His Commandments Lead Us to Christ

Many years ago I was not unhappy that they removed the ten commandments from the schools because I said; "they're not following them anyway."

Then the Lord spoke clearly to me that the commandments were not there to follow but to show us our own sinfulness opening the door to introducing the gospel.

However, and this is a big one, most people thought we should follow them to be good people. They were living in a culture that viewed Christianity as a club we joined to become better people and the commandments would remind us what to do to accomplish that.

Then God spoke to me again through His word when He said this;

Galatians 3:24

"24 Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith."

When I realized the commandments were given so that people would see their inability to be good and the inability to follow them, then they could repent and trust in Christ and what He did for them on the cross.

The sad thing is that even though the commandments were in the schools there were no plaques explaining the way of salvation through Jesus Christ alongside them. This was because the culture as a whole was teaching by example that we could be good by just following those commandments. It kept the children in line to be decent, but it never brought them to salvation.

They treated following the Ten Commandments the way they treated athletes for winning a ball game. You won if you followed the right path, and you could be proud of this accomplishment of being a good person and winning the game.

This mentality fostered arrogance and self-will instead of breaking the will in humility to come to Christ. It was more about societal expectations than it was about Christ. I know this because only a few years ago I asked young people in high schools if they were "Christians", their answer was which church they attended nothing about their salvation experience through faith in Christ.

Once I asked a young man why he wore the "what would Jesus do" bracelet. He said it helped him witness to others when they asked about it. He said it reminded him of the right things to do in particular circumstances and that it protected him from doing the wrong thing. This all sounds very righteous, doesn't it?

I then told him that he was assigning to that object what is the job of the Holy Spirit. Everything he said the bracelet did for him was the job of the Holy Spirit. I told him if he wanted to walk with Christ then he should throw away the bracelet and communicate with Christ in himself and trust the Holy Spirit instead of an object.

When I told this story to other believers they mocked me that I was being legalistic. When I explained to them that using a bracelet to help them with anything in life is no different from a Catholic using St. Christopher medals around their neck to protect them. It was an idol and should be discarded.

Sadly, those Christians argued with me, dismissed the discussion as foolish and as far as I know continued to promote this mentality of the bracelet. Cultural Christians are always thinking up ways to help God doing things their own way.

So many things "Christians" do today are their own idea thinking they are helping God. All they have to do is obey what God said to do and they won't need anything else except their heart and their mouths to speak the gospel to anyone. No money needed, no objects except the Bible needed, no special props, just their Christ-filled heart and their own mouths.

Mark 16:15-16

"15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Our world is the one we live in all around us. There are those who are called to go to different countries to preach but most of us are called to live out our Christian lives in our own communities and speaking to others as led by the Holy Spirit. We need not seek others to know our calling, it is the Holy Spirit in us Who gives us our specific marching orders. No one but the Holy Spirit can guide us to where He wants us to go.

Galatians 3:13-14 "…13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."