Gravity, Obedience, and the Laws of God
To live as a Christian is to pay higher respect to the laws of God than to the laws of men.
That sounds great, but what does it mean? We might have a good idea of what the laws of men are, but what are the laws of God?
I believe that when God created the world, He created certain laws to govern it, both physical laws and spiritual laws. He holds the right to make exceptions, but God is the only one who can do that. Physical laws govern nature, laws such as gravity and the laws of physics. We can't see gravity, but we certainly believe in it, ever since we put on a Superman cape and jumped off our parent's dresser or the front porch believing we could fly, and it didn't work.
Spiritual laws, on the other hand, are unseen. They are declared in the Bible, and evidenced in biblical accounts, world history, and personal experience. Just because we haven't noticed a particular spiritual law or been affected by it does not mean that it doesn't exist. Some spiritual laws appear to me to be absolute rules, and some have conditions.
This is just another way of looking at truth and God as the origin of truth. Indeed, all spiritual laws are based in the nature, character, and word of God. Because God's character is constant and unchanging, the results of His interaction with the world are spiritual laws. For example, God embodies truth, and therefore, He must always speak truth. God is not capable of lies or deception. He always keeps His promises; when He does not, it means that the promise had a condition that was not met (in the Bible, the condition or conditions are usually included in the promise).
Our example in this is the apostles of the early Church. In Acts 5, the apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council, i.e. the civil and religious authority for the Jews) and ordered not speak in the name of Jesus any more. They replied, "We must obey God rather than men! (5:29)" As disciples of Jesus, this must be our priority and even our rallying call. But there is much more involved than just disagreeing and disobeying the civil or religious authorities when they contradict God's word. Our society has values and priorities that we do not share. People who we know believe things that we don't. We must answer to the Higher Authority, rather than meekly agree with the voice of society or well-meaning people. As Paul says: "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10).
To please God and to obey Him is to act in accordance with His laws, not those of men, and to bring the heavenly reality of God's nature and character in direct collision with our fallen and troubled world.
That sounds great, but what does it mean? We might have a good idea of what the laws of men are, but what are the laws of God?
I believe that when God created the world, He created certain laws to govern it, both physical laws and spiritual laws. He holds the right to make exceptions, but God is the only one who can do that. Physical laws govern nature, laws such as gravity and the laws of physics. We can't see gravity, but we certainly believe in it, ever since we put on a Superman cape and jumped off our parent's dresser or the front porch believing we could fly, and it didn't work.
Spiritual laws, on the other hand, are unseen. They are declared in the Bible, and evidenced in biblical accounts, world history, and personal experience. Just because we haven't noticed a particular spiritual law or been affected by it does not mean that it doesn't exist. Some spiritual laws appear to me to be absolute rules, and some have conditions.
This is just another way of looking at truth and God as the origin of truth. Indeed, all spiritual laws are based in the nature, character, and word of God. Because God's character is constant and unchanging, the results of His interaction with the world are spiritual laws. For example, God embodies truth, and therefore, He must always speak truth. God is not capable of lies or deception. He always keeps His promises; when He does not, it means that the promise had a condition that was not met (in the Bible, the condition or conditions are usually included in the promise).
Our example in this is the apostles of the early Church. In Acts 5, the apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council, i.e. the civil and religious authority for the Jews) and ordered not speak in the name of Jesus any more. They replied, "We must obey God rather than men! (5:29)" As disciples of Jesus, this must be our priority and even our rallying call. But there is much more involved than just disagreeing and disobeying the civil or religious authorities when they contradict God's word. Our society has values and priorities that we do not share. People who we know believe things that we don't. We must answer to the Higher Authority, rather than meekly agree with the voice of society or well-meaning people. As Paul says: "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10).
To please God and to obey Him is to act in accordance with His laws, not those of men, and to bring the heavenly reality of God's nature and character in direct collision with our fallen and troubled world.
posted by Luke at 2:15 PM
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