In Memory of Howard
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But seriously folks . . .
Originally Posted by disciplemike
There once was a man named Howard. Howard was a very careful driver. He completely obeyed all the traffic laws in our town. Yes, with perfection, he fulfilled them all. Stop signs, speed limit signs, no parking signs - Old Howard kept every single law.
In memory of his passing, the town abolished all traffic laws, since Howard had fulfilled them so perfectly.
As a matter of fact, in that town now, if you try to drive under the speed limit, you will get angry looks from the townsfolk. They will tell you that you are trying to add to what Howard has done. So, in this town, driver beware, don't dare try to obey the old traffic signs.
an allegory?
We don't imitate a dead teacher, like in the story above, we're indwelt by the Risen Christ, the Living God:
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (from Gal. 2)
And have died to the Law:
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It [grace] teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (from Tit. 2)
-JGIG
But seriously folks . . .
There once was a man named Howard. Howard was a very careful driver. He completely obeyed all the traffic laws in our town. Yes, with perfection, he fulfilled them all. Stop signs, speed limit signs, no parking signs - Old Howard kept every single law.
In memory of his passing, the town abolished all traffic laws, since Howard had fulfilled them so perfectly.
As a matter of fact, in that town now, if you try to drive under the speed limit, you will get angry looks from the townsfolk. They will tell you that you are trying to add to what Howard has done. So, in this town, driver beware, don't dare try to obey the old traffic signs.
an allegory?
We don't imitate a dead teacher, like in the story above, we're indwelt by the Risen Christ, the Living God:
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (from Gal. 2)
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (from Rom. 7)
With the result being this:
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all;but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (from Rom. 6)
Because He teaches us by His Grace:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all;but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (from Rom. 6)
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It [grace] teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (from Tit. 2)
Especially sense Moses and the law had yet to exist.
there was once a man named Vinny.
Vinny had an impeccable driving record; for over 50 years Vinny obeyed every traffic regulation to the letter, even in the middle of the night, when no other driver was around for miles. Vinny was always first in line at the DMV and the courthouse, camped outside the door the night before he was eligible to renew his registration and license. every bolt and screw on every auto Vinny drove was torqued exactly to manufacturer spec, and he washed each every night before parking it in a temperature-controlled garage. before going to bed each night, Vinny scrubbed the carbon off the inside of his tailpipe. whenever Vinny noticed a pothole that needed to be filled or a painted line needing touchup, he pulled over in the nearest designated parking area ((he didn't dare use the shoulder)) and trekked back to do the job himself ((he kept such supplies in his car)), not wishing to burden the taxpayer with the responsibility.
until one day Vinny didn't come to a complete stop at an intersection. it was 4:03am in the middle of a wide, open country, with a clear dark sky under which you could see for miles and miles. there wasn't another living human soul, much less another vehicle, for 15 miles in any direction.
except: a policeman on a motorcyle who was hiding behind an old shed nearby for a very unrelated reason, and who was ornery for another altogether unrelated reason, happened to look up and notice that Vinny didn't quite come to a stop -- he seemed to slow down to 1/4 mile an hour, and then continue rolling. the cop could see the brakelights - the only light other than the star for a 30 minute drive in any direction. he could hear the crunch of the wheel rolling along the road - the only sound but wind and the policeman's own breathing, and the quiet hum of Vinny's immaculately maintained vehicle. but the sound of those wheels didn't *quite* cease, as the law required.
in the car, Vinny was listening to a recreation of Hebrew temple music, the singing of Psalm 119 in Aramaic to lute and lyre. Vinny was so overcome with emotion thinking about the perfect traffic law and how perfectly he kept it, that for one brief moment in his life he could not remember if he had stopped at the intersection and recited the shema internaly, as he normally did, and then continued on, or if he only imagined he did -- because the glorious perfect obedience that he was picturing himself carrying out in his mind seemed so real.
by the motorcycle, the officer of the law, ornery for a reason that doesn't bear on this story, out in the middle of no-man's land hiding in a shadow by an intersection for another reason that also has no consequence to the telling of this tale, could not escape the inescapable: he had just witnessed the technical violation of a written ordinance. fully within his rights, he pulled Vinny over and issued him the proper citation.
guess what?
Vinny is a lawbreaker. a criminal. an entire lifetime of obedience is meaningless now - he has not kept the law. he has a record. none of the decades of clean driving history mattered one whit to the circuit court judge: Vinny was liable to pay the penalty for his actions. none of those years erased that single moment. a lifetime could not contend with that fraction of a second: the law is the law.
Vinny had always thought that if he were ever to appear in court, it would be to be given an award. but the day finally did come, and on that day, Vinny was condemned, instead. condemned: justly, rightly, condemned.
Vinny had an impeccable driving record; for over 50 years Vinny obeyed every traffic regulation to the letter, even in the middle of the night, when no other driver was around for miles. Vinny was always first in line at the DMV and the courthouse, camped outside the door the night before he was eligible to renew his registration and license. every bolt and screw on every auto Vinny drove was torqued exactly to manufacturer spec, and he washed each every night before parking it in a temperature-controlled garage. before going to bed each night, Vinny scrubbed the carbon off the inside of his tailpipe. whenever Vinny noticed a pothole that needed to be filled or a painted line needing touchup, he pulled over in the nearest designated parking area ((he didn't dare use the shoulder)) and trekked back to do the job himself ((he kept such supplies in his car)), not wishing to burden the taxpayer with the responsibility.
until one day Vinny didn't come to a complete stop at an intersection. it was 4:03am in the middle of a wide, open country, with a clear dark sky under which you could see for miles and miles. there wasn't another living human soul, much less another vehicle, for 15 miles in any direction.
except: a policeman on a motorcyle who was hiding behind an old shed nearby for a very unrelated reason, and who was ornery for another altogether unrelated reason, happened to look up and notice that Vinny didn't quite come to a stop -- he seemed to slow down to 1/4 mile an hour, and then continue rolling. the cop could see the brakelights - the only light other than the star for a 30 minute drive in any direction. he could hear the crunch of the wheel rolling along the road - the only sound but wind and the policeman's own breathing, and the quiet hum of Vinny's immaculately maintained vehicle. but the sound of those wheels didn't *quite* cease, as the law required.
in the car, Vinny was listening to a recreation of Hebrew temple music, the singing of Psalm 119 in Aramaic to lute and lyre. Vinny was so overcome with emotion thinking about the perfect traffic law and how perfectly he kept it, that for one brief moment in his life he could not remember if he had stopped at the intersection and recited the shema internaly, as he normally did, and then continued on, or if he only imagined he did -- because the glorious perfect obedience that he was picturing himself carrying out in his mind seemed so real.
by the motorcycle, the officer of the law, ornery for a reason that doesn't bear on this story, out in the middle of no-man's land hiding in a shadow by an intersection for another reason that also has no consequence to the telling of this tale, could not escape the inescapable: he had just witnessed the technical violation of a written ordinance. fully within his rights, he pulled Vinny over and issued him the proper citation.
guess what?
Vinny is a lawbreaker. a criminal. an entire lifetime of obedience is meaningless now - he has not kept the law. he has a record. none of the decades of clean driving history mattered one whit to the circuit court judge: Vinny was liable to pay the penalty for his actions. none of those years erased that single moment. a lifetime could not contend with that fraction of a second: the law is the law.
Vinny had always thought that if he were ever to appear in court, it would be to be given an award. but the day finally did come, and on that day, Vinny was condemned, instead. condemned: justly, rightly, condemned.
we should not misrepresent the scripture.
in Genesis 26:5 Abraham was not credited with righteousness for keeping the word God had spoken to him: it was declared that Abraham's seed would be blessed, and through his seed all the nations would be blessed, because of this.
Abraham believed God, and for this, God credited to Abraham as righteousness. Genesis 15:6, several chapters previous, when the very same blessing was promised to him.
in Genesis 26:5 Abraham was not credited with righteousness for keeping the word God had spoken to him: it was declared that Abraham's seed would be blessed, and through his seed all the nations would be blessed, because of this.
Abraham believed God, and for this, God credited to Abraham as righteousness. Genesis 15:6, several chapters previous, when the very same blessing was promised to him.
Bravo! Especially this part:
in the car, Vinny was listening to a recreation of Hebrew temple music, the singing of Psalm 119 in Aramaic to lute and lyre. Vinny was so overcome with emotion thinking about the perfect traffic law and how perfectly he kept it, that for one brief moment in his life he could not remember if he had stopped at the intersection and recited the shema internaly, as he normally did, and then continued on, or if he only imagined he did -- because the glorious perfect obedience that he was picturing himself carrying out in his mind seemed so real.
Well done!
-JGIG