Harmony of Grace

Psalm 19:7-13 Imagine rejoicing in a list of rules? Imagine if you had arrived at school and declared: "The rules of this school are more precious than gold; it is a joy and a pleasure to obey them all." I don't think you would have made many friends that way! I do not know of many children who like following rules. But as we grow older, we begin to understand that certain rules are there for a reason - they are there for our own benefit.  As we have reflected on the ten commandments over the past few days, we have been reminded that God's laws were implemented for the good of God's people. We have also learnt that obedience to these commandments will naturally flow out of a life lived in love for God and our neighbour.  When we understand this, it makes it a bit easier to comprehend why God's people would rejoice in God's laws.  As Christians, we are now living under a new law - that of the grace of Jesus Christ. This new covenant has been written on our ...

Exodus 20:1-17 Matthew 22:34-40 When confronted by the religious leaders and asked what is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus responded by saying: "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 neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." I think that this is the difference between obeying the ten commandments as a list of strict rules and living a ten commandment life. When we make it a priority to glorify God in everything that we do, we will naturally adhere to the ten commandments without even thinking about it. When faced with a choice to steal or not, which option would glorify God? The same can be said for when we focus on loving our neighbour, we will naturally follow the 10 commandments as well. When faced with the option of murder, or committing adultery, what decision would we take if we are abl...

  Exodus 20:1-17 Many people seem to think that God gave the Israelites the ten commandments because God is a strict teacher who just wants humans to follow rules, regardless of the outcome.  If we read the ten commandments at face value today, we discover that none of them are really unfair or unrealistic to follow. Even the most devout atheists would agree that murder is wrong and you shouldn't try to steal your neighbour's wife. If we consider what we learnt yesterday, that the message of the cross sounds foolish until we put it into practice and discover its true wisdom, we find a similar reality when it comes to the ten commandments.  We can huff and puff about being legalistic and not enjoying being "rule-followers," but the truth of the matter is that this list of commandments that Moses passed on to the people of Israel many, many years ago is still extremely relevant to our lives today. The ten commandments are not a set of rules that we are meant to follow r...