If we are going to survive the onslaught of post-Christian ideologies, we need to embrace the freedom we have to love God’s Law, freedom that comes through the saving gift of the Gospel. For in knowing that Christ, who fulfilled the Law perfectly, and who is now righteousness for us, we are free to love his Law and to strive to uphold it, without fearing the consequences of the inevitable failures we bring to it.

Gospel Freedom to Love the Law
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.Romans 7:7
How can one stand firm in the shifting sands of a post-Christian, progressive age? How can we be equipped to discern God’s voice amongst the world’s alluring alternatives?
The answer is certainly not blowing in the wind, nor can it found by looking within. It’s actually where it has always been: The undivided, unchanging, Word of God. As Christians not only do we need to reflect on the good news of the Gospel, but also about why it is good news. That realisation can only come through a growing love for God’s “Law” and how it relates to the cross of Christ. Of course, “Law” in this sense is not to be understood as a set of rules tied to a judicial system, but rather as God’s loving instructions for life.
Any attempt to treat “Law and Gospel” as exclusive entities and not two threads intricately woven by the same divine hands, is to render the Gospel no Gospel at all. Loving the God of the New Testament but rejecting the God of the Old is a bit like believing the sun can set despite never having risen. It’s not only confusing, it’s a theological absurdity.
Salvation is by grace through faith, but does that render God’s Law obsolete? Certainly not. Grace detached from the conviction of God’s Law can become a grace accepted on one’s own terms, a grace that universally accepts sinners as they are without acknowledging the need for repentance according to God’s unchanging Law.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.Titus 2:11-14
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The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance. Today’s decision is significant because the Court acknowledged that the belief that “marriage is a union between one man and one woman is a sincerely held conviction.”

Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its much-anticipated decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis, a free speech case with implications for religious liberty. In a 6-3 landmark decision, the Court held that the government may not compel Americans to express messages they do not believe.
The question before the Court was whether a Colorado public accommodation law could be used to compel artists to create messages inconsistent with their beliefs—particularly religiously informed beliefs. Web designer Lorie Smith, a devout Christian, was the plaintiff in the case. Her business serves everyone, including those who identify as LGBT. But Smith, who decides which projects and websites to design based on the message she is asked to express, argued that Colorado’s public accommodation law was forcing her to choose between her business and her religious convictions.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch explained that the First Amendment prohibits compelled speech:
In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance. … But, as this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong … tolerance, not coercion, is our Nation’s answer.
Smith, who was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, was motivated to file a pre-enforcement lawsuit against Colorado when she saw how the state had used the same law to punish Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips. Phillips won a 7-2 decision at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 when the Court found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had acted with “clear and impermissible hostility” toward Phillips’ “sincere religious beliefs,” a violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
Although the Court did not address the free speech claim in Masterpiece, in 303 Creative, the Court ruled that using a public accommodation law to compel an artist to speak or stay silent violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. As Gorsuch explained:
This Court has also long recognized that no public accommodations law is immune from the demands of the Constitution. In particular, this Court has held, public accommodations statutes can sweep too broadly when deployed to compel speech.
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Jesus calls us to learn about our enemies and about ourselves—and to spread the aroma of Christ through the world by the ministry of the word for the salvation of the elect. To this end, he bids us understand that we are like sheep in the midst of wolves, so that we will seek to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

One of the remarkable features of Jesus’ teaching is the way in which he drew simple analogies and metaphors from the world around him in order to instruct his disciples about the most profound truths of the kingdom of God.
Jesus spent much time reading the book of nature. He could point to a simple flower in order to explain to his disciples the mystery of God’s providential care and provision for them (Luke 12:27). Some of Christ’s most impactful illustrations came from the agrarian culture in which he lived and traveled. He expended prolonged periods of mental energy meditating on the birds of the air and the livestock that flooded the Palestinian landscape. At the inauguration of his missionary enterprise, Jesus gathered the twelve to himself and said to them,

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,  and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.(Matt. 10:16–20)

Jesus is preparing his disciples for spiritual warfare in Matthew 10:16-20.
In a day when Christians have all but lost the culture war in America—and the prospect of the persecution of true believers is imminent—it is incumbent on us to listen carefully to what the Savior told his disciples upon their first missionary journey. In the ancient wartime manual, The Art of War, Sun Tzu explained,

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

In Matthew 10:16-20, Jesus is essentially giving his disciples his manual of spiritual warfare for the mission of God. The danger of the task that lay before the disciples required a clear illustration from the Savior regarding the way in which they should prepare themselves for the opposition they would encounter.
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