Stuck at the Law

Post 239

You’re still stuck in the last post at the 10 commandments aren’t you?

“How do I apply them in the spiritual way God wants?”, “I can’t really buy the whole Sabbath bit, and have lots of good reasons.”, “That’s just too legalistic for me anyway; I’m real confident in my understanding of the doctrine of Grace.”, “Besides, I’m pretty good with all those, so how technical do I have to get to be acceptable?”

Funny how the battle between “law and grace” simply cannot be put to rest though men have tried since the time of the Apostles.

But why have you fully ignored the principle of the ensample 10 provocations resulting in THE Provocations that we are specifically warned about? (Hebrew 3:7-11,15-19+ Nehemiah 9:18-26+Ezekiel 20:28-32) These 10 pre-provocation provocations (Psalm 95:8) are far closer to the real problem in our hearts still today. These wilderness provocations are not laws broken, they are not commandments violated, yet they are what really got God’s blood boiling way back at the beginning of the relationship.  So really, how different was their problem to ours “the people of grace”? Were they not also offensive to God’s grace rather than the law?

And yet we have the advantage to see their whole story and in desire to see them succeed we emotionally cry out to them at the river; “don’t be afraid; trust God; go in to conquer the land!” But we turn the page and they were afraid, and their world changed.

But instead of being afraid for yourself at how this ensample applies to you, you’re just eager to read on to learn more about what happened to them next. So how much good did their ensample do for you? Not much.

You learned about their 10 provocations and the progression of each failure to turn toward God with their hearts even when they couldn’t know how it would work out. You understand how their heart’s and mind’s had been step by step constructing the complex plan to fail by not “getting fully on board with God”, and yet by following Moses they thought they were… though their hears were really back in Egypt the whole time. They failed to use their experiences to correct their lack of faith, so an intended lesson became a consequence, and the hand that carefully designed the lesson in love was seen as a hand of cruelty. Each experience simply confirmed their seated lack of trust and instead of seeing God’s amazing care in each event, they only perceived that God was trying to hurt them, and in their hearts they knew they deserved it so the perception appeared confirmed by guilt. It’s really no different than the four-year-old who throws a fit in the supermarket when the mother will not buy the trinket desired; “YOU HATE ME!” he cries, and in his lust for the forbidden he really believes his conclusion is accurate and supported with facts.

Seriously, Are these not the same reactions you fight with God over when he cloths-lines you; or uses you in a way you don’t like?

1.      “I was afraid this would happen if I trusted you!” (Exodus 14:12).

2.      “I can’t swallow that; it’s too distasteful” (Exodus 15:23-24).

3.      “I’m miserable; life was better before I followed you. Can’t you do better than that?” (Exodus 15:3).

4.      “I don’t trust your daily provision; I need a responsible safety cushion” (Exodus 16:20).

5.      “Hey, don’t confuse me with complex ideas that require faith over familiar observed reality! From my perspective the math of what you’re asking doesn’t add up” (Exodus 16:27).

6.      “Where is God in this mess I’m in now? Didn’t I follow him into this against my better judgment? God owes me relief” (Exodus 17:2-3,7).

7.      “I don’t like the way things are going; I want a god that will lead me more the way I want. God seems to have neglected me anyway so a bit of tweaking the faith may work to my satisfaction” (Exodus 32:1,5-6).

8.      “I’m just tired of the whole thing” (Numbers 11:1).

9.      “I sure miss the pleasures I used to have before I became a Christian, my soul is dry and frankly God’s provision is not all that impressive” (Numbers 11:4-6).

10.   “No, I can’t go there; it’s just too far across the comfort zone and the risk of failure is too high. As much as I want to have the faith to make that leap… I just don’t. And in fact my preacher says I’m right; what you’re suggesting is whacked! You’re one of those fringe radicals, I’ve gone far enough and now I’m going to anther church that’s more ‘normal’” (Numbers 13:31-14:4).

    10.5 “You’re just psycho, and I’m going to make sure you never  preach again!”

    (Numbers 14:10).

Big Consequence of judgment.

11.   “Woah! That’s not what I thought would happen! Let’s re-negotiate that last deal, just take away the consequences for what I did in rebellion! See? Look, here I go just like you said, now you have to bless me, right?” (Numbers 14:40,44).

Where is the substantial breach of the law in these ten provocations?

1.      They followed God for quite a while, except that one single event with the golden calf.

2.      They did pretty good in abandoning all those Egyptian idols cold turkey, until that slip, but it was the same event so that should only count as one breach, right?

3.      But nobody cursed.

4.      And after that first practice test, nobody broke the Sabbath.

5.      It’s not recorded that anyone failed to honor his or her parents.

6.      Nobody murdered anybody that I know of.

7.      It doesn’t seem evident that anybody was sleeping around.

8.      There are no records that anything came up missing.

9.      I don’t remember anybody telling lies.

10.   And it doesn’t seem that anyone had a problem coveting the next guy’s sleeping bag (I mean what else did he have to covet?)

So which of the big 10 are we claiming was the provocation that warranted rejection from the promise? They only broke three. Yet God was still mad enough to destroy them on several occasions of provoking him and eventually drew the line that once rejected, could not be later crossed, even in repentance (Hebrews 12:16-17). Like Esau these Exodus people rejected their birthright so casually for other desires. and this is the warning Paul is making to us.

Why does this not keep anyone awake at night, but wrestling with whether or not we are still obligated to the Sabbath gets mentally worked-over for days?

IT HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT THE LAW!

Not in the New Testament OR in the Old. The law of works and the law of liberty are simply different forms to see the love in action.

The Jews could show their love in obedience to the declared wishes of the God they claimed to love, but in love of the ways of sin, they just couldn’t swallow the pill (resulting in THE Provocation: Ezekiel 20:18-32, Nehemiah 9:24-46 *1).

The Gentiles could show their love in utter freedom to be creative in how they chose to love God, but even without restrictive laws they too simply could not swallow the pill because of their same love for the ways of sin.

It’s just real hard to fake a love for very long when your love interest is elsewhere. So here is an idea: You Jews and you Gentiles, try this;

Learn to love God like there is not another speck of carbon in the entire universe; Just you and him (with a lot less you). But if you love him like that, he has asked you to show it by reflecting that love to your fellow man (John 21:15-17, Matthew 25:34-40). I have heard more than one woman say; “If you love me, you will love my dog.” It’s just not that hard to figure out. Are you a Gentile believer who does by nature the things contained in the law (Romans 2:14), or are you a Gentile believer who is relieved that you are not required to obey any law? The answer determines whether you will want to dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven or linger on the familiar side of the Jordan. (but this is not the jaw dropping part yet).

One reason for the required displaying actions of love (Romans 2:15+13), is because love is so hard to put on a list or scale that even we can successfully lie to ourselves in thinking we love when we don’t. I really did like that girl but I hated her dog. The relationship didn’t work out. Was it really because of the dog?

The real question finally becomes simple:

“How do I learn to actually love God when I really don’t?”

Now we’re getting somewhere!

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Oh, by the way: Colossians 2:14-17 should let your mind rest now regarding the Sabbath... until you think about it in light of Acts 15:21. Do you need to read the Old Testament to be a Christian? Nope. Is it necessary for the understanding and a healthy growth of our faith? I think we are beginning to see the complex answer depends on us.

*1 Just What Was The Provocation?

By investigation, there appears to be several “THE provocations” that are all different. The conclusion is that “the provocation” is a principle rather than a single horrific act. To make God so mad he determines to revoke your protected status and instead uses your enemies to stand against you, is THE provocation no matter what you did specifically.

Exodus 12:23, Job 15:20-25, Psalm 17:4, Jeremiah 22:5-9, I Corinthians 10:10, all reveal that when provoked, God sends the destroyer. Yet in disbelief we hunch our shoulder under the burden and push our way through because there is just nothing else to be done while waiting for God to deliver us. And the destruction continues to match our efforts and we never seem to get ahead (Haggai 1:6-7), but God doesn’t want the destroyer take so much that we quit trying to recover, that would ruin the purpose of the events, but that is up to us. We need to recognize the hand of God in our destruction before we simply have no more desire left to continue. This “ragged edge” is so that in broken humility like freshly tilled soil (Jeremiah 4:34), we are prepared to clearly recognize and openly confess our iniquity that is causing the destruction. At this point in brokenness we finally have access to the grace that will allow us to honestly repent and turn wholly to God in the abandonment of whatever it was by which we provoked God.

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