given. While the question about if Christ came to alter the Law is one of these, You prompt us to know that it's important to look more deeply into them, so as to fulfill Your wish as stated in COL 3: 10 for us to have a greater knowledge of You. You not only call us to a higher law, but You take the time in the Your word to show us how to live in a way which is pleasing to You. JS 1: 8 and PS 1: 1 are examples of this. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful…Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." Throughout Your word You not only tell us what our attitude should be for mind and heart, but You also tell us what traits we should exhibit in our behavior. The fruits of the Spirit are an example. GA 5: 22-23, "But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these." Throughout the Scriptures, You have said all we need to know to have a better knowledge of You, by revealing Your goals, Your will for our lives, Your wisdom, Your compassion, Your patience, and Your desire for eternal blessing and peace for us. In 2 TIM 3: 16-17, You have told us, "All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed." We thank and praise You for caring about each of us so very much, for giving us the power to battle evil in Christ's name to victory, and for blessing our lives so richly. We dedicate ourselves to gaining more knowledge of You and being more Christ-like in our lives. In His holy name, amen.
Next week, we will continue looking at what it means to say: "Christ is the fulfillment of the Law [RO 10: 4]. Once again, we will see more ways how the Sermon on the Mount has laid the foundation for our greater knowledge of God. Before closing this message I want to say that I pray for each of you, just as I pray for myself. Our faith is assailed at what seems like every turn in our modern day lives, but we must remember that God has given us His full armor [EPH 6: 10-18] and prayer, an open channel to Him, to equip us for battling evil that is in our lives. We are assailed from both within and without ourselves, but we do not deal with the evil one by ourselves. Our loving God is right there with us in the arena of battle, leading (if we will allow Him) us into victory. The victory may take some time, and there may be pain and loss along the way. But, if we will endure in this battle, we will have the power that the Father used to raise the Son to life eternal to gain victory over spiritual death [EPH 1: 18-20]. I testify to this as a former traditional Jew who had no idea in the past Who the Messiah is or if my soul could be saved. Today, because of God's grace and His gifts to me of faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit, I can witness to the fact that Christ is the Messiah, and as long as I endure in my faith in Him, I am saved. The Father's sacrifice of the Savior at the cross and Christ's resurrection are proof positive of His love for a sinner like me and for each person who comes to faith in Him. I'm no more special than anyone else, so if He loves me this way, He also loves each of us this way. Anyone willing to repent and come to faith is saved. What we do after that will determine our reward in heaven. There is no one of us who is not loved and treasured by our Father in heaven or His Son.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn