04/18/2021
Hello friends. It is good to be with you once again. Hope you enjoyed the Easter holiday. Well our last message raises a lot of questions so I want to expand a little on the decision at the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15.
Where is the laws place in Christianity? Everyone seems to have an opinion on this and last weeks message brought them all out. So, what do the scriptures say?
First we need to ask, what is the authority on the rules to be Christian?
At the time of Jesus, tho He did bless outsiders, His mission by His own words was only to the Jews. Jesus was Jewish and fulfilled Jewish law and the prophets. Only at the last supper did Jesus even mention a new covenant. Remember that our relationship with God has always been by covenant. Without a covenant there is no relationship.
The two covenants in question are commonly called the covenant of the law vs the covenant of grace. This has been in controversy since Paul started preaching to the Gentiles.
All the apostles including Paul were Jewish and followed Jewish law even after they believed that Jesus is the Messiah. When Paul started to minister to the Gentiles many were converted. Gentiles new nothing of Jewish law nor did they practice it and this was a major problem to Jewish Christians. This led to the conference in Jerusalem. We have much the same problem today throughout the church from every direction.
Some of the justification for legalisms is as follows:
•Jesus and all apostles followed Jewish law.
•Jesus is the Messiah to the Jews and we are adopted in.
•A covenant can not be abolished so the law is still the law and Jesus helps us obey it, forgiving us if we mess up.
So what does scripture say?
Let’s start with the most used scripture for this argument.
Matt 5:17-20 Jesus says, “ do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to distroy but to fulfill. Till heaven and earth pass away not one word or one Mark will pass from the law till everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who breaks the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called the least in heaven and anyone who practices and teaches these commands will be called the greatest in Heaven.”
The other side of this says bad is still bad but the old covenant was with Jews only and because the law can not save but only convicts, the old covenant has been replaced with a new way of grace and the law is not relevant.
Ok so let’s look at what we’re exactly talking about in deut 5:6-5:22.
•you shall not have any other gods before me.
•you shall not make for yourself an idol.
•do not use the Lords name in vain.
•observe the sabbath and keep it holy. Do no work you or your household..... Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand. Therefore I have commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
•honor your father and mother that it may go well with you in the land.
•you shall not murder
•you shall not commit adultery
•you shall not steal
•you shall not covet
•you shall not bare false witness against your neighbor.
1-3 give reverence to the God that we are supposed to believe in so this should come natural if we believe. Number 4 was specific in memory of their experiences with God. Much like the Christian communion. 5 Is about family and keeping peace in your life.
6-10 are moral. Everyone has a moral compass and I believe these would be at the top of anyone’s list, religious or not.
Jesus said all these are summed up in two commands. “Love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and the second, love your neighbor as yourself.” Ok back to the conference. Do we need to convert to Judaism to be Christian? According to Paul the answer is no and the new covenant replaces the old as he explains in Hebrews 8. “If the old covenant had been enough there would not have been room for a new one. The decision of the conference was to request 4 rules and was agreed to by the apostles including Peter.
•you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols
•you are to abstain from blood
•you are to abstain from the meat of strangled animals and
* you are to abstain from sexual immorality
Only two can be considered in the commandments and the other two are about eating and would limit disease.
The apostle Paul sums this up in Rom14. One man eats another does not. One man holds one day over the other and another man holds every day the same. Whether he eats or does not eat, each does it to the lord so the lord is magnified. What so ever you do, be fully convinced and do unto the lord.
In conclusion here is what I believe.
As we grow in righteousness we automatically start fulfilling the law. Our love for God will fulfill the first three. To love him is to worship and honor him. 6 are morals that almost everyone would agree with and one is worship in memory of the Israelites experiences with God since leaving Egypt that would not exist with any other people.
There is way more to sin than just 10 commandments or there wouldn’t be over 600 Jewish laws. The law has been replaced because it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Bad things are still bad even if you’re not religious at all but God has promised to lead us to righteousness through Jesus which causes obedience to the law even without law.
Worship when and how you believe. We know when we are doing something wrong so don’t do bad things even though we are forgiven when we fail it is not to be used as permission and always seek to be closer to Jesus and He will do the rest and we are covered by grace as we grow. I hope this answers some questions.
God bless you and God bless us one and all.