Born Under the Law

He is eight days old. He is helpless being carried in the arms of his mother, he is undoubtedly crying and as an eight to eight day old infant he has just undergone the surgical procedure of circumcision. This as far as the rest of the wider culture is concerned, as the as far as the rest of the Roman Empire is concerned, this is simply not how gods announce themselves. [00:01:20] (33 seconds)  #HumbleDivinity

Power in first century first century Rome announces itself through spectacle, through force, and through the visible weight of authority that demands and will make men bow down. Caesar Augustus claimed that Apollo, the Greek god Apollo, was actually his father. Not not because it was true. Not at all. But because he needed divine ancestry in order to justify the power that he had seized through terrible, bloody civil war. [00:02:36] (39 seconds)  #DivineAncestryMyth

He fabricated omens surrounding his birth. He spread stories of prophecies for telling his greatness and then after the fact, he built temples that followed. It was always the same, achieve power first, then construct a mythology throne but you legitimize it after the fact. Might makes right and victory proved divine favor. [00:03:15] (43 seconds)  #PowerCreatesMyth

They're going to have him circumcised and then there's going to be a sacrifice of pigeons because they're too poor to be able to afford a lamb and here we have in all of this picture what Luke is trying to tell us is that the son of god came into this world and was himself subject to the mosaic covenant, the covenantal laws that he himself gave to Moses on the Mount Sinai. This is real legitimacy. [00:04:49] (35 seconds)  #MessiahUnderLaw

``Notice what this would mean then for Jesus. He is god. He is the one that gives this covenant to Abraham. He is the one that expands upon it in the Mosaic covenant when he gives it to Moses on Mount Sinai. He's the one who spoke these things and now he has entered into humanity. He is an a baby, an infant that is eight days old and he is undergoing the law that he prescribed. He is entering into the covenant which he himself offered to the nation of Israel. [00:09:51] (33 seconds)  #IncarnateCovenant

This is sort of what it's like to be a Jewish kid. There's just some moment in time where you recognize, wait a second. I have an obligation to the almighty god of the universe, and I've been covenantally bound in this obligation, really, from the moment of conception. But if we're gonna split hairs at least at a minimum from the eighth day in which I was circumcised. This was given to me by my parents, and now I am a part of it, and now I owe this to the almighty. [00:13:18] (35 seconds)  #BornIntoCovenant

What we find out here with Mary is that they couldn't afford a lamb. Leviticus offered an alternative in the event that you were too poor to pay for a lamb and said if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for the burnt offering and one for the sin offering. And so Luke tells us that Mary bought two birds, not a lamb and a bird, but two birds. And this was the offering that she and Joseph were able to make because they were too poor to be able to afford a whole lamb. One pigeon again for a burnt offering, one pigeon for a sin offering. [00:18:54] (42 seconds)  #TwoBirdsOffering

There's nothing inherently sinful about bearing children. God commanded humanity all the way back in Genesis chapter two to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth. There's nothing wrong with having children. What I think the meaning of this is that the purification ritual served as a sobering reminder of how sin passes from generation to generation. Every birth, every child brought into this world by a mom, though that child is indeed a special, wonderful gift, a blessing from god. It's important to recognize that that child is also a sinner. [00:19:56] (43 seconds)  #SinAcrossGenerations

The forty days of waiting before entering the sanctuary symbolize the barrier that sin creates between humanity and god's holiness. Now, the irony of this, is that Mary has just brought into the world the one child who will not perpetuate the curse. Think about that for a second. This, the angel said, was the holy one of Israel. This, the angel foretold, was the son of David. This, the angel promised, was the one who would save god's people from their sins. [00:21:52] (43 seconds)  #SaviorBreaksBarrier

Circumcision on the eighth day, Luke tells us, according to the law. Purification after forty days, Luke tells us, according to the law. Presentation of the firstborn according to the law. The sacrifice of two birds if you couldn't afford a lamb, again, according to the law. Every detail matters because Luke wants us to see that Jesus didn't come to overthrow the law or to bypass the law. He didn't come to declare it irrelevant. He came not to abolish it, but as he himself says, he came to fulfill it. Jesus fulfills the law in the way that none of the rest of us ever have or ever will. [00:23:31] (43 seconds)  #JesusFulfillsLaw

Jesus had to be born under the law if you and I were ever going to be redeemed. Number one, Jesus had to be born under the law if you and I would ever be adopted as his children. Both our redemption and our adoption required that Jesus enter fully into the Mosaic Covenant. [00:24:47] (30 seconds)  #BornUnderLawForUs

Hear me carefully. You and I were not born Jewish and you're hearing all of this, you think, okay, pastor Josh, this is just a bunch of minutia. I have never been Jewish. I have never been under the Mosaic Law. I don't really even get how this is supposed to apply to me. Let me break it down for you. The mosaic law was given to a particular nation called Israel. It had certain responsibilities that attached with it, ceremonial, worship type ceremonies, but it also included the moral law. It included what was right and what was wrong. [00:27:33] (33 seconds)  #LawRevealsMorality

Just stop and think for a second. Why did I do it? Did my mom and dad post like a a law on the refrigerator? This is the clay camp covenant. Thou shalt worship the lord your god. Thou shalt never throw fluffy off the second deck. Did they have anything like that? No. Nobody, as far as I can remember, ever came to me and said, you know, it's bad to throw fluffy off the second deck and you shouldn't do it. It's it's evil. Nobody did that. [00:29:57] (29 seconds)  #InnateSin

Why did I do it? Here's the truth. And I want you to think because this is just as true for me as it is for you. There are moments in our lives where if we're really willing to be honest with ourselves, we are bad not because we were lured into it, not because we decided there was some sort of material benefit for being bad. If you're willing to be honest with yourself, you know there are moments in your life where you are bad because you liked it for no other reason. [00:31:01] (35 seconds)  #HonestAboutSin

When we come to the law, they're all the Mosaic Law in particular, there are all sorts of things that are commanded in the law that seem quite onerous to us but here's the point of the law. It shows the real you. It's kind of like drinking milk if you are lactose intolerant. You drink the milk, you get sick, you vomit, you're you're just fed up with it. There's nothing actually wrong with the milk. It's perfectly good milk. When you drink it, you have this incredibly reaction to it, not because there's anything wrong with the milk, but because it shows that there's something wrong with you. [00:31:43] (37 seconds)  #LawExposesUs

It's to show you that no matter how hard you try, deep down, it's not a matter of keeping a series of checklists and rules. You don't want to try. You don't want to keep the law. And Jesus comes and he's born under the law, and he fulfills it all the way through for you and for me because we couldn't, because we didn't want to. [00:32:38] (27 seconds)  #GraceNotChecklists

please lower the standards of holiness. Please make it easier for us. Please lower the character of who you are so that we can be accepted into your presence. And over and over and over again, god is saying, no. No, no. Who I am, what I am, and the holiness that I am will never ever be lowered for anyone. I will not lower myself. I will lift you up. [00:33:21] (34 seconds)  #HolinessUncompromised

He must buy you back. He must pay the price. He must set you free from bondage. And here is the reality of why Jesus is born under the law. He's born under the law so that he can pay the price you owe, so that you don't have to pay the price. All of this points to the reality that when we have sinned, we have committed an offense against God and there must be retribution. There must be satisfaction. Satisfaction. His holiness demands it and you can never pay it. Jesus pays it for you by going to the cross. [00:34:08] (37 seconds)  #PaidInFull

He redeems you. And then Paul says this, he is born under the law to redeem you, and he is born under the law that we might have the adoption as sons and daughters of the almighty god. So often when we come to the gospel, we talk about Jesus as though all he does is he wipes the slate clean. That's just not the truth of it. He wipes the slate clean. He takes away your sin. Absolutely. But he does more, so much more. He makes you in time [00:35:09] (34 seconds)  #RedeemedAndAdopted

Jesus is born under the law. Luke wants Theophilus to know it, and Luke wants you to know it. He is born under the law so that he can measure up to the highest standards of holiness and righteousness, that he can redeem you because his desire on behalf of the father is to make you a part of his family. Give your life to Christ. You can never earn your righteousness, but the good news is this, you don't have to. [00:39:17] (32 seconds)  #RighteousnessByGrace