I Am The LORD Your God (part III)

What are the commandments for? What purpose did God have behind giving Moses the ten commandments? Can I say, this is nice, but I just don’t know how this can possibly refer to me? And truly, if I think of God as changing between old and new testament then yes I can possibly say this, that the ten commandments were just given until Jesus came. That is not true because Jesus himself said he didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17-20) And what is the fulfillment of the law? Love. Love comes from God, and obedience to the commandments comes from loving God. “If you love me, you will obey my Father’s commandments.” (John 14:23-24) And so all the charges that Moses dictates to the Jews in Deuteronomy 27:11-26 have to do with people doing their utmost to please God. And it tells me that I need to do my utmost to please Him as well, to the very last. And He must be the first and foremost in my life. Nothing must keep me from Him, not even if to the naked eye it would appear fine and dandy. (2 King 23:11-13) If it keeps my mind from Him and doing His will then I must rid myself of it. Just as all people of Moses’ and Joshua’s time knew what God expected of them, so should I( Josh 8:32-35). God is explicit, plain, and simple. While His will may not always be clear, the way He wants me to conduct myself always is. Do not murder, Do not covet thy neighbor’s wife, honor my parents…etc. And the purpose? “You shall love the LORD, your God with all your heart, soul, mind and body.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) In loving Him, I follow the commands He lays out for me. I do not follow His commands because I want to perform for him or try to demonstrate that I am worthy of being called His. No. I do not follow His commandments to appease Him. Certainly not. I follow His commands because I love Him and this is the way to show my love for Him. I also know that Father knows best, and so regardless of my feelings and desires to go another way, if I do as He desires me to do, then all will be clear to me in time. In time. I am as accountable to following His law as the Jews of the time of Moses, Nehemiah, David, and Jesus. God makes me thus when He calls me and leaves the choice up to me when I want to clothe myself with Jesus. When I say yes and decide that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, then there are things that I must still act like His child and to do that there are certain things I must do, and certain things I must not do. But above all I must keep remembering that He is holy. (Nehemiah 8:1-18). I must remember the purpose behind calling His people out of the wilderness and calling them to rebuild the temple. I must remember the whole purpose behind Christ coming and dying. I must finally remember the purpose behind His church is not for me, but to bring more and more and more to Him, to the realization of the collective “I”. And to bring me to the point where I can say with the Psalmist in Ps 44:4, 23-26, “Thou art my King, O God: Command deliverences for Jacob. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppresion. For our soul is bowed down to dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” Not just for me, but all my brethren.