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| Lesson 69: The Law of The Old Testament That Is Covered In The New Testament: Laying Aside Legalism 4/1/2014 by turtle30c Mark 2:23-28 KJV (23) And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. (24) And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? (25) And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? (26) How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? (27) And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: (28) Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. How so often we get so stuck in the structure of the law of God that we fail to see freedom. Freedom meaning not stuck in tradition. Two things to note here in the story of David eating the shewbread is there are two leaders here, the Priest and David who was anointed to be king after Saul’s death. David is not king here yet, but he is a mighty warrior for the Lord. He enters in and takes from the bread that represent the bread of life and eaten by the priest alone. This bread made once a week and laid out representing the twelve tribes. David came in battle attire, hungry and the priest told them he had nothing for them to eat. The priest then inquired of David if his men were clean. They had to be traveling from battle at this point, but they had not slept with a woman, so their men were consider purified enough for the Priest anointed bread. There was a standard to holiness that was maintained for the temple. Yet it did not keep them from eating food that priest themselves would eat. These men were righteous by faith. Yet they had been in battle, filthy from the world, but purified by faith. How are we then to think of disciples when they picked the corn on the Sabbath. They were sinning, yet meeting a physical need required for earthly survival. Yet God had ordered the killing of the man that had picked firewood in the wilderness, because of disobedience to the laws of God of keeping of the Sabbath. Is their two set of rules for people who know the law and those that know not the law. Is there two set rules for people of authority verse the people of non authority. Jesus was not the one picking the corn, he was in compliance to the law. What authority did the disciples pick corn, the tradition of the Romans and the Greek, the people they lived among. They picked in accordance to their own convictions of faith. The disciples except for Philip and Nathanael, knew not who Christ was at this point. Was Philip and Nathanael among them this day, we do not know. They were not always together, however if not they did by tradition of the day. Here the point traditions vs. God’s law are often defined by faith and practice of faith. Many of us keep part of the law but break the other part, we might as well not keep any of it then, if we can not abide by the laws of God. No we fail to see the value of the law of the Sabbath, or obey one’s parents, adultery, killing and so forth. Are we Gentile Jews, people of no laws with God or are we grafted into the tribe of Israel by faith and obedience to God. It is a defining moment. Are following traditions set by God or traditions set by man. God called us to be separate, yet the Sabbath was made to give us rest, and not for man to use it as a day to Lord over man. Priest were caught in their tradition of the Sabbath to the point they were Lord of the Sabbath. They religious leaders dictating the laws with no compassion, in trapping people to the temple, not giving them rest. Jesus is simply pointing out the hypocrisy of the law application. To strive to obey the laws of God is honorable, but it can be summed up into two laws, to love God and to love thy neighbor has thyself. Are we entrapped by legalism of the priest, or the commands of God working within our life. You must decide for yourself where you stand. Dear Heavenly Father help me not be entrapped by legalism of religion, but to show godly mercy and grace to those around me as Jesus taught. In Jesus precious name, Amen. http://www.turtle30cshell.com _ |