Bowling Green Covenant Church

The Traveler’s Advisory

Friday 15 September 2006

“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”—Joshua 1.7[ESV]

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”—Galatians 3.23-24 [ESV]

I was six-years-old when I learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels. My father gave me one cardinal word of counsel before my solo flight, “Keep your head up, Mike.” Then he gave me a push and sent me pedaling down the street toward a future of adventure and discovery. It was a wobbly start, but remembering my father’s counsel I lifted my chin to keep my head up. Instantly, the wobbling stopped and I rode straight down the middle of the street.

I obeyed my father’s counsel for about half a block. At the halfway point, with him jogging beside me, I gave in to temptation and looked down at the front tire. The instant I dropped my head I swerved to the right hit the curb and fell. My maiden voyage, albeit thrilling was brief. I asked my father to put the training wheels back on. He refused. He told me I was too old for training wheels. He told me he believed I could ride without them. “All you have to do, Mike, is keep your head up. No matter what, if you keep your head up, you won’t fall.”

Several falls later, but determined not to give up, the tumblers all fell into place and the combination to my liberation from training wheels was complete. Trusting my father’s advice, I kept my head up and my balance improved. The training wheels gave me confidence to ride a “two-wheeler,” but in the end they were an intermediate step to help with the transition from riding with them to riding without them.

With Israel on the verge of entering the Promised Land, the LORD exhorted Joshua “be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.” Additionally, the LORD exhorted Joshua, ”Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” For Joshua to be obedient he had to keep his head up. The Law would act as “training wheels” insuring he would not swerve to the right or to the left.

Careful observance of the Law will keep you on the straight and narrow. The LORD exhorted Joshua to be meticulous about being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, the servant of the LORD commanded him. Ultimately, however, the chief ministry of the Law consists in constantly reminding all who try to keep it that they are following God with training wheels on their heart, their mind and their soul.

Enter Jesus as author and pioneer of the New Covenant. His sinless perfection as the Son of God guaranteed His perfect obedience to the Law. His perfect obedience to the Law guaranteed the perfection of His death as the propitiation for our sin. His obedience to the Law is the basis for our justification by faith (see Ephesians 2.8-10). His resurrection removed the training wheels from our heart, mind and soul. Before Jesus came we were captive to the Law. Now that Jesus has come and fulfilled the Law, keeping it when we could not, He has given us a new law to follow—a new commandment wherein we are to love one another as He has loved us (John 13.34).

In acting as our guardian the Law functioned in a manner similar to the way training wheels work on a bicycle. It is there to keep us balanced. The Law reminds us that we need to keep our head up. Once Jesus comes the training wheels are removed. The risk of failure may be greater than under the Law, but the freedom to discover the depth and the riches of God’s glory make the risk eminently worthwhile. In truth there is no risk since the perfection of Jesus guarantees that our faith will be rewarded. All that we must do can be summed up in the counsel my father gave me, “Keep your head up.”

Keep your head up. Look to Jesus. Pedal hard and ride straight knowing that should we fall His Grace is there to pick us up.

You think about that.

MM