One thing you might have been wondering when we started going through the ten commandments is ‘How good is good enough?’. As we go down the list, is it ok if I score 6/10 or do I really need 8/10 or higher?
But I hope the last few weeks have shown us just how far reaching these commandments are. A simple, easy commandment like ‘You shall not murder’ reaches into our hearts to condemn the anger, hatred, and resentment that Jesus teaches are just murder in the bud. I’ve loved seeing how endlessly applicable these commandments are and the radical transformation they call us to. But they’ve also shone a light on how I am not nearly so good a person as I like to imagine I am.
Without our focus for this Sunday – Christ our righteousness – a series on the ten commandments will either lead us to pride in our (imagined) moral successes or plunge us in despair at our (all too real) moral failure. Instead, we must let the commandments drive us to Christ, whose perfect righteousness is our only hope of acceptance before God.
Ed