Kingdom Outpost – The Rule of Law: Government of Culture (1)

Kingdom Outpost

The Rule of Law: Government of Culture (1)

The Law of God makes a home an outpost of the Kingdom.

“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:9

No people has ever been able to do without culture. Culture includes the artifacts, institutions, and conventions by which a people defines, sustains, and enriches its life. Culture is thus very important to human life; it falls to every people, therefore, to ensure that their culture is guarded by standards which are designed to promote goodness.

This was part of the function of the Law of God in ancient Israel, as we shall see in this section. God knows that culture can be used for good; it can also be used for evil, however. Since human beings learn culture—how to use, make, and understand it—in their homes, it makes sense that God would intend the homes of His people to be cultural microcosms for the whole nation. By “writing” the Law of God “on the doorposts” of their houses, Israelites would have understood a practice more symbolic than literal.

By painting the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes on the first Passover, the people signaled to God and one another that they and everything in their homes were looking to Him for deliverance from captivity. Similarly, while there are ways of writing the Law literally on the walls and door jambs of our homes, more is intended than this. Our homes and property, all our possessions and furnishings, the décor with which we adorn our homes, all the conversations we engage in there, and whatever of culture we allow into our homes from the outside must all be brought under the cope of God’s holy and righteous and good Law.

If we can establish our homes as forges, schools, and parade grounds for godly culture, the likelihood will be greater that this will carry over into every other cultural area of our lives as well. Parents especially must exercise vigilance and pastoral care to make their homes the kind of Kingdom outpost God intends them to be. Whether our homes are humble or splendid, God intends to rule there by His Law, and to have His holiness, righteousness, and goodness on display through all the cultural life of our homes. He promises that, as we submit the culture of our homes to His governance, we will know His blessings in rich abundance.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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