daily java

Daily Java:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

The list of rules and regulations that many churches make up (unofficially, of course) for their members is sometimes staggering in length.

They range from dress to personal behavior to what they can or cannot engage in. They didn’t start out to be rules. They started out to be guidelines to help new members learn to do what the older ones thought was right. But it wasn’t long until they had ossified into full blown rules.

One denomination I was part of had tremendous rules and regulations not just for pastors but for the members themselves. And in so doing went far beyond what the Bible had said.

One of the strongest accusations lodged against Jesus by the religious intelligentsia was that he didn’t follow the rules. His answer: the rules were made for man, not man for the rules.

The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

His point was that the things God told us to do were more important than the things people told us to do. And they hated him for it.

The religious intelligentsia felt he was disregarding all of the wisdom accumulated through the ages, that he was throwing all of their tradition back in their faces, that as a teacher of the law (which he was – just not their law) he had the obligation to adhere to their rules.

Jesus’ response: no. In fact, it was not even, no, thank you. It was just no. he said that he refused to keep their commandments, that he came with a higher authority. He came with the authority of God.

Moses boiled the whole Old Testament down into two little verses here. Fear God, live for him, and love and serve him. That’s it.

When we fear him, we acknowledge that he is God and that he is the source of our lives. It is not that we sit in abject terror of him. that is for sinners. 1 John 4 says

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

Fear in the sense of terror is not the response of love. Fear in the sense of respect is.

When we live for him, we show our response to his love. We do like he wants. We acknowledge his preeminence in our lives and give him first place. He is our pilot and we are co-pilots.

When we love and serve him, we show respect and homage. He is first in our lives and we let everyone know it.

Several times in the Bible, the writer makes that connection, that we are to do more than just follow rules and regulations.

Moses, again, in Deuteronomy 6: Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength

Micah 6:8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Romans 12:14-18 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

In other words, just live like you love God and he will take care of the rest.

What is amazing is how many people will fight you over that.