Where did six months go? For me it has flown by and I want to thank you for the chance to take a sabbatical. I look forward to worshipping with you again this Sunday and working together for the kingdom of God in the months to come.
This week our study brings us to Exodus 20 and the familiar words of the Ten Commandments, or the law as it is called so often in the letters of Paul. Perhaps the greatest challenge of the law is keeping it. We know we are supposed to worship God alone but we don’t. We know we not supposed to covet all that our neighbour has but we do. So, how do we keep the law? Do we simply grit our teeth and try a little harder? No. No one has ever kept the law by sheer determination.
The only way to keep the law is by surrender. We need to surrender our wills and our lives, to the life of Christ. We need to allow him to live his life in us as he promises (John 14:20; Galatians 2:20).
In his book, Alive in Christ, Charles Price tells a story of convict who came to faith while in prison. When his sentence was completed and he was released he wanted to visit a church immediately. Not knowing which one to attend he simply picked one at random and sat in the back pew. As he sat there and looked to the front his heart sank – because he saw over the pulpit two banners with the Ten Commandments written on them. He thought to himself, “That’s the last thing I want to see. I know my weakness. I know my failure. The last thing I want to do is sit here and read those laws that only condemn me.” But he did read them and this time he was reading them a little differently.
Previously he had read “You shall not steal,” and it was a command. This time he it read, “You shall not steal,” and it was a promise, as a father might say to a child he is holding “You will not fall”. It is not a command of the father to the child, but his promise to the child. It is he who will prevent the fall. The ex-con responded to God, “Thank you, Lord, but why won’t I steal?” And the answer came back, “Because I have put my Spirit in you and will move you to follow my decrees and keep my laws.”
Previously he had read “You shall not bear false witness.” It was a command. Now it read, “You shall not bear false witness,” and it was a promise. “Thank you, Lord,” he responded, “Why?” “Because I have put my law in your mind and written it on your heart and you need not bear false witness.” So Charles Price writes, “Isn’t that wonderful? What had only ever condemned him had become a promise that liberated him. This of course is the Gospel. The Gospel is not simply the means of getting us into heaven by the skin of our teeth, but of restoring to us what was lost in the Fall, the life of God, and that is what qualifies us for heaven. What was commanded under the old covenant and established on Sinai has been promised under the new covenant, established at Calvary and implemented at Pentecost.” 1
We’ll talk some more about this on Sunday morning. But for now, do you realize that the Christian life is not a result of what you do for God but a result of what he does in you through Christ? Will you surrender your life to Christ and ask him to live his life in you and through you?
Looking to him to fulfill his life in me and in you,
Tom.
1. Charles Price, Alive in Christ, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1995) 83-84.