The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Sons and Daughters"
It could be said that the law of Moses given to the children of Israel involved matters of legality. Conversely, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that indwells born again believers involves matters of family (Romans 8:2).
God gave the old covenant law to the Jews in full knowledge they would not keep it. His foreknowledge of history confirmed that. Moreover, His infinite knowledge of unredeemed human hearts assured the Lord of Israel's failure (Psalm 147:5; Hebrews 4:13). The Jews would break the law before Moses could even descend from Mt. Sinai with the tablets on which the tenets were inscribed (Exodus 32). The law condemned Israel thereby, and without the ritual sacrifices provided (which foreshadowed the coming Messiah), God would have utterly rejected and judged the earthly nation He had chosen in Abraham. The Lord gave Israel a legal system and framework with consequences for both good and bad response. Israel chose the bad, as do all human beings in our natural state, revealing the true purpose for which God gave such a system.
"The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24).
"By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).
Conversely, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus provides not a legal system, but rather a spiritual family into which God births us when we believe: "the whole family of Heaven and earth" (Ephesians 3:15). Believers relate to God as living sons and daughters rather than subjects of a legal system.
"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (Galatians 4:6-7).
"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).
We still serve God, of course, but not in the context of legalities. We rather work from love, for love, and by love. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us… Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us" (Romans 5:5; Ephesians 5:2). Rather than blessing or cursing based on adherence to or violation of laws, our Father works in us from living fellowship based on His presence in our hearts, and the New Testament promises and commands engraved not upon stone tablets, but within our spirits. We serve as beloved sons and daughters of a Father who gave His only begotten Son to birth a company of many spiritually begotten children through Christ's Person and work. We bear His nature by spiritual conception and birth, and thus, His delight in the will of God (II Peter 1:4; Romans 7:22). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (I Peter 1:3).
All this to say… wondrous!!! We do well to frequently still ourselves and ponder the grace that birthed us as sons and daughters of the eternal God. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" exulted the Apostle Paul, who knew better than anyone what it meant to live under the onerous strictures of the old covenant, and who was given the primary revelation of life in the New. "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (Colossians 1:27; II Corinthians 3:6). What will it mean today that you and I are family, family to God? What will the sensibilities of His Fatherly heart and the directions of His guiding and providing hand be toward us? What will we find ourselves enabled to do as sons and daughters we could never fulfill as mere servants? What will being Blood-washed and Spirit-renewed members of the family, the whole family of Heaven and earth, reveal of the glory of God within and through us in this day? We will find out as we walk in in the light and the love that birthed us as beloved sons and daughters, and that leads us by the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father and the Son.
"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in Heaven…"
(Matthew 6:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."
(Hebrews 12:3)
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