Seeking first the Kingdom 4 & 5

Jesus is the bridegroom - this statement seems quite simple and one that many would have realised and known for a while as Jesus states this in Mark 2:19. What I found interesting in Darren Rouanzoin's next talks were the references to God too being our 'husband' and He will woo us back to Him (Isaiah 54:5-6). The Jews and Pharisees at the time would have realised what Jesus was saying: that He was God, that the prophecies about Him were true and we would have that relationship with Him.

God makes a covenant with us, just like a marriage vow and just as tenderly: "I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body" (Ezekiel 16:8). What I love is the stance of the 'marriage' between God and us and how it compares to human marriage. It is written in Hosea 2:16 that we will "call (God) ‘my husband’; you will no longer call (God) ‘my master". It is a loving relationship, not a relationship between master and slave; it is not so important that we do exactly what we are told but that we love our God and love others.

Legalism has completely destroyed love and misses the point entirely. Darren describes it as 'singing songs with a closed heart'. There are a whopping 613 laws in the books of Moses and these were broken down into further rules by the interpretation of the Pharisees in the Mishnah. For example, the commandment "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work" (Exodus 20: 8-10) there are 39 categories defining 'work' and what is not allowed on the Sabbath. Many of the issues the Pharisees had with Jesus were related to what He chose to do on the Sabbath. The point of the commandment is to allow us to rest but the Pharisees miss the point. They tried to define Jews (and we fall into this trap very easily) by what we do or produce. God says we are defined by who we are - He knows us. Holiness is not defined by what we do or don't do. We have been 'set apart', not by our own doing but by the blood of Jesus.

Jesus, when asked about cleaniness laws in Mark 7, replies: "Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them” (verse 15) . He focuses on our actions and what we say, rather than what we eat, drink or touch. If we are motivated by love for God and love for others we will end up following the commandments anyway. Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 when He says in Mark 7: 6-7 - "These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules."

The fruit of the Spirit "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23) comes out of our relationship with Jesus, with knowing that we are loved and have that loving relationship with our 'husband' the bridegroom. Our faith should not be dead but accompanied by actions not rules or laws (James 2:17).