Ok, so I was talking about my confusion with the law and all that. Discussing it with guys who have three letter names, and Dave and Darrel or Darryl... ie names starting with D. So Ken copped it first, and then D&D and then Stu and D&D. Happy with that cos D&D comes to 3 characters.
I digressed.
So. The law. God made it. It is good and perfect. Yep. We're happy with that. Almost. But I'll explain the omitted bit later.
Introducing Dan. Dan fits the name mould beautifully. He was giving a talk at CU on "Why die". In it he made the point that because of Jesus we didn't need to follow the pernickety laws, but rather to stick to "Love God with all your heart soul mind and strength" and "Love your neighbour as yourself". Such amazing freedom, because those food laws, despite being God-made, good and perfect were kind of annoying, and not all that easy to uphold, especially when bacon tastes so good.
Yes, I eat bacon.
Now. I said to myself, that's wonderful that Jesus has died for my sin of eating bacon. I don't need to worry about that anymore. SWEET! Bacon all round.
But then I stumble across Paul. Paul, you go and ruin it for me. You go and say, we're saved by grace through faith. With you there, mate. I'm happy with that - as we've discussed, I like bacon, so this grace thing is my only hope. But then... what are you doing Paul? You go and ask the question, "Shall we keep on sinning?" And I'm thinking still, well, was eating bacon a sin in the first place? Well, maybe it was if it was in the law, but then it's not really cos Jesus died for it, and then there was Peter's bacon on a sheet from heaven experience... But no, that line is just not working. Paul whacks down the big "BY NO MEANS". Ok. Better not get back into that bacon... it was tasty though. Because as Paul points out, dammit, continuing to sin crucifies Jesus again and again... making baby Jesus cry*... but worse... don't want that.
Anyway, so I've been setting up all these alters around the place... and sticking to the Saturday sabbath to play it safe...
And then I have this wonderful discussion with Stu. I was one of the three grade seven bastions in the school Bible study that Stu used to run about 11 years ago in the Calvin High School days. I think he's gotten wiser... because the first thing he said was, "Just ask her out". So maybe soon... but a bit more prayer first...
I digress again, but that was the first thing he said to me...
We were sitting at a table... and we had props... which is a very theological issue - and hopefully this discussion will go some way to answering the question of whether they were appropriate.
We had, a pair of glasses, representing God**, a wire from ear plug (head phones... gah, confused... you know the ones...) down the middle as a dividing line. We had a Bible representing the law on the left of the dividing line and on the right was my wallet representing the new covenant, or my Christ, or Christ's death and resurrection...
So, after establishing that Stu wasn't going to be preaching some prosperity doctrine (I was a little concerned about the whole wallet thing), we established... well what did we establish?
The Bible... representing the Law... the Old Testament Law, was:
1. Made by God.
2. Good.
3. Perfect.
4. For the Israelites (see what I did there... I put a 4 next to a for... I'm a dag.)
And it's point four that is the point that I missed above. I missed it completely. For the Israelites, living in a theocracy, they had the Law. And we ask, what was the purpose of the Law? Well, let's use dot points again... or numbered points cos I don't know how to get dot points in these blog posts...
So the point of the law?
1. A reflection - or to steal a word from the NT (that's New Testament...): a shadow of God's righteousness.
2. To convict of sin.
3. To govern a theocracy - that is, the Israelites, in the Promised Land.
So, outside of the law, Abraham was righteous, by faith in God (I get a bit squirmy here, because he trusted that he'd be the father of a great nation, rather than in the saving grace of Jesus Christ... but he had faith in God. Yes it does matter what you put your faith in...).
We too, are outside the Israelite theocracy.
So when Jesus says, not one iota will be scratched from the Law, what's he saying? He's saying, you can choose to live in that theocracy, and you have to obey every law. Everything. And fail. Sucked in.
Nah, but seriously, we see the Law as a shadow of goodness, a shadow of righteousness, like Mona Lisa under a drape...*** Yep, it's good. Everything about it is good, but you're not getting the whole story, or the whole glory... even if it's a pretty drape.
Whereas, in Christ, that's where we start seeing the perfect mirror image of God's righteousness. It's on that basis that we can consider Christ. It's on that basis that we can apply Christ's laws: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbour as yourself.
So, as I return to my bacon sandwich, I realise that the Law against eating, or merely coming into contact with bacon was not to save me from a sinful uncleanness, but rather, as a group of laws and regulations, to point out to the Israelites that they were imperfect and needed saving somehow.
Unfortunately this post has been so long that my bacon sandwich is now cold and riddled with salmonella, that I was forced to throw it away anyway... but I would have enjoyed it.
As kind of an epilogue, I asked how does this relate to how I teach Leviticus to Sunday School kids. And then I asked about how it relates to homosexuality... which led to a discussion on polygamy, which was quite interesting. So, next post on teaching the Law to Littlies...
*This is a quote from the Simpsons, I think, and also that film where they say "Shake and bake" all the time... Tailgater nights... Taladega Nights... yeah that one... a classic example of sculpting Jesus into the form that we want him to be in... the big buffoon prefers to think of Jesus as a baby... which doesn't work really all that well theologically, I don't think... but it does make a point about the humility of Christ... something to ponder, maybe?
**See, image of God. Banned by ten commandments. Feeling hot under the collar at that stage...
***Please don't get antsy with me because I'm using an analogy where human made Mona is compared to Christ/the Law/the righteous glory of God. I know that Mona is kinda cool, but not perfect, and there's probably a story behind it that involves sin... but take a step back, sink a mug of cold ginger beer and then look at it again through refreshed eyes. I mean, you've probably got really tired eyes if you've made it down to here, cos this post is pretty epic. And I still wanna get to the gym tonight and growth group is coming up...
I digressed.
So. The law. God made it. It is good and perfect. Yep. We're happy with that. Almost. But I'll explain the omitted bit later.
Introducing Dan. Dan fits the name mould beautifully. He was giving a talk at CU on "Why die". In it he made the point that because of Jesus we didn't need to follow the pernickety laws, but rather to stick to "Love God with all your heart soul mind and strength" and "Love your neighbour as yourself". Such amazing freedom, because those food laws, despite being God-made, good and perfect were kind of annoying, and not all that easy to uphold, especially when bacon tastes so good.
Yes, I eat bacon.
Now. I said to myself, that's wonderful that Jesus has died for my sin of eating bacon. I don't need to worry about that anymore. SWEET! Bacon all round.
But then I stumble across Paul. Paul, you go and ruin it for me. You go and say, we're saved by grace through faith. With you there, mate. I'm happy with that - as we've discussed, I like bacon, so this grace thing is my only hope. But then... what are you doing Paul? You go and ask the question, "Shall we keep on sinning?" And I'm thinking still, well, was eating bacon a sin in the first place? Well, maybe it was if it was in the law, but then it's not really cos Jesus died for it, and then there was Peter's bacon on a sheet from heaven experience... But no, that line is just not working. Paul whacks down the big "BY NO MEANS". Ok. Better not get back into that bacon... it was tasty though. Because as Paul points out, dammit, continuing to sin crucifies Jesus again and again... making baby Jesus cry*... but worse... don't want that.
Anyway, so I've been setting up all these alters around the place... and sticking to the Saturday sabbath to play it safe...
And then I have this wonderful discussion with Stu. I was one of the three grade seven bastions in the school Bible study that Stu used to run about 11 years ago in the Calvin High School days. I think he's gotten wiser... because the first thing he said was, "Just ask her out". So maybe soon... but a bit more prayer first...
I digress again, but that was the first thing he said to me...
We were sitting at a table... and we had props... which is a very theological issue - and hopefully this discussion will go some way to answering the question of whether they were appropriate.
We had, a pair of glasses, representing God**, a wire from ear plug (head phones... gah, confused... you know the ones...) down the middle as a dividing line. We had a Bible representing the law on the left of the dividing line and on the right was my wallet representing the new covenant, or my Christ, or Christ's death and resurrection...
So, after establishing that Stu wasn't going to be preaching some prosperity doctrine (I was a little concerned about the whole wallet thing), we established... well what did we establish?
The Bible... representing the Law... the Old Testament Law, was:
1. Made by God.
2. Good.
3. Perfect.
4. For the Israelites (see what I did there... I put a 4 next to a for... I'm a dag.)
And it's point four that is the point that I missed above. I missed it completely. For the Israelites, living in a theocracy, they had the Law. And we ask, what was the purpose of the Law? Well, let's use dot points again... or numbered points cos I don't know how to get dot points in these blog posts...
So the point of the law?
1. A reflection - or to steal a word from the NT (that's New Testament...): a shadow of God's righteousness.
2. To convict of sin.
3. To govern a theocracy - that is, the Israelites, in the Promised Land.
So, outside of the law, Abraham was righteous, by faith in God (I get a bit squirmy here, because he trusted that he'd be the father of a great nation, rather than in the saving grace of Jesus Christ... but he had faith in God. Yes it does matter what you put your faith in...).
We too, are outside the Israelite theocracy.
So when Jesus says, not one iota will be scratched from the Law, what's he saying? He's saying, you can choose to live in that theocracy, and you have to obey every law. Everything. And fail. Sucked in.
Nah, but seriously, we see the Law as a shadow of goodness, a shadow of righteousness, like Mona Lisa under a drape...*** Yep, it's good. Everything about it is good, but you're not getting the whole story, or the whole glory... even if it's a pretty drape.
Whereas, in Christ, that's where we start seeing the perfect mirror image of God's righteousness. It's on that basis that we can consider Christ. It's on that basis that we can apply Christ's laws: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbour as yourself.
So, as I return to my bacon sandwich, I realise that the Law against eating, or merely coming into contact with bacon was not to save me from a sinful uncleanness, but rather, as a group of laws and regulations, to point out to the Israelites that they were imperfect and needed saving somehow.
Unfortunately this post has been so long that my bacon sandwich is now cold and riddled with salmonella, that I was forced to throw it away anyway... but I would have enjoyed it.
As kind of an epilogue, I asked how does this relate to how I teach Leviticus to Sunday School kids. And then I asked about how it relates to homosexuality... which led to a discussion on polygamy, which was quite interesting. So, next post on teaching the Law to Littlies...
*This is a quote from the Simpsons, I think, and also that film where they say "Shake and bake" all the time... Tailgater nights... Taladega Nights... yeah that one... a classic example of sculpting Jesus into the form that we want him to be in... the big buffoon prefers to think of Jesus as a baby... which doesn't work really all that well theologically, I don't think... but it does make a point about the humility of Christ... something to ponder, maybe?
**See, image of God. Banned by ten commandments. Feeling hot under the collar at that stage...
***Please don't get antsy with me because I'm using an analogy where human made Mona is compared to Christ/the Law/the righteous glory of God. I know that Mona is kinda cool, but not perfect, and there's probably a story behind it that involves sin... but take a step back, sink a mug of cold ginger beer and then look at it again through refreshed eyes. I mean, you've probably got really tired eyes if you've made it down to here, cos this post is pretty epic. And I still wanna get to the gym tonight and growth group is coming up...
posted by BSJ-rom at 5:29 pm
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