Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is an ode to the glory of God’s law. Verse 1, “Blessed are those who walk according to God’s law.” Verse 99 – 103, “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
So I was not surprised, when in church, to hear the worship leader welcome us and describe his church as a place where we believe in the Ten Commandments. If only he had added, “This is a place where Jesus is our Savior, Lord and King” or something like that. But, he did not. Jesus wasn’t mentioned.
There is no question that the law is a transcript of God’s character and sin is the transgression of that law. But the central focus of our worship is not, and should never be, a law. The central focus is a God full of grace, who sent us His only Son to perish at our hands, that we might be redeemed. The law is magnificent in knowledge and its protective wisdom guides us to a good life. But apart from the giver of that law, Jesus Christ, it cannot supply us with forgiveness when we transgress, neither can it give us eternal life.
I apologize if I am nitpicking. But I don’t think so. Jesus is what gives church and worship value.
Spring Of Life