I would love to be able to enter McDonald's and order from this menu- just look at the prices!!! In fact, this is a real McDonald s menu, only from 1972. And back then I earned a lot less; under $4 an hour, as I remember. Still, you can buy a lot from this menu for four bucks!!! But, were the "good old days" really that good? Remember, Nixon, Watergate, Vietnam, race riots, etc.. Now, think of yourself as a Jew just prior to the coming of Jesus. You have the LAW, THE PROPHETS AND THE PSALMS, and the COMMUNITY of Judaism, and the CULTURAL MEMORY of God's DELIVERANCE and HIS PROMISES!!! Compared to the world around you- you are somebody; because God loves you and has proved it over and over. But, with all this, something is not quite right- you still sin occasionally. Why? Well, apart from the willful desire to sin, you have the LAW, which is complicated enough by itself, but add in the traditions accumulated over centuries and the teachings of the Jewish hierarchy and faithfully practicing your religion goes from being complicated system to being an almost impossible burden. Then, Jesus comes, and his unique teachings seem to change everything; What do you do now? Consider...
Hebrews, Chapter 8 (WEB)
6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, he said,
“Behold, the days come”, says the Lord,
“that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they didn't continue in my covenant,
and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.
After those days,” says the Lord;
“I will put my laws into their mind,
I will also write them on their heart.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for all will know me,
from their least to their greatest.
Rules are for children who do not intuitively know right from wrong; Adults should!!! When Jesus came, he looked at the "rules"(the LAW) through different eyes- at why they were there in the first place. His understanding was coupled with a heart set on truly pleasing God and knowing what The Father would want him to do. And this changes everything!!! I would rather have GRACE any day than LAW, wouldn't you? Being a Christian is more about knowing God and doing your best to do what he has told you to do than just arbitrarily following a rule. Simple- no, wonderful, yes!!!
One last passage....
Matthew, Chapter 7 (WEB)
21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 23 Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
24 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. 25 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
LOVE GOD, PLEASE GOD- REPEAT (until eternity)