Emily Kline
The First Law
In Genesis 2:16-17, in the Garden of Eden, God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave Adam and Eve the free will to choose to obey the command, or to break the law. They chose disobedience and transgressed against God’s command. As punishment for their disobedience, God banished them from the Garden of Eden. There are many more examples in the Old Testament of people who chose to disobey the commandments of God, specifically the Israelites.
The Mosaic Law
The Old Testament law was one of strictness to performances and ordinances designed to keep the Israelites in remembrance of God and their duty towards Him. It was highly symbolic, filled with types and shadows, all of which pointed toward Jesus Christ and His future atonement of sins. Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law and all that the prophets had foreseen.
The New Testament
Jesus finally came to prove God’s law a blessing to mankind, as never punishing anything but sin. Christ spoke of in Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
After the resurrection, Christ’s followers were no longer required to sacrifice animals for their sins at the temple. Jesus had paid it all. But this doesn’t give Christians a free pass, it still requires faithful adherence, this time to the Word and the Spirit.
God’s Law Today
We are no longer under the Mosaic Law, but God’s laws are still clearly spelled out in today’s time. Unfortunately, in our world today, man has defiled the laws of God. They trust in their own knowledge and understanding rather than seeking and obeying the will of God in their lives.
There are many teachings, quotes and ideologies that sound like great wisdom, but will ultimately lead us away from God.
Moral Decline at Home
Why have we as a nation drifted away from honoring God’s law in our hearts and lives today?
Much of the problem starts at home. Many parents are busy with their own careers working toward the next promotion and paycheck. Many mothers are in the workforce instead of taking the raising of their children as a top priority. Children spend time at school learning secular ideologies, then come home to another 30 hours per week spent in front of a television set, playing video games or connecting on social media. Given these statistics, it’s understandable why we have homes today functioning at best, with less than Christian values.
Moral Decline in America
Churches today are seeing an alarming rate of declining attendance. The percentage of people claiming “no religion” is increasing at a steady pace.
Our nation was founded on Christian values, and slowly removing those values has taken a toll. It has created moral confusion, and we see crises everywhere. Racism, gender identity, an opioid epidemic, high rates of crime, mental illness and suicide are at an all-time high.
Society deteriorates when God is taken out of the equation. Men always fail trusting in their own knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6 states “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Christians & Obedience
No matter how society undermines it, it is the pleasure of all true Christians to walk in His way. Galatians 5:1 says “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Sin is the only true bondage and since He has freed us from that, we can joy in obedience.
The Church of God follows only the laws of God and not of man. Each sermon is a message from heaven given by a God-called pastor; each worship service and each Sunday School lesson is prayed over and led of the Spirit. We are all free to choose, and we choose the right.
Conclusion
God’s laws are unchanging and unchangeable. They can never be abolished, never dismantled. Man, created in God’s image and likeness, is subject to the laws of God. He can never escape from the operation of those laws. Keeping the law of God is the most important thing a man or woman can do. If your heart is right, it will never be too difficult. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 tells us “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Will you choose the right?
