02.10.2017
Beginning of New Law Term Marked in Dublin
“Do good law, but don’t apply it to your salvation and your relationship with God.” This was the message of the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Revd Dr Laurence Graham, to the congregation at the Michaelmas Law Term Service at St Michan’s Church, Dublin, this morning (Monday October 3).
The service is held annually to mark the beginning of the new law term but also to bless all who work in the legal profession and connected fields and those who come into contact with the legal system.
The Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, officiated and with him were the Deans of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin and St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh and the Archdeacon of Dublin. The choir of the King’s Hospital School led the singing.
The congregation included politicians and members of the Diplomatic Corps including the Australian Ambassador to Ireland. There were visiting judges from the UK and Northern Ireland as well as members of the Irish judiciary, representatives of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces.
In his sermon, Dr Graham, gave thanks for the law and said it was crucial for the proper functioning of a society and for the defence of people’s rights. But, he said, when it came to our relationship with God we needed to think beyond the law.
Drawing on the readings [Deuteronomy 26: 16 –19 and Romans 8:1–5] he said that in Deuteronomy the people, having been redeemed by God, committed themselves to keep the law but they could not as it was to God’s standard and people could not reach it. In Romans 8:3, he pointed out, it says “what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh…”
“That is the key issue when it comes to our walk with God. We cannot keep His standard. We cannot make ourselves worthy of salvation. We can never be good enough to be in personal relationship with a holy and perfect God,” Dr Graham stated. However, he added: “God knew that we could not keep the standard. God knew that us trying harder would never make us good enough. The law was powerless in regard to our salvation. But what the law was powerless to do God did by sending His own Son. God came and lived amongst us in Jesus Christ. God lived a life that was perfect and that was beyond condemnation. Jesus completely fulfilled the law but then on the cross He took upon Himself the condemnation of a law breaker. He went through separation from a holy God. He went through judgement if you like so that we need not do so”.
This, Dr Graham explained, mean that the way for us to come to God personally was made open. “No longer do we have to keep an impossible set of rules and laws. No longer do we have to meet a standard that we cannot meet. Now the way to salvation is simply to throw ourselves upon the grace of God,” he said.
In conclusion he urged the congregation to “do good law, but don’t apply it to your salvation and your relationship with God. That can only happen through God’s grace”.
You can read Dr Graham’s sermon in full here.
