Photo from thejesse
No, I haven’t broken my arm, the title of this post actually is related to a topic that I’m sure most people consider a ‘not very interesting’ topic. What is that topic you might ask? Well, before I tell you I should mention that the credit for this little post should go to Mike Fischer. Who’s he - he’s the Pastor of Melville Baptist Church (ahhh, you say, here comes another religous post to skip over! LOL).
Seriously though, the topic that the title is actually referring to is…sin. Ok, now that I either have your attention of have turned you off reading further, let me ask you to try.
So, what does an x-ray have to do with sin? The message from last Sunday’s service was about how God went and wrote a law for us all to follow (commonly known as the 10 commandments) but then by the death of Jesus these rules/law are no longer needed. What do I mean by that?
Before he came to earth as Jesus, God gave out a set of instructions (the law). These were pretty full on, not just as straight forward as ‘don’t murder’ but complex and strange laws such as ‘do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk’ (Ex 23:19) and so on. The punishment for breaking a rule was often severe involving a lot of sacrifice and often death.
What was the point of all this? And furthermore, if Jesus got rid of the law once he gave us a direct way to God then why was it here?
This is where the x-ray comes in. Our Pastor explained last Sunday that the law was like an x-ray. How many of us know people who have broken their arm or wrist etc and thought ‘oh, thats a bit sore’ only to find out later that it was actually broken? Its not until the x-ray is done that the true extent of the damage can be seen. In the same way, each of us may think of ourselves as pretty good (I don’t kill people and nor do I cook young goats in their mother’s milk!!). We’re not bad, sometime we might tell white lies or cheat, speed or the like but on the whole pretty good? Most of us rate ourselves pretty high.
The law was there to show us the true extent of the damage. We are unable to really do all that God asks of us. Its impossible. We might try to hold our tongue, not spread rumours, not lose our temper, not worry etc but we can’t help it. Its built in.
So, the x-ray of the law (as seen in the old testament - makes for an interesting read) shows us that we really do need God at the core. Deep down, we need him because no amount of doing good or being good will really hit the target. We will fail eventually.
Isn’t it great that God did send Jesus to get rid of that law. Its no longer needed and we can have a direct line to God through him. How much easier it is to just trust him than try to keep all those rules. Makes me smile (still won’t be boiling any goats though).
Stumble it!
