THE LAW
INTENTION:
We do not live by or
under the Law.
We may fully know
that; yet, it can still deceptively show up in a Law-based mindset / heartset /
attitude.
I.
TOPIC:
We want to look at The Law.
On the literal of the Law, these
are all the Laws passed down through Moses that was the 10 Commandments
“written on stone” with the addition of all 613 laws commanded by Moses to
Israel.
·
Refer also: https://www.the613commandments.com/The-List-of-the-613-Commandments.html
But, none of that matters as the Law (both the 10
Commandments and the other 613 laws) has never applied to us. It was never
applied to the entire world, just to the select group that is Israel for a
specific purpose then, for a limited time then. And even for Israel, that ended
at the Cross when Jesus fulfilled the entire Law for them.
Thus, no one, in any fashion, is currently covenant-tied to
the Law. The Law was completely and utterly fulfilled by Christ Jesus on
everyone’s behalf—demolishing its enmity that created separation between Jew
and Gentile; for in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The entire world
(all humanity) is under a new and better Christ-covenant.
For anyone post-Cross (everyone) let’s clear our conscience
by not thinking and seeing ourselves as the Law would portray us as: sinners—for
we have all be reconciled to God (2
Corinthians 5:18-19), and as believers: righteous. For when we see
ourselves as having the identity of righteousness, we let go of trying to live
the Law which only strengthens the sins we are trying to avoid). Live Love by
the Spirit; that is all we are commanded to do.
The Law can never usher in Love, nor save us (as it is flesh-centred);
salvation came about through God’s Grace and Christ’s Faith (Ephesians
2:4-10), that all we need to do is believe (John
3:16-18).
Ok, so we don’t live under the Law—but our flesh still longs
for it. Maybe it’s not so direct, but shows up in us in our mindsets and
attitudes. For the Pharisees and Scribes, they both relied on the literal Law,
but also showed their Law-based mindset, heartset, and attitude—something we
can be “guilty of” as well.
II.
READING: Luke
7:11-50 (EHV)
Soon afterward Jesus went on his way to a town called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him. 12 As he was
approaching the town gate, there was a dead man being carried out, the only son
of his mother. She was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with
her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do
not cry.” 14 He went up to the open coffin, touched it, and the pallbearers
stopped. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and
began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
16 Fear gripped all of them, and they glorified God, saying,
“A great prophet has arisen among us” and “God has visited his people!” 17 This
was reported about him in all of Judea and in all the surrounding countryside.
18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. 19
Calling two of his disciples to him, he sent them to Jesus to ask, “Are you the
one who was to come or should we look for someone else?” 20 When the men had
arrived, they said to Jesus, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the
one who was to come or should we look for someone else?’”
21 At that time Jesus healed many people of their diseases,
afflictions, and evil spirits. And he gave many blind people the ability to
see. 22 Jesus answered them, “Go, tell John what you have seen and heard: The
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23 Blessed is
the one who does not fall away on account of me.”
24 After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to talk to
the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken by the wind? 25 No. Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in
soft clothing? Yet those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in
luxury are in royal palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes,
I tell you, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is
written: ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your
way before you.’
28 “Yes, I tell you, among those born of women there is no
prophet greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is
greater than he.”
29 When all the people (including the tax collectors) heard
this, they declared that God was just, since they were baptized with the
baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and the legal experts rejected God’s
purpose for themselves by not being baptized by him.
31 “To what then will I compare the people of this
generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the
marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you
did not dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist
has come without eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a man who
is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet
wisdom is declared right by all her children.”
36 A certain one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with
him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 Just then
a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s
house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 stood behind him near his
feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe
them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the
perfume. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself,
“If this man were a prophet, he would realize who is touching him and what kind
of woman she is, because she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell
you.”
He said, “Teacher, say it.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five
hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he forgave
them both. So, which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger
debt forgiven.”
Then he told him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning
toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your
house, but you did not give me water for my feet. Yet she has wet my feet with
her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but she,
from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint
my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. 47 Therefore I
tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much. But
the one who is forgiven little loves little.” 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your
sins have been forgiven.”
49 Those reclining at the table with him began to say among
themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in
peace.”
III.
RELATED VERSES AND QUESTIONS:
A. So what does the Law look like and act like by
people following it or under its influence (versus Love)? The Law-mindset is
bothered / troubled by sin; Love embraces the person regardless of sin, not
treating anyone any differently. This is how sin truly is not a detriment with
God, while those adhering to a Law-approach says you are less-than because of
sin. The Pharisees always criticised and admonished Jesus for hanging out with
“sinners and tax collectors”, being a “drunkard and a glutton”, and for His compassion
to labelled “sinners” (as we read above). Yet, Jesus never admonished those
people, only admonishing the Pharisees. When Jesus said to follow Him, it is to
follow Love.
John
8:3-11 (EHV) {PoG}
3 Then the scribes and
Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and had her stand in the centre. 4
“Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing
adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you
say?” 6 They asked this to test him, so that they might have evidence to accuse
him.
Jesus bent down and
started writing on the ground with his finger. 7 But when they kept on asking
him for an answer, he stood up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is
without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he stooped down again
and wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard this {being convicted by their own conscience}, went
away one by one, beginning with the older men. Jesus was left alone with the
woman in the centre. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, Lord,” she
answered.
Then Jesus said, “Neither
do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”
Question: How do you react / treat people who
are labelled “sinners” / in “sin”?
B. Our
worldly programming often comprises harsh criticism and judgement to people we
“don’t agree with”—even when we are the person another “disagrees with”. We can
even be unfairly harsh and critical to our own self when we do something we
don’t want / didn’t want to do. This can mean that sometimes we do not know how
to only show unconditional Love to others and ourself—especially in a world
that programmes conditional-Love… i.e., only rewarded, blessed, appreciated, or
respected when we do “good”. So, we confusingly mix Love and Law because we are
so used to a law-based approach (old wine), that we are not yet used to only a
Love-based approach (new wine).
Luke
5:36-39 (EHV)
He told them a parable:
“No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he
does, he will tear the new garment, and the patch from the new garment will not
match the old one. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does,
the new wine will burst the skins, it will be spilled, and the skins will be
ruined. 38 Instead, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins so both are
preserved. 39 And no one wants new wine while drinking old wine, because he
says, ‘The old is fine.’”
Question: How does your body react when Love
wants to manifest over Law—do you find it more “normal” (appealing) to continue
with the criticism and judgement versus love and grace?
C. Even
the disciple Peter and the church of Galatia got caught-up in a “religious”
duty of law-abiding—to the point that Peter withdrew himself into Jewish
customs again. Peter struggled with God’s grace to every human being, because
he believed that God’s judgement wasn’t to bring all humans to Himself, but to
rid Israel of their enemies. This was his “Jonah” persona. But Paul called him
and Galatia out for trying to make “salvation” and “righteousness” as a
do/don’t mentality—essentially rejecting it as Gifts of God’s Grace and
Christ’s Faith.
Galatians
3:1-14 (EHV)
O foolish Galatians, who
has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as
crucified. 2 I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
3 Are you so foolish?
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now trying to reach the goal by the flesh?
4 Did you experience so many things for nothing, if it were indeed for nothing?
5 So then, does the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among
you, do it by the works of the law? Or does he do it by your believing what you
hear— 6 in the same way as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as
righteousness”?
7 Understand, then, that
those who believe are the children of Abraham. 8 Foreseeing that God would
justify the Gentiles by faith, Scripture proclaimed the gospel in advance to
Abraham, saying, “In you, all nations will be blessed.” 9 So then, those who have
faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 In fact, those who rely
on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is
everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the
law.” 11 Clearly no one is declared righteous before God by the law, because “The
righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law does not say “by faith.” Instead it
says, “The one who does these things will live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from
the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As it is written, “Cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing of
Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we would
receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Question: Do you still find yourself
(unintentionally or not) trying to “live right” to not “upset God”?
D. As
happened with Peter and Galatia, a Law-based approach to life will always
create an “us versus them” approach, never wanting to treat anyone equally.
This can be religiously, racially, xenophobically, financially, physically, or
in gender and identity discrimination. Jesus treated all humans regardless of
their labels (labels often applied by to them by the “church”). The Lord
created all people in Their likeness (equally)—it is only thanks to Adams
disobedience that a sin-conscience of discrimination / inequality came about.
But, because of Christ, that curse is removed and equality is re-applied to ALL
peoples (Galatians
3:28).
Ephesians
2:13-22 (EHV)
But now in Christ Jesus,
you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14
For he himself is our peace. He made the two groups one by destroying the wall
of hostility that divided them 15 when he abolished the law of commandments and
regulations in his flesh. He did this to create in himself one new person out
of the two, in this way making peace. 16 And he did this to reconcile both to
God in one body through the cross by putting the hostility to death on it. 17
He also came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who
were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 So then, you are no
longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints
and members of God’s household. 20 You have been built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone. 21 In him
the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the
Spirit.
Question: What programming in you still makes it
hard to treat (without judgement) all peoples the same?
E. Christ
abolished those commandments which created hostility (an “us versus them”)
belief. So, when the Lord tells us to follow His Commands, He is not
referencing Moses (10 Commandments / 613 laws), but Jesus Christ (Love). This
is critical to see and understand. For now, it is not a to-do list, but a
manifestation of the Spirit in us.
John
13:34-35 (EHV)
“A new commandment I give
you: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one
another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another.”
1
John 3:19-24 (EHV)
This is how we know that
we are of the truth and how we will set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20
If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows
everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence
before God. 22 We also receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his
commands and do what is pleasing in his sight. 23 This then is his command:
that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one
another just as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in
God and God in him. This is how we know that he remains in us: We know it from
the Spirit, whom he has given to us.
Question: Does not needing to adhere to the 10
Commandments / 613 Laws lift a burden off you? How is just Loving easier?
F. We
are not obliged to live by the Law, only to Agape Love. This is because
when we Agape Love, we automatically fulfil the Law. And the ease of Loving
is magnified by the fact that it is the Lord that provides this ability to
Agape Love out of us—often manifesting naturally when we heal the parts of
ourself that are (often unintentionally) still law-based.
Romans
13:8-10 (EHV)
Do not owe anyone anything
except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the
law. 9 For the commandments—do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not
steal, do not covet (and if there is any other commandment)—are summed up in this
statement: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a
neighbour, so love is the fulfilment of the law.
Galatians
5:22-23 (EHV) {PoG}
But the fruit of the
spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, {faith}, 23
gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Question: How does a Love-approach differ from a
Law-approach for you?
G. To
approach life with a Law-based mindset / heartset / attitude, will always bring
condemnation and death—it destroys a person’s life with an abandoning. But our
“new testament” of Love—as Jesus demonstrated—is what brings Life Abundant (John
10:10).
2
Corinthians 3:1-11 (EHV)
Are we beginning to
commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of
recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on
our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 It is clear that you are a letter
from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the
living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 Such is the confidence
we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent by ourselves to
claim that anything comes from us; rather, our competence is from God. 6 He
also made us competent as ministers of a new testament (not of letter, but of
spirit). For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
7 If the ministry that
brought death (which was engraved in letters on stone) came with glory, so that
the Israelites could not look directly at the face of Moses because of the
glory of his face (though it was fading), 8 how will the ministry of the spirit
not be much more glorious? 9 For if the ministry that brought condemnation has
glory, the ministry that brought righteousness has even more glory. 10 In fact,
in this case, what was glorious is no longer very glorious, because of the
greater glory of that which surpasses it. 11 Indeed, if what is fading away was
glorious, how much more glorious is that which is permanent!
Question: How
have you seen a law-based approach to a situation bring condemnation and death
as the outcome?
H. Only
the Lord knows the reasons why we do what we do or are what we are. These
comprise of our own doing and the reality of our surroundings, compounded by
all the things each and every other person has done since the beginning of time
that led to this now-reality. And with that, the Lord never points the finger,
accuses, or demands an explanation. Instead, He meets us where we are to rescue
us up out from whenever and wherever we are; knowing it isn’t the Lord that
brought about the destruction, just bringing about the Light and Life.
Luke
8:1-3 (EHV)
Soon afterward Jesus was
traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him 2 and also some women
who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from
whom seven demons had gone out; 3 Joanna, the wife of Cuza, Herod’s household
manager; Susanna; and many others who provided support for them out of their
own possessions.
Luke
10:30-37 (EHV)
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell
among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
31 It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw
the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite also
happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
33 A Samaritan, as he travelled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he
felt sorry for the man. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil
and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took
care of him. 35 The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them
to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will
repay you when I return.’ 36 Which of these three do you think acted like a
neighbour to the man who fell among robbers?”
37 “The one who showed
mercy to him,” he replied.
Then Jesus told him, “Go
and do likewise.”
John
9:1-7;34-41 (EHV) {PoG}
As Jesus was passing by,
he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was
not that this man sinned, or his parents, {irregardless,} God’s works
{will} be revealed in connection with him. 4 I must do the works of him who
sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I
am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”
6 After saying this, Jesus
spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the
man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means
“Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
34 {The Pharisees}
answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach
us?” And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked,
“Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 “Who is he, sir,” the
man replied, “that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus answered, “You
have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I
believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.
39 Jesus said, “For
judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see,
and those who do see will become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees
who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If
you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’
your sin remains.”
Question: If you would have met these people (Mary
with demons, the beaten man, and the man born blind), would your “natural
instinct” have been to judge them in a manner that accused them of “doing
something wrong to deserve this” (just as the Pharisees and Disciples did)? How
does a Love-approach (as Jesus showed) bring Life as an outcome?
IV.
FURTHER THOUGHT:
A. 1
Peter 4:8 (EHV)
Above all, love each other
constantly, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Thoughts: The Law will appeal to the flesh
(which isn’t of Love). That appeal goes away when we establish a righteous
(good) conscience—in that, when we are assured of Love (ours, theirs, and the
Lord’s), our perpetual Holiness / Righteousness, and Faith (one not abused
against other people), we will not be troubled by some law-based list of
“sins”. Love is not troubled about the sins others are doing (that aren’t
affecting you).
Remember, the Law never
applied to us—and never should be applied to anyone. There is no Love in the
Law—for we see what some of the current human / church doctrines bring:
picket-signs, ostracization, discrimination, inequality, bias, Bible-thumping, rejection,
neglect, denial, pain, and fear—often as an abuse “under” the term “love”
(which is not Love). This latter is what the Pharisees did—but as we just read
above, it never bothered Jesus that the woman committed adultery; it only
bothered the Pharisees.
As such, don’t let people
abuse or condemn you (nor abuse or condemn yourself or others) by the following
“list of sins”. To preach this list of sins (and the Law) is to reject (in the
same passage following) “love that comes from a pure heart, from a good
conscience, and from a sincere faith”:
1
Timothy 1:3-11 (EHV)
As I urged you while I was
going to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not
to teach any different doctrines 4 or pay any attention to myths and endless
genealogies that bring about aimless speculations rather than God’s plan, which
centres in faith. 5 The goal of this command is love that comes from a pure
heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. 6 By veering away from
these things, some have turned aside into meaningless talk. 7 They want to be
teachers of the law, although they do not comprehend what they are saying or
the things they so strongly affirm. 8 Now, we know that the law is good as long
as one uses it correctly— 9 keeping in mind that the law is not laid down for a
righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for godless people and
sinners, for unholy and worldly people, for those who kill their fathers and
those who kill their mothers, for murderers, 10 for sexually immoral people,
for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever
else is opposed to sound teaching— 11 in keeping with the glorious gospel of
the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.
Again: the Law focuses on Sin, God focuses on Love.
God’s Unconditional Love is not determined by what a person does / doesn’t do,
nor who that person is / isn’t. When we become Love, “sins” don’t change that
Love. God doesn’t change Himself based on us—we should neither.
“But, we are a ‘Grace’
church (I’m a ‘Grace’ person), and we never teach the ‘law’.”
It may be true about those
613 Laws of Moses (including the 10 Commandments), but the law shows itself in
other ways. For me, a telltale sign of the law is anything that results in
pointing out sins (faults), trying to correct / turn people, judging others
(individuals or nations), and restricting Love to certain people / identities,
or claim it is out of some kind of “tough love”. None of that is God’s Agape
Love!
And for those still
“hell-bent” on finding fault, judging, and condemning… let me remind you that:
1. God
reconciled the entire world to Himself (whether a believer or not) (2
Corinthians 5:14-21);
2. ALL
sins of the flesh were dealt with at the Cross (regardless of the sin, for both
believers and non-believers, for you and for them) “once and for all time” (Hebrews
10:10);
3. And
that when you are Born-Again, believing in Christ Jesus, you are declared perpetually
RIGHTEOUS by the Faith of Jesus Christ (Romans
3:21-22)!
Never believe that
anything you or anyone else does (or doesn’t do) can change a person’s
relationship with the Lord or their salvation. None of “those sins” will not
keep anyone from the Lord or keep them out of Heaven. Nor can any of these keep
you from being Baptised in the Holy Spirit or flowing with the Gifts of the
Spirit. Be FREE to Be Him as you!
·
Refer also: Bible Study Lesson 018 –
Believing in Christ Jesus & Forgiveness of Sins
Bible Study Lesson 019 – Taking the Worry
Out of Sin (Religiously)
Bible Study Lesson 021 – A Redeemed &
Reconciled (Not Fallen) World
Bible Study Lesson 022 – Righteousness Is
Not A Behaviour
Bible Study Lesson 034 – Fruit of the
Spirit (Just Be)
Bible Study Lesson 037 – Repentance &
Conscience
Bible Study Lesson 040 – Final Judgement
(WEB)
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & SUPPORT:
A thank you to Kelly and Joshua who are inspirational in this life-journey. And to all the family, friends, sponsors, and donors who have fed into this ministry and outreach.
If you would like to support this ministry and outreach, you may do so via our website or at:
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