Luke 16:17 –
“But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.”
Ha! Fooled you! Bet you were thinking my focus would be on the money since this chapter is full of great insights to handling money. The most often quoted verse where man cannot serve two masters is here also. So why did I focus on the law and not the dollars? As Christians we often try to dismiss the Law and drift from its intent. We tend to make assumptions about the purpose of the law and assume it does not apply today.
Now one would argue that was said to the Pharisees who are Jewish and the law only applied to them. Since the Old Testament was a covenant with the Jewish people it does not apply to Gentiles. I believe that once we accept Christ in the New Covenant the Old Covenant is included in this merger. So we cannot dismiss the law no more than the Jewish people could. In all honesty if you look closely at the Hebraic Laws and our current laws, you will see many similarities.
Now am I saying we need to become a legalistic society like the Israelites did in Jesus’ time? Since Jesus died for our sins can we ignore the sacrificial laws? Jesus came to fulfill the law, so sacrificial laws may be set aside since Jesus completed them at the cross. As for the other nuts and bolts of the law, yes some we need to become legalistic about and some we need to look at as guidelines for an ideal life. Murder, business and the like we need to honor the law legalistically, where the “food laws” are more “guidelines” to healthy living.
I ate shrimps last night … was that a sin? Nope, but it something I don’t make a habit of since the “food laws” actually have scientific basis to being the ideal human diet. Money management is the same way, is it a sin not to tithe? I don’t believe so, but at the same time if you don’t give out of love then God’s full blessings may be missed in your life. If you cannot learn to live on 80 to 90% how will you ever survive on 100%? Today we live of 110% and are not collapsing from the burden of debt. So think about the law and dwell on it more than just a passing fancy.