June 2009 Pastor's Highlander Column

June 2009
Pastor’s Column

Brothers and sisters,

“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
As this oft-remembered quote by poet/philosopher George Santayana so forcefully reminds us, every now and again it is good to stop, turn around and look at where we’ve been so we have clearer views of the pitfalls in the terrain before us. This is especially true as we look to Covenant History.

Frequently we believers suffer from historical and theological amnesia. We know certain important things, but have forgotten many more. Recent surveys and polls too numerous to mention have shown that up to half of American Christians cannot list more than half of the Ten Commandments. This is shocking and deplorable.
If we cannot articulate even the scriptural “Cliff’s Notes” version God’s Law, how can we know God and ourselves the way we should?

On this question hangs the reason we will take the next few months in this column to look again at the Ten Commandments. We will do so because the short answer to the question posed above is that “we cannot properly know God and ourselves without reference to His revelation and standard!”

And this is a big part of the reason that Western culture (or American culture) increasingly resembles a rebellious child who has finally learned how to say the "forbidden word." In many ways our culture fixates upon precisely those things that we know we should not think, say and do. Then we celebrate these vices with abandon because we haven't been caught yet — and we’re certain we won’t be.
That this is so is a readily observable fact. Just watch a random sampling of the latest situation comedies on television; read the newspaper’s Arts & Entertainment section; check out a good selection of popular fiction from the New York Times Best-Seller List, and you will see a great many things celebrated as normal that should be roundly rejected and lamented. The content and substance of much of this work frequently reflects a deliberate coarseness and cynicism betraying profound rebelliousness and unbelief.

Some argue that such conclusions are ham-fisted and overstated. That is "their right." And surely the actual amount and degree of moral, ethical and social rot is debatable. But, the existence of the problem is not. It is observable in nearly every discipline and at every level.

No longer are we content merely to overthrow specific overly-restrictive and Pharisaical rules for targeted effect. Instead, we seem to have abandoned all the rules whether positive or negative. Once we shied away from public display of vice; now we publically celebrate the trivial, the banal and the bizarre.

And the problem with such behaviors is that they constitute a rebellion against the Word and authority of the God and Creator of the Universe who created us in His own image and demands our adherence to certain normative codes of conduct or "house rules." He established and designed this Moral Law for His glory and our spiritual and temporal good health. In a very real sense this is the code of “house rules” set by a parent. A child may rebel against them, but they’re still in force.

The child owes his or her parent obedience and love, and owes them that simply because they are born into that particular family. Without those parents, the child would not exist.

In the case of humanity, God is the creator who has fashioned each individual in His own image. We, therefore, owe God a debt of love and obedience. It’s a non-negotiable demand that we either accept or rebel against — one or the other. There is no “Category C” answer. God demands and deserves our obedience and love, and He gives us His law to instruct us and force us to see our own need.

God has created us. We need Him, His authority and grace. We ARE stuck in sin, death and rebellion. We ARE sick and in need of cure. And yet, as a race, we reject the cure and cling to our rebellion. Such rejection of God and His standard constitutes a functional atheism in which we effectively tell God that He is irrelevant to us. And, in so doing we shatter our humanity and sweep it away as so many shards of broken and despised glass.

This does not leave God poorer or less; but it debases and diminishes, our existence and humanity. It is like me telling my father that I hate and despise him. I can mock and despise him through disobedience, misbehavior and rebellion. But this doesn’t change the fact that he is my father. I may hurt and crush him emotionally and spiritually, but he’s still my father. Now, in the process I may destroy my sonship to him. But that means I’m the one debased by this, he is not.

It’s that way with God. Functional atheism perpetuated by our rebellion against and casual disregard of God’s standard means that we dismiss our humanity. But He is still Lord. So then, let’s consider two passages that set the stage for this discussion: Exodus 19:1-6 [God’s preparation for giving the Law] and I Peter 2:1-5 [Peter’s instructions on how Christians should behave on this side of the cross].
Exodus 19:1 - 6 [nkjv]
1 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

Moses and the Israelites have been "on the road" for three grueling months. Their mass Exodus into the Sinai Desert from their captivity is complete. Finally, they make it to the foot of Mt. Sinai. Here is the place where God speaks to them. God summons Moses and tells Him, "Listen, I want you to tell My people Israel that I brought them out of 430 years of slavery in Egypt by my own hand. They just flew free, right out of Egypt, like an eagle. . . . don't forget what I did to the Egyptians at the Red Sea for you. And I did it because I love you and want you to be and do something specific."

God's redemption of Israel was a completed action, and yet it was not the whole story. The liberation of Israel from its physical slavery in Egypt is also symbolic and promissory of our redemption from slavery to sin and death as provided by Christ's sacrificial death and His glorious Resurrection.
This, then gives way to our second passage:
I Peter 2:1 - 5 [nkjv]
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil-speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built-up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus opened the way for all nations to hear the gospel message of peace with God through faith and surrender. He was and is the Promised Redeemer. He was the one who died as a sacrifice and scapegoat for all the world's sins. He leads our exodus from sin and death to the New Heavens and Earth. If we people, trust in and follow Him they are saved and accepted by God. Not just Jews. Not just Gentiles. All kinds of People.

The new Israel is the Church and is a God-created people made up of all the peoples. As Peter says it, "Once we were no people and now we are God's own People." This is our Covenant and Charter for existence as it has been delivered to us by God Himself. It is the preface to all that follows. Our Justification comes from faith and trust in Christ Jesus and His completed work. But that is just the beginning of the process of living out our faith and sanctification.

So let us consecrate ourselves again in gratitude to the God of our confession. And as we do, we will see that He HAS given us His Covenant and His Law in order that we may be His special treasures — so that we who once were not a people can live out the mercy we have obtained through faith in Christ and BE the people of God.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Rusty+