Stephen
Terry, Director
Turn Their Hearts
Commentary
for the November 27, 2021, Sabbath School Lesson
"When you are in distress, and all these
things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and
obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake
you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to
them." Deuteronomy 4:30-31, NKJV
In John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress," the path to heaven is a pilgrimage. But it is not an easy trip.
Beginning in the Slough of Despond, every bit of the way seems strewn with hardships
and temptations. Many of the problems Christian, the pilgrim, faces are caused
by his own failure to do as he is told. The lesson is that the path to heaven stands
on obedience, but this creates an internal conflict in the story. When Pilgrim goes
astray at Mount Sinai, he is told that obedience is the wrong choice to make.
This seems to be the dilemma faced by many modern Christians as well. It
invites a closer look at the purpose of Sinai and the Ten Commandments that
were engraved on stone tablets there.
Have they really been done away
with by grace as some claim? They claim the nexus for that change was the cross
of Calvary. So, we might expect that change to stand out in the Acts of the
Apostles, the Epistles, or in Revelation. But we find the opposite. The early
church continues to worship God instead of other gods. They do not worship idols.
They do not abuse God's name. They continue to observe the same Sabbath the
Jews have observed for millennia, eighty-four times after the resurrection of
Jesus in the New Testament alone. They continued to believe that one should
honor their parents. The Apostle John even took over that task for Jesus at his
request during the crucifixion. It also continued to be wrong to murder, commit
adultery, steal, lie, and lust after anything that belongs to someone else. It
is hard to make an effective argument then that the Ten Commandments have been
done away with. So, if the commandments remain valid, then what is grace all
about? To understand that we must first understand the purpose of the
commandments.
Ostensibly, some have viewed
them as a blueprint for obedience to be able to enter heaven. Rephrased, it is saying
that perfect obedience means eternal life. But is that the case? When we try to
go down that road, we find ourselves lost and despondent as our failures
accumulate. We may even feel that the further we travel that path, the further
we get from heaven. Sadly, it is a path that often encourages arrogance and
self-righteousness. We may even look down on others because they have failed to
be obedient in ways that we feel we have conquered. Too readily, while pointing
out their failures, we overlook our own that may be just as bad or worse when
compared with the standard of perfection. A few may go as far as to claim
perfection, but that claim condemns them, for liars are as condemned as the
rest of us.[i]
And the Apostle John calls such people liars.[ii]When
such people hold themselves up as the standard of belief, they are also turning
the eyes of others from Jesus to themselves. They usurp the work of the Holy
Spirit, making themselves the standard for what is right. While they claim to be
enforcing biblical truth, what they are advancing is their perspective couched
in biblical language. Paul uses stronger language stating that among those who
claim to be ministers of righteousness are those serving a more troubling
master.[iii]
Little wonder then that the significance of Sinai became distorted.
The Ten Commandments were never
intended to open the gates of heaven, but they are a lock on the gate to
exclude us. They reveal us for what we are and condemn us to the only fate that
remains outside of heaven, death. We are all violators of that law.[iv] John
tells us that breaking that law is sin.[v]
The law points out our transgression and therefore condemns us for that sin. We
tend to associate the Ten Commandments with God in a manner that defines his
character by the condemnation we receive. Christ revealed the opposite as God's
character. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save.[vi]
Paul rejoiced in that. Struggling with facing the condemnation of the law, no
matter how hard he tired to obey it, he felt lost but found salvation through
grace with Jesus. Delivered from condemnation,[vii]
he found hope, a hope that he could share with the world, and many responded
eagerly to that hope.
Although this was a great light
shining in the darkness of the law's condemnation, too many still turn from
that light, preferring the darkness.[viii]
But no one must die in the dark. God wants everyone possible to live.[ix]
He asks only that we recognize our failure to obey the law and open our hearts
to him so that we might find restoration to the original creation we were made
to be. He asks us to choose a path that leads toward him rather than away. We
were created in God's image, and if God is love,[x]then
the reflection of that image would also be love. We were created not to condemn
one another, but to love. Unfortunately, over millennia of distancing ourselves
from that character, hardening our hearts toward God and one another, we instead
blame, criticize, and condemn one another. It has become so intrinsic to who we
are that when we encounter others, we impute to them the motives that have
become so much a part of us. When someone shares with us how to improve ourselves,
we see only criticism and condemnation because we refuse to believe that someone
would be loving enough to build us up instead of tearing us down to build
themselves up. Sadly, we are more often right, but when we feed into that
narrative and allow our relationships to be governed by that perspective, we
only perpetuate the problem.
We can break free. When we
learn to see God's true character, his love, we are drawn to him.[xi]
The depth of that love, the lengths he was willing to go to so that we could see
his character played out on a hill outside of Jerusalem two thousand years ago.
Inspired by that example, others over the years have sacrificed even their lives
because of that. Several Apostles were the first of those over the ages that
have offered up their lives as an ultimate act of love and faithfulness. They
saw the path heavenward not as an obstacle to overcome but as an opportunity to
live out God's love in their lives as the image of their characters grew to be increasingly
like his. The desire to point out the errors of others is continually replaced
with a love in their hearts for others despite their flaws.
When we come to God, we are not
the loving people we were meant to be. Too often we show in our lives the
wounds of betrayal, abuse, criticism, and condemnation, sometimes from the same
ones who call themselves Christian. And let us be honest here. Who among us has
never wounded a brother or sister? We project our own hurt onto others, and
they in turn do the same. Instead of seeing with the eyes of Jesus that they do
not know any better,[xii]
eyes that would bring forgiveness to our hearts, we quickly judge and condemn.
Two thousand years ago, God finally said enough is enough and directly
intervened to model the character he created us to have. Jesus, with
compassion, empathy, and grace, faithfully shared with us how God intended us
to be for three and a half years. Even when he died on the rude cross, he
continued to model the character of love. Therefore, we are without excuse when
we continue to judge one another in lieu of love.
God does not sum up his intent
for us in the condemnation of the Ten Commandments. It speaks loudly in two great
commandments that do not condemn but inspire. The first is to love the Lord our
God with all our heart soul, and strength.[xiii]
The second is to love our neighbor as we would love ourselves.[xiv]
These two would draw the character of God in our hearts. Once love exists in
our hearts, the Ten Commandments would lose any power to condemn us for love
fulfils the law.[xv]
The love that draws us to Christ saves us and the death sentence of
condemnation passes over us. Freed of condemnation we find the empowerment of
love lifting the darkness, and we have a share in that light that Jesus brought
to the world as the light drives darkness from us that it might better shine
for others as it shined for us.