Diet Laws

Lost on a rainy night, a nun stumbles across a monastery.
She's just in time for dinner and is treated to the best fish and chips ever.
After dinner, she goes to the kitchen to thank the chefs. She is met by Brother Michael and Brother Charles.
She thanks them and asks who cooked what.
Says Brother Charles: "I'm the fish friar."
She says to Brother Michael,
"Then you must be..."
He replies, "Yes, I'm the chip monk."

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" Matt. 5:17

From time to time it surfaces in every church. The misconception
runs something like this: "If we want to be healthy, we must return
to the food laws of the Old Testament." These kindhearted folk
proceed to eliminate pork from their diets. Not satisfied with that,
they begin to purchase foods with the k on the label - kosher foods.
Still not satisfied, they scour the Word looking for other common
foods that need to be eliminated from their dietary intake. As I have
observed these brothers and sisters, I have watched them come
under such bondage to the food they eat that they nearly starve
themselves to death.

Jesus never intended for us to be bound by the Old Testament
food laws - or any other O.T. law for that matter. Indeed, He tells
us in today's verse that He came to fulfill the law. While none of
my friends would consider the necessity of ritual animal sacrifice
(Jesus took care of that for us when He died on the cross), they
fail to make the connection to His sacrificial death to the fulfillment
of ALL the law.

Peter found this out when he had a vision on the rooftop. In his
vision he saw all kinds of "unclean" animals on a white sheet.
A voice, the Voice of God, spoke to him telling him to eat his
fill. Three times Peter saw the vision. Three times he refused
to eat claiming obedience to the "unclean" laws. Three times
the voice told him that what God had made clean was truly
clean. This reference to the eating of unclean animals indicates
God's past action of cleansing them - through the Blood of Jesus.

A few minutes later, God began to work on Peter's refusal by
giving him an undeniable invitation to present the Good News
to gentiles, which eventually lead to the gentiles receiving the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Still later (several years most likely)
Peter was found eating with gentile believers - until other Apostles
joined him and Paul in that gentile church. It was Paul whom
God used to correct Peter's error.

You may be thinking that our discussion is leading to the
conclusion that we can blatantly disregard the Law of Moses
because we have been set free from it. Ah, you are right! AND
you are wrong! We are freed from the Law - that is we are freed
from the penalty for breaking the Law. But, we are not freed from
the Law itself. Instead, we are bound by a new law - the Law of
Love. Jesus said it first, and I paraphrase, "Love God and love
your neighbor. In this you fulfill all the Law of Moses." Not only
did He fulfill the Law, but we are to do it as well.

I will leave you with this question: "Is there any part of the
Old Testament Law -- the most important part, i.e. the Ten
Commandments - that cannot be fulfilled by the Law of Love?"