Last Lessons #42 – LAW AND ORDER

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 5:17-19

We are all distressed over the lack of law and order in the USA and in the rest of the world.  Disobeying the law started when Adam and Eve ate from the one tree that was forbidden by God (Genesis 3:1-7).  God the Creator had given them everything they needed to live a perfect life forever, but Satan convinced them to break his one law – they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  But they disobeyed and ate the fruit.  They liked the idea of deciding for themselves what was good and what was evil.  From that time on lawlessness has been with us.  We want to decide what is right and what is wrong instead of God telling us, and so, because we want no authority over us, everyone does what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). That’s why we have chaos in our land.  God has graciously given us governments (Romans 13:1-4) but we break national laws; he has given us parents, but we disobey them; he has given us church leaders and bosses, but we do not want to come under their authority.  So we have chaos.  No country can function very long without law that controls behavior and order that provides systems for living together.  Without law and order any country will self-destruct. 

The good news is that God has given countries and individuals the perfect Law that will bring order to this world.  The Law (the Ten Commandments) is found in the Bible in Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter 5.  God in his mercy has not left us without direction.  We have been given, as Adam’s descendants, a second chance to know what is right and what is wrong.  Furthermore, Christians have been given the ability to obey God’s Law and to understand God’s systems for living through the Holy Spirit. 

• So, how should we respond to God’s second chance in today’s world?
• We study the Ten Commandments and obey them through the enablement of the Holy Spirit. 
• We teach the Ten Commandments to our children.  I used to pay my children money to memorize Scripture including the Ten Commandments.
• We send our children to Christian schools so that they learn about Jesus who obeyed the law perfectly.
• We elect leaders who believe in the First Commandment and want to live under his law and order.
• We stand for what God says is right and wrong and make our voices heard.

Our one little voice may not seem like much, but God gave us the Ten Commandments through the one man, Moses.  Who knows what God will do if we ask him to bring Law and Order back to our land and we do our part to help that happen!