How would you describe an ideal family?<\/p>\n
Is it a family in which the children always obey every rule the parents make?<\/p>\n
We know that is not the case. Indeed, outward obedience to parents can co-exist with deep anger and resentment, as displayed by the older son in Luke 15.<\/p>\n
Instead, love and trust characterize the ideal family. There is obedience to parents, yes \u2013 but that obedience flows out of love, out of trust, out of a feeling of security and acceptance.<\/p>\n
Just so in the family of God. God\u2019s family members surely obey \u2013 but not with the outward, formal obedience of the Pharisees. Their obedience instead is joyful and willing, flowing from confidence in the loving character of God.<\/p>\n
Consider the Ten Commandments in this regard. These commandments summarize God\u2019s torah, <\/em>His instructions to His people. Many misunderstand both the nature and implications of these commandments. So let\u2019s examine, first of all, the basis <\/em>and nature <\/em>of the Ten Commandments. From these we\u2019ll draw out four implications for all the Commandments. In future devotions we\u2019ll consider the Commandments one by one.<\/p>\n The Basis of the Ten Commandments: Relationship with God<\/strong><\/p>\n The people of Israel do not come into a relationship with God by obeying the Ten Commandments; they are already <\/em>in a relationship with Him when He speaks the Commandments.<\/p>\n So the Israelites\u2019 relationship with God precedes <\/em>the giving of the Law. They enter into<\/em> a relationship with God through His love, by His grace (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).<\/p>\n Furthermore, they do not remain <\/em>in relationship with God through keeping the Law. In Exodus 32, they explicitly break the Commandments. God\u2019s judgment falls on a small percentage, but He reveals Himself as \u201cmerciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, \u2026 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin\u201d (Exodus 34:6-7).<\/p>\n Now, He goes on to say He \u201cwill by no means leave the guilty unpunished\u201d (Exodus 34:7 NIV) \u2013 He is the God of both grace and justice. We only understand fully how God\u2019s grace and justice both hold when we see Jesus\u2019 death on the cross.<\/p>\n But our point for today is this: Neither the Israelites nor we today enter into a relationship with God through obedience to the Law. Neither the Israelites nor we today remain in a relationship with God through obedience to the Law. We enter into a relationship with Him by grace through faith. We remain in that relationship by grace through faith.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Nature of the Ten Commandments: Life in God\u2019s Family<\/strong><\/p>\n When we hear the word \u201claw,\u201d we normally think of some set of restrictions on our behavior. A sign on I-485 says that there is a law prohibiting you from driving faster than 70mph. If you see a police car in your rearview mirror, you will restrict your driving speed. You will not drive 80mph.<\/p>\n But God\u2019s Law is not fundamentally a set of restrictions on our behavior. Instead, God\u2019s Law fundamentally is a revelation of His character. Through the Law, He tells us what He loves and what He hates: \u201cI the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong\u201d (Isaiah 61:8). God in His holy essence hates and despises sin, He despises evil; in His essence, he loves righteousness and justice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, connect this with the idea of God\u2019s people being His family. When we had six little children running around the house needing correction, we would sometimes say, \u201cWe\u2019re Pinckneys \u2013 we don\u2019t act that way.\u201d We then explained how we behave.<\/p>\n That\u2019s similar to what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: \u201cYou therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matthew 5:48).<\/p>\n Thus, when God tells us to obey His Law, He is saying, \u201cBecome like Me! I have brought you to Myself! You are part of my intimate family! This is your identity; this is who you are. So act like it\u2019s true! Act like Me!\u201d<\/p>\n So God does not give us the Ten Commandments, saying, \u201cObey these and you will be in My family.\u201d Nor does He say, \u201cObey these in order to remain in My family.\u201d Instead, He says to the Israelites \u2013 and to us! – \u201cYou are in the family. And this is how those in my family live. This is how they reflect my character.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Four Implications for Understanding the Ten Commandments<\/strong><\/p>\n a) The Ten Commandments are positive, <\/em>not only negative<\/em><\/u><\/p>\n We don\u2019t become like God simply by avoiding certain actions \u2013 we must change positively!<\/p>\n For example, consider the seventh commandment: \u201cYou shall not commit adultery\u201d (Exodus 20:14). Many never commit the physical act of adultery, but lust after others. Jesus tells us these too break the commandment (Matthew 5:28). But we can\u2019t just modify the commandment to include a prohibition of lust! Rather, the Commandment exhorts us to take on the character of God. We positively are to honor marriage, to build up own, to assist others to strengthen their marriages, all to the glory of God.<\/p>\n So, in general, each commandment forbids some attitudes and behaviors while commending others.<\/p>\n b) No one will succeed in fully taking on the character of God<\/u><\/p>\n Those at the moment outside God\u2019s family are \u201cdead in trespasses and sin\u201d (Ephesians 2:1). God graciously brings the redeemed into His family, making us \u201calive together with Christ\u201d (Ephesians 2:5). He grants us His Spirit, enabling us to \u201cput to death the deeds of the body\u201d (Romans 8:13), providing a way of escape from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13) and producing in us Christlike character (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet we all fail; \u201cIf we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us\u201d (1 John 1:8).<\/p>\n The Day is coming after Jesus returns when He does away with sin forever. We will be like Him, seeing Him as He is (1 John 3:2). But until that Day, we will stumble and fall. However much we grow \u2013 and we should grow! \u2013 we will never be perfect as our heavenly Father.<\/p>\n c) Jesus fully displayed the character of God<\/u><\/p>\n Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17) \u2013 and He did. He showed us what God is like: \u201cWhoever has seen Me has seen the Father\u201d (John 14:9). He loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength every minute of every day. He loved every person He encountered as He loved Himself.<\/p>\n d) How then can we be like God? Though union with Jesus!<\/u><\/p>\n When we come to God by grace through faith in Jesus, God not only saves us from our sins, wiping out the negatives from our accounts; He also credits us with the righteousness of Jesus \u2013 in Him we become \u201cthe righteousness of God\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:21). His active obedience to the entirety of the Law is credited to us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thus, the Ten Commandments do not constitute a law code for ancient Israel (in our contemporary sense of law code). Rather they are a revelation of the character of God, so that those in His family might know Him better and become like Him by His grace. And that happens only via Jesus.<\/p>\n So salvation is not primarily about saving us from hell \u2013 it is <\/em>that, but also much more. Salvation is primarily about being in God\u2019s family, credited with Jesus\u2019 righteousness, transformed to become like Him – partially in this life, completely in the next.<\/p>\n (This devotion is based on the first half of a sermon on Exodus 20:1-3<\/a>\u00a0preached May 9, 2010, \u201cHaving Been Saved By Grace, Do You Put God First?\u201d The audio is available\u00a0here<\/a>. An earlier blog post covering some of the same material is here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How would you describe an ideal family? Is it a family in which the children always obey every rule the parents make? We know that is not the case. 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