My Struggle with John 14:15

So I am at the point where I want to keep the Law as an expression of love for Jesus, to imitate Jesus, and to obey God's commands (1 John 2:3-6).
Keeping the Law doesn't save you, make you righteous, or to make God "happy" with you (aka you cannot manipulate God through obeying Him).

So I looked at several passages in Romans regarding the Law's proper place in the life of a believer today. Here are my thoughts, then a description of the Law's relationship to the godly one before & since the Messiah came.

Romans 3:19-22- The Law does not save us, it shows us how sinful we are. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus the Christ.
Does this mean we can forget about the Law? (v. 31), No. Of course not. Having faith activates our ability to fulfill the Law.

Romans 4:16- Law =/= save
Romans 6:16- Law shows us HOW to obey God & live right
Romans 7:6- In the context, we must remember that Paul followed the Law. I will write my thoughts in this verse in the description section. This was the tough one.
Romans 7:7- Law shows us what sin is and what right living is
Romans 7:12- Law= holy, right, good, spiritual
Romans 8:4- Follow the Spirit =/= wrath & guilt

Description of the godly one's relationship to the Law before and after Messiah (Romsns 7:6 & other passages)-

The Old Ways, pre-Messiah
Law was a tutor
It was over us
Created an attitude/perspective of work & guilt & can be called the Law of Fear
It was like an anvil hanging over the heads of the people until Messiah would come to redeem them from the weight of conviction.

The Messiah comes
Brings us freedom from the guilty standing & weight of our sin
Changes our relationship & gives us freedom to approach God
Purchases our salvation & fulfills the requirements of the Law, thus He is our propitiation.

The New Ways, since Messiah
Our relationship and attitude is now understanding the Law as a law of love. Because of Messiah's work, we can rest & enjoy living for Him.
The Spirit leads us to understand & follow God's Law.
The Law, Torah, guides us to live holy lives.
The Law still shows us what the mark is. And Jesus is in the center of the Mark.
The Law is good, holy, right, spiritual. It is a path to guide our steps, and be obedient to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

In my mind, the Law shows me how to live & how to express the love I have for Jesus. He followed the Law, Paul did, the early church did, because it is God's fence of holy living.

Should we keep the "613"?

Here are my semi-random thoughts on this from over 3 weeks of exhausting/awesome contemplation on John 14:15 (the Cadet verse), "If you love me, obey my commandments."

My questions:

1. What commandments does Jesus refer to here? Just His teachings? Does this include the 613?

What would His disciples understand this to mean?

Surely, He observed the Mosaic Law (613ish). Surely, His disciples kept the 613. The word for commandments here is entolas, which can refer to either.

In Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus teaches the importance of keeping & teaching others the commands of God. In 1 John 2:4, 3:24. So this is important for me to know. Looking at the sentence structure, it can be either. But what did Jesus SPECIFICALLY mean? I wish this were easy, but it isn't. At least for us, in a world +2k years later. There are many filters, cultural differences & mind differences between us & Jesus. May the Spirit of God break through those filters & shine His pure light of truth into our eyes & soul!

When all is boiled down, I believe that He is teaching to keep his teachings, the things He was to teach them. I believe this because Jesus is the "end" or telos of the 613. He completed the purpose of what it was set out to do, and that is that He was finally one who could keep the 613 perfectly & therefore was found worthy of saving souls...THE unblemished lamb, THE perfect, worthy sacrifice. His teachings summarize the intent & purpose of the Law. So to keep His teachings (gospels) is to fulfill the Law, and is enough for us to focus on. See below for thoughts that further develop this.

2. Does keeping the 613 save us or even make God "happier" with us? No, no, no.

3. Do we, as children of God, through faith in Jesus, need to keep the 613?

No. We are free in Christ. When Jesus comes to be our savior, the chains of sin are broken & we are free to live for Him.

Jesus fulfilled the intent of the 613, kept the 613 & taught His students to do the same. However, it also says that Jesus is the "end" or telos of the 613. He completed the purpose of what it was set out to do, and that is that He was finally one who could keep the 613 perfectly & therefore was found worthy of saving souls...THE unblemished lamb, THE perfect, worthy sacrifice.

Scripture teaches that THE commandment that we are to follow is to trust Jesus as our savior, our Messiah, and to love one another (1 John 3:23, Galatians 5:14).

So, do we print off a copy of the 613, then strive to follow them, as a reflection of our deep love to our savior? We can if we want to. Or we can simplify & trust Him for our salvation, and love people (which is hard enough to do as it is).

4. Practically, what about things such as, "Should we keep the Sabbath", one of the 613?

Well, with this, the Sabbath is a shadow of what was to come. Christ is the reality. Therefore, HE is our rest, in which we rest from our work. We CAN keep a Sabbath & I think it is good for us to do so. On it, we rest our bodies, let God be in control, refuse to worry, and enjoy a "chill day". But we are not required too, in order to have God's favor. We have His favor already through Jesus, our propitiation.

I recommend keeping the Sabbath, but if you cannot, then make sure you get a chill day in. And remember that ultimately, we have rest in Jesus.

5. How many of the 613 do I keep by following Galatians 5:14, on a great day?

Well, many we cannot keep because a) some require a temple in Jerusalem, b) some are for the Israelite theocracy, c) I am not a Levite, d) I am not a farmer. I naturally observe the Law for the most part, except for the Sabbath (see #4), I don't have corner tassels on my clothes, and I sometimes I have mixed fabrics in my shirt, and eat pork.

My goal is to keep as many as possible to express my love for Jesus, while not neglecting the greatest commands of loving God & loving people.

6. What was the point of the 613 anyhow?

To show us that we are screwed without a savior saving us. In other words, that YOU and I need saving. To deny this is to be in pride. It is a mirror to show us that we cannot perfectly keep God's standards & that we have all fallen short & are guilty before a holy God. Therefore, we each need salvation. We all need to admit to God that we have fallen short, that we cannot save ourselves & then turn from our former way of living & turn to follow Jesus as our savior and our lord.

7. What about the other physical type laws? Are they done away with?

(examples are mixing fabrics, wearing corner tassels, mixing seed in your field, celebrate the Jewish festivals-seeing that I am ingrafted in, to observe Sukkot) These things Jesus observed, but we don't see Him verbally teaching on this. So do we sin if we do not keep God's commands here? Or is the purpose of the Law fulfilled in Christ & it doesn't matter if we do these things? We can keep them, if it is not too big a burden. Better though, is to understand who God would make these laws/ these laws of love and care. These verses, even these "lesser" laws are useful to equip us to love people.

8. So should we, as believers, ingrafted into the Jewish faith through the Messiah, keep the 613 today? To earn salvation, to keep salvation, to earn God's favor, no. To express love for Jesus, I think this would be awesome and totally acceptable, why not? Jesus kept the Law, so if we want to we can do it as an expression of love toward Jesus also.

Anyhow, I could have said this in the beginning, but I love Jesus, and want to express my love toward Him. I can keep the Law, if I desire to do so, as an expression of love. But more importantly, He wants me to express that love for Jesus by loving & caring for people. Time to love someone.

Who deserves to go to Hell?

Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Muammar Ghadaffi, Osama Bin Laden, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and you.

The reason why is because God's standard, His measuring stick, His lowest denominator, His minimum requirement of morality & goodness is Jesus. If we measure up short compared to the righteousness of Jesus at all, we fall short of the glory of God & deserve the punishment for our bad, evil choices.

Quick facts from Scripture:

1. Jesus didn't even refer to Himself as good (Mark 10:18).

2. Jesus taught that unless our righteousness surpassed the holy leaders, we couldn't dwell with God (Matthew 5:20).

3. James, the one sent out by Jesus to teach, also Jesus' brother, taught that if we obey God in every area yet stumble in one part, we are guilty before God, as if we broke every law (James 2:10).

4. The Bible teaches that there are none righteous, not even one. We have all turned aside, we all ignore God. We all have done evil & have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10-20).

5. We can never do enough good, pay enough penance, say enough prayers, go to church enough, give enough money, help enough old ladies, to get out of the evil we have committed, the law we have broken. Our best efforts are like filthy bloody menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6).

Do those listed above deserve Hell more than you or I? No. Now what they did was especially destructive, evil, and hurt many many many people whom God loves. No doubt what they did was very damnable, according to Scripture. But let's be honest, don't we all break God's law?

Here is a test, from Scripture, to see if you stand guilty before God or innocent:

If you have done any of these you are guilty (this list is not exhaustive)-

1. From the line of Adam.

2. Ever looked at a women to lust after her?

3. Ever hated someone in your heart?

4. Ever called someone an idiot?

5. Ever disobeyed your parents?

6. Ever stolen anything? Then you are a thief.

7. Ever put anything else in your life besides living for God's glory?

8. Ever treated someone without love?

9. Ever lied? That would make you a liar.

10. Ever talked negatively about someone to someone else?

11. Ever made up a hurtful story about someone?

12. Ever bragged about something you've done & taken the credit for yourself?

13. Ever walked past a needy person without helping them?

14. Ever cheated on your taxes?

15. Ever not loved God with all your heart & soul?

16. Ever not loved God with all your resources?

17. Ever been discontent with what you have?

18. Ever initiated a divorce?

19. Ever hoarded wealth for yourself?

20. Ever done something that could have gotten someone else killed?

21. Ever ripped on a leader God put in place (a president, etc)?

22. Ever bullied someone?

How many of these have you done? How many do you do every day? Now let me be curt, how many times a day do you break God's law & become a guilty law breaker?

See how guilty we really are? We are all guilty, and the punishment for sin is Hell, eternal separation from God's blessing in a place of great pain. That is how serious sin is to God.

Now let me ask the question again. Who deserves to go to Hell?

Refuting the L in Calvinism's TULIP "Limited Atonement"

"Jesus died only for the elect. Though Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all, it was not efficacious for all. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect. Support for this position is drawn from such scriptures as Matt. 26:28 where Jesus died for ‘many'; John 10:11, 15 which say that Jesus died for the sheep (not the goats, per Matt. 25:32-33); John 17:9 where Jesus in prayer interceded for the ones given Him, not those of the entire world; Acts 20:28 and Eph. 5:25-27 which state that the Church was purchased by Christ, not all people; and Isaiah 53:12 which is a prophecy of Jesus’ crucifixion where he would bore the sins of many (not all)."

-http://calvinistcorner.com/tulip

I hope this is not the defense, or the argument used for this view. Here is why-

The person who wrote this agrues that these verses teach that Jesus died for His sheep and for the Church. While this is true, these verses do not limit His death being for the sheep or Church. The writer goes beyond the teaching of scripture here by concluding something that is not concluded in the passage.

To lay it out clearly the verses teach:

1. Jesus died for the sheep, for the Church.

2. The veses do not LIMIT Jesus' death to only the sheep and Church.

3. The verses that talk of Jesus dying for the "many" includes the many, but does not limit it to only the many. It is not ethical to make such a jump.

That being said, the only verse I see here that merits interest, or holds any amount of water is John 17:9 where Jesus says that He is not praying for the world but for the elect. But even with this verse, while He is praying for the elect here, I cannot conclude, exegetically, that this verse teaches that He only died for the elect.

Therefore, if this is the argument for Limited Atonement, I cannot ethically support this, based on an exegetical understanding of Scripture. Also, it seems that John Calvin refutes the L in TULIP- here is a website that has a lot of information on this: http://www.biblebelievers.net/calvinism/kjcalvn4.htm#Calvin_Refutes

In conclusion- God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosever trusts in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world (people) may be saved through Him.

Curriculum Writing

So I am officially writing curriculum to use in youth group. I am making "Talksheet" formatted lessons. I am pretty excited about this, and hope to get them published. Anyone know a good printer who can do a book format?

Teaching Like Jesus

So, I have been wondering about how Jesus taught. Here are some questions I have been wondering:

1. Did Jesus frontload the discussions or did He teach & then backload the practical aspect?

2. What type of illustrations did Jesus use?

3. Who was Jesus primary target audience?

My Child Doesn't Like Church

Here are 3 videos, I made, for you to think through-

#1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTOaL5UIZfo

#2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWiI602-y-E

#3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOlkLvG__ss