If I asked you, "What are the rule/commands Christians are to follow?" would you answer:
A. Exodus 20
B. I dunno...
C. The one Jesus talks about
If you answered A., then my follow up question would be, "Why only those ones?" I mean, after all, sure Jesus mentions some of them in the Gosples, but those are also found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, so why would we not also be following those ones?
If you answered B., I'll get back to you on that.
If you answered C., see answer A.
So, we've come full circle. The problem here is that this question should be answerable and not difficult to explain. The sad thing is that many people (including myself for the longest time) could not give a straight answer.
Therefore and thusly, having learned some things at school, and can hopefully convey what God has been telling us through the Scriptures, Imma break it down for ya.
In Matthew 5:19-20 we read a line where Jesus says "therefore anyone who sets aside one of the lest of these commands and teaches others accordingly all be called least in the kingdom of heaven..." The two keywords I'm looking at are "therefore" and "these commands" - at first I assumed that the "therefore" was tying the previous versers talking about the Law and the Prophets which then would mean that the "these commands" are about the OT (Old Testament). HOWEVER Carl Hinderager (the man I quoted from in my last blog) stated that the rest of the NT (New Testament) Scripture indicates that Jesus' commands are the ones we are to follow, also, Jesus says himself in Matthew 5:17 that he came to "full fill" the Law and the Prophets, so that means we do not have to follow the OT Laws, rather we are to follow the ones Jesus' commands which are the "these" he's talking about in Sermon on the Mount.
THIS IS THE GOSPEL. This is the reason why Paul is so enamoured with telling people about Christ, and why his disciples struggled with having Gentiles in the NT Church (event though that was also part of God's plan in the OT - Gen 18:18; Psa. 22:27, 46:10, Isa. 42:6a, 49:6a; ). Christ FULFILS the Law and the Prophets, that means we are no longer UNDER THE LAW as Christians, but we are to FOLLOW AND OBEY the commands of Christ and what his disciples talk about in the NT.
You may be wondering, "Sarah, what does this have to do with youth ministry?" If not, well, that's cool too... but I'm going to explain what this has to do with youth ministry.
After I had come to this understanding as to why we need not follow all of the OT Law, and what commands we as Christians are to be following, I found myself asking the girls in my small group at youth group what the "commands of Jesus" were.
One said Exodus 20. I gave her a strange look and said, "No... Moses gave those commands. What are the ones Jesus gave?" No one could answer me. Most of these girls come from Christian homes, and most went to Christians schools, and went to church and yet NONE could answer me what the commands of Jesus were. I directed them to Matthew 5-7 and told them THESE are the commands Jesus gave, and the rest of the Gospels talk about them.
At first I was concerned that none of these girls knew this... until I remembered that for myself it had taken me 23 YEARS TO FINALLY UNDERSTAND. Somehow, I had gone so many years without fully understanding that when Jesus said, "I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" he actually meant it. That being said, this is also why Paul talk about in Romans the holiness of the OT Law but having freedom in Christ. This also answers the question 'why we follow some of the OT Law and not all of it.'
This is part of my mission in youth group, to convey the goodness, mercy, and love of God in the OT and the freedom, glory, righteousness, and love that is found through Christ in the NT.
Please ask me any questions if things didn't make sense, or feel free to add comments to what has been said, and/or write praises to the God our Father who saved us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
~To God be the glory
No comments:
Post a Comment