Leading Up to the Law
On we go with Exodus 19.
I don’t know why, but I can feel the tension building up to Exodus 20
inside of me. I guess Exodus 20 is one
of those tremendously iconic passages in the Bible that the closer we get to it
the more excited I get. The more we see
written witness to the human desire to disobey God, be short-sighted, and be
self-interested the more I see evidence of our need for the Law. But, that’s a topic for tomorrow. On with Exodus 19!
Priesthood
First we come to God’s promise. “Keep my ways, and you shall become to me a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” I
have two thoughts on this passage, running me in divergent paths.
First, this passage inherently brings me to the concept of
the priesthood of all believers. Notice
that God is saying that if they will all keep God’s ways, then they can all be
like priests to Him. Yes, we know about
the Levites as special priests. Yes, we
know about the line of Aaron as really special priests. But what God is doing is really inviting the
whole community to be like priests for Him!
To me, this shows just how much God wants us involved in His
work. He doesn’t want just a few people
involved. He doesn’t want us to pay
money so that other people can be involved on our behalf instead of us. God truly desires everyone to be spiritually
involved!
Mission
This passage ultimately begins in a mission centered
approach. After all, why have priests
with no congregation? Think about
it. Let’s just say that God had gotten
His wish and all the Hebrew people fell in such love with God’s ways that they
all did actually become His priests in both spirit and practice. Well, who then is the congregation? What’s the point of having priests if there
is no community that needs served?
Ultimately, we see here that God’s desire for the Hebrew
people is to become like priests. This is
to get them to realize that the world should be their congregation! God’s plan is not for them to be the sole
people in relationship with Him; rather God wants them to be priests into the
world so that the whole world might be in relationship with Him. This chapter is so mission centered that it
is painful to understand just how poorly reality lived up to God’s desire.
Modern Application
Of course, this leads me to Christianity and today’s
church. Oh, how poorly we have screwed
up just like the Hebrews of thousands of years ago. We’re no better. We think church is for us as members. We think that “my religion should benefit
me.” We think “I should do what I
personally discern I am called to do.” We
evaluate a trip on Sunday morning by “whether or not I got fed.”
Let it not be so! The
church isn’t for me or for you – we’re already beneficiaries of Christ’s salvation! The church is supposed to be a launching
point for the saved into the unsaved masses who desperately need God! We are the church, and we are all its
priests! If we are all the priests, then
our congregation really is the world.
Oh, how we screw that one up. We should not think “what do I want to do,”
or “what can the church do for me.”
Rather, we should think “how can my involvement as a part of God’s
church help propel me into being the priest I already am! Oh, how we sell out God’s true desire with
some cheap imitation of faith on such a regular basis.
Before anyone thinks of this as judgmental, understand that
as I write this I am thinking of myself first-and-foremost. So, yeah it’s judgmental. It’s judgmental of me most of all. Oh, how I have sold out God’s true desire for
my pathetic desires of “church.”
Into the Presence of God
The rest of this passage is about preparing the people to
receive God’s presence as well as to receive God’s law – what we typically call
the Law of Moses today. Let’s spend a
bit of time preparing ourselves for the law.
In Lutheran circles, we often speak of the three uses of the law. So call me a heretic. I think God has far more than three uses of
the law. Let’s look and see how God uses
the law:
- God will use the law to reveal His glory. (See Deuteronomy 5:22-28 if you like scriptural evidence)
- God will use the law to reveal mankind’s sinfulness (See Romans 7:7 and 1 Timothy 1:9)
- God will use the law to mark the Hebrews as His chosen people (See Psalm 147:19-20)
- God will use the law as a standard for the godly life (See Deuteronomy 4:1)
- God will use the law to prepare us for our need of Jesus Christ (See Galatians 3:24)
The law, therefore, is inherently good as it is given by
God. We typically think of the law as
fulfilling purposes #2 and #4 from the above list, but there are other reasons
to be grateful of the law. As we prepare
to likewise receive the law, let’s keep all five reasons that are listed above
in mind.
<><
For the
record, here is a brief summary of the Lutheran teaching of the three uses of
the Law.
The Formula of Concord (Found within
the Book of Concord) lists three uses of the Law in Article VI. It states:
The Law was given to men for three
reasons:
- that thereby outward discipline might be maintained against wild, disobedient men [and that wild and intractable men might be restrained, as though by certain bars]
- that men thereby may be led to the recognition of their sins
- that after they are reborn … they might … have a sure guide according to which they are to regulate and direct their whole life
To summarize in plain English:
- Use #1 is to curb ungodly behavior before it starts
- Use #2 is to reveal ungodly behavior where it is already present
- Use #3 is to be a roadmap to help guide the Christian into godly ways
No comments:
Post a Comment