I Surrender
I Surrender
Declaration:
● My eyes are on Jesus
● My heart is tuned to His Spirit
● My ears are listening to His voice
● My mind will believe what He says
● My voice will declare the truth of His word
Today, we are continuing our series, “Asking For A Friend”. In this series we will answer your questions regarding the church, God, faith, theology or anything else that comes up!
Here is the question we will focus on this week and next week: Why are there so many rules for christians?
As a reminder, you can write your questions and drop them in the baskets or you can send them to me via email.
As a basic preface to our discussion today, we must understand that there are some things we are told to do that come from wisdom and experience. For instance, a general rule is that we shouldn’t stick anything into an electrical socket. You don’t have to obey, but it’s advised.
As a father of four, there are general rules at my house. My kids know that if they lie about anything, it always increases the consequences. On the other hand, if they are honest and show understanding of the issue, then things go much better.
History & The Law
The Talmud - is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology.
Halacha (Jewish religious law -written and oral)
By the time Jesus began his public ministry, synagogues had formed all over the land of Israel and academies had been established in Jerusalem to train rabbis who could teach and judge throughout the nation. Those learned men taught doctrine, parables, Jewish beliefs and folklore, but their main function was to insure the proper observance of Jewish law. This included general law, as well as "religious law."
Jewish law is derived mainly from the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, but it also includes some Jewish common law, as well as Middle Eastern common law. As Jewish history evolved, economic and social changes necessitated some expansion or modification of the original law. At first, these new regulations and interpretations were not allowed to be written down, but eventually because of their increasing volume they had to be written down. In order to differentiate between them and the written Law of Moses, they were still called the "oral law." These oral discussions and instructions relating to holy writ make up the Talmud, which consists of the Mishnah and the Gemara. They are the dissertations of Jewish scholars who resided in Babylonia approximately 300 years before and 500 years after the Roman conquest of the land of Israel. The Mishnah came first, then came the Gemara, a commentary on the Mishnah.
How Many Laws Are There?
Aseret Hadibrot (10 Commandments(mitzvot), ten utterances/statements) The text of the Ten Commandments appears twice in the Bible: Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21.
Exodus 20:1–21 (NIV)
1And God spoke all these words:
2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3“You shall have no other gods before me.
4“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and
fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, 10but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or
female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Where Everything Changed -
18When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw
the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak
to us or we will die.” 20Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
21The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
What Have We Added? - Without Christ we are all just like the pharisees!
The Pharisees had developed a system of 613 laws, 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws... so by the time Christ came it had produced a heartless, cold, and arrogant brand of righteousness. As such, it contained at least ten tragic flaws.
(1) New laws continually need to be invented for new situations.
(2) Accountability to God is replaced by accountability to men.
(3) It reduces a person’s ability to personally discern.
(4) It creates a judgmental spirit.
(5) The Pharisees confused personal preferences with divine law.
(6) It produces inconsistencies.
(7) It created a false standard of righteousness.
(8) It became a burden to the Jews.
(9) It was strictly external.
(10) It was rejected by Christ.
Outlined from Fan the Flame, J. Stowell, Moody, 1986, p. 52.
What Does Jesus & Holy Spirit Say About This?
Matthew 5:17–18 (NIV) - It’s Not Gone, But Fulfilled in Christ
17“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. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Mark 7:5–13 (NIV)
5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 11But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—12then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Matthew 7:12 (NIV) - The Golden Rule
12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Luke 10:25–37 (NIV) - The Good Samaritan
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
There is a similar story in the gospel of Mark, there are a couple of things I want to callout and I encourage you to look at later.
Mark 12:28–34 (NIV) - The Greatest Commandment
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord
our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
32“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one
and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is
more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Romans 13:8–10 (NIV) - Love fulfills the Law
8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another,
for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Closing - Why Grace Is So Important
Even after the discussion we have had today regarding these scriptures, there are still plenty of professing christians today that believe they have to do something to earn forgiveness and eternal life. For them it’s inconceivable that the God of the universe wants nothing in return from them besides a relationship. How do I know? I was one of them!!
Ephesians 2:8–9 (NIV) - Do you have faith you are saved?
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast.
James 1:22–25 (NIV) - Listen & Obey!
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
What Is The Desire Of The Father?
Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Romans 12:1–2 (NIV)
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper
worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Is there anyone who has found salvation in the law alone?
Because we are free from our old life and passions, we now get to choose to submit to Christ daily. So, I have to ask you - who is leading you? Have you surrendered to the kingship of Jesus in every area of your life?