God the Law Giver

God, the Law Giver.

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship

Sabbath, April 21, 2012

Service will streamed live. You may text comments and questions during the service to 253-350-1211. They will be displayed on screen at the end of the service.

On Mount Sinai, God thundered the Ten Commandments. A thousand or two years later through Jesus he preached a New Law called the Sermon on the Mount. Law Giver is one of the great, classic titles for God in Christian theology.

It is even more prominent in Adventist theology.

We preach about God's law. We emphasize its importance.

We are accused by others of being legalists. Many of us have actually experienced for ourselves a dysfunctional legalism. Sometimes this was so severe we have developed a deep antipathy to any talk about law.

On the other hand, the greatest blessing that Adventism has brought into the lives of many people is its emphasis on law.

For people coming from the chaos of hedonistic, godless living, the order and structure required by classic Adventism has brought healing and fruitful living.

For people who grew up in healthy Adventist homes, Adventist rules about how to live results in greater longevity and happiness.

Why did God give us law? Because he wanted life to go well for us.

"Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, 'How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!' For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today? Deuteronomy 4:5-8

Jesus gave the same message at the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount. He told a story about two men who built houses. One built on sand. The other on rock. When a flood came the house built on sand collapsed. The house built on rock endured. Jesus concluded:

"Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. Matthew 7:24-25

Jesus gave us laws because he wanted our lives to go well.

North Hill Adventist Fellowship is a community of grace. We are easy on sinners. We don't beat each other up. (We are also tough. We don't allow people to beat each other up.) Instead of reacting in horror or pretended surprise that we or others are unable to flawlessly perform at the exalted level of holiness Jesus holds up as the ideal, we sometimes laugh. And sometimes we cry. But whether our response is lighted-hearted or heavy, we hold on to each other, and the positive assurance that we are the treasured friends and children of God.

But we are not a community marked only by grace and forgiveness. We are also a community committed to law.

Many Christians believe the primary function of law is to condemn. So a church that gives much attention to law, must be a church that specializes in rules. There are so many rules and the rules are so nitpicking, you can never get it right. And if you did, your life would be so narrowly constrained, you would never enjoy the freedom and ease God intended for you. For some of us this describes our experience as young people in the Adventist Church.

Another perspective on law is found in conservative Protestant Churches. This view coming straight out of Paul, is that God gave the law to heighten the guilt of humanity.

I reject both of these dysfunctional approaches to law in the life of the church. I reject the notion that God intends the law to be a nitpicking nanny, scolding every hint of youthful vigor and goofiness. I also reject the Pauline/Augustinian/Reformed/Lutheran view of law that declares the primary function of the law is increase our awareness of God's condemnation so we will flee to him for mercy and grace.

God gave us the law primarily as a guide for living well.

A healthy church will embrace lawful living so deeply, that it becomes part of our culture. It becomes the assumed ideal for all of us. Kids will always know the ideals that shape our lives. (No matter what we say, they will discern what really motivates us.) So our goal as a congregation is to receive deep into our lives the ideals of God.

What does God's law teach?

1. Love God with our whole being.
2. Love our neighbors as ourselves.
3. The Ten Commandments
4. Love our enemies
5. Don't judge
6. Forgive as we have been forgiven.
7. Don't worry
8. Don't fret when we pray
9. Do things that enhance our physical well-being. Exercise. Eating wisely. Spending Sabbaths together. Don't carry credit card debt. Don't borrow money for cars or sofas or vacations.

These are our ideals. We urge each other on toward ever greater achievement in our pursuit of these goals. We comfort one another in our departures and failures in the pursuit of these ideals.

We refuse to bring God's ideal down to the level of our performance. We also reject the idea that God is scowling at his children because there is still room for growth in our lives.

After I posted the preview of this sermon on line, someone wrote: “But the laws should be fair, reasonable, and appropriate for the situation - also compassionate and not so much rigid as practical. I would think at least. Maybe flexible?”

Laws are not flexible. It is the judge who is flexible. It is the teacher who is flexible.

The laws by definition are not flexible. They are eternal, unbending facts. Fortunately for us, the judge, God is quite aware of our histories and circumstances. And he graciously bends to the realities of our lives.

As the first part of this comment: “The laws should be fair, reasonable, and appropriate for the situation” I emphatically agree. In fact, we can test the validity of a purported law by asking whether it is, in fact, fair and reasonable.

Since God gave his laws to enhance human well-being, if time proves that a particular understanding of God's law turns out to be harmful for people, then we must reject or reinterpret that statement of God's law.

There is another corollary of this picture of God as a Law Giver. God gives us laws because he has confidence that with adequate knowledge we can do whatever it is that he is instructing us about. He wouldn't give us a shop manual if he didn't trust us with the car. He wouldn't tell us to go teach the world if he thought we were losers.

God gave us laws because he knew we could take his words apply them to our lives and the lives of others in ways that would enhance relationships and promote holiness.

I invite you this week, again, to embrace God's law. Ask yourself, what could I do this week that will move me in the direction of God's ideals, God's laws. You can do it. God has confidence in you. So do we.