What Kind of Obedience are You Obeying?

The scriptures clearly teach that the Law of Moses was a "schoolmaster" (Galatians 3:24) to teach Israel how to prepare for the coming Messiah. Nonetheless, when Jesus came, they fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy and "they stumbled at that stumblingstone" (Romans 9:32; see also Isaiah 8:14). We also learn in Galatians 3:8 that Abraham, well before Moses, received the gospel. Not the "torah" or law, but the gospel. In Romans 5:20, it says "the law entered," but the Greek word translated as "entered" enlightens the story significantly. The New Testament Institute manual expounds on this, saying:

"The Greek word Paul uses here that is translated entered means literally 'to come in by the side of.' In classical Greek it was often used of actors in the theaters who played a supporting role and who would come on stage from the wings, play their part, and disappear again."

Now, this is all really just setting up what I want to talk about in this post. I don't want to talk so much about the purpose of the Law of Moses as I do the purpose of not being under the Law of Moses anymore. The scriptures make it clear that the Mosaic order was meant only for a limited duration. It was a lower law, preparing the world to again receive the gospel. However, in a lot of ways, I feel the Latter-day Saints--modern day Israel--live the commandments in a very Mosaic way. Let me explain!

One of the major problems with the Law of Moses was that people started playing "The Price is Right" with it. They wanted to see how close to a certain standard (albeit a lower standard than was either previously set or later restored) they could get, without going over. This lead to the creation of some almost silly rules. One of my favorites is the tradition of just how much food you could take out of your house if it was burning down on the Sabbath; enough for three meals if it was in the morning, enough for two meals in the afternoon, and enough for one meal in the evening. There was a bar set, and the Jews wanted to get to that bar, but saw no need to extend themselves further than that.

Then came Jesus. Jesus scrapped this minimum standard, and demanded much higher. No more eye for an eye (Matthew 5:37). Love everyone, not just your friends (Matthew 5:44). Even looking lustfully will count as adultery (Matthew 5:28). Really, the Savior epitomized the point He was making in this straightforward statement: "Be ye therefore perfect" (Matthew 5:48). There was nothing above the bar anymore. We could not get close without going over, because there simply was nothing over the standard He set.

Luckily, we have the perfection of Jesus - the very Man who set this high requirement - to rely upon. He "is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading [our] cause before him—Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased" (Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-4). We can now "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him" (Moroni 10:32). We are invited to take the Lord's yoke upon us (Matthew 11:29) and work side by side the strongest Being in the universe.

Still, Jesus made it clear that obedience is still necessary. "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 15:14). "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matthew 16:27). Elder Robert D. Hales recently said, "Of all the lessons we learn from the life of the Savior, none is more clear and powerful than the lesson of obedience."

But what kind of obedience are we living? Our obedience now is striving to obey alongside the Savior, relying on His perfection and His enabling power to help us become more like our Father in Heaven. We are striving for perfection with the Perfection. We are obeying out of love, and we must love God with all our heart, holding nothing back.

But let's look at some basic commandments, and how we live them. The law of tithing is a great example. How often do we ask if we should pay on gross income or net income? Do we pay on child support? What about social security benefits? How about gifts? Ultimately, this is trying to get as close to the bar as possible, without going over. Unfortunately, the bar is at perfection, and none of us are getting even close.

How about the Word of Wisdom? At what point are we breaking the commandment, when it includes not only things we should not partake of but things we should emphasize most? I know I do not meet a perfect standard on my Word of Wisdom adherence.

The same could be said of keeping the Sabbath day holy, following the prophet, swearing, chastity, and any other commandment. I have heard far too many times, "I really don't think not keeping this one little thing is going to keep me out of heaven." The sad part is that, with that attitude, it just might. God knows we won't be perfect and that is why we have perfect Redeemer, but we are not to excuse our imperfections as trivial. Whether I am 3% righteous or 99% righteous, I am still not righteous enough if I am not striving to improve, and relying fully on the Savior to make me something I could never be on my own.

As I said before, we Latter-day Saints live our commandments in a very Law of Moses way sometimes. And yet, we are still looking for ways to opt out of perfection. The Law of Moses was full of "thou shalt not"s; the Gospel of Jesus Christ is full of "blessed are the"s. There is always room for more growth. There is always room for more sincere repentance. There is always room between us and the perfection which the Lord has required. With "blessed are the"-style commandments, we have the duty and the blessing of constant improvement, adhering to the guidance of He through whom we can be perfected (Doctrine and Covenants 76:69). There is no bar that we will reach in mortality, but there is always more love that we can show the Savior.