The Basis of all Law..the Wayfarer 4/3/13

4/3/13

The Basis of all Law

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

(Matthew 5: 17&18)

Today we begin to take a look at the law that Christ was speaking about in His Sermon on the Mount. He refers to the law many times in many places throughout the four gospels, continually trying to open the eyes of those to whom he is speaking as to the true meaning of the laws.

I am convinced that Jesus knew every word of the scriptures that had been made available to the Jewish people of the time! I am further convinced that that particular people, just as we see even more so today, had corrupted that law to the point of making it a mockery of its intent.

We will begin to take a look at ten of those laws, known to us as the Ten Commandments, given to Moses in the desert during the exodus from Egypt. We will look at what they were intended to convey both then and now, and how we need to perceive them today, despite the failure of both society and Church to live up to them.

All law in a civilized society can trace its roots to these ten laws given so long ago, and violated daily by most of us in one form or another. Were it not for the blood Sacrifice of our Savior, the judgment on the final day would have to be guilty for every human who ever took a breath on this planet!

Let us start with the first of these today, and we will cover them in a timely manner, breaking where appropriate for brevity and necessity to maintain the stream of thought for the reader.

“And God spake all these words saying,

I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.”

(Exodus 20:1 &2)

Note that God began by telling them exactly who He was, and thereby told them by what authority the words to follow were given. He made it perfectly clear that it was not one of the other gods that were worshiped in Egypt or elsewhere that had freed them from their slavery, and had led them to follow HIM to a promised land for their nation.

The reason for this opening is that mankind, despite our sinful nature is created with an inherent capacity to grow. We need not be taught some things in life, i.e.: eating and sleeping. This is just a natural, inborn knowledge that is given at birth. It is also not necessary to teach a man that he should worship something, again it is innate.

What is necessary to be taught is the right things to eat and drink, that are not only not harmful to our bodies, but in fact nourish us, and allow us to grow properly and be healthy. No parent will intentionally teach his child to eat or drink poisonous materials, but will do their absolute best to teach the necessity of avoidance of these things, and the need for things that may not be as pretty, or that taste so good but are needed to grow. (“eat your spinach, eat the liver, it’s good for you)

The same applies to a natural belief system that will be influenced by poisonous teachings unless the alternative truths are given.  This is why we should continually try to teach our children about the ONE TRUE GOD, as opposed to the many other gods that are taught by our society.

 This is made even more difficult, in that society doesn’t necessarily even call these things gods, but make their poison more attractive by describing them as a philosophy, or as an alternative belief system or lifestyle.

 This first Commandment does more than to tell us not to worship such false gods as the sun, the moon and the stars, or nature’s various offerings such as bushes trees or animals that were worshiped by other civilizations, and are still to some extent worshiped by them today. It also tells us not to worship great men of wisdom and wealth.

Anything that becomes an object of worship other than God Himself, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, The Great I AM, Jehovah, Yahweh, The God that led the children of Israel from Egypt is an abomination in His sight and will not be tolerated!

People who would not dream of worshiping the pagan gods worshiped by the Greeks and Romans or the Babylonians bow their knees daily to wealth, pleasure, power, fame and knowledge. They become so interested in these things that they fail to recognize the goals set by God himself that we serve and worship HIM alone

We need to know God, and know in our heart and mind both, who it is that we worship, Creator of earth, Creator of mankind, Creator of all we know or ever will know, and finally, JUDGE  to whom we must answer for all decisions and actions we take in this life.

It is This God that we must worship. It is this God that gave this commandment first and foremost in the laws that have come to be established since. If we fail to honor and accept this first law, all others become of no avail to us. If we corrupt this law, we corrupt all law and are nothing more than the animal that is our nature to be.

The second commandment given is:

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

(Exodus 20:4-6)

Since we are a physical being, we are preoccupied with all the things we can see, feel, smell, and hear. These are the things most easily understood by our minds that are often incapable of accepting what we fail to perceive in this manner.

Many have difficulty thinking of God as anything other than a large old man with a long white beard, thus attempting to create Him in our own image of ourselves, forgetting that we instead are created in His image, by being a living soul with choices to make.

Because of our difficulty in thinking of a God we cannot see, we find it necessary to institute symbols of this unseeable God.  If we are not careful, we become so immersed in these symbols that it is the symbol being worshiped instead of God Himself! Graven images are created every time we accept a cheap or inferior definition of God other than the one he himself gave us!

The third commandment tells us:

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain”

(Exodus 20:7)

Taking God's name in vain covers a lot more territory than merely swearing! Although this is the most blatant and obvious example of violating this  commandment, apparent around us today, it does not cover the entire spectrum of violation of it.

 In times past, the very name of God was so Holy, that it was not to be used by the common man.  It was thought that the very pronouncing of that name was profanity in and of itself. Today, we seem to have gone to the other extreme, where the use of profanity around us is far more common than worshipful expression of His Name.

Some profane the very name of God by invoking Him in sacred phrases as if they are part of some magic ceremony instead of actually worshiping Him. There are phrases common to us in our daily language that have crept into vocabulary over the centuries that we pay little or no attention to that use God in them, again not in a worshipful manner as He intended.

Our Christianity is not determined by our ability to repeat spiritual phrases, or recitation of scripture, but by our actions in our daily lives.

 It is through our daily lives that we must honor the name of God or we profane it by our actions when we do not. The end result of this is in fact blasphemy, and abominable in His sight.

I conclude here, for now, assuring you that we will continue to examine these Commandments and how they should be applied in today’s world. I leave you with the absolute certainty and assurance that despite our daily failures, we have the ability to overcome them through Christ Jesus who will intercede for our sin if we only accept Him and ASK for the forgiveness we need to reach His Father!

I salute you once more, in Jesus precious name, with the love of God given by this simple sinner saved by grace through His blood sacrifice for me…and YOU as well.

2 Timothy 1:12

¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

        AMEN and AMEN
the Wayfarer