The 1st problem that we can run into with God’s Laws is viewing them as ‘chains.’

“Didn’t we leave Egypt?Why would we willingly sign-up for

more tasks from another Taskmaster?”If this is our mindset… God’s Laws will lose

their life-giving purpose for our lives.

Exodus 20-23God gives Moses and the Israelites a wide variety of law, seeking to

restore “shalom” in a loving and trusting relationship with God and each other.

Psalm 119:32“I run in the path

of Your commands for You have set my heart free.”

God’s “Radical Rules” for Life

Just social relations between people Rights for women, slaves, & strangers Protection for widow orphan, & “alien” Respect & stewardship over the land Healthy boundaries for sexuality

The Law was a call up into a nobler life of community for the

human race… to live together in trust and

love, just as the Trinity live together as One in Spirit and in purpose.Our view can be much

smaller, however.

Matthew 5: 17-20

Jesus clarifies His role as it

relates to the Law and His views on “righteousness.”

The 2nd problem that we can run into with God’s Laws is that we can become so strict with them that we can sadly

miss the main “points” of each of them (loving our neighbor, honesty, honoring parents, loving God, generosity, etc.).

“[Speaking of the Pharisees]Their obedience was

disobedient. Their faith had become an externalized ritual… They’d taken the

good law of Sinai and twisted it into a code that excluded, indicted, and judged others.”

- Chuck DeGroat, “Leaving Egypt”

Matthew 23: 23-2423 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and

Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and

cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the Law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting

the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

“If we mistake obedience to the Law for wholeness and righteousness, we get

outward conformity instead of the wholehearted love that motivates true obedience…

The Law, by itself, was never meant to be

the answer to our needs.”

- Chuck DeGroat, “Leaving Egypt”

Law is powerless to change human nature. It can only protect life and property

by regulating human behavior.The enforcing of good moral laws

doesn’t guarantee a perfect society, but it does promote order and prevent anarchy.

The Law was imperfect.

Romans 8: 3-43 “For what the Law was powerless to do

because it was weakened by the flesh,

God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

And so He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement

of the Law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh

but according to the Spirit.”