The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Isaiah 40:8

Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matthew 5:17

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Memo to:       Jesus

Date:                    May 19, 2001

From:                   Board of Directors for the Church on Earth

RE:                         Management Style

Good Morning Jesus,

I hate to bring this up, but some of us in your church are uncomfortable with a few things you have said and we want to suggest a few changes in your management style.  Below are a few things we have documented (with references) to give you an idea of where we are coming from. Let’s start with your speech at the mountain. Here are your exact words as recorded by Matthew:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19

John also recorded this:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15

“He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:4

“Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.” 1 John 2:7

We understand what you are saying, but we want to be sure your management style is  a little easier  and more in line with what everyone else is doing.  We feel your communications are a little narrow.  As a church, we don’t want to come across to our folks as legalistic and too strict. We want to respect the feelings of everyone.

Also, the board of directors have decided that your “commandments” are old school and actually no longer necessary since the culture of our church is focused on grace and, after all, we are living in the 21st century.  We also feel that since you have kept the commandments, there is no need to follow them as strictly as you did.  We appreciate your example, but we aren’t up to that kind of lifestyle.  Anyway, it is also our understanding that it is impossible to obey your laws and we are living under grace.  Therefore there is no need to obey any longer.

Therefore, please see the recommended changes below.  We will start with the 10 commandments below (in red).  Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

1. “You shall have no other gods before Me.  No big changes here.  It is OK. I see where you are coming from, but we should be careful to not offend anyone who may give all their time and attention to making money and accumulating things.  Also, their sports, music, and entertainment give them joy.  So we suggest we not be too strict and not make a big deal about it. These people still show up at church for an hour or two on the weekend.  That should be enough.
2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor ^[b]serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting^[c] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.  This has already been eliminated in the Catechism,  The church has statues, pictures, and things as part of their worship service.  Again, this commandment does not go along with what a majority are doing.  It’s not that big of a deal, they are not actually worshiping the image anyway.
3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.  There should be an exception for those people in TV, movies, and people that are angry. We should also allow for people to use the word Jesus as an extension to an exclamation in a sentence.
4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.  This should read: Go to church and worship every Sunday Everybody is busy on Saturdays to keep it holy even if it is in honor of your creation. Anyway, a majority of the people go to church on the  first day of the week in honor of your resurrection.   Although I can’t find this change in any of your writings, I am certain that tradition carries enough weight to make this change. Most have already changed it anyway.  Their thinking is this is for the Jews only even though the Sabbath was instituted long before there was a Jew.  Isn’t it legalistic to honor a whole day anyway? 
5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. An exception should be made if they don’t live up to your expectations or hurt you in any way.  Maybe they could donate some money to avoid having to follow this one.  
6. “You shall not murder.  This is a good one. Again an exception should be made for a child not yet born who is not wanted and is an inconvenience to the mother and father.
7. “You shall not commit adultery. Of course,  if people are living together this is not applicable because that is what everyone is doing anyway.  Should this apply also to the same-sex couple? Oh yes, we forgot to let you know that we have determined that one woman and one man for marriage doesn’t fit today’s society.  We don’t want to exclude anyone, so we took the liberty to allow marriage between the same-sex.  I am sure you understand.
8. “You shall not steal. Again a good rule, but let’s allow for situations where stealing is necessary for survival or if they really want something and don’t have enough money to buy it.
9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Unless the situation calls for it where telling the truth will get someone in trouble. Again, we should consider the situation.
10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” This is definitely old school. Who has an ox, a donkey, or a servant?  People want what other people have. It gives them the drive to accumulate as much as one can possibly obtain to be happy.

Jesus, we know you will understand.  Thank you for efforts to change our hearts, but some feel very comfortable in their weekly routines of simply showing up for church and being nice to people.

Respectfully Yours,

The church board of directors

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As crazy as this memo sounds, this is exactly what is happening in both the world and, sadly, in many churches.  While we know that faith in the death and resurrection of Christ saves us, it does not give us the authority to change one sentence in His eternal law.  How would Jesus respond to this?  How about Peter James and John?

Jesus: “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Mark 7:7

Paul: Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law. ” Romans 3:31

John: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12

James:  be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ..For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty James 1:22, 2: 10-22

Solomon: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13