Traffic in Bangkok
Some years ago I visited Bangkok in Thailand. I was amazed by the traffic. It was utter chaos! There were cars, bikes, and Tuk Tuks (little motorbike taxis) everywhere. Vehicles were on the footpaths, travelling up the wrong side of the road. It was bedlam. The only road rule seemed to be “There are no rules.” This short video gives us a little taste of what I experienced.
No rules?
Imagine if there were no rules, like the traffic in Bangkok! Wouldn’t it be great? If you didn’t want to go to school, you wouldn’t have to. You wouldn’t have to listen to parents or teachers. You wouldn’t have to pay your tax or submit your BAS (business activity statement). You could drive as fast as you wanted on the roads. If there was anything you wanted, anything in the whole world that you desired, you could just take it (by force if necessary), because there would be no right or wrong. No rules. Anything goes.
The world tries to tell us that there’s only one rule: “The survival of the fittest.” “Look after yourself at any cost.” Do you agree with this? Could we all actually live this way? Would living without any rules really be great?
Genesis tells the story of selfishness
The first part of the book of Genesis tells the story of human selfishness, when humans try to live for themselves without any rules. We’ve been looking at Genesis in our confirmation sessions. And we’ve discovered that every time humans try to live for themselves, something ends up broken.
Adam and Eve decided they could define for themselves what was good, so they took the fruit from the tree that God had commanded not to. They desired to choose the rules for themselves, rather than live under the protection of God’s rules. But they were deceived, and lost the wonderful protection of the garden.
Today we heard the story of Cain and Abel. In this account Cain decides to take care of only himself, he decides that Abel is not his responsibility. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain responds to God in anger (Genesis 4:9). Cain takes what he desires. He feels angry that God favoured Abel’s offering, so he decides what to do about it — he will get rid of his brother. But there is no escape from God’s law, and Abel’s blood cries out from the ground. God hears the cry of the oppressed and so steps in to protect the vulnerable, banishing Cain from the land.
God’s law
Cain and Abel is just one of many Bible stories that teach about what happens when we live the way we want to. It always ends in brokenness. Sin distorts our understanding of God’s law. We often hear the Ten Commandments, for example, as a bunch of rules that restrict us. A bunch of “Do nots.” “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet.”
Yet God’s law is so much more than a bunch of “Do nots.” I think God’s law is about surrendering to God control of how we live. God’s law is about turning away from ourselves and instead looking out for other people.
St Paul says this in his letter to the Romans:
Whatever command there may be, [it is] summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law. (Romans 13:9–10)
St Paul is repeating, nearly word for word, what Jesus taught his disciples (e.g. Mark 12:28–34).
Following Jesus means having an answer to the question “How should I live my life?” The answer the world tells us is that you should live for yourself. Take whatever you desire. But that leads to chaos, like the traffic in Bangkok. Jesus instead calls us to put others first. To love our neighbour. To take responsibility for our brother. To be his keeper.
Sin is crouching at the door
At the start of his letter to the Romans, St Paul says that people who live as if there is no God (‘Gentiles’ he calls them), even Gentiles seem to live by God’s law. That’s because he says “the law is written on their hearts” (Romans 2:15). As humans we are instinctively wired to do the ‘right’ thing. That’s what morality is: right and wrong. God decides what’s right and wrong, and he’s written his law onto our hearts.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it very hard to let God decide what is right and wrong. Like Adam and Eve I want to decide. But this is exactly what sin is. Sin is just us wanting to decide what’s right, not God.
God said exactly this when he spoke to Cain, “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7). Our instinct to listen to God’s version of right and wrong is corrupted by sin. Like a hungry lion ready to pounce, sin is waiting to tell us to take care of ourself, to do things our way, to decide for me what’s right and wrong.
Let’s illustrate this. I need four volunteers. I’ve got a bowl of cotton balls here. I want each of you to grab as many cotton balls as you can (without moving the bowl). Ready, go! What utter chaos! What if instead I handed out some cotton balls to you, and you helped each other get roughly equal amounts. Ready, go! See the difference?
When we act for ourselves, when we want to be God and decide right from wrong, everything ends up a broken mess. But when we let God make the rules, and when we look out for our neighbour, life works as it should, as God intended.
God is mending the universe
The problem is that we don’t always love our neighbour, or watch and keep our brother safe. Cain and Abel’s story makes this clear. Yet we haven’t explored how the story ends. See God is on a mission to mend the universe.
We hear that Cain must bear the consequence for his decision to take matters into his own hands. He’s put under a curse and driven from the land. He’s to become a restless wanderer. The murderer now fears for his own life. Cain laments, “My punishment is more than I can bear … [for] whoever finds me will kill me” (Genesis 4:13–14). But then the gracious and compassionate LORD places a mark on Cain; a mark that will protect his life even as he wanders in the land of Nod, away from the LORD’s presence. Think about this. Mixed in with Cain’s punishment is the promise of God’s protection for the rest of Cain’s life through the mark.
The LORD has also placed his mark of protection on you. When you become a follower of Jesus in your baptism, God places a seal on you (Ephesians 1:13–14; 2 Corinthians 1:22): the sign of the cross on your forehead and chest. For the rest of your days as you wander this earth, this mark identifies you as a child of God. It protects you. It keeps you. It makes you into a new person, who will turn away from yourself and love others.
This mark also does something else. It makes you a brother and sister of Jesus. And unlike Cain, Jesus is perfect and he looks out for his brothers and sisters. He takes responsibility for his family, he is your keeper. He lays down his life for his friends. He sheds his blood for you. But Jesus lives! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And Jesus’ Spirit lives inside each one of his disciples, daily helping us to love others, helping us to let God call the shots to decide what’s right and wrong, helping us to live by his rules.
Conclusion
Everyone has God’s law written on their hearts, even if they don’t follow Jesus. But following Jesus means that we can truly live by this law, the way God intended. Jesus answers the morality question, the question of right and wrong, by helping us turn from our ways toward God and his ways. Instead of everyone living for themselves like a chaotic road without any rules, God is mending the universe so that we live with each other in peace and harmony and unity.
And that’s why I follow Jesus. He tells me how I should live. And it’s wonderful to live in the way God has intended.
Blessing
May the sign of the cross protect your life. May the blood of Jesus cry out to God on your behalf. May you be transformed to live under the rule of God, as he intended. Amen.
