The Grace of Law

We kicked off the new term of Costa Tuesdays last night. As a whole church we’re looking at the book of Deuteronomy. We began by looking at Deuteronomy 5:1-33, the 10 Commandments.

We called the night ‘The Grace of Law’, a title pinched off Tim Keller, although unusually none of the content was. We didn’t have time to go through all the commandments, and think exactly how we apply them today. We just wanted to do one thing… to see the God’s Law is good!

Here’s three reasons that we looked at why God’s Law is good:

1. It’s Giver is good – the God who gives these laws is the God of covenant relationship (v.2), the God who speaks to his people (v.4), and the God who rescues his people (v.6) – God is presented as fundamentally good!
2. It’s Purpose is good – one of the refrains throughout the law given here is it’s purpose for good, so that “it may go well with you in the land” (v.16), and “so that you may live and prosper” (v.33).
3. It Protects what is good – the 10 Commandments acts like a fence, seeking to protect the good things that God gives – eg. the law against adultery is designed to protect the gift of marriage, and the law against idols is designed to protect the gift of God himself.