Ancient Truth | Modern Sound

The Bible is filled with God’s Law. It’s everywhere you look. From Genesis to Revelation there are certain things that God wants us to do and certain things that He doesn’t want us to do. And we fail Him. We sin. We happily do everything that He tells us not to do, and grudgingly do some of the things that He wants us to do … and not very often.

Deuteronomy 7:12
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers.

Yet, the blessings of a good life come to those who do keep His Law. God summarized His rules for the good life in the two tablets of stone called the Ten Commandments. Who would argue that keeping those rules does not lead to a healthier, happier life? And, the two tablets of stone can be further summarized as tablet one - love God, and tablet two - love others. Paul even boils it down to one word: love.

In counseling people who are going through difficult times in their marriages and families, I have never come across a problem that would not have been avoided with a basic keeping of God’s Law. Somebody sinned, and then the evil entered their life in every direction.

So where is the controversy? Does anyone really think that Jesus came to earth and died so that we wouldn’t have to do what God wants us to do anymore? Does anyone really think God is that stupid?

Psalm 119:113
I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.

Why do so many Christians not know what to do with God’s Law? They get all hinky as soon as you bring it up. They seem to think that because they have been forgiven for breaking the Law that it is no longer important to obey it. They are like someone who is stopped for speeding, let off with a warning, and then they speed away from the police officer … going the wrong-way down a one-way street.

John 14:15
(Jesus says) “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

We seem to get the part of the Law that Jesus satisfied, confused with the part that we continue to break. Here’s an example of what I mean:

God’s Law says to not steal. If you break the Law and steal something, then God says you have to do two things: you have to return what you stole (with an apology and 20% interest) and you have to make an offering to God (a lamb sacrifice) to show that your crime was also against Him and you need His forgiveness.

Jesus died on a cross and forgave you. He is the complete and final sacrifice. You do not need to offer a lamb if you steal from your neighbor. You are forgiven by God.

Does this mean that you are free to steal whatever you want? And what about your neighbor? Should you give it back? With interest? With an apology?

There are three ways to think about God’s Law. Three uses.

The Law Restrains Evil
The first use of the Law is to restrain evil in society. This is the Law applied to others (as well as yourself.) Every culture arrives at the same basic rules for society through the general revelation and common grace of God poured into the world. Those cultures (like ours) that have God’s actual Law (The Bible) are to use it to design the law of the land. We all understand this. We want stealing, murder, rape, etc. to be illegal.

The Law Convicts Us of Sin
The second use of the Law is to show us that we are sinful and in need of Jesus. It is a mirror to show us how far we have really fallen. This is the Law applied to ourselves. We read God’s Word and we are reminded of our need to confess our sins and repent. For all have sinned and fallen short. This is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance and Grace.

The Law Shows us How to Live
The third use of the Law can only be understood by Christians. It is only available on this side of the cross. It is how we are to live now that we are in God’s family. It is how we are to live our lives as worship. It is the Law offered back to God as a living sacrifice.

Psalm 119:97
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

Here’s an example: Let’s say that your garage is a mess. It became a mess because things were not put back where they properly belong, people were lazy, sloppy and over time the garage became an overwhelming problem. The First use of the Law was to restrain the mess, but people did what was right in their own eyes and a mess was made anyway. The Second Use of the Law is every time you walk in the garage to find something. It is a mess and nothing can be found. The garage is in need of salvation, and you feel the conviction. The Third Use of the Law is the opportunity for something amazing. Your oldest child gets up early on a Saturday and cleans the garage. Not because you asked, not because you threatened, not for money, not as leverage to borrow the car … Just because it was the right thing to do … just because they love their family.

The Third Use of the Law is thankful worship. It is also a blessing. Living according to God’s Law will yield a safer, happier, healthier, better life than living contrary to God’s Law. (It seems really silly to have to point that out.)

Deuteronomy 5:10
… but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

A thousand generations. There has not yet been a thousand generations. The Law was given to man because of the fall, but not as a punishment. It was given to mankind to give direction to people who had lost their way. People who had lost their sense of “good” were shown what “good” looks like. People who had embraced “wrong” were given a picture of “right.” God’s people can hear His Word and know how we can live a life that is worth living. May Your word be a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. AMEN

I am living in London as I have often mentioned.  Its a great city but I am alone.  Behind me in Houston is Karen, my wife, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  That union defined in Eden has brought into the world Jack, Kate, and Hope all children of the promise, who too come out of Eden and go forth into a world we made imperfect.  That tear in the fabric of God’s seamless cloth will be made soon but, for the moment, still we are in Eden.  As yet, all is perfect, but as yet not quite.  As God says to Adam, it is not good to be alone. 

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

 19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
      But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

 23 The man said,
       “This is now bone of my bones
       and flesh of my flesh;
       she shall be called ‘woman,’
       for she was taken out of man.”

 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Sitting here without Karen it is easy at one level to answer the question, “why did God create the woman”?  As we are told in the story it is not good for man to be alone.  We are made, in other words, for relationships and it is only in relationships that we are complete and perfect.   What do I mean by complete and perfect?  Well, we are perfect in the sense that God makes us for union. 

But there is more to the story than companionship.  If it was just for companionship perhaps a animal would have done.  Maybe we could be friends with fido the dog!  Man is shown all the animals here revealing clearly to us that he has power and dominion over them.  Man gives the creation its name and character but in it no companion is found.  Perhaps also God parades the animals before Adam so that both he knows and we know much later that woman is the unique piece of the puzzle that makes the picture as it should be.  

And what is the picture?  Earlier in the story it is clearer that mankind has a role as the apex of creation to uniquely represent God’s presence in the world.  We have in us the image of God.  Male and female together, we are that image.   There is a faint hint here that the nature of God is somehow in the relationship, a clue that Father Son and Holy Spirit, three in one, will be revealed to us and that God will have dimensions that we can fairly grasp.

In the context of my marriage I am made for Karen and she is made for me.  Together we are made for the nurture of our children.  There is a purpose in the union of man and wife to nurture and bring forth children.  Deeper yet than this holy calling is that we are called together in the union of man and wife to carry the image of God into the world.  That marriages fail therefore is a tragedy not only for the children who are scarred, not only for the man and the woman who will bear the scars of the dissolution of the bond of marriage, but perhaps greatest of all God’s very own image is scarred.

In the early world of Eden we were naked and not ashamed.  Take away, oh God our father, every covering of conceit that we carry.  Make us again in your image that we may carry it into the world bringing honor to your name.  Amen.

In the new testament one of my favorite verses, that is, one that I find great comfort in is Matthew 11:28.

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

My own life reflects the lives of many, many others. Rest is a foreign concept and certainly the thought of a sabbath of rest, a particular day set aside for reflection and recovery is a just so unusual and counter cultural. In fact it has always been so. The ancient Israelites were unusual in this practice and so have Christians been throughout the centuries. For some reason we have always believed in our best moments in the power of rest. The reason of course is set forth in the genesis of the world.

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested ^[a] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Let’s make just a few observations here because the story is going to become a lot more complex in just a few verses. What have we learned so far?

We have learned that God created the world in a moment of (more…)