Hi all,
I continue sharing about decisions
when we wait for the Lord to show us what He wants, but in fact many
times He has no perfect will because He delegated the decision to us.
Here are some core decisions delegated to us: Crime & punishment,
what we eat, marriage.
Obviously we can ask that He become
involved in revealing wisdom, but the decisions remain ours to make.
Knowing when to make a decision and when to wait on Him is what this
series is about. But first...
You may recall from Genesis 1:29-30
that at creation both man and animals were vegetarians, and God
personally handled crimes, as seen in the cases of both Cain and
Lamech. (Genesis 4:6-16, 23-24)
The big change
But all that changed after Noah's
flood, for when he got out of the ark the Lord first promised never to
flood the whole earth again, and then delegated 2 things to man while
renewing a third as part of what is called the Covenant of Noah, in
Genesis 9:1-7.
To Noah and mankind He renewed His very first act of delegation from Genesis 1:28,
when He told Adam & Eve to be fruitful in life, multiply, and have
dominion as good stewards over the animals and creation. He renewed this
with Noah.
The 2 new things delegated were: You
may eat animals for food (but I'll make it fair by making animals afraid
of you), and if man sheds man's blood, man has the right to require
blood of that person.
Ever since Noah got out of the ark
we've had the freedom to eat any animal, the responsibility to handle
crime and punishment, and the responsibility to determine how we become
fruitful and multiply on the earth.
Diet
We have the freedom to eat all
things, but the later Law of Moses defined for Israel animals that would
be healthy to eat and animals that would not be healthy, as well as
laws of sanitation (like washing your hands) and other more detailed
laws that built upon the Covenant of Noah's freedom to eat meat.
Crime and punishment
Mankind has the
responsibility of crime and punishment, and again the later Law of Moses
detailed for Israel many specifics ranging from the death penalty to
lesser crimes requiring only fines. However that doesn't mean each crime
worthy of death requires the death of the guilty, for example:
Joseph could have had Mary executed
for adultery, a capital crime, but was going to not press charges and
just quietly divorce her instead because as it says, "He was a good man
and didn't want to make a public example of her." (Matthew 1:19)
Jesus also extended mercy to the
woman caught in adultery in John 8, instructing her that He forgave her
that instance, but to "go and sin no more." (John 8:11)
But Jesus didn't repeal Noah's
covenant that delegated to man crime & punishment: The proof being
that every nation continues to set its own laws for crime and
punishment, and mankind continues to eat all sorts of creatures,
and continues to multiply across the face of the earth.
Be fruitful and multiply; separate and together
The Law of Moses and even the New
Testament detail 'be fruitful' when Paul says for just one example, that
if we don't provide for our own it is worse than being an unbeliever,*
and other exhortations that we are expected to be responsible for our
lives through work. Other verses about being fruitful include employees
working their job as if they were working for the Lord, Christian bosses
considering their employees as equals in Christ, and other such
things. *(I Timothy 5:8, Colossians 4:1, Ephesians 4:28; 6:4-6)
And of course 'be fruitful' is also
linked to multiplying, again showing this is our responsibility, with
great freedom within that delegated authority. Jesus even said in
Matthew 19:12 there are some 'eunuchs' born to
be single from the womb, and some as unto the Lord have chosen
to remain single. Paul was single and said for the gospel's sake he
wished more were, but that each person has their own grace from God on
the matter. But he did say to not be unequally yoked on purpose, and
gave advice for those already married when they came to Christ and find
themselves in an unequally yoked marriage. (I Corinthians 7:7; II
Corinthians 6:14, I Corinthians 7: 12-16)
Freedom for us to decide
So within each item of delegated
authority to mankind there is great freedom, and the Lord works within
those structures man gives Him for those structures are man's to
establish, with each nation offering unique foods, unique laws for crime
and punishment, and unique customs for marriage. God's command to man
at the start was to fill the earth, and He also is trying to fill the
earth, therefore He will work within any structure man sets up to the
degree that structure allows Him to function.
And various structures give Him
varying degrees of freedom, like house church has one degree of freedom
to go with the flow of what He wants in a meeting, while the auditorium
with its never changing 4 songs, offering, message and out the door to
beat First Church to the buffet, has more restrictions. But He works
within each to the extent He is allowed by us to do so.
And some businesses allow Christians
great freedom, others do not. Some marriages give the Lord much freedom
within them, others do not. But food, crime & punishment, and
marriage are our responsibility and He seeks to fill each delegated
structure to the extent each structure allow Him to fill it.
When the Lord put Adam in the Garden
and told him to cultivate it, He wasn't hanging over his shoulder
telling Adam where HE wanted each plant to be moved - He allowed Adam to
do as he pleased. And I'm convinced once Eve saw how Adam had arranged
the Garden, she immediately set about rearranging it more to her liking -
and the Lord wisely stayed out of it! :)
How this works in the real world
First the disclaimer - things happen
in life outside of our control as we are on a flawed planet. There is no
one key that answers every question about why this or that happens to
people. As Barb has said, "When I get to heaven I've got a lot of
questions for the Lord." Don't we all.
But in sweeping generalizations:
Diet - we can eat
whatever we want, therefore we are responsible for the consequences good
or bad, of what we put in the body, and each body reacts differently to
various foods. Let us say someone is 4 feet tall (1.2 meter) and weighs
300 pounds (136kilos).
They may love God, but when they are
in the hospital with heart/lung conditions, diabetes, and worn out knee
and hip joints and call out to God for healing, He will usually lead
them back the way they came to that condition in order to attain that
healing. He isn't going to zap the pounds off them or heal their heart
condition - He will use man's devices and technology - but they got
themselves into that condition and the only way out is to lose the
weight - He works within what He delegated to us. What we plant, we
harvest.
Crime - If someone
is guilty or innocent and in jail or prison, He isn't going to step in
and override the system. He will work within the system because He
delegated to mankind back at Noah to establish laws for crime &
punishment. He will work within the system and through the system, which
could take years to effect change for that person to get some measure
of grace to that person.
Now we come to marriage...
And I've run out of room...until next week then! Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
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