From the Pastor |
Deuteronomy 10:12 –13, 17–21 & Galatians 5: 1, 4-6, 13-15
The Pentateuch… the 1st 5 books of our Old Testament, contain the Torah… the Law of God revealed through Moses to the Hebrew people. The book of Deuteronomy is basically a final listing of God’s Laws. Moses gives this final listing as the people, who have been delivered from their time of oppression and slavery in Egypt, are poised to finally enter into the Promised Land. Through the grace and mercy of God, they have been granted their freedom and have entered into a covenant with their God… their deliverer. “So now… what does the Lord your God require…” of the people who would become Israel? Now that they have their freedom and have agreed to be God’s chosen people? After all… the Lord your God is God of gods… mighty and awesome… impartial and fair. The God who will not only elevate Israel to the status of “chosen” and blessed, but will deal with all nations fairly and equally. The God who has promised to execute justice for widows and orphans and strangers… in other words the least and lowest of society… the God who is caring enough to provide for their needs… whose people are called to do the same. So what does God require of them? What requirements does freedom bring? Only this… “Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God…” Simple right? Except that the Torah contains over 600 laws. 600! That seems a bit daunting to me. It proved to be difficult for the people of Israel as well. We see this throughout the remainder of the Old Testament… Especially from the prophets. They tried… but time and time again they failed to follow even the basic command to love and worship ONLY the God of Israel. And they paid the price. If that wasn’t bad enough, by the times of Jesus, the laws had been twisted … the religious leaders had imposed so many rules, restrictions and regulations around them that had made it very difficult for the people to succeed in following them. It was like they were set up to fail. They became, what Paul referred to as slaves to the law… They were bound and chained to the letter of the law. But thankfully, Jesus did come… Jesus taught the word of God… he preached the ways of God and he demonstrated through his living what it was to truly follow the commands of the Lord. He revealed a God who was not scary and looking to condemn… but a God who was Love. A God who was looking to reconnect with all people and save all the people. This is why when he was asked which command was the greatest he replied: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matt. 22: 37-40] See… Jesus came to break the chains that bound the people to the strict letter of the law… from what Paul refers to as the “yoke of the law.” Jesus simplified things for us… he put the laws into the proper perspective. You see… when we look at those 600+ laws… they can all be broken into 3 categories. 1. Loving and Worshiping God 2. Loving and caring for yourself 3. Loving and caring for your neighbors… It is in following these simplified commands that freedom can be found. After all… the law was never meant to bind people in chains… the law was meant to set them free. Free to live… free to love… free to serve God and others. Jesus came to provide freedom. But it is not the kind of freedom that implies personal independence; the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want. That is not the freedom that Jesus promised. Think about it… Jesus did not come to end the oppression of the Roman Empire… he did not drive out the enemy… Yet Jesus came to bring True Freedom. Jesus was not setting us free to do whatever we wanted; He was freeing us to do what we ought to do. After all… Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” [John 8: 31-32] The truth Jesus taught was the truth of love, compassion, justice and mercy… Christ’s truth calls his followers to share love, light and life with others… to Love God and Neighbor and one another and even the enemy… because the only thing that matters is faith working in love. That is the message Paul provides… “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” [Gal. 5:13] So now that we have been set free… what does God requires of us? What does our freedom require? Only that we “fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God.” That has not changed… what has changed is that we are no longer chained by the letter of the law… “the only thing that counts is faith working through love”. To be truly free, to experience the freedom Christ brings, is to be able to move beyond the self… beyond the idea of me, me, me… and instead to focus on love and service to others. True freedom is what you get when you live your life in loving service to others. The only way to truly find freedom is to give yourself away in love. For “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…. [so] serve one another humbly in love” utilizing the “fruit of the Spirit… love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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Yeon Shin
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