Christ and the Law – The Kingdom Curriculum I (7)

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Christ and the Law

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The Kingdom Curriculum I (7)

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“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.” Matthew 5:15

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The Law of God is not, of course, the only portion of Scripture to which we must give earnest and continuous attention. It is, however, the most neglected; moreover, as a kind of “cornerstone” for all the revelation of God’s will, the Law of God is absolutely essential for a proper understanding of the rest of the Bible.

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Jesus came to fulfill the Law of God, and, as we have seen, that is precisely what He did. We are called to follow Jesus. How can we follow Jesus if we do not make obedience to the Law the highest priority in our quest to realize the promise of the Kingdom of God? And how can we do this if we do not repent of our neglect, indifference, or hostility toward the Law of God and begin to take it up as part of our regimen of spiritual exercises?

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At the lowest point of His earthly sojourn, prior to the cross, and faced with the greatest challenge He had ever known, Jesus drew on the strength of the Law of God to sustain and save Him (Matt. 4:1-11). Three times the devil tempted Jesus, and three times He rebuked and bound the tempter by clinging to the commands of God. Jesus knew that the Law of God is true and life-giving. He lived it and He commanded it to be the centerpiece of His Kingdom curriculum (Matt. 5:17-19). Jesus knew the Law of God. He gave us His Spirit to help us to know it. And His Apostles bore witness to the continuing importance of the Law of God as a rich source of blessing for the life of faith.

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So we have a choice. Either we can continue in our studied ignorance of God’s Law, or we can repent from the depths of our hearts and begin, perhaps for the first time, to understand more clearly what Jesus meant when He said, “Follow Me.” Daily reading, meditation in, and study of God’s Law is the only way to hide it in our hearts so that it shapes our lives unto godliness and righteousness (Ps. 1). “What would Jesus do?” Jesus would take up the Law.

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Order your copy of The Law of God today. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, Publications, Waxed Tablet, to place your order and take up the Kingdom curriculum of our Lord.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.