Unchanging Lord
"You have heard it said... but I tell you..." How can the God of the Old Testament be the same as that of the New Testament? For years I took it in faith that there was just something that I was incapable of understanding that produced the apparent change in God's demeanor between the testaments. From "eye for eye, tooth for tooth," to "turn the other cheek" I was somewhat baffled by this dichotomy.
God showed to me the fact that there was no change in Him, but a change in our understanding over time. There is no difference in what God expects from us today than what He expected from the Israelites all the way back to Adam and Eve.
God has always just wanted us to walk in faith and trust and love Him. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for... By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man." Heb 11:1-4 Even in Abel's day before the law was given, all God wanted was our faith. God gave us the law for one reason: He wanted to show us how He made us to live.
If you have ever read any of Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages books, you will understand that everyone has a different way of experiencing love. God's love language doesn't fit any of Chapman's models for humans - He's too big for that. God's love language is obedience. By faith, we make sacrifices of our very lives through obedience and in so doing, we express our love to God. "If you love me, you will obey what I command... Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me." John 14:15-21
When Christ said "You have heard it said... but I tell you..." He wasn't making our job any harder because it was never about legalism - "through the law we become conscious of sin." Rom 3:20 By further explaining in Matt 5 about the true meanings of the law (murder/anger, adultery/lust, divorce, vows, retaliation, etc) He was saying "You don't get it!" There is no difference. Humanity has always been justified by faith. Humanity has always expressed its love for the Creator through obedience.