Gtcotr/ss090725
There is no sea from which we harvest the souls of men other than the waters of this broken world. (P2P)
God never intended for the 10 Commandments to be a whipping post for mortal man. The 10 Commandments were meant to be a blessing and given to help God’s family live a powerful, prosperous and productive life.
However over the years religious leaders began to use the 10 Commandments to identify violators so they could be taxed or otherwise punished for their sins. The prophet Isaiah paints a picture in the first chapter of his prophecy of God being frustrated with sacrifices. What had been meant to foster and strengthen relationship had become little more than forced religion. People ended up worshipping a God they didn’t even know. Something was broken …
1500 years later the Apostle Paul, an expert in Jewish law wrote:
Romans 7:6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
2 Corinthians 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
It’s terrible to find yourself in a situation you don’t want to be in. Perhaps trapped in a problem you didn’t cause and feel you don’t deserve … a place you never imagined you would be … It’s terrible to be in the grips of:
- · Alcoholism
- · Drug Addiction
- · Pornography
- · The Love of Money
- · Mental Deterioration
- · Emotional Instability
- · Paranoid Delusions
- · Gender Identity Crises
- · Same Sex Attractions
- · Post Traumatic Stress
- · Unexpected Pregnancy
- · Divorce
- · Bankruptcy
- · Prison
… and feel alienated from God and family.
God knew these experiences would become all too common in a broken world and He had compassion on mankind. This is why He gave us His Word, never intending it to be a whipping post like had happened with the 10 Commandments … but rather God hoped the Living Word would become our salvation. He further gave us His Spirit to comfort, lead and guide us while we live in this broken world.
Then, after the Word and the Spirit, untimately God gave us a family. Just like He chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From them came the 12 Tribes of Israel … a family … the family of God. Genesis 2:18 says that it is not good that man should dwell alone. And Psalm 68:6 tells us that God sets the individual in families.
A family is meant to secure you; make you safe; feed and nurture you; protect, provide, and promote you. A family is God’s design into which He places every child – first in the natural and then in the spiritual.
You have a natural family, and God has divinely given you a spiritual family. The Church is God’s family in the earth today, just as Israel was His family and the Israelites His children in Old Testament times. 1 Corinthians 12:18 says that God sets every member in the Church as it pleases Him.
The Church has been given the role of being and acting like God’s family in the earth. Mark 1:21plainly describes the first thing Jesus did after inviting His initial 4 disciples to follow Him was to immediately take them to Church. Jesus knows the Church is not filled with perfect people but nonetheless Church is His perfect will.
Sad to say that much like the 10 Commandments were misused to serve and support a religion instead of a relationship, so also has been the message of the Gospel in days gone by. We live in a broken world, and the Church is filled with broken people. As earlier said - There is no sea from which we harvest the souls of men other than the waters of this broken world.
The Church you attend is filled with imperfect people making bad decisions in need of mercy, grace, and forgiveness, calling on the name of Jesus to save and secure them and make them a greater witness.
In Old Testament days, often those facing judgment from the priest or punishment from the people after having broken one of the 10 Commandments were condemned to death. Religion offers no compassion and no reprieve. People imagined God did not like a person who sinned and therefore no one else should like them either. That is not the truth …
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
And let’s not forget the next verse:
John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
This is why we see Jesus acting with compassion towards a young woman who was caught breaking one of the 10 Commandments in Jerusalem as recorded in John 8:
John 8
2 Now early in the morning Jesus came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
The world is broken, and people are broken … we don’t need a broken Church with a broken doctrine as well. The Church and the Word is all some people have to depend on for safety, their sanity and their salvation.
God did not commission the Church to point out, criticize or condemn sinners. The Church should be filled with answers and opportunities. The Church is designed to be a family filled with salvation for the lost and compassion for the saints. The 10 Commandments along with every word written on the pages of the Holy Bible are divine instructions aimed at helping broken people heal and live a healthy, happy, and godly life.
Scriptures are not designed to condemn sinners but to save them … save them from sin and save them from the grip of this broken world.
Pointing out something that is terrible without offering a compassionate remedy is less than loving, less than family. As terrible as it is to be held captive by situations and circumstances of life it is of no help when others point to the problem without offering a remedy that will work. Help is not help when it does not help. Jesus can help …
This morning I want to offer you salvation which comes from a relationship, not from a religion. Today, Jesus Christ will come into your life in a dynamic way and lead you through this broken world if you will sincerely call on His name.
He will not require you to judge anyone else, but He will heal your broken life, heal your broken relationships and heal your broken dreams. There is still time. Call on Him today in prayer.
If you want to find Jesus, you will always find Him in two places. You will find Jesus in prayer, and you will find Him in Church … even in a broken Church filled with broken people. Make your commitment to be a part of the family of God in the earth … Jesus did!
