A Fulfilling Mission (Matthew 5:17-20)

Jesus enters history to fulfill the law and the prophets.  Christ summarizes his mission as the messiah who has entered history fulfill rather than to abolish.  Why is this important?  What does this definition of his mission tell us about Jesus living up to His name? 

The Absurdity of Truth (Luke 6:20-49 (LD 43)

In our day and age we do not esteem truth.  This is not to say that our days are worse than other days in history, but philosophically there are those who do not believe we can understand truth.  In fact, people have appealed to history showing that the winner of a battle is the one who controls the narrative of the battle.  So, if this is true then what about the Bible?  What do we do with people having different understandings of the Word of God?  Is there truth and can we know truth?

The Absurdity of Honest Business (LD 42; Deuteronomy 25:13-19)

There is a certain wisdom in cheating people out of money in terms of worldly wisdom.  It would seem that we would get ahead and increase our earnings.  We want to believe that if we cheat to get ahead it will not really cost us anything and it will make our business ventures all that much more profitable.  This is not what the Lord would have us do.  The Lord does not see such deceptive practices as honorable to HIm.  In fact, we find that Moses makes explicit that we are not to have two different kinds of weights in our house.  Why is Moses concerned about the Israelites having two sets of weights?  What is the problem of us having a different weight in a bag and a different weight in the house?  How can we use this old standard to learn how to live a pleasing life to the Lord today.

The Good Law (1 Timothy 1:8-11)

So often we can think that the law of God is something that is old or not that helpful.  Sometimes we can be tempted to look at the regulations that the Lord lays out and think that as we follow them we will climb our way into heaven.  We are not going to get into heaven apart from Christ.  So, if our redemption is based on Christ and His merits then why do we care about the law of the Lord?  

Living in the Name of the Lord (Colossians 3:7-17 (LD 36))

I am sure that we have all heard that claims about God being some sort of mean ogre just waiting to swat disobedient children.  So, you obey this God only because it is better to obey Him than disobey Him.  People can claim this, but just because someone makes the accusation against God it does not mean it is true.  So, why would we want to obey and honor the name of the Lord above our name?