"Hearing the Law"

 

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

 

"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

 

            To love God with all your heart is the way that you come to hear the law, to walk in it, to embrace it, to obey it. The law does not save you. Jim Bruckner writes in his commentary on Exodus, "The laws were not the basis of the people's relationship with the Lord, but rather the Lord's salvation was the basis of the laws." God saves you. Through Christ we have redemption. In him we find forgiveness and the power to be set free from the slavery of sin. Freedom in Christ leads us to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind. We agree with God's law and we are then able to hear it.

             In Exodus we meet a band of slaves, people with some sense of God, some remembrance of the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. But in many ways they are not unified. They grumble. They are always looking for the next meal. They wander in the wilderness. They are not yet fully God's people.  

            The second half of Exodus is mainly concerned with law and worship. Here this group of freed slaves is being formed by God into his people, the people of the covenant. God is training them, correcting them, loving them, providing for them, and often rebuking them. This story of being formed by God reminds me of Genesis chapter 2, where God forms the first human being out of the ground, out of clay. There we saw God pictured as a sculptor, working the clay, pushing and pulling and shaping it until it was just right. This now is repeated in the wilderness experience, where the people are being shaped by God to be a holy nation, a nation called to bless all nations.

             It is a pliable people who receive the law from God, from a God who loves to the 1,000^th generation those who keep his commandments. He pushes and pulls and shapes them, giving manna, water, and law. It did not all work right away. Idolatry continued to plague them for many years, until the exile. But God is faithful. He continued to shape them and call them, just as he shapes and calls us.

            How does God shape and mold your life? He shapes us as we experience his grace and his power to renew and reform us. He touches the hard places in our souls. He convicts us of sin, he breaks long habits, and he confronts our discontent, our lack of obedience. He heals our brokenness and gives comfort where we have been hurt. We come before God "Just as I Am," recognizing that we carry hard spots in the clay of our souls. God's law is one aspect of the hands of God that work in our lives. The law convicts us, and changes the shape of our souls. We do not claim to keep the law, but rather we remain in God's hands, willing to be shaped by him. We come to the table "not because we have any claim on the grace of God, but because in our frailty and sin we stand inconstant need of his mercy and care."

            Jim Bruckner brings a few insights into this section of Exodus that I find helpful as I consider the place of the law of God in my life. He says that in Exodus chapter 16, Israel begins learning to walk in the Lord's ways. This comes through their experience with daily manna and the lesson they learn about keeping Sabbath. Before the law is given, the Lord is teaching the people how to follow his instructions for both their daily bread and their weekly rest.

            So, what I see is that this section of the story does not begin with law, but it begins with trust.  Many of you do not have a need for more laws or rules in your life. Your issue is with trust. You need to trust as you walk in the way of the Lord. The law comes to us along with Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul." This is the context for the law.

            Even before there was a law given about keeping the Sabbath holy, there was the provision of the Lord for the Sabbath. God gave a double portion of manna on the day before the Sabbath, for there was no manna to collect on the Sabbath. So God created the possibility for a day of rest by giving them surplus bread. Before this, no ancient culture dared to think it could survive with just six days of work each week. God did not give a law and then watch his people go hungry. He provided a way for them to "walk in his Torah."

 Sometimes we think of God as demanding our obedience. The truth is that he provides for our obedience. The Lord provides the way for you to trust and obey.

            Next, Bruckner points out that the Laws preserved and equipped the people for their mission in the world. Obedience to God comes with a purpose, a reason. He does not give commands "because I told you so." But he gives laws because you are chosen and have a purpose on this earth, a calling or mission. Our mission is the Great Commission given by Jesus: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you."

            You are part of that call. Understanding your mission helps you to embrace the commands of God. Israel could not become a blessing to all nations and at the same time be worshipping idols or living as violent and immoral people. The command against adultery, Bruckner says, means that "the promise to bless the nations of the world through Israel could be fulfilled only if the people sustained the integrity of their marriages, families and the community of faith." In other words, you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple.

            Finally, the Ten Commandments lead us to lives of grace and justice that go beyond the law itself. Consider the law, "Do not steal." Stealing from others is incompatible with living under the provision of God. But the command to not steal, which was common in the ancient world, was normally followed by cutting off the hand of anyone caught stealing. Israel was unique in that the consequence for breaking the command was paying restitution, not losing a hand. Israel developed a system of justice based on restoring relationship and restoring community. And along with that came the principle that "the poor must not steal, but the rich should make sure it was not necessary for them to steal."

            The laws are not an end in themselves, as if you can claim to keep them completely. They lead us on a journey of faith that causes us to rely more and more upon Jesus, allowing him to heal us, to mold us, to shape us. This is a lifelong obedience of discovery and renewal.

            In the communion, Christ himself will give himself to us and lead us into a deeper fellowship with him and one another. When we truly hear the law, we seek after that relationship with the Savior.

          Come to the Table.

          Amen.