Reading:
On
the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter
went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have
eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and
let down to the earth: Wherein were all
manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things,
and fowls of the air. And there came a
voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have
never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the
second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was
received up again into heaven.
The Law of Christian Love
Beloved
of the Lord……I'm sure we've all heard the statements, love knows no law…..love
is the fulfilling of the law…..and by love serve one another. Though we, that is all true Christians, know
well that Christ Jesus has saved us from sin by the atonement of the cross, we
still have this sinful flesh about us.
Even our mind by nature, though we have faith, is always somewhat a
captive or even prisoner to this idea, that we have to keep some laws to be
saved. As Peter by the word was
liberated to understand he was free now to eat those foods previously
forbidden, may God through the Word now help us to better understand how God's
laws no longer have dominion over us, in that Christ has set us free and
"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone that
believeth."
The
background of our lesson this morning, is that God had given a certain vision
to a Gentile man named Cornelius. This
devout man who feared God, was instructed to send servants to Joppa and find a
certain man, whom later is revealed as Peter.
Almost at the same time, Peter is in Joppa, standing upon the housetop,
which would be like a balcony. Peter
falls into a trance, a state of ecstasy.
His mind and spirit are detached from ordinary thinking and feeling and
God reveals to Peter a direct revelation to Peter.
Seeing the heavens opened, and a great
sheet lowered down, there were "all manner of fourfooted beasts of the
earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air…..Rise Peter,
kill and eat." The very thought of
eating the unclean beasts filled Peter with horror. God's law had always told him before these
beasts were unclean. The Levetical laws
God originally gave the Children of Israel in the wilderness, commanded them
not to eat pigs, eagles, ravens, rabbits, or fish which did not have fins or
scales. Leviticus 11:7-8 says, "And
the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not
the cud; he is unclean to you.
Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch;
they are unclean to you."
Peter thus answered though commanded, "Not
so Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean." God's previous Word had bound Peter to this
law. Nevertheless God was now saying
something entirely different. Three
times Peter heard, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common." By means of this vision,
God was now removing the barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles. They could eat the same foods. They could live and work and be together as
one with no wall or partition between them.
Galatians three says, "For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise."
On some level we might wonder, for what
purpose can we use this text today? We
were never raised as Jews, like Peter, or forbidden to eat certain meats. And who doesn't love bacon? We also know Christ is the Savior of the Jews
today, if only they believe. To what
purpose then can we find this text? But
the answer lies in the proper understanding of the law. Peter in some measure, had need of
edification. Likewise his understanding
of sin was somewhat external. Peter
needed to learn better that it is the Word of God which reveals sin, but the
object is not sinful in itself. Peter
also needed to learn better the law of Christian love, Christian liberty. "For the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
What does this mean? This means we must view all things by faith,
especially freedom from the law. There
is a proper way to use the law by faith for the edification of the spirit, and
there is an improper way to use the law apart from faith to the destruction of
the spirit. For example, first and
foremost faith knows, "Christ is the END OF THE LAW for
righteousness to every one that believeth." In a
nutshell with His blood Jesus paid for all those times we broke the law, and by
His good life He kept and fulfilled the law in our place. Doing so Jesus turned and reconciled the
great heart of God Himself, so that He sees each BELIEVER IN CHRIST, only
through Christ who kept the law in our stead.
Being dear children of our Heavenly Father, we live under His grace
alone every day and never His wrath. He
will never turn on us. Regarding the law
then, we therefore only need believe Christ has done all. This agrees with the answer Jesus once gave
to the man who asked what good thing he must do to be saved. Jesus said, "This is the work of God,
that you believe on Him whom He has sent."
Thus by faith alone, we now view the
law in a different light. We see it
through the eyes of faith. Since the
truth of Christ has set us free from the curse of the law, we now gladly out of
thanks keep the law by faith alone. Hence
the believer says in faith, "I delight in the law of God after the inward
man" knowing "We love Him
because He first loved us." When we
love Christ in our heart because of His first love, there is the good fruit of
good works which only benefit our neighbor and never hurts them. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." While we do throw the law out the door when
it comes to our justification, because of our flesh we still need the law to
show us the good our good Lord would have us do. To put it another way, the new man knows the
old man is still there, and because he is there, God's good law will be a guide as to what is truly good and what is
truly evil.
When we consider the third use of the
law then, we call it a rule. While the
law is always like a barbed wire fence across the path of our sinful flesh, now
that we know and love Christ, we see the law itself is good though we are only
evil. By faith in Christ then we want
now to follow this good and straight path which will glorify God, who kept the
law for us. Thus we find in the Bible
when God speaks to His dear children, He describes this good path He would have
us follow in a beautiful way, Just consider Galatians five, "But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit." Here we note God
mingles with the way He would have us go, the two names of "Christ"
and "Spirit" and also the word "fruit". Similarly listen to the beautiful way God
instructs His children to be patient in Romans 15. "Now the God of patience and consolation
grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth
glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." God here is speaking the law to us, telling
us to be paitent, yet at the same time He is lifted up our soul in the faith so
that we at the same time desire to be patient.
Even when we hear the words what happens? In faith we begin to pray saying, "Lord help
me to be patient with others, as you have been with me." Thus so often when God preaches to us
sanctification, namely holiness of life, he puts in the very verse the fuel or
strength we need to do so.
Being free from the law, we now by
faith keep the lawonly in those ways which will not hurt but benefit our
neighbor, to the glory of God. Consider
now the outwardly bigamous marriage of Jacob to both Leah and Rachel. Here is the question for faith. If on the night of your wedding you were
deceived, and unknowingly slept with the sister of the woman you were promised,
what would you do? Would you reject her
if you knew she would become an unwanted outcast to society which no man would
marry? It appears, though we are not
directly told, Jacob decided in faith to keep Leah as wife. Yet since Jacob had not been unfaithful to
Rachel, he still had the right to Rachel, and thus he was married to two
women. His retaining of Leah then was
truly a good work in God's sight, as long as he made this decision in faith,
and not by way of his flesh.
All of this is related to Paul's words in
Romans 14, "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge
this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his
brother's way. I know, and am persuaded
by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him
that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Jacob judged that more harm would be done than
good, if he rejected Leah. We cannot
judge and condemn him, for there is nothing unclean of itself. Likewise just as it is sinful to speed and
break the law for "the powers that be are ordained of God", it is not
sinful to speed if my neighbor is bleeding to death and I must get him to a
hospital. "By love serve one
another." Jacob served Leah by
keeping her in marriage. This is
Christian liberty, the law of Christian love.
Thus there are times we break the law in order to keep the highest law
of love itself, namely "Love thy neighbor as thyself." This is why we say love knows no law yet love
keeps all laws beneficial to neighbor. Likewise
also the old commandment, "Peter don't eat" and the new commandment,
"Arise Peter, kill and eat." Love
then is the highest law.
Yet let us be sure to exercise this
highest law rightly, and not to the gratifying of our flesh. We are free, but as Peter later says, we are
not fee to use our liberty as "a cloke of maliciousness, but as the
servants of God." Thus God in His
goodness, does not permit us to use our freedom to evil. This conditional statement is a law as a curb
to our flesh. On the practical side then
while we can speed in certain cases of emergency for the good of our neighbor,
we cannot now say "I have Christian liberty to speed whenever I
want."
Finally,
beloved of the Lord, Christian liberty is the glorious truth, that since Christ
has set us free from the law, we gladly do all things to glorify Him who loved
us first. Christians by faith therefore
are the servants of all men and obey all laws which serve God and
neighbor. By the same token we are
servants to no man, but God alone. Faith
then and faith alone is able to hear and discern between these two statements
which appear contradictory, only because "Love is the fulfilling of the
law." Thus let us throw God's law
out the door when it comes to our justification, yet keep God's law in a good
way by faith, according to sanctification.
By faith we do and say all things which will serve and benefit our
neighbor, and TO GOD ALONE BE GLORY. In a way Christians are like one big
"Thank you" sign God has place on earth. When we obey God's law by faith, and not in a
legalistic manner, we are saying publicly before the world, "Praise God
from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him
all creatures here below. Praise Him
above ye heavenly host. Praise Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost." Amen.
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