I had an interesting conversation with a woman I know the other day. We were talking about a charity event that was being held at a local restaurant on a Sunday evening. I love dogs, and this was to raise money for a spay and neuter campaign, so she invited me. I told her I would have come if it were not on Sunday. This surprised her, and we started a conversation that went something like this:
She: Well it is not Sunday morning, so you can still go to Church.
Me: God actually said to remember the Sabbath day, not the Sabbath morning.
She: Well this is no different than going out to Sunday lunch, except the dogs benefit.
Me: We choose not to eat in restaurants on a Sunday, unless it is absolutely a necessity. The commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Yes, I do have the commandments memorized). If we eat out on a Sunday, we are making someone else work and break God’s Commandments.
She: Well that is from the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. We don’t have to obey them since Jesus came.
Me: So stealing and murder are ok now?
She: (getting a little flustered) Of course not. Those commandments still stand, because those are wrong things to do.
Me: We decide what is right and wrong then, instead of obeying God’s commands?
She: (nodding) We are not supposed to hurt anybody but all of those other rules are for olden times.
Me: Was God wrong to command those things then?
She: Well not then. The people needed those rules then, because they kept sinning and not listening to God. But now we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit, so we don’t need rules.
Me: Do you know that Jesus obeyed the Ten Commandments perfectly? He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)
She: (very flustered now) Well I don’t think that is really what he meant! He didn’t say we had to keep it perfectly.
Me: No, but Jesus did say not to take away from the Law. Do you know what He meant by the Law?
She: All of the rules they had to obey in the Old Testament. So do you follow all of those laws about what to eat and everything?
Me: Actually, the Law, with a capital “L” means the moral law, or the Ten Commandments. The other laws about the temple, sacrifices, and diet were ceremonial laws. They had to do with bring offerings for sin, which we do not have to do since Jesus came and was the final and full offering that atoned for our sin completely and forever. I do not keep the moral law well, but I know that as I am to be conformed to the image of Christ, and He embodies all that is good, right and true, so I should be aware of the Law as something he gave me for my good.
She: Well I still think it is fine to do whatever we want on Sunday. Jesus loves me the way I am.
I don’t share this to pick on this woman, but rather to illustrate what remains in all of our human hearts. We have the desire to be God, putting ourselves in His place, and deciding right and wrong for ourselves. I understand the call to obey the law, but I constantly battle the urge to justify what I want over what God prescribes as right. This is nothing new, or nothing that catches God by surprise, which is why he inspired Paul to write about it in his letter to the Romans.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25)
Yes, thanks be to God that he is wise and good, and while he loves us as we are, His desire is for us to be so much more!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Diane