31 July 2009
Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.
They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.
You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
Psalm 119:1-4Law-keeping? Obedience? Decrees? Commands? Statutes? Precepts? Laws? Sounds real fun...
Yes, Psalm 119 is a song written by a guy who is obsessed with keeping God's laws. But don't switch off yet. It's not what you think.
There are two kinds of law-keeping, and most people mix them up, and get confused, and in the end miss out on the best way of life.
1st - There is law-keeping that rejects God
Law-keeping that says, "It's ok, I can do it." I can impress God. Keep enough laws and he'll be happy with me, tick me off the list and let me into heaven. Easy-peasy. "It's ok, I can do it." Psalm 119 is not that kind of law-keeping. Law-keeping that rejects God, and puts I at the centre just doesn't work.
You know why? Because we're just not good enough. I can't do it! I can't impress God, because of my behaviour, and most importantly, my birth.
Human behaviour by nature is anti-God. That attitude, "It's ok, I can do it". "I can cope". "I want to do it my way." That's what the Bible calls SIN. S - Shove off God. I - I'm in charge. N - No to your rules. And so we live lives with no real concern for what God wants from us.
And that's our behaviour by nature, because we've been born into the wrong family. Because of SIN, our whole family tree has been warped and messed up. We can't please God, we can't impress him because we're not part of his family.
Wrong behaviour, wrong birth. "It's ok, I can do it". Law-keeping that rejects God.
2nd - This is law-keeping that reflects God.
God has amazingly made a way to sort out our birth problem, to get us into his family! God sent his son, Jesus. Jesus came to earth, he died on the cross, and amazingly he came back to life. When he died, my old wrong-behaviour, wrong-birth self died with him. And now Jesus has been raised from the dead, I have new life in him, joined to him, as his brother, as a son of God!
So what's my reaction? Wow! I've been born again into a new family, into God's family! I've got a new Father! I want to be like him, I want to copy him, I want to reflect him! How do I reflect him? I do things the way he wants them, I live life his way, I obey his laws, I keep his statutes, I seek him with all my heart, I follow in my Father's footsteps. What is important to him now becomes important to me. Through what Jesus has done I can now joyfully say, "It's ok, I can do it!" I can please him, I can feel his smile on me - because through Jesus I am now his son.
That's Christian law-keeping, that's Psalm 119 law-keeping, that's blessed law-keeping, that's happy law-keeping, that's law-keeping to write a song about, that's law-keeping as your ambition for the rest of your life! Not "it's ok, I can do it" but through Jesus' death, and following in Jesus' example, "it's ok, I can do it!" Not law-keeping that rejects God, but law-keeping that reflects God.
