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Master Life
Lesson Two
We are going to learn the principles of mastering life as we learn how to apply the Law of God. First, of course, we must understand what God's Law is and how it works. These are concepts that parts of the Christian Church have lost.
Definition Of The Law
How are we going to define God's Law? The 10 Commandments are the heart of the Law. They are the summary of the Law - the Law in short form, if you like. All the laws given will relate to at least one of the 10 Commandments.
The 10 Commandments summarize the Law. The Book of Deuteronomy is a more detailed summary of the Law, and it explains the meaning of the 10 Commandments. As we progress down the pyramid you saw in the video [you may want to pause the video at the pyramid illustration], each layer expands and explains what has gone before. They give us examples of what the 10 Commandments mean and how they apply to everyday life.
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If we travel up from the 10 Commandments, we find Love God & Others at the top.
"And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?' So he answered and said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbour as yourself.' And He said to him, 'You have answered rightly, do this, and you shall live.'" [Luke 10:25-28, NKJV]
The lawyer wanted to test Jesus, so he asked Him about eternal life. Jesus turned him to the Law. What did the Law have to say on the subject? The lawyer responded with Deuteronomy 6:5 [love God] and Leviticus 19:18 [love your neighbour]. Notice very carefully what Jesus said: "You have answered rightly, do this, and you shall live." Loving God and loving our neighbours is the briefest summary of the Law. Or, to put it the other way around, all of the Law is an explanation of how God expects us to love Him and to love others. We will come back to this in more detail in a later lesson.
Love is a vital part of New Testament living. Without it, we are nothing. Here, Jesus linked love inseparably with the Law. In fact, as we have seen, the command to love was not 'new' in the New Testament, but it was a core command of the Law. [If we do away with the Law, then we have done away with Christian love as defined by God.]
As you saw in the pyramid, the rest of the laws in the Old and New Testaments explain and give examples of how the 10 Commandments work in practical living. So then, as we said before, every law can be grouped under at least one of the 10 Commandments.
One more critical point, from the pyramid illustration, you can see that Christ is the object of the Law. We need to understand this right from the beginning. If Christ is not the object of the Law, then we are misusing the Law. Christ is the focal point and object of all God's dealings. If we forget that, then we have wandered from Christianity and are living in a fantasy world of our own making. The Law must honour and reveal Christ.
How do these summary laws work? Look at the levels below for an example. You will see that each level explains the layer above it in more detail.
Level 1
Love Your Neighbour
Level 2
Thou Shalt Not Murder
Level 3
Hatred, Military Laws, Manslaughter Laws, Quarantine Laws,
Any Law Dealing With The Killing Or Protecting Of Life
Love your neighbour is a brief summary of all the laws below it. Thou shalt not murder explains in a little more detail one way of loving our neighbour. Finally, specific laws explain in detail how we avoid murdering our neighbours. As you can see, this commandment covers more than just physical death. Some of the laws which would come under this general heading are:
1. Hated ["Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer" 1 John 3:15, NKJV]
2. Military Laws
3. Manslaughter and Self Defence Laws
4. Quarantine Laws [protecting life from dangerous diseases]
5. Some Environmental Laws [killing the environment]
6. Any law dealing with the protection or taking of life.
All Laws are summarized in the 10 Commandments, which themselves are further summarized in Love God and Love Your Neighbour.
For those of you whose knees knock at the idea of Old Testament Laws today, the New Testament is sometimes stricter than the Old Testament. Consider:
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." [Matt. 5:27-28]
That's the New Testament, not the Old Testament. The furthest the Old Testament went was to command not to do the act; Jesus commanded [yes, commanded] not to even entertain the thought. Also, I'm sure you noticed in the above illustration that the New Testament groups hatred with murder. Suddenly, the Old Testament doesn't seem so harsh!
Why is there a difference? Why didn't the Old Testament go all the way, or why doesn't the New Testament hold back? The answer is found in the purpose of the Law. In most laws, God delegates some of His authority to mankind to judge and act in certain situations. If a person commits adultery, for example, God makes it plain that a criminal offence has been committed. He then lays down His requirements in such a case.
However, God does not delegate all of His authority to men. For our own protection, He has placed limits. One of those limits is that we can only judge the act, but cannot pretend to know the thoughts of a person's heart. Both the Old and New Testaments make it very clear that God does not place any such limits on Himself. He can, and He will judge the thoughts as well as the acts, and He will do it perfectly.
"You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off." [Ps. 139:2, NKJV]
"But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, 'Why do you think evil in your hearts?'" [Matt. 9:4, NKJV]
"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." [Heb. 4:12, NKJV]
So the difference is in who is doing the judging. Is it man, with God's delegated authority, or is it God Himself? The former has God-ordained limits; the latter has no limits.
Law Is The Foundation Of Society
Whether we like it or not, every society is built on the foundation of religion. It may be Christianity, humanism, Islam, or whatever, but it will be there. Every society is, at its core, religious in that it has certain views about God and His world, and it acts in accordance with those views. There is no getting around it.
Law is where religion gets practical. Because of a society's moral or immoral views, laws must be enacted to protect and enforce them. Society will expect people, families, churches, and governments within the culture to abide by its laws. Those who fail to do so will be punished. Religion and its practical enforcement [Law] are in every society.
Anytime we want to find out who the ultimate god of a society is, we only have to ask one question: Who makes their laws? In other words: Who is the final court of appeal? Once we have that answer, we know their religion and their god, for all law is the practical application of religion. We may like to think that in Canada, the US, and other Western countries, we have neutral laws. That is a fantasy. No such thing exists. Each law is an expression of the religion of the one who made it. When we have committed socialists making our laws, the religion of the country will shift to the Socialist branch of humanism.
Whose Law does God want the societies of the world to be built on? Whose Law must we use to disciple [train] the nations [Matt. 28:19]? Whose Law will lead us to a mastery of life? God's Law, as found in the Bible, or man's law?
"A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law." [Is. 43:3-4, NKJV].
Isaiah was prophesying of Jesus. We are familiar with the first part of this quote [we like that part!], but what did Isaiah see as the mission of the Messiah? He saw it as bringing worldwide justice in accordance with the Law of God. The coastlands symbolically refer to the farthest reaches of the earth. All is to be brought under His Law, and then justice will reign in the world.
This means there is no neutral zone. Everything is to be brought under God, or God is not God. If there is any area of life that God does not have the right to rule, then He is not the Almighty God the Scriptures declare Him to be. We must have all of God - or none of Him. We cannot just pick and choose what we like. Either we live in a world of reality or a world of fantasy.
All of society [every society] is to be under God, and that includes being in submission to His Law. Why is that? Because God owns all men. We tend to think of Christians belonging to God and non-Christians belonging to Satan or the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, genuine Christians belong to God in a unique redemptive way and, therefore, have a unique relationship as adopted sons and daughters of God, but all men belong to God. God is the Creator and has ownership of everything. As a result, everything and everybody is to be under His Law. There are to be no exceptions. If we are in rebellion against the King of Kings, we will face His judgment.
Also, the Law of God is the only way we have to oppose evil in society. Without the Law, all we can say is: "I don't think it's right," to which the simple response is: "I don't care what you think. Who are you to govern me?" With the Law, we say with authority, "It's wrong because God says it's wrong."
Christians who refuse to believe in the Law have destroyed their only weapon for judging good and evil. Consider this situation: Christian X is asked if he believes the Law of God is for us today. "No!" is his emphatic reply. Good Christian X is then asked if he believes abortion is wrong. "Of course!" is his response. How do you, good Christian X, know it is wrong? "God says so!" [He likes talking with exclamation marks.] Where does God say it is wrong? If he is honest, he has to reply: "In the Law." The trap springs shut - you told me the Law didn't apply today.
Christian X has a close brother [in the Lord, of course] whose name is Christian Y. Christian Y is quick to say that only the Law that is restated in the New Testament applies today. Unfortunately, he, too, is headed for problems. Take this Law, for example:
"If a man mates with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the beast. If a woman approaches any beast and mates with it, you shall surely kill the woman and the beast. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood will be upon them." [Lev. 20:15-16]
The New Testament never mentions this subject. Does that mean God has changed His mind on the issue? Is it now all right to have sex with animals? I doubt Christian Y would say so; however, he could not prove it without resorting to a Law not repeated in the New Testament. The Scriptures cannot be chopped up to fit our personal fancies. We must take it as it stands, and we must take it all. [We will explain how this works in a later lesson.]
Where does Canada as a society stand in all this? How do we judge? Find out who makes the laws, and you will find the god of that society.
Constitution Act 1982: "Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law..." I like that. It sounds good. Maybe Canada really is a Christian nation. Unfortunately, point 52 takes it all away. "The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada, and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect."
In plain language: if the Law of God contradicts the Constitution, throw out the Law of God. If there is any Law above God's Law, then there is a god above God. When God's Law becomes the supreme Law of Canada [or any nation], then, and only then, will we have the potential of a Christian country.
As a side point, with the disrespect of God's Law comes a disrespect of all law. We see this in Canada in the Federal Government's insistence on the GST, which is an unconstitutional tax, and Revenue Canada's ability to seize private property without a trial in violation of the Bill of Rights. In the United States, many of the Drug laws [and anti-terrorism laws] make a mockery of the Constitution. When we reject God's Law, the authority of any law begins to crumble.
In Lesson 3, we will see why God's negative law system works and man's positive law systems do not. We will never master life in a positive law system. Ever wonder why our laws protect criminals more than innocent citizens? Find out next lesson!
Master Life Assignments
Note: These assignments are written from the assumption that the student has completed the Feed Yourself Course. Some of the assignments may not make sense if you have not taken that course.
1. Analyze Psalm 19.
2. Memorize Psalm 19.
Return to Lessons.
For more information about Glenn Davis, see our About Glenn page or visit Glenn Davis Books.
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