OLD TESTAMENT! COMMON SENSE OR LEGALISM? CAN THERE BE A BALANCE?

Dear friends and readers,

Recently I posted a comment on my FaceBook page and was surprised to have a negative comment.  Not that we all don't receive some negativity from time to time but this one did surprise me and I thought, well, maybe this would be good time to write an article about the subject matter which is SHABBAT.  Another way of saying that is a Sabbaths days rest, featured as the 4th commandment in Exodus chapter 20 verses 1-17, of 10 Commandment fame.


To clarify so were are all on the same page, if you are a Christian, who has repented for your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, you have been given the most valuable treasure in the entire Universe.  Salvation!  Eternal salvation bought and paid for by the voluntary sacrificial death and resurrection from the grave of the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel.  There is no work you can do to earn it, no amount of good works, lighting candles, giving money, or even a lifetime of going to church.  You could literally observe every Sabbath until the cows come home and it will get you nothing but a well deserved rest each week.  But that is the point I will get to later in this article.  You cannot obtain salvation by obeying the laws of the Old Testament.  It is a free gift from God Himself based solely upon your belief that Jesus is Lord.  But the Old Testament is filled with wisdom and if sought diligently one can clearly see the Messiah, King Jesus as though looking through a beautiful pane of pure crystal.  Don't make the mistake, as do some believers and  discount the Old Testament and in so doing throw out the baby with the bath water.

Romans 10: 9-10  "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.   For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation".  Simple, nothing else required.  Period!

Of course there is also ample scripture telling us that AFTER salvation some things are expected of us.  Ephesians 2:10  "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them".   Then there is Luke 6:46  (Jesus speaking)  "But why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?  "Bottom line folks, because we are believers saved by grace does not mean we can sit around on our laurels and wait for Him to get here.  We need to be about our heavenly Fathers business  (Luke 2:49).

The statement I posted on FaceBook was on Friday evening.  Here it is.  "Jerusalem is 10 hours ahead and their Shabbat begins at 5:38 p.m.  Ours is coming soon.  What does that mean to us?   It means that we can take a break for 24 hours IF WE CHOOSE TO DO SO.  NO LEGALISM IN THAT FOLKS!  Mark 2:27 tells us that the Sabbath was made for men.  It also says that Jesus is the Lord of our Sabbath.  God gives us permission to step back and take a day off with Him, our families and friends, in fact the 4th Commandment actually Commands it.  Why is that anathema to so many Christians today?" End of comment, pretty simple to understand, don't you think?

I received a reply, very politely given by the way from an extremely nice person but telling me that I might want to refresh myself with the second chapter of Colossians.  A scripture that warns against legalism.  But the writer was insinuating that voluntarily observing a Sabbath days rest was somehow observing the commandments and doctrines of men and "Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or  Sabbaths".  I had to ask myself, am I judging anyone or giving solid Biblical advice?

???  Well, I have run into this before so I do understand.  However it does make one wonder when I clearly said IF WE CHOOSE TO DO SO and NO LEGALISM IN THAT FOLKS.  So lets clear the record because Over my years in ministry as a working pastor I have discovered something.  Many Christians have by one means or another become petrified at the thought of ever straying into the law of the Old Testament  because that would mean they are rejecting their salvation through grace.  I don't intend this article to sound defensive in any way but I do have concern because healthy BALANCE is possible between Old and New Testaments.

So, lets agree on better wording for that issue, shall we?  If Christians tried to go back and observe the law as a means of obtaining salvation then they would in fact be rejecting salvation through grace.   That does not mean that every single word of the Old Testament needs to be anathema to Christians.  If that were the case then why are both the Psalms and Proverbs recited in nearly every church of the land?  Why are there Bible studies (after Bible studies, ad infinitum) on the book of Ruth, Esther and Song of Solomon?  I Bet you yourself have attended some.  And maybe one on the 10 Commandments as well?

There is a lot of confusion for some believers about exactly what "THE LAW" is.  In the Old Testament it is believed by most scholars both Jew and Christian alike that there are 613 laws in the Old Testament.  James 2:10 says  " For whoever will keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point is guilty of all".  Clearly no one could ever NOT stumble somewhere on all these laws so we know that salvation by keeping the law is simply not possible.  That is why the Lord Jesus Christ provided salvation as a free gift of God for us through His sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.  But speaking of Jesus, He also said in Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill".

Lets take that in reverse order;   Jesus came to fulfill the prophets?  Well folks, a tremendous amount of Old Testament prophecy is yet to come true and will not completely be fulfilled until the very end of the 1000 year reign of Christ on this earth.  Jesus said "I came to fulfill"---future tense. He did not say "when I came I fulfilled"---past tense.  Clearly He is in the process of fulfilling the Prophets but there is much work yet to be done.

 Now for the law;  The original law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of the 10 Commandments, something that appears today on very many court houses, all across America including the United States Supreme Court.  That document had nothing what so ever to do with the 613 other Old Testament laws.  In fact the 10 Commandments were the only laws commanded by God to be placed in the Arc of the Covenant.

So, let's talk for a moment about Jesus coming to fulfill the law.  He will not fulfill all the law until the moment of His second coming.  You don't think so?  Well let's look at todays events, over 2000 years after the Lord spoke those words.   Is there still murder in this world including on occasion among believers?  Are record numbers of pastors, and elders falling from grace because they have cheated on their wives and slept with a secretary or church member?  Has there been in recent years SEVERAL female adult school teachers who have had sexual relations with their students and some of these women wore crosses around their necks?   Did you know that it is believed that a full 68% of western church going men are addicted to internet porn?  Or that Focus on the family and several other church helps groups offer pornography counseling to pastors AND pastors wives?  Really, pastors wives?  YES!  How many stories have come up recently about holy men and priests having sex with children?  Church board members or treasurers absconding with church funds?
I am not trying to paint a dark picture here about the church folks because this is merely the tip of the worldwide iceberg and things are even worse in the secular world.  But this is very real and the scriptures say that Jesus came to fulfill (future event) the law and the prophets but clearly that complete fulfillment is yet future.  He did not say "I FULFILLED,  as in already accomplished.

Some will say, but what about the Lord's statement while on the cross of Calvary?  "IT IS FINISHED"?  Does that not mean that in that instant He fulfilled all things?  And the answer to that is no, He did not.  What He did do was to seal the New Covenant with His shed blood and provide the way for all mankind to enter into salvation as a free gift of God purchased at great expense by the atoning death of the only sin free person in all of history.

 But again, both the work of fulfilling the prophets and completing the works of the law are yet future.  Does that run counter to salvation through grace?  No, for those who will accept that free gift.  But remember that a huge majority of the over 7 BILLION people on the earth today have so far rejected Christ as have a large percentage of Jews who are still trying to gain their salvation through the works of the law.

NOTE:  There have always been a remnant of Jews who accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah.  All of Jesus original disciples and Apostles were Jews and even many Pharisees followed Christ after the resurrection.  They were able to make that "leap in faith" because the doctrines of the Pharisees allowed for resurrection from the dead and when they saw Jesus walking around Jerusalem alive AFTER they saw Him die on the cross, they simply could no longer deny Him.  The Sadducees and scribes (members on the Sanhedrin along with the Pharisees) did not believe in resurrection from the dead  and even though they experienced both with their own eyes, continued to reject Christ as Messiah.  However it should be noted that a healthy "MESSIANIC" population is growing both inside and outside Israel today.  Messianics are Jews who have come to faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah.

Now regarding the 10 Commandments;  For 33 years of full time ministry I have been asking Christians if they believe the 10 Commandments still apply to them?  I am guessing that fully 97% have said yes, of course they do.  I also have 130 lengthy articles on the internet and many have referred to exactly this issue without ANY---not one single complaint about the 10 Commandments being legalistic.  Except for 1 of the 10.  Bet you can't guess!  When asked if the 4th Commandment---a Sabbath days rest applies to Christians at least the same 97% have registered a variation of "no way Jose, that's just Jewish legalism".  Ok, 9 good, 1 bad.  Could it be that God made a mistake?  Should He have left that one out or is it simply because it is not popular?  Let's have a moment of honesty here shall we?  The moment of honesty I will give you is this;  The 10 Commandments are not Jewish anything.  They are Godly everything.  The Jews did not write them, God wrote them with His own finger.

So, lets go back again and reiterate.  Obeying all the 10 Commandments will not bring you salvation but you would have plenty of time to think about that from your jail cell.

10 Commandments in brief: GOD SPEAKING!

1). You shall have no other God's before me.  Not bad, we can all agree on that one.
2). Don't worship false gods.  No argument from Christians there.
3). Don't take the Lord's name in vain.  Ok, so far were good.
4). Sabbath rest.  Oh no, no way, that's just Jewish legalism!!!  Can't have that in the body of Christ.
5). Honor your mom and pop.  By the way you will live longer if you do.  100% on that one.
6). No murder.  That's jail time and who would possibly want that?
7). No adultery.  Of course not, who do you think we are?   Hmph!
8). No stealing.  Probably just County jail on that one.  But still not a good idea.
9). No lying about your neighbors.  Well for goodness sake.  What believer would do that?  Liars will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God!  Whoops, thats a New Testament quote.  Another mistake?  Mixing Old Testament with New Testament?  How scandalous is that?  Hmph!
10). Don't covet your neighbors wife or stuff.  Probably jail time in that also if you don't get shot by a jealous husband.

Yep no way, lets just chuck the 10 Commandments because they are definitely legalistic.  Really?  And while we are at it lets just give in to the liberal lefties who want to take all the 10 Commandments down.  Maybe they are right after all, it's obviously not healthy for our children to see any Biblical  kind of stuff that violates church and state mandates.  It's far better for school officials to give them condoms instead!  Oh and if the little kiddies get pregnant?  Well, no way parents are allowed to know that.  Hmph!

Let's get real folks, as a Christian you cannot have it both ways.  You either accept that God Himself gave the 10 Commandments or that He made a mistake.   Having said that, Jesus did come to bring a New Covenant, the basis for which is salvation through grace.  The question is, if something is important to God, should it not also be important to His people?  No absolutely, observing the 4th Commandment in itself cannot accomplish salvation and no one should celebrate the Sabbath as any form of Legalistic requirement.

But how about this zinger?  Mark chapter 2 verse 27.  This is NOT Moses speaking. This is NOT one of the Old Testament prophets speaking.   This is Jesus speaking, the one who provided us with salvation through grace.  The one who brought the New Covenant. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son Of Man is Lord of the Sabbath"!  Folks, if you do not want to take a Sabbaths days rest you will not loose your salvation.  But how about loosing your family after years and years of 24-7?  As  pastor, I see that happening frequently!!!  The Sabbath days rest is a beautiful gift wrapped present that the Creator of the Universe prepared for mankind because He knew that mankind needed rest just like God did after 6 days of Creation.  He gave us an example that most Christians reject out of fear of falling into legalism.  Open the present for goodness sake. Honest it won't hurt you.  Having said that I cannot always take a day off each week myself but I do understand the value of spending a day with the Lord, with my family and friends.

The attitude seems to be,  "but we can't do anything on the sabbath"!  No that is not what scripture says.  It is a day for you to back away from work.  A Sabbath days rest is NOT a list of things you cannot do.  It is a list of things you CAN do.  You can read your Bible and pray then spend QUALITY time with your spouse and kids.  You can have visits with family and friends.  You can laugh or go swimming.  You can be quiet and relax, take a nap, ride your horse, go for a ride in your car and chill out.

The whole idea is to get rested up because Monday comes soon enough.  No Christian should celebrate a Sabbath day because they have to but rather because they want to.  Also, Saturday which really is the original Sabbath may not work for you.  Many Christians consider Sunday as their Sabbath.  I was listening to a country song just yesterday while puttering in my shop.  It was speaking about a slow Sunday after church, taking a walk, having a family dinner and talking to one another.  Catching up as a family.

Ok, so I have had my say on this subject.  I just want to leave you with a thought.  Do you know what my wife and I see when we are out and about?  Entire families down to t-tiny little critters ALL texting and talking to everyone But each other.  As a ministry family we have had to make some rules for our own health.   Unless it is an emergency, we look upon our cell phones after 5 p.m. as just another invitation to talk.  Generally to someone other than our immediate family.  NO. NO, NO, NO. At 5 p.m. all the devices go off and it is family time.  Time to eat together and talk to each other.  Folks if you don't start doing that now, when your kids are grown and gone you will have NO ONE to talk to.  Believe me the kids won't melt if they have some rules in place regarding cell phones.

Being a Christian means living a life of balance.  Balance with work, family, church, and dare I say it?  Balance with understanding that while we are New Testament creations, we will not melt either if we open the Old Testament.  Many and I mean very many Old Testament prophecies may well begin to happen in your lifetime.  Will that surprise you when it happens?  Unfortunate, because God makes it abundantly clear in His word that He wants His people to know.  Did you know that Jesus Himself referred to the Old Testament?  It is the very foundation of the New Testament and the two should be viewed as ONE BIBLE!

Enjoy a day off with your family as often as you can and remember that Jesus will be there with you because He is Lord of your Sabbath.

God bless,
Pastor Rance.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Country basics #2

Dear friends and readers,

Last week I posted some country light hearted sayings and a bit of humor. My wife had been telling me for some time that folks out there in "reader-land" are just plain sick and tired of a diet of bad news every single night on the talking heads programs. So, as is the case for all good husbands I listened and obeyed (-:

Not too surprisingly the response on last weeks humor was great and told me she was right (as usual). Actually I was going back to MY basics this week with a very heavy article on this particular blog (I actually have three more, also published weekly) when the horror of Las Vegas struck America. So, first and foremost, my family and I are praying for all the victims of this evil senseless attack and particularly for the families of those who were slain.

Out of respect for the victims and as a country gent m'self, I decided to keep the atmosphere light again this week. So, for you country lovers here we go again.

Enjoy!

To know how country folks are doing look at their barns not their houses.

Never lay an angry hand on yer wife, kids or any animal. It just ain't polite or helpful.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered not yelled.

Meanness don't happen overnight. It grows overtime and is awful hard to shed.

Always dance with the one who brung you unless its kin.

How is it that a three pound cat can eat a four pound fish?

You can't blame a worm for not wanting to go fishing.

Stumbling over the truth can break a heart.

Proud wife: My whole dinning room goes back to Louis XIV.
Neighbor: That's nothin, my whole houseful of furniture goes back to Sears and Roebuck on the 15th!

A mom to little neighbor boy from the next ranch over: Are you sure you can cut your meat Johnny?
Johnny: Yep, the meats nearly always this tough in our house to.

Census taker from up the holler: What is your fathers income?
Son: About 3 a.m.
Census taker: I mean how much does he make each week?
Son: About 15 quarts.

A budget is a planned method of worrying.

Question from a neighbor: Do pastors talk in their sleep?
Wife of Pastor: No, they only talk in other peoples sleep.

Church board: The Pastor should change his name from Reverend to "Neverend".

Teacher: Why would Shakespeare be a very remarkable man today?
Pupil: Because he would be over 300 years old?

Son: Dad can you write with your eyes shut?
Dad: Sure.
Son: Well, shut your eyes then and sign my report card.

Dad receives a letter from son in college:
Dear Dad, no mon, no fun, your son!
Return letter: Dear son, too bad, so sad  your dad.

When both the speaker and the audience are confused, the speech is profound!

Country preacher: Honey, how did my jokes go over?
Preachers wife: On the Mayflower!

A country Grani: Traded her vacuum sweeper for a telephone. Said she could pick up more dirt that way.

God made woman during mans first sleep. He hasn't had any rest ever since.

Wife: "Time sure changes things".
Husband: " Yep, we got  married 20 years ago when we was both 25. Now I'm 45 and your only 30"?

Are all women shy about their age? Yes, about 10 years shy!

Country wife: I have an idea in my head.
Husband: Be kind to it, it's a strange place to be.

Child: "Mom, there is a man at the door with a package marked C.O.D."
Mom: "Tell him to take it back, I ordered salmon".

Rancher to hired hand:  "Do you ride horses"?
Answer: "No I'm better off"!

Teacher: "If I saw a boy beating a donkey and stopped him, what would I be showing?"
Pupil: "Brotherly love".

Americans have more time-saving devices and less time than anyone else on earth.

In this age of synthetics and substitutes, even the wool they pull over your eyes is half cotton.

Ode to our abode: Though we are the hosts in it, the bank owns most of it.

If you can't act your age, don't tell it.

Always getting into hot water will cook your goose.

Country boy: "What would you do in my shoes?"
Answer: "I'd shine them".

You can stand behind a horse but don't ever try that with a mule!

What you ain't up on, your usually down on.

Husband: What would you do if I died and left you dear?
Wife: That depends on how MUCH you left me.

A good bargain: Firewood warms you twice. When you cut it and when you burn it.

COUNTRY FOLKS: Laugh when you laugh, cry when you cry, know when your sick and care when you die. To be country is to be family! Now's the time for crying folks. For our country cousins in Las Vegas.

God bless folks and lets keep praying for all the victims of terror no matter where they are living.

Pastor Rance.