The Ancient Paths (Sermon Feb. 11 2018)

"Thus says the Lord, 'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,

Where the good way is, and walk in it.'" Jeremiah 6:16

The poet Robert Frost ended his famous poem published in 1916 "The Road Not Taken" with the words: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

These words have (justifiably) inspired countless adventurers over the past century: not only to diverge from physical roads and pathways, of course, but to think "outside the box" in whatever endeavor they are attempting, sometimes creating a "paradigm shift" where goals are accomplished much differently and in a way never imagined before.

This is a good thing and encapsulates the so-called American "pioneer spirit" of adventure of those first European settlers of this country, and I believe the Bible, particularly the ministry of Jesus support such adventure and ingenuity. But, as we see from today's text, there is another way of looking at a well trodden path.

First of all, when we see a well-traveled road or path, what does it imply? Well, for one it implies that there's a darn good reason that path is there! Perhaps it avoids  a treacherous cliff, swampy wetlands, wild animals... Or maybe it's simply the shortest way to get from Point A to Point B! It's true that my wife and I have seen some beautiful sights while getting lost, but often it's the very old paths that are the most scenic in the world, filled with the wonder of God's creation.

At the time of our text, the prophet Jeremiah was speaking to the Nation of Israel, warning them of their idolatry and about the impending Babylonian invasion. The weeping prophet, he tearfully pleaded with them to look for "the ancient paths", where they would find rest for their souls.  Sadly, if you read the scripture further, they refused.

The ancient path Jeremiah was referring to (as all the prophets did in one way or another), was God's original instructions given to Moses, the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah, or "teaching" (commonly referred to in English Bibles as "the law").  But the Torah was more than just a set of instructions to be followed: it was a covenant between God and the Israelites, with God as the husband and Israel the bride. The intent was to create a people set apart from the surrounding nations, and the instructions contained within the "Torah" were designed to protect them and keep them safe. The principles contained in the Torah, as you probably know, have had a major impact on modern judicial systems, where the intent is the same: protection of the society and the individual from harm. We stray outside the law at our own peril and reap the consequences if we do.

We usually have bad connotations of the word "law". I don't know about you, but I immediately associate with being pulled over by the police, or some unfortunate experiences in my youth. 

I grew up attending a Methodist church with my mother (my father was a Christmas and Easter person). Her parents had been Methodists and her grandfather on her mother's side was a Methodist preacher, so it was in the family. I don't remember much about my Methodist upbringing except learning the well-known Bible stories: the Golden Rule, Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel... and that church was generally a decent place to be. At school I was an excellent student and a well behaved kid until High School, when several factors, including my father's alcohol abuse and my extreme self-consciousness began to manifest themselves. I battled these things by beginning to take less interest in school and more in rock and roll music, and my early experiments with alcohol led to run ins with the law.

At college I also discovered drugs, and after a year out west in Colorado and California further "expanding my horizons", I headed back East, almost the prodigal son with my tail between my legs. At home I got a job with a contractor and immersed myself in the local blue collar work scene, frequenting the local bars several days a week and often closing them. A few years of this lifestyle culminated one Sunday afternoon as I was rounding a curve after a few drinks watching the football game at the local bar. The next thing I remember was me sitting my the side of the road being questioned and given a breathalyzer by a police officer, wondering if the mother and daughter they were pulling out of the overturned minivan in the background were going to live.

It turned out they were alive but with broken bones, and as the details later came out the mother had been very drunk and made a left turn in front of me, but thankfully the significance of the moment was not lost on me, and I knew I was in serious trouble. 
 

 The Apostle Paul, who was of course a rabbi, writes in his letter to the Galatians that the law is our teacher to bring us to Christ. Actually most translations say "teacher", but the original meaning of the Aramaic word meant someone who would guard a child on their way to school (cf. Galatians 3:23-25). So the meaning was that the law protected the Israelites until they would be introduced to the ultimate Teacher, the Messiah Yehoshua (Heb. God is salvation), or Jesus, who would enable them to fulfill the law. 

The way I see it there were several laws in operation which were protecting me until I could make a decision to accept Jesus as my Messiah. One was NY State law. Had there not been speed laws and DUI laws the accident may have been a lot worse and we would all get off scot-free for driving under the influence. Another was the laws of physics, which somehow prevented me from being seriously injured, although I was wearing no seat belt and had hit the minivan with enough force to flip it on its side. But I believe it was the moral instruction I received from my parents, grandparents, and church teachers that prevented me from straying too far from the path so I could get to that point. God's laws had protected me. In dramatic fashion God needed to get my attention that I was indeed off the path, and had broken his laws. But Hallelujah Jesus had washed my sins and made me a new creation.

The problem is, after we become Christians, or followers of the Messiah, we "throw the baby out with the bathwater", so to speak, and forget the purpose of the law, or Torah, and assume it isn’t relevant to us anymore. This is due, I believe, to certain misconceptions about the scriptures, and our faith traditions.

First of all, as I mentioned earlier, the word "Torah" means instruction, but the literal meaning is to hit a target. (By contrast, the Hebrew word or sin means"missing the mark".) Therefore sin is simply anything outside the law, or teaching, both Old and New Testaments. As it states simply in 1John 3:4: "Sin is transgression of the law". Secondly, Jesus' death on the cross took away the penalty of the law, not the law itself. As Jesus said during his Sermon on the Mount, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.  For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew5:17-19) At the transfiguration, with whom did Jesus meet on the mountaintop? With Moses and Elijah: representatives of the Law and the Prophets. In fact, the Gospels strongly testify to the fact that Jesus lived his earthly life as an observant Jew, and taught others to do as the teachers of the Law said. The only problem he had with the religious leaders was the man-made rules they had come up with over the years which robbed the Torah of its original intent.

Thirdly, when the Bible says we are delivered from law it simply means we no longer have to be righteous in our own strength. Paul wrote to the Romans that by works of the law no flesh will be justified (Romans 3:20), and it carries the same idea: no righteousness by works alone.

So do we need to follow every instruction in the Torah? To be sure there are some rules specific to the agricultural society they lived in we no longer need to follow, but the Bible as well as church history tells us that the early church, even Gentile converts, kept the Sabbath and the yearly festivals prescribed by God in Leviticus for centuries after the church was born!  Jesus and the early Christians were meeting in the synagogues and studying the Torah, not the New Testament letters! And history also tells us that the world hasn’t seen the explosiveness of that movement since. This is partly because observant Jews knew their Bibles very well, and were well equipped to "hit the ground running" and lead house churches. However after the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the State religion, incorporating pagan elements and doctrines and "Christianizing" them, subsequent church councils forcefully and systematically stamped out any vestiges of the "Jew's religion". Replacement theology stated that all the promises of the Bible are for the church and not for the Jews, and the church has been rampant with antisemitism since. There were pockets of what would be called today Messianic Christianity: the Celts and Picts in Ireland and Scotland, and the Waldenses in France during the dark ages, but for the most part the church became power hungry and corrupt; the worship rigid and formal (styled after the imperial court of Rome), and scripture was relegated to the priest. The reformation a thousand years later gained back a lot of what the church lost, but the church has yet to tap back into the rich root of its inheritance. As Paul said to the Roman Christians of his time, "you don't bear the root, but the root bears you" (Romans 11:18), We need to remember we are branches grafted in (Romans 11:17). Our salvation in Jesus Christ is meaningless, especially without those first foundational books of the Bible, the Torah. 

So what does this mean for us? Well to me it means grace is not a license to sin, and that God has provided a way for us to follow the Law, Yeshua our Messiah (see Romans Ch. 6). It means we are to live holy lives, patterned after God’s instructions. To be holy in the Bible literally means to be "set apart". I recently read a different definition of holy. It said the "opposite of holy isn’t sinful or evil – it’s ordinary”. Being set apart for God means being extraordinary: that is, not being ashamed of whose we are. I wonder how many people we come across can tell if we are a set apart people? 

Many of our churches in the United States have been in decline for a long time. Over the years there have been attempts at solutions for growth, and some may question the practicality of living a holy life in terms of church growth. But I believe returning to God's original instructions has everything to do with church growth! As Jesus said, "make the tree good and the fruit will be good" (Matthew 12:33). First of all, to be good, the tree needs to be connected to the root! If we tap back into our rich inheritance, and if our lives are free from bitterness, hypocrisy, or anything contrary to God's holy word that poisons the tree, we will not only bear fruit, but that fruit will drop to the ground and reproduce! God's kingdom growing on earth.

So let us look to the ancient paths from which we have strayed. Thank God its never too late to find the path again, no matter how far we stray. "Open our eyes", the psalmist wrote, "to behold wondrous things from thy law!" (Psalm 119:18).