Living By The Exodus Laws - Exodus 23 | John 15

[ZealousChristia]

Living By The Exodus Laws

Exodus 23 | John 15

"Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession" spoke the Lord to Moses in Exodus 19 (verse 5), at the base of Mount Sinai, just before he spoke the Ten Commandments that would become a cornerstone in Christian living. Though there is profound significance within these laws, noted by Christ a number of times in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, that is not all the Lord spoke. He went on to speak of Laws on Personal Injuries, Protection of Property, Social Responsibility, Annual Festivals and the Laws of Justice and Mercy. Though some of these laws have lost their significance with Christ's arrival (for example, the only offering that we offer the Lord today is ourselves, rather than animals or food), some remain just as important now as they were then. It is on the Laws of Justice and Mercy that I would like to expand on, found in Exodus 23.

"Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness" (verse 1) reads the first law. Mark records Christ being asked "of all the commandments, which is the most important?" (12:28), to which part of Christ's response was "love your neighbour as yourself." If we are to love our neighbours as ourselves - fellow man and woman - then we must first be just in our actions towards each other. The Lord goes on the add "do not follow the crowd in doing wrong ... do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd" (verse 2). Today, we are all too aware of the secular society that moves in the opposite direction to the Lord. We cannot afford to side with the crowd on matters that disagree with our universal and personal Christian beliefs. As a world, we have already "put an innocent or honest person to death," and though the Lord "will not acquit the guilty" (verse 6), we were given grace and mercy and forgiveness for an action that deserved much punishment. The Lord was merciful, and so we too must be merciful and strive to obey the Laws of Justice and Mercy.

The Laws continue: "if you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there, be sure you help them with it" (verses 4-5). Though the imagery of an ox or donkey may not be relevant to modern times in Western society, the gesture behind the action is. Matthew 25 records Christ as saying the following words of wisdom, which surely correlate with this law:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’" (verses 34-40)

The penultimate law reads "do not accept a bribe, for a bride blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent" (verse 8). By not accepting bribes we become more like the Lord, "who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes" (Deuteronomy 10 verse 17). This is the goal of the Christian life: to become more like Christ in our ways. For though we were once burdened with sin, by a renewing of the mind we became clean in the eyes of the sinless Lord.

And finally, "do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt" (verse 9). Treat everyone you do not know as a foreigner. Redefine the word 'foreigner' to mean a person who is not in your life. And with that, do not oppress or neglect, but be open and loving to all of those around you, just as you would want to yourself. With that you not only honour this law, but the 'greatest commandment of all' as noted above, to love your neighbour as yourself.

These laws make up only a fraction of what the Lord spoke on Mount Sinai, many centuries ago. But the words are wise and the actions are just. We are not disciplined because of hate, but because of love. Remember, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener" spoke Christ, recorded in John 15.

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (verses 4-15)

Christ gave his all for us to be all. "You did not choose me," he spoke, "but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you" (verse 16). By honouring, obeying and respecting these laws, we show our great love to Christ in both thought and action. And that glorifies him in ways that words cannot express. I encourage you read the other laws recorded in Exodus.

 

[stephen]

Dear Friend and Brother in Jesus.

Tha 'Law' is finished. Religeon, even the Jewish religeon is dead and can offer nothing.

Life, Spiritual life, can only be found in Jesus alone, and this New Life does not require any supplients from any where, even the O.T.
Jn. 10:10

The O.T. contains Jesus in type only and is rich in such teaching, but it is not vital for daily life serving Jesus today. Col.2.10. etc.

 

[ZealousChristia]

Hi Stephen

I did write "some of these laws have lost their significance with Christ's arrival (for example, the only offering that we offer the Lord today is ourselves, rather than animals or food)" but our spiritual nourishment comes from both Christ and from the Bible. I agree with what you're saying, but I would link "New Life" and the Bible (both Old and New Testament) together.

Certainly, there are teachings in the Old Testament inapplicable to today, but each and every one of these laws relates justice and mercy; qualities the Lord has shown in abundance. I believe that we should take whatever Biblical message we can on the matter, for to become like Christ is Christianity at its core.

 

[april showers]

I would like to address two issues.

First of all, I don't think Zealous was saying we should follow every statute and ordinance in the OT. I think he was saying that there is a lot of value in everything written in the Bible, and that we could benefit if we read both Testaments.

Secondly, I would like to talk a bit about the purpose of the NT, or new covenant, because there is tremendous confusion over this, which is causing many Christians to start keeping the Law of Moses.

Christians seem to think that the main difference between the old covemant and the new is that in the new you are forgiven. This is incorrect. There was forgiveness of sins in the old covenant. However, because Jesus is our sacrificial lamb and has taken away our sins, in the new covenant our sins can be both forgiven AND REMOVED.

The other main point about the new covenant is that it has to do with our new man. The Law of Moses was created for the old creation, or the old nature. While we still have an old nature when we are a Christian, the new covenant is a higher law that does not simply put limits on our old nature, but is concerned with the removal of the old nature and the resurrection of Jesus in its place.

The old covenant had to do with the old man, and with controlling and putting limits on his behavior. The new covenant has to do with the creation of the new man, which can only mean the crucifiction of the old man and the creation of the new man in our personality. The entire old nature has to GO, so that Jesus can entirely become our new life.

It is perhaps a subtle difference, which is why it is so hard to understand.

 

[ZealousChristia]

I would like to address two issues.

First of all, I don't think Zealous was saying we should follow every statute and ordinance in the OT. I think he was saying that there is a lot of value in everything written in the Bible, and that we could benefit if we read both Testaments.

Secondly, I would like to talk a bit about the purpose of the NT, or new covenant, because there is tremendous confusion over this, which is causing many Christians to start keeping the Law of Moses.

Christians seem to think that the main difference between the old covemant and the new is that in the new you are forgiven. This is incorrect. There was forgiveness of sins in the old covenant. However, because Jesus is our sacrificial lamb and has taken away our sins, in the new covenant our sins can be both forgiven AND REMOVED.

The other main point about the new covenant is that it has to do with our new man. The Law of Moses was created for the old creation, or the old nature. While we still have an old nature when we are a Christian, the new covenant is a higher law that does not simply put limits on our old nature, but is concerned with the removal of the old nature and the resurrection of Jesus in its place.

The old covenant had to do with the old man, and with controlling and putting limits on his behavior. The new covenant has to do with the creation of the new man, which can only mean the crucifiction of the old man and the creation of the new man in our personality. The entire old nature has to GO, so that Jesus can entirely become our new life.

It is perhaps a subtle difference, which is why it is so hard to understand.

Excellently written post.

 

[hischildaswell]

<TABLE id=table_bible cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR id=Act_20_27_1038027><TD class=vRefa>Acts 20:27</TD><TD class=vDispa>For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Boanerges]

Fallen form grace?

Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.





Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.



Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:



We will quite simply never please God in our won strength by following and law or rule.
Christians are sons of God led by the Spirit of God.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

It is He who directs us moment by moment. Though by our new born again nature we do not violate ordinance we do not consciously seek to walk by them but instead enjoy the direction of the One who loves us most.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Those who would seek to obey the Law yet fail in one area are judged guilty under the whole Law.
Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
That my friend is a terrible place to find oneself- outside the grace of God for one cannot live under the Law and be under His grace at the same time.
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.


Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

 

[ZealousChristia]

I'd like to clarify a point: I am not saying that living by the Exodus Laws is a requirement. It is not. However, as Christians we should exercise mercy through our lives just as mercy is exercised in our lives. These laws, whether they are Old Testament or not, are about the very mercy that will be granted unto born-again believers on the days of judgement.