So...What's With All the Rules? PART THREE

Click for PART ONE, click for PART TWO.

A few things to keep in mind in regard to the rules or law of God. First the fruits of the Spirit (that we discussed in the last section) should always be in accordance with God's truth and principles. In order for you to remain separate from sin this must be checked often. In other words we don't decide for ourselves what thew rules are based on our own morality. For example "For me it is the most loving thing to have 5 wives" or "I find my peace sitting in front of a statue of Buddha while burning incense and sitting in the lotus position". Do you see what I am getting at? This isn't to say the the fruits of the Spirit and their attributes are only found in the confines of Christianity. Many religions have aspects of God's truth. But as we know being a righteous, moral person is only half of the equation. We have to have Jesus to pay for our sin, and lead us to eternal life. Other religions don't have that. So while we have a lot of good righteous people and leaders out there, and this is a good thing, it is not an end to the means which is Jesus alone. Nothing added or taken away. Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life" period.

Now on the other end of the spectrum is the same idea that the devil had in the first place. "God is just trying to control me by all these rules...I'm my own person...I answer to no one...I am the only one that knows what is best for me". This is humanistic thinking. The thought that we all can be our own moral compass. We think that any formed authority is dictatorship. You have to come to the understanding that God is NEVER trying to control you. He has only ever tried to protect you out of His love for you. The trap that we fall into when trying to form our own moral compass is the same trap that caught us in the garden of Eden. Sooner or later we will fall into sin. Now whether we acknowledge that it is in fact sin is a different matter.

You see humanism says we can each make our set of rules. So if I decide that it is alright for me to have sex with a child, that is fine because I am only answerable to myself. This sounds extreme I know, but this is the same attitude that has gotten us to abort babies and engage in other sexual deviations. Humanistic consensus seems to rule the laws. So if enough people think that a sin is OK, I guess it is OK. WRONG! Rebellion against God will always result in sin. Sin will always brings death either emotionally, spiritually or sometimes even physically.

Now none of these sins are anything new. Any sin or deviation that we have going on now was also going on in ancient times. That is part of the reason that God made the rules in the first place. He needed to counter act the "I know better than God" or "no one can tell me what to do" attitude. So the argument that God's truth and principles are too old school and don't apply to this post modern generation is crap! Every sin has been tried and tested for the last 5000 years or so. So we don't know better than God! He has seen all the sin and he has seen all the results of sin since the beginning of time. So he know what rules need to be in place to protect us.

This isn't to say that everyone who is living in sin is miserable. If that was the outward appearance of sin no one would do it in the first place. Remember the "trauma blog", the devil bleeds you out slowly. Many people become so deceived that they have talked themselves into thinking that their particular sin is OK. Some people do this while leading some what happy, productive lives. The problem is the party doesn't last forever. Sooner or later sin will take it's toll. Also keep in mind that Jesus is the only way to the Father and they only way to root out the sin in our lives. Jesus is also the only way to do both those things in a loving Spirit of grace no matter what sin you have committed. This is your only hope for true wholeness in your life.

Now I know that the thought of conformity goes against every grain of your rebellious spirit. At least that is how it was with me. You want to be different and unique. You will never find your uniqueness in sin. Remember how we just said that every sin has been tried, rehashed, and reinvented for the last 5000 years? On the other hand there has never been one of you for the last 5000 years. No one that has looked like you or talked like you. No one with your personality. No one with your combination of talents and gifts. So if you trust that God lovingly created you, you must trust that He would never do anything to stifle your uniqueness. Life in the Spirit of God will ALWAYS enhance your uniqueness that God especially created in you. Don't be tricked into joining a group of played out sin. Sin will only give you a shell of false identity with no spirit in life.

So we have to have the rules. We need to follow God's truth and principles as our moral compass. We must humble ourselves and yield to the boundaries God has set out for us. This is the only way we will be protected from the plots of the enemy. This is the only way we will gain life in the Spirit which in turn brings greater intimacy with God and grace to live righteously.

So...What's With All the Rules? PART TWO

Click for "PART ONE". Now if we fast forward to the new testament we have Jesus. He is the atonement and sacrifice for all sin. But in regards to the law it seems we find opposing things. 1) that Jesus has fulfilled the law and 2) that Jesus has abolished the law. First lets take a look at what was going on with the law before the death of Jesus.

The first thing to note is that there were about 400 years between the old testament and the new testament. By the time we get to the new testament the keepers of the law, the Pharisees and Sadducees had become very legalistic. That is to say the law and regulations had become a way of judging others commitment to God. They would also add to the law their own made-made rules as a way of exclusion. Their way of pushing away the people they thought were not worthy of God. The Pharisees and Sadducees had begun to worship the law instead of God. They had turned the loving, protecting rules of God into control and exclusion of the people. That was never what God had intended the law to be.

So in this respect Jesus did most certainly abolish the law! He became the sin offering once and for all. He did this that we might have life in the Spirit and eternal life here after. Remember on the cross he says "it is finished". I believe He was in some part talking about the law. How the law had been up until that point was now done. Moreover Jesus was now for all people both individually and globally; not just to those who had been set apart as a nation to receive the law and bring the seed of Jesus to past.

Now Jesus also just as importantly fulfilled the law. See through Jesus there is now grace for our sins. But we must be careful not to use grace as a freedom from the law per say. Grace is the freedom from the consequence of breaking the law which was ultimately death either spiritually or physically. But for the most part the actual rules of the old testament still apply. It is the application that is different. There is now a higher calling through the Spirit in Christ Jesus. We no longer follow the law for law sake; we are new creatures that follow the law via the Spirit. You see everything we now do is as worship and expressing intimacy with God through Jesus. In doing this we automatically fulfill the law that was given in the old testament.

We must be careful to acknowledge both the abolishing and fulfilling of the law by Jesus. Jesus' death for us is not a free ticket to ride. We don't get to live in sin because by grace we now get to go heaven. Paul addressed this many times in the letters he wrote to the first Christians. He was very clear about not being legalistic. For example not to get caught up with clean and unclean foods, to drink or not to drink. See some of the rules of the old testament were only to carry out a short term purpose. Remember protecting the seed of Jesus. Think of it like you not having to wear diapers anymore because now you know how to use the potty. (sorry we are potty training my 3 year old right now...that the first example that came to mind ;D) There were things that the law had commanded that now were left to us to use our better judgement. Always checking with the Spirit and the principles of God as a guide.

Now Paul was also VERY clear that that some rules were not to be negotiated. Grace does not mean that we can participate in sexual immorality or idolatry or any of the other BIG no-no sins as I call them. There is a huge difference between now being able to eat pork and being apart of an orgy at the local temple. Agree? So Jesus did both abolish and fulfill the law, not one or the other but both. Paul sums it up like this to know then how we should live. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with it's passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Gal. 5:22-25 Not convinced it's that easy? Pick any law from the old testament and it should fall under one of the fruits of the Spirit. Whether pertaining to you personally, to others relationally or to God's intimacy. Also keep in mind that temple that was only available to a few was now opened up by Jesus so that ALL peoples could be included.

A few final things to keep in mind....click to continue in PART THREE.

So...What's With All the Rules? PART ONE

The rules or law in the bible were given to help us better understand what sin was and what it did to our relationship with God. As we know sin is a stepping out of the will of God and stepping into the will of the enemy, Satan. The biggest consequence of this is loss of intimacy with God. Remember in the garden when God asks "Where are you?" after Adam and Eve had sinned. The relationship with God had become compromised.

Now from the time of Adam to the time the actual law was given was about 2000 years. Prior to that God just had covenants with individual people. God and Adam, God and Noah, God and Abraham etc. So if we fast forward to the exodus out of Egypt a tribe of 70 people had "greatly multiplied" to several hundred thousand, maybe even millions of people. We don't know the exact number...but we do know it was WAY more than 70. This tribe was now a nation.

This new nation had no land, no government, no health care, no justice system, no religious system etc. So in order for this nation to survive and thrive there had to be some rules and regulations laid out. Now you must keep in mind a few things. God's desire for intimacy and relationship with us. Therefore the need to deter us from sin which damages intimacy. Also the battle going on in the spirit realm. The battle to disrupt the seed of Jesus coming to past. So you have to trust that any rule or regulation that our loving God laid before us was either to protect our relationship with Him and /or to protect the seed of Jesus so that all nations could be reconciled by His sacrifice. Finally to protect us physically and spiritually.

They are no arbitrary rules in the bible. They are for our protection one way or another. Now the whole book of Deuteronomy is rules. Seems like a ton! But they can all be broken down into 8 categories. Government, economics, science, arts, education, religion, and communication. Sounds the groundwork for a nation huh. A nation that would protect the seed and the line of Jesus and a nation that was to be an example and a witness for other nations.

So all the rules are a written understanding of how God wanted the people to interact in the 8 different aspects of life. Remember by this time there were several other nations doing things their way. Usually meaning in enmity with God. So God had to be sure that this baby nation knew where He stood on all things. He didn't want them following the other poor examples. Remember to first and foremost protect us , not control us.

The rules and regulations regarding the tabernacle and offerings were about relationship. As were the celebration of different holidays like Passover. God teaching His people how to relate to Him and each other. Rules about justice and how to treat each other fairly. Rules about economics and principles of finance. Rules about personal heath and hygiene. Rules about marriage, family and sexual conduct. See everything had to be laid out because up until this point nothing had been. Most of the cultures that this group of people had been exposed to were rooted in pagan and immoral practices. Remember what sin gets us....DEATH either spiritually or physically. That is why so many of the rules seem so exclusive and selective. God had to separate for Himself a nation that was righteous among all of the other garbage that was out there. Remember spiritual warfare in on full force at this point. God had to form a righteous people to protect the seed of Jesus so that ALL nations, even the pagan ones, could have the opportunity to be reconciled.

OK so you can handle that. You sorta understand why some of the rules had to be there. But what about all the crazy cruel punishments? And what about the weird almost vulgar rules? Well again lets get into the mind set that a loving God would not make arbitrary rules. So if there is a rule that says not to have sex with animals, it is not that God is trying to be gross. It is because some idiot went out and had sex with an animal. The rule is simply God saying " You know what that is NOT a good idea!" As far as the hefty punishments go I believe they were meant more as a deterrent than anything else. God's way of say "This is really, really, really not a good idea!" I wonder how many times these harsh punishments were actually carried out. How many times would you do something that you knew you would get stoned to death for doing? Most likely never! ( In part two we will discuss the legalism of the Pharisees in the new testament and how they looked for every chance to carry out these punishments much to Jesus' chagrin.)

So I think that some rules were made in accordance with things that the people were already having trouble with. I don't think God was plunking down a great big rule book and saying "Do this or DIE!" God wasn't even trying to control us. He WAS addressing the hurtful and damaging things we were already doing to ourselves and others. Remember this is all in hopes that we will have closer intimacy with God resulting in purpose and life. Towards the end of Deuteronomy God puts it like this. "See I set before you today life and prosperity; death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase and the Lord your God will bless you..." Deut 30:15-16

Now if we fast forward to the New Testament....continued in click PART TWO...