Are we to sacrifice others on the altar of the Ten Commandments?
1 John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us."
Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Could we have loved the way He loves if He had not come to show us His love?
Matthew 28:18-20, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
How has He loved us?
John 8:7, "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." He loved the woman enough to forgive her after she had sinned. Even though He knew she would sin before she was even born, Psalm 139:13-16, "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." He saw the choices we all make before we are born, and He still loves us, Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
John 4:4-42, "And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." He loved her enough to forgive her after she had sinned. Even though He knew she would sin before she was even born.
Who served the Lord, the men with stones still in their hands or the women He forgave? I have learned from Jesus that I have sinned often. Come see the man who told me of my sins and then asked me to follow Him.
Hosea 6:6, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." He created you and me to love others. He wants us to show that love to others rather than hurting them when we think they are not following our version of God's love. His version of love includes mercy. Otherwise, none of us would be saved, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Matthew 9:13, "But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He is asking us to learn what His mercy is. We are all sinners, and so, He calls us to follow Him into eternity.
John 3:3, "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Born again means spiritual rebirth, remade, turning from this world's idea of love and choosing the kind of love that fits the kingdom of God. This is the currency in the kingdom of God.
For example, when one advocates for abortion, whom are they showing mercy to? What about those lost children?
When one advocates for a law forbidding abortion, whom are they showing mercy to? What about the lost woman who so desperately wants to keep the baby but feels unable to because, unlike the good Samaritan, we walked by her instead of helping?
When we care more for one of these souls than the other, we are not following a God big enough to save the souls of those aborted babies and still offer grace to the woman who has an abortion. He wants us to come around that woman, giving her real choices and thus saving some of those babies.
Freedom is at the heart of the love God asks us to show others! John 15:12, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." Who has given us more freedom than God? He even freed us from the law, Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." So that we could see the law is fulfilled by love, Romans 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
Romans 6:9-13, "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
It is Christ who died for our sins so that we could be free from the law. Does that mean we no longer follow the Law? Are we to sin more freely since we are now free from the law?
Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
Therefore, let us allow others the grace God has allowed us. This is how we lead them to Jesus and thus fulfill the Great Commission, rather than driving them away from God with laws, as the Pharisees did. However, Jesus calls us to repent, to metanoia, which requires change. This is the rebirth that Jesus calls us to.
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