Exodus 20
Last week Petter said “When non-Christians want to embarrass Christians they use the Law in the Old Testament.”
It’s true isn’t it! “Haven’t you read” they say with a sneer. “Shouldn’t you be stoning the gays, not just voting against them?” or “Why do you wear clothing of two types of fabrics” or “why do you eat bacon or eat shellfish?”
And we mumble something like “We’re in the New Testament”.
But we’re confused. What IS the relationship between the Old and the New Testaments. Why DON’T we have to stone people? Why can we eat pork? Why doesn’t God kill the priest who doesn’t wear his holy underpants? Important questions. And yes, holy priestly underpants is a requirement of the law! Ex 28:42-43
To most of us the Law, God’s Law, the Law given by Moses, is a mystery. We sort of dip in when we need it, quote a bit of “thus saith the Lord” when it suits us, and we think maybe the 10 Commandments are quite important – but apart from that we just don’t know what to do with it.
And that’s a problem. Because the Law given through Moses is a massive chunk of the Bible! Not just big parts of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy but the Wisdom literature like Proverbs and Psalms unpack the Law. And the history of Israel from Joshua to 2 Kings is in large part about Israel forgetting or disobeying or even obeying the Law. And the prophets are all talking about the Law.
The Law is a big deal!
So how are we to understand the Law?
Now there’s two mistakes we can make: we either ignore the Law. We say “doesn’t apply to us”. We’re Christians, not Jews.
Or we apply it directly to us. It’s God’s word. He spoke it, I believe it, and I’ll obey it. Now hand me those holy underpants so I can go to church without God killing me.
We can neither ignore it nor apply it directly. For there is both a continuity (continues to us) and a discontinuity (a break) with us and Old Testament believers.
A continuity because this is God’s Word to his people. (diagram1) It is his revelation of himself. To ignore this is to get a skew picture of God. And many Christians today have a warped view of God because they haven’t read the Old Testament. They don’t know Him. This, God’s Law, is written to us.
But there is a massive discontinuity: Jesus. (diagram2) We are here – on this side of the incarnation (God becoming man) and the cross and resurrection. Jesus is the complete revelation of God. This side is partial, but this side, after Christ, is complete.
So as we look at the Law, and indeed any Old Testament text, the questions we need to ask are: (diagram)
1. What did this mean for them then? Because there is a continuity between us and the Old Testament believers. We are God’s people, listening to God’s word.
2. How does Jesus change that? Discontinuity.
We read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. We put on our New Testament “glasses” as it were. The New helps us understand the Old through Jesus.
2 points today.
1. What does the New Testament say about the Law?
2. Do the 10 Commandments apply to us?
So let’s put on our “glasses”: as we think about the Law, how does the New help us to understand it?
1. What does the New Testament say about the Law?
Well, we don’t need to go any further than the words of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 is a study on the law of God. Turn to Matthew 5:17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” Or as other translations put it “I came to fulfil the law”
He did not come to abolish it, but to fulfil it. How? In what way is there continuity and in what way discontinuity?
Well, there is discontinuity because it can’t mean that we as Christians must keep the law! Like not eating pork and keeping the Sabbath and wearing priestly underwear. Jesus fulfils the law. He kept it perfectly. And so, Romans 8 in him there is now no condemnation…. 8:3 God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son…and declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
We are no longer under the law. In Christ we no longer have to obey the law.
Woah! That sounds a bit extreme, Daniel. Sure you’re right? Well, remember from reading Acts: this exact question was a big argument in the early church! Should the new non-Jewish converts be required to obey the law of Moses? (And should Jewish Christians). And the answer was no. No. Christ has fulfilled the law. It purpose is completed in Him. Christians are no longer required to obey the Mosiac law.
That is the discontinuity. Where is the continuity? Ah, we do not obey the law, but we do not abolish or nullify the law. In fact, we are called to go beyond the law. As Jesus continues in Matt 5:18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.…
20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
In the rest of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus extends the Law, saying it’s not just the outward but the inward that counts.
Our righteousness needs to exceed that of the Pharisees – and those were the most holy of holy people. They even went around cutting 10% of their herbs to give to God. And Jesus says that kind of fastidious (fussy, particular, detailed) legalism isn’t enough.
And that’s where the title of this series comes from: fulfilment and freedom. Fulfilment, because in Christ the righteous requirements of the law are fully satisfied for us (Rom 8:4). And freedom, because in His power we are free to be what we were born to be: more and more like Jesus. (Rom 8:29 we are called to be conformed to the likeness of his Son)
Not for us the letter of the Law – but now in every situation the Law of love: what would Jesus do in this situation? What will give him the most glory?
But that’s impossible! We cry! How are we supposed to be better than the Pharisees? How can we be like Jesus? That’s impossible!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Didn’t we get that sense last week as Petter unpacked chapter 19 and the first parts of 20? That our God is a holy God. Our God is a holy God and we are called to be his holy people.
Jesus says in Matt 5:48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Feeling distraught? Feeling worried? Don’t be. That’s why Jesus came. He fulfilled the Law. He kept it so you don’t have to. He has given us his righteousness. So you have already perfectly kept the law of God. In Christ you are perfect. So now live like it. Live out your new identity. We’re not called to obey the Law – we’re called to go beyond it, to exceed it, to not just keep the letter of the law but the Spirit of the Law.
Turn back to Exodus 20 and read v2. I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
2 comes before 3. They were rescued before they were given the Law. They didn’t keep the Law to be rescued. It was God’s mercy. And with us. We don’t obey in order to be saved. We obey because we are saved. By nature we do what the law says because we have a new nature.
So our New Testament glasses say: the Law is fulfilled in Christ. And we go beyond it.
But what should we obey? How do we then understand the Law? What about the 10 commandments? Surely they apply?
2. Do the 10 Commandments apply to us?
I want to propose a hypothesis – a way to understand the Law of Moses – that we can use over these next few weeks. And we’ll test it out today on the most important part of the law: the 10 commandments.
And this is it: fulfilment and freedom. Because the law is fulfilled in Christ, and we have his righteousness imputed to us (given to us) – we have already perfectly kept the 10 Commandments. We are free in regard to the Law of Moses! Free to even exceed the requirements of the Law!
So let’s test that out. And see if it works with continuity/discontinuity. Is it in line with God’s word to his people?
Ex 20:1 Then God gave the people all these instructions: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me.”
Seriously? You think we are free from “you must not have any other god but me”. We can have more gods? Where’s the continuity?
Well, no. Because freedom from the law is not freedom to indulge our sinful nature. We too have been freed from slavery. Not slavery in Egypt, but slavery to sin. So now we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves of God, slaves to righteousness as Rom 6 puts it.
But more fundamental than that – we have been reborn. As Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3 “You must be born again of the Spirit”. Or one of my Dad’s favourite verses 2 Co 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
This is called regeneration. When you believe in Christ the Spirit changes you from the inside out. We are given a new heart. A new nature. We are recreated. We are not the same. On the day the called me to him I died and then I was reborn. The old sinful me died, the new me who wants to live for Christ was born.
As Christians our heart now cries out for God. Whereas before we at worst hated him, at best ignored him – now we long for him. We want to be with our Father. We want to know God. We long to stop loving all these other things that cry out for attention and we want to love him.
So, yes, we are free from the command to have no other gods, because our deepest longing is now to be with him. The Spirit within cries out to the Father. We have a new nature.
How can we have any other gods if we are the very children of God?
It is not law that keeps us from idolatry. It is identity. We need to remember who we are!
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
Are we free from this? Can we make images or pictures of God to worship? What about icons, holy relics, statues of saints, Mary, etc..?
Well, as the Unfortunate Incident with the Golden Calf in chapter 32 shows, making an image of God quickly turns to idolatry – we worship the thing instead of God. That quickly becomes our God, rather than the true and living God. Freedom from Law is not licence to sin!
But anyway, for us as Christians, why would we make an image of God when we already have the perfect representation of God in Jesus Christ? As Jesus said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9). Or Col 1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
As Petter pointed out last week, this is not about drawing a picture of Jesus or even movies – but it is about worshiping things instead of God, and trying to get power over God by reducing him to a thing that you can put away in a cupboard or something.
That’s why we need to get our view of God from the Spirit’s words to us in the Bible, so that we see Jesus more clearly. Not from artwork or films or memes or other “pictures” of God. We need to know the true God as revealed in the Living Word.
Just a note on v5. Why does God punish the third and fourth generations? Think about how sin affects people. I know a man whose father was a drunkard, who beat up his mom in front of him. That affects you. He bears scars which have affected his relationship with his own kids. He is a Christian so much of that has healed, but there are still issues. And his kids in turn will pass it on. Sin has a generational impact.
But God’s mercy is greater than our sin. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
7 “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”
The third “word” in v7 is about how we speak about God. Yes, we are free from the law, so we can misuse God’s name, speak badly about him, drag his name through the mud. But can we?
That is the name we ourselves bear. It’s like me tearing down my father’s name – “that Jack Garratt, he’s a terrible man, an awful person, like all the Garratt’s”.
Why would I do that? I bear my father’s name. I love him. Therefore my words will honour him and respect him.
Likewise we bear the name of God. We are his children, his ambassadors, his priestly representatives on earth. Why on earth would a child of God misuse the name of Jesus?
Again, it is not Law, but love, our new nature, our identity, that compels us to do what the Law requires. Fulfilment in Christ, free to exceed the law!
8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”
Ooh. Here we have a nice juicy topic. Maybe we’re happy that the laws about holy underpants don’t apply to us, but the Sabbath? C’mon. That applies, surely? Many of us grew up with that. No dancing on a Sunday. No card playing. No movies. No non-Christian music. That kind of stuff. By the way, do you know why you can’t have sex on a Sunday? Because it might lead to dancing.
But seriously, there’s a big problem with claiming the Sabbath as LAW.
Firstly, then why do you eat bacon and shellfish? In other words why are you being inconsistent and not keeping the other 637 or so laws?
Secondly, we’re not Jews.
Thirdly, Sabbath was a Saturday, not a Sunday. So if we’ve understood enough to change the day we honour God from the day the Jews had to the day when Jesus rose to life from the dead – surely we should understand that that desire to set aside time to honour Him comes from love and not from law.
Our key way of thinking about the Sabbath comes from Jesus himself. Mk 2:27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” 3:1 Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. 2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” 4 Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”
The Pharisees had reduced the Sabbath to not working. Jesus points out that the purpose of the Sabbath is honouring God. We rest in order to spend time with God. The Sabbath is made for us, to help us to honour God. Not us made to conform to the Sabbath.
So as Christians we are not required to keep the Sabbath. That’s why we don’t stone our medical people for working on Sunday! Because love for those who are sick takes precedence.
And if you think that preaching is “resting” – it isn’t. I’m certainly working on a Sunday!
Now there is a timeless principle in here – did you see it? In v11. We are part of creation, and therefore we need to rest. So resting is a wise. A day of rest for the nation is a good thing. The Soviets tried a 10 day week and it failed. 6 days work, 1 day rest is the way God has designed things.
But I need to make sure I take some time to rest, to not work, recognising my limitations as a created being. Needing rest reminds me that I’m not God. And I need to set aside time to be with the Lord, and be with his people.
That’s keeping the Sabbath, exceeding the Sabbath.
As Christians we are in Christ, right at the heart of that God-given rest, that perfect relationship. That’s what we long for. So we honour God not just on a Sunday but every day. And we set aside time to rest and time to be with Him and His people, at church, at Bible study and beyond.
We don’t keep the Sabbath. We go beyond it. And yes, you can dance, and even play cards on the Sabbath as a Christian. In fact, on any day. Just be sure to honour Christ in everything you do!
Do you see why now Paul says in Romans 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (ESV)
We uphold the law because we follow the law of the Spirit, the law of love. And that love compels us, because of our new nature, to honour God in all that we do. We go beyond Sabbath, beyond clean lips, beyond merely avoiding idols, to the very heart of God, the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit. By faith we are there. That is the arena of grace in which we now stand.
Now I had planned to go through the rest of the 10 words from God boomed out from the top of the mountain, but our heads are probably spinning now. So we’ll leave that to next week, along with the delightful prohibition against having steps up to the altar because people might look up your robe! Holy underpants alert! And we’ll think about what that could possibly mean for us today.
Dear friends, if we are in Christ we are no longer under the law. It has been fulfilled for us. We are caught up into the very relationship the Son has with the Father.
The Son does the Father’s will, not because he is obliged to (Law), but because his love for the Father is such that he cannot do otherwise. It would be to deny his very nature. (Gerald Bray).
And we have that same nature now within us. We do the Father’s will, not because of obligation, of Law, but because we love Him. We love Him and to act otherwise is to deny our nature.
That’s why before you meet Christ sinning comes naturally.
After Christ you are reborn and it grates to sin. As my Dad’s friend said “you can’t sin properly anymore”. It’s now against our fundamental nature! No law – it is fulfilled – but instead the freedom to be what we were reborn to be through the Spirit who gives life. Fulfilment and freedom!
Let’s pray.
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