Flight Manual

Flight Manual
Words of Faith 12-9-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 20
[1] And God spoke all these words:

What did God say to the people gathered at Mount Sinai? Of course, the Lord gave the most familiar set of laws in history, the Ten Commandments. They are later called the "Ten Words" (34:28). These ten "commands" form the core of the Torah or "Law" of God.
As Christians, we are sometimes tempted to think of the Law as a "Jewish" sort of thing. As Christians, we are under grace. But the Torah is much more than a harsh mirror that reveals our need for a Savior.
The word "Torah" is from the Hebrew word "yara," which means "to shoot," such as shooting an arrow to hit the target. The emphasis of the root is on "hitting the mark." Torah does not mean so much "law" as "guidance," "teaching," or "instruction." Thus, Torah is teaching that "guides to the mark" concerning God and His righteousness. Torah might be thought of as God's "right guidance" for flight in life. Torah is the "instruction for flight."
So imagine for a moment that you climb into a small airplane with a pilot. As you get in, you notice a trampled book on the floor of the plane labeled "flight manual" and another dirty document that says "flight plan." When you ask about these, the pilot replies, "Oh that? I never read that. That is just the operating manual for the plane. I don't fly under the Law..." You would probably get out of the plane! The truth is that the thing we sometimes disparage as "Law" is actually God's instruction for safe flight through life.
The word that is opposite of yara (Torah) is "hata," one of several Hebrew words for sin. The word hata means "to miss the mark." Aviation has several words for this-- like crash! Or, if you are lucky, "Wrong airport." The Law is not harsh; it is simply God's explicit instruction for getting to the destination God has planned for us. It is the instruction to avoid a crash.
When a Christian declares that he is "not under the law," we probably understand they are saying that their righteousness is not earned or deserved because of obedience to the Law; instead, they are justified by grace. But we should be careful here. To say that one is not under the "Torah" also means that the "teaching" or "instruction" of God does not guide us. We are not surrendered to God's flight plan. Is that really what we want to say? The truth is that every believer seeks to be under God's instruction; we simply have realized that we cannot justify ourselves.
God's "flight instruction" was divided into three parts in Exodus. 1) The Decalogue or Ten Commandments forms the core of all guidance (Ex. 20:1-21). These ten utterances are timeless, even though they require some definition, interpretation, and application. 2) The Book of the Covenant (20:22-24:11) concerns civil and religious ordinances. Much of this forms the basis of modern civil law and process. 3) The third part of the Law includes ceremonial regulations (24:12-31:18), which were particular to the sacrificial system and rituals related to the Tabernacle and Temple. Many of these will no longer apply to our flight practice, but we will still see how they have been fulfilled in Christ.
Are you ready to fly? The manual is before us, so we will take some care in reading it. Certainly, this is not our way of justifying ourselves. Only the work of Jesus can make us right with God, and we accept this by faith. But we would be foolish to attempt flight without concerning ourselves with God's basic instruction and guidance.

Father God, renew in me a love for Your guidance and instruction. Help me to see the ways that Your Word can keep my travel on course. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.