Title: Live by the Law of the Law
Contents
8 If you keep the supreme law, which is written in the scriptures, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, then you are doing well.
9 But if ye choose a man according to his outward appearance, he is sinning, and the law condemns him as a transgressor.
10 Whoever keeps the whole law, but stumbles in one, is a transgressor of all.
11 For he who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, also said, 'You shall not murder; if you do not commit adultery, yet you murder, you are a transgressor of the law.
12 Speak and act as ye shall be judged according to the law of liberty.
13 For those who show no mercy there will be judgments without mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
1. Words that begin
People have their own principles and rules for living, good or bad. However, the Bible defines a person's life apart from God as sin no matter what principles and rules they follow. In particular, in Romans 1:28 and below, it is said that those who do not want God in their heart are mired in all kinds of sins. This does not mean that some are righteous and some are unrighteous, but that all are under sin. Therefore, all people must believe in the gospel of Christ to be saved, and must also live by the truth of the gospel.
2. Law in Law
We who have been saved must live by setting the principles and rules of life based on the Word, instead of our own principles and rules of life. James said, "If you keep the supreme law, which is written in the scriptures, You must love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well." The scriptures refer to Leviticus 19:18, which Jesus also quoted as the second of all the Law and the Prophets. Of course, love of neighbor in the Bible presupposes love for God. True love for neighbor is a part of love for God. In that sense, the commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” is called the supreme law, the king of laws.
So, who are our neighbors to love? Although the Korean dictionary says ‘a person who is close to you’, the Jews interpreted the concept by extending it to their own people. However, our Lord's interpretation of neighbor as recorded in Luke 10:29 is quite unique. In other words, the neighbor was the Samaritan who helped him, not the priest or Levite, who passed by after seeing a man who was killed by a robber.
The Lord's teachings are quite shocking, given that the Jews and Samaritans were enemies at that time. In a nutshell, a neighbor is someone who gives help, not someone of the same blood as the person next to you. It doesn't matter if you're an enemy or a friend. Anyone who needs help is a passive neighbor, and anyone who helps is an active neighbor. Everyone, please be a neighbor to help those in need.
Whoever needs our help, rich or poor, powerful or not, is the neighbor we should love. Even our enemy, he is a neighbor we should love. Of course, it is impossible to love an enemy with unbelief natural reason and emotion. The only way we can love our enemies as our neighbors is to accept the Lord who loved Him even to the point of dying on the cross for us, who were enemies with God because of our sins, and become his instruments. As Romans 5:5 says, if you are a saint who has received God's love abundantly in your heart through the Holy Spirit, believe that you can love even your enemies with that love.
As is often thought, love is neither a path to loss nor a path to destruction. Rather, hatred and hatred are the path of loss and destruction. It is also the one who hates and hates himself first to lose or perish. Love to save others is also the way to save oneself.
One day there was a man who got lost in a snowstorm. After struggling for hours in a blizzard that was so terrifying that it was hard to see right in front of me, I stumbled over something. “I am so exhausted that I cannot get up on my own. After a little sleep, I can keep walking.” As I thought about it, I slowly began to fall into the sleep of death.
Then he learned that it was a person who made him stumble. Confused, he began to clear his eyes. And when he saw the pulse of the man buried in the snow, he put the droopy man over his shoulders. With the determination to save people, I did my best to get through the blizzard. Sweat was pouring down like rain. Fortunately, it wasn't long before I found the hut. In the end, both lived.
I hope you will love mankind with the attitude of loving God who saved us. Such a life is the way to keep the word in the word, to save ourselves and our neighbors, and to become a fragrant sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
Ladies and gentlemen, what is the purpose of God's salvation for us in the Lord? What is the purpose of God in giving us gifts, grace, spiritual blessings, and riches in the Lord? The answer is very simple. It is intended to be used as a means of love, a tool of love. It is never given for self-satisfaction or pride. Please believe that all of God's grace and blessings are a debt of love. Galatians 5:6 says, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any effect, but faith working through love.”
3. Violation of the law
In the light of such a principle of love, the contempt of the poor and the flattery of the rich, as the church at the time were practicing, are unacceptable sins. To discriminate against people in such a way is to fail to love one's neighbor, and therefore to be condemned by the Law.
James is explaining a great principle of God's law. That is, if he breaks even one commandment of the law, he becomes a transgressor. In contrast, Jews tended to regard the Law as a set of independent commands. It was thought that if you obey any of these commands, you get a bond, and if you break any of these commands, you get into debt. So, just as a person writes a balance sheet, if you keep the commandments, you add them, and if you break the commandments, you deduct them. And they believed that the more they kept the commandments, the more they were rewarded, and the more they broke the commandments, the more they were punished.
However, James is in direct opposition to such a judge. If you break only one commandment of the law, which is the will of God, you are a lawbreaker and a sinner who has broken God's will. Even if you keep the commandment not to commit adultery, if you kill, you are breaking the law. Therefore, those who seek to be saved by obeying the law are under a curse.
4. Live the Law of Freedom
We, who have been saved from sin and self, the law and the world, and death and destruction by believing the gospel, should no longer be bound by our conscience or the literal commandments of the law. We must speak and act as if we were to be judged according to the gospel, the law of liberty that saved us from all bondage. In other words, speak and act according to the Lord of love, the core of the gospel. Everyone, I hope that all of your heart, words, and actions follow the truth of the Gospel. May the love of the Lord be the motive and purpose of all life. James, who told us to live according to the gospel, the law of liberty, and live on the principle of love, said, “Those who do not show mercy will have judgments without mercy, and mercy triumphs over judgment.”
5. Conclusion
In this new year, I hope you will clear away all your life that is not related to God's Word and hold onto the truth of the gospel, the highest law and law of freedom. First, let's make every effort to attend all worship services with love for God, give tithes and thanksgiving gifts, and be faithful to death for the Lord's church. With such a mindset, I pray that you will love and live your brother and everyone else as your neighbors.