December 12/08 1:06 am.


I wanted to put out a little (its a little long) edit for a post i made July 9th, 2008.

I'm not sure why, but I found myself thinking about it this last day especially and I was slightly bothered by it. Perhaps it was the careless writing of

"Jesus wasn't made righteous by fullfilling the law. In fact, it seems that Jesus, in pursuing his Fathers will, actually broke the law from time to time"

or perhaps because someone I don't know commented on it and i dont know how that person actually interpreted what i said.

I wanted to stress now, however late, that I don't believe that Jesus BROKE the law, but that He FULLFILLED it through His death; penalty paid. Justice arranged. Righteousness given.
Jesus showed us the true heart of God. He became man and showed us how God looks with skin on. However, Jesus didn't play to the tune of culture or man's idea of what right and wrong looks like. When Jesus disregarded "laws", i'm convinced that those enforcing these laws, busy staring at astonishment at His "unholy" actions (like healing people), were missing the heart behind such laws. They perhaps had become so absorbed with observing the law that they were missing the point, the LOVE, the relationship God is asking for. This was what i was intending to stress... not that Jesus had broken the law.

I believe that there are two ways to live out this life (feel free to disagree, i've been working this out in my head and readings and i think it stands); that you can either live under the law or live under grace. I think that people who do not accept Christ and even those that don't accept the fact that there is a law (right and wrong) will still be brought under the law in the end. The only other way to live is under Jesus' payment. This doesn't mean the law no longer exists, but that we have already been made right with the law. The law is still a reality for us, but all of our shortcomings have been covered by His suffering. This means that we are now free to experience relationship with the Creator of the galaxies, the Creator of every cell. How do you wrap your mind around that?

The Law isn't about being a "good person" or being a "bad person". That is a very limited way of looking at it. The law reveals what the heart of God is; something good and peaceful with a desire for proper relationship between others and Him. It is the only way to live a fully functioning life... the law reveals what is required to be in relationship with God. It reveals what is required to have righteousness (right standing) before God. It's a hard truth because the law doesn't stop at outward action but goes further, seeing the intentions, deceptions, corruptions of the heart.
This is shown when Jesus speaks about the fulfillment of the law in Matt 5. He talks about some major sins, things that we would obviously call wrong.
But then he goes farther... he talks about what is going on within a person. He addresses that... even these things affect our right standing with God.
What a high calling then! who can attain it? THIS is the grace given to us... the fulfillment of the law on our behalf, simply so that we (undeserving) can find ourselves redeemed to relationship with God.