The Old and New Covenants

Recently I've run across some confusion about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Apparently there are some folks out there that believe we as Christians are still under the Old Covenant. It's actually kind of strange, especially in light of Galatians 4:21+, but as Peter says, there are those who wrest scriptures to their own destruction. It's sad.

Now don't get me wrong; I do not advocate lawlessness. After all, one provision of the New Covenant is that God writes His law on our minds and hearts. When we truly become Christians, we love righteousness and hate wickedness, so that's not even what I'm addressing here. When the Holy Spirit lives inside us, holiness ensues, right?

But there are those who vehemently argue, contrary to what the New Testament says, that we as Christians are obligated to the Old Covenant of law. The fact of the matter is, we are no longer under the law. But through an incredible amount of scripture-twisting and tapdancing, there are those that argue that we are.

Here are two passages I'd like to link together and look at closely:


Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth [is] Mine. (Exodus 19:5)


Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:31, 32, emphasis mine)

In the first passage, the Lord is just about to deliver the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It's crucial that we watch these words very closely, because God lays out the terms of the first (Old) covenant with Israel: "...if you will indeed obey my voice...." These people's relationship with God was dependent upon their obedience: "...if...." Their being God's special treasure was dependent on their obedience to Him.

You don't have to be a theologian to know that it didn't work. Israel was already worshipping idols before Moses even came down from Sinai. The covenant was broken immediately. Remember Moses throwing down the tablets of stone? This should be an indicator to us that if the loss of fellowship between man and God was ever going to be fixed, it would have to come another way.

That's why there was the need for a New Covenant, one that was not contingent on our obedience. The Lord said in our second passage that He would make a new covenant with Israel "not according to the covenant I made with their fathers...." In other words, it would not be dependent on our obedience. Do you see those words? "...Not according...." The New Covenant was to be different.

Another way of putting it is this: our relationship with God is not dependent on what we do, but rather, it's dependent on what Jesus did for us. Anyone who contends that the Old and New Covenants are the same don't have a clue.

The Old tells us we're sinners. The New erases our sin.

The Old tells us we're filthy. The New washes us clean.

The Old tells us we need a Savior. The New provides us with a Savior.

The Old tells us we can't go in to the Holiest of All. The New allows us to go in boldly.

Now, there are two quick things I'd like to address in light of all this. People will contend, 'well, God never changes, so the law is still in place.' God does not change, but what these folks don't realize is that the way God relates to man has changed. That's what Jesus did on the cross. Remember when the veil was torn? No one but the high priest was allowed in there. Now anyone can go in under the blood of Jesus. That's a change. That's a BIG change.

Here's the other thing people will contend: there's a verse from Matthew 5 that says Jesus did not come to destroy the law and the prophets. He didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets, but He came to fulfill them. It also says that, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle will pass from the law till all is fulfilled. So they say, since heaven and earth are still around, the law is still in place. That is true. The law is still in place--for the lawless and sinners. Since heaven and earth have not passed away, and there are still those who need to turn to Christ (isn't that the purpose of the law according to Galatians 3:24?), the law is still in place. But since I have to turned to Christ by faith, the law has been fulfilled in my life. The perfect righteous life has been fulfilled by the life of Christ. The death penalty of the law has been fulfilled by Christ on the cross. Death has been defeated by the resurrection of Christ. All this has been fulfilled in me by faith. What more fulfillment is there?

~

Shining Like Stars

Colossians 1:27

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

This is some really good stuff. Pastor Dave spoke today about "shining like stars" from Philippians 2:15 (NIV). He made the point that, when it comes to shining like stars in the world, it's NOT about reforming behavior from the outside in; but rather, it's all about Christ living within each of us, changing us from the inside out. It would seem to some people like splitting hairs or playing word games, but it's not. I wonder how many Christians think that we need to be better people at this or that...that we need to get ourselves cleaned up on the outside so we appear to other people to be better.

It's not about reforming outside behavior.

It's all about Christ living His life through us.

I don't want people to see a better Bill on the outside.

I want people to see Jesus coming through. THAT'S what it's all about.

THAT'S the "hope of glory."

Home Sick Today

Well today I'm home sick from church. Brooke and the girls all went to church without me...so it's quiet and lonely in the house. I'll be listening to the message on the radio.... Perhaps I'll try blogging about the message while it's on, just to do something different.

An Invitation

Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed [are] those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." Revelation 19:9

There's some new Jeremy Camp song out where he starts the chorus with, "There will be a day...." That's really all I have memorized of the song, otherwise I'd share more (and I don't really feel like going to look up the lyrics). Anway, it has really got me thinking about that day when God will wipe away all our tears; the day when He makes all things new; the day when I will no longer have the life I have now.

That day will be an awesome day. Jesus will rule and reign on the earth (it won't be a democracy; we won't get to vote). There will be unprecedented peace. There will be rest. There will be singing and dancing and praising. I will be good at singing and dancing and praising! The worries of this life will be gone.

It's not that I don't like my life now. I love what God is doing in my life right now. But we mustn't lose sight of the fact that we are just pilgrims passing through.

Jesus is going to have a party someday. That's the day when Jesus will be united with His bride, the church. That's us, people. That party will be the party to top all parties. There's no way to describe just how completely and utterly blessed those people are who are called to this wedding supper.

I have my invitation. Do you?

Gifts and Offices

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, [let us use them:] if prophecy, [let us] [prophesy] in proportion to our faith; or ministry, [let us use it] in [our] ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:6-8


But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit [of all:] for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another [different] kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28

And He Himself gave some [to be] apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.... Ephesians 4:11

As I was going through Ephesians 4 this evening, I came across that familiar passage about certain positions or offices in the body of Christ. So I went to look up a few other passages and found these from Romans and 1 Corinthians.

As far as I can tell, there are certain offices that the Lord has in the body, and He gives those offices to certain people by His grace. There are also gifts (miracles, healings, tongues, etc.) that He gives as well, which are slightly different than the offices. Here are a few observations about these gifts and offices:

1.) It's the Lord who distributes these gifts. No one takes these gifts for himself.

2.) The people who operate in these gifts/offices do so by His power, not their own.

3.) These gifts are given for the profit of the entire body. We ought to use them with others in mind.

4.) Not everyone has certain gifts/offices. Just like on a football team, not everyone is a quarterback or lineman. Each has his own spot on the team for the benefit of the entire team.

5.) Love should be the over-arching attitude of all gifts and offices.

Another thing I've been thinking about lately with respect to where I'm serving "on the team" is something I read in a book awhile ago. It might be Jim Collins' Good to Great, but I'm not sure. The idea is (in any corporation or the church) that you want to have the right people in the right positions. God puts people in certain positions and gives people certain gifts so that the body can engage in ministry for maximum effect. In keeping with the football analogy, as a coach you don't draft 20 quarterbacks. No, you need certain people with certain gifts in certain positions so that the team can operate optimally.

There's an interesting phenomenon that takes place sometimes called the curse of competence. The idea here is that there are some people who are decent at a lot of things. These are the decathletes...they can be competitive in several different events. The problem is, if they have a gift for a certain thing, it can be hard to detect what it is because these people serve well in a variety of different positions. The curse comes when you just can't step out of the things you're good at to do the one thing you're great at. Sometimes people get burned out serving where they're not very well-equipped to serve. I wonder if this kind of stuff happens quite a bit in the body of Christ.

I've heard a lot of people say, "Oh he's got a gift for this..." or, "she's got a gift for that..." when in reality, that's not even a gift. Maybe sometimes we just aren't very familiar with what the Bible says are gifts and offices. I don't know.

Manna

I shared in small group tonight about how the Lord provides for us. We talked about the story of Israel wandering in the wilderness for forty years before coming into the promised land. Each day they were to get up and go gather manna (this bread from heaven that the Lord gave them) for the day. On the sixth day they were to gather twice as much so they had food for the Sabbath.

The interesting thing is, they gathered enough for that day, and they were not to leave any "leftovers." As such, they only got enough food for each day. Every night they went to bed they had no food in the house (or in the tent as it were). They had to trust that God would give them food for the next day.

As things get tight, especially in an economy like this, we must keep in mind that the Lord will provide for each of us, no matter how bad things get. Would it ever get to the point where we would have to look to Him each and every day for food? I don't know. But I know that the Lord will provide for us.

New Cool App

Normally I just post on Bible passages I'm reading. But my friend Scott Engbrecht told me about Twitter. Now I can do status updates to my blog and my Facebook from my cell phone via text messaging. Talk about useless (but very fun) technology.

Two Great Verses, One Great Truth

I read this in Ephesians 2 this morning:

"...even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)... "(verse 5)

It reminded me of one of my favorite verses elsewhere:

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

That verse in Ephesians is a great verse. Here Paul is telling us that even though we were wallowing in our own sin, Christ made us alive. This is the wonder of grace. It's not that Jesus waited around for us to straighten up our acts, or to try to clean up our lives a little bit so we would be good enough to save...no, right in the midst of our being dead in our sins, Christ made us alive. I love the parenthetical statement: "by grace you have been saved."

Grace saves you.

It's not works.

Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

The Law - Our Tutor

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Galatians 4:1-7

But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Galatians 3:22-25

Paul is explaining to the Galatians the purpose of the law. After having accepted Paul's teaching about Jesus Christ (that He died and rose again for our justification and sanctification), the Galatians were beginning to turn back to the law. He is reminding them that the purpose of the law is to point out sin. Once we come to the realization in our lives that we are sinners, that there is nothing we can do to clean up our own act, the purpose of the law has been fulfilled in our lives. We realize our filth, and we realize we need to go to Someone beyond ourselves for justification and sanctification. Once faith in Jesus comes, we mustn't turn back to the law. We are heirs of God through faith, not through the duty of law. We are sons and daughters of God because of what Jesus did, and not because of what we are trying to do. Make no mistake: faith is all about putting our trust in what Jesus did (past tense); law is all about doing this and doing that, and if we don't, we live under a curse. The law calls us to perfection, which we cannot live up to. Once we realize this, we have been "tutored" to realize that righteousness comes a different way: the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Our being children of God is based on faith, not the works of the law.

The Grace of Christ - Galatians

I started Galatians tonight. What a wonderful epistle! The words from Paul that strike me in this first chapter are:

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another...."

The grace of Christ is such an incredible topic in and of itself...it is what separates Christianity from any other religion. God loves us aside from our works and showed us this love on the cross. The relationship with God that we can now have hinges fully on what God has done for us, rather than what we try and fail to do for Him.

The Galatians, after having received the grace of Christ, the free, unconditional love of God, were starting to turn back to the law. In other words, they were attempting to relate to God under the terms of the Law. It was so important for them to remember (as well as each of us), that we cannot, CANNOT relate to God under the terms of the law. Under the law, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, once per year. No one else could. No one. That fact is still true. There's a lot more to it than this, but I don't have the time or space on this blog.

Anyway, Paul was saying that they were turning to another gospel, which is not another. In other words, they were turning to another "good news" which really was not "good news." Going back to a performance-based relationship with God is not good news, because we simply cannot live up to the holy standards He desires. That's the whole point of the law anyway: to show us we cannot live up to what He wants. Once we realize that, we are ready (more than ready!) to hear the true good news. The law is there to point us to Christ. Once we are pointed in the right direction, the grace of Christ takes us from there and teaches us how we can have a living, vibrant relationship with God. Those who have received the grace of Christ are welcome to come into the Holy of Holies as much as they want. In fact, we can live every minute there. Awesome!

Giving

Continuing to move through 2 Corinthians, I learned something out of chapter 9:

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written:

"He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever."

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness....(v. 6-10)

I would say 99.9% of the time we are concerning ourselves with the wrong thing. We concern ourselves with our jobs and making a living so we can provide for our families. Of course we have to go to work and pay the bills, but is this the main focus of our lives? If the point of living is to make a living and pile up money for retirement, then life is meaningless. In this passage it says that God is able to make all grace abound toward us, that we, having all sufficiency in all things, will have an abundance out of which we will be able to give. Wow. It's almost as if God is saying, "Hey look, I will take care of your needs so you can remain focused on taking care of others' needs." Those needs may be physical or spiritual, but either way, we should take this verse to mean that we can remain focused on kingdom stuff while He takes care of physical stuff. This verse goes perfectly hand in hand with that passage out of Matthew: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." We must keep in mind that work and paychecks are side issues in comparison to kingdom issues.

I guess I stand corrected.

Need Some Help

OK, if you read this blog, I need some help figuring this out. There's a set of verses in 2 Corinthians that's intriguing to me, but I want to learn more about it. Here it is:

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says:
"In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you."

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

This is the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6. I'm curious to know what this means: "...[do] not receive the grace of God in vain."

Any takers?

The Ministry of Reconciliation

In chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians Paul refers to the gospel as the ministry of reconciliation, or the word of reconciliation. It's not too hard to understand that, because of our sin, we were all at odds with God at one point in time. But now that Christ has come and paid the penalty for our sins, as we put our faith in Him, we are now reconciled to our Father.

But this passage carries with it another application, one that I sometimes have trouble doing. If God has forgiven us so that we might be reconciled, we need to be very intentional in forgiving one another so that we can be reconciled with one another. Sure, we won't see eye to eye sometimes, but it's a testament to the ministry of reconciliation to those who are on the outside looking in if we can just forgive each other and be reconciled to one another. That means no holding grudges and no unforgiveness. That means tell your wife you're sorry for being a bull-headed idiot.

How can we teach others about this word of reconciliation if we won't be reconciled to each other?

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

2 Corinthians is one of my favorite books. I'm at that critical verse in chapter 4:

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." NKJV

And in the NIV:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Here you have two things. First off, you have this "treasure." Of course, it's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As Colossians puts it, "...Christ in you, the hope of glory." (1:27) As Jesus lives inside all of us who believe, we must keep in mind what exactly He is living in--clay pots. So we have this "treasure" in "clay pots." It really should put some perspective into our lives. In other words, remember, who is the clay pot, and who is the treasure?

So many of us have extremely high opinions of ourselves. I know I do. As a matter of fact, we are trained in the public school system on the importance of having "high self-esteem." And that's exactly what we do...we esteem ourselves very highly. But if we take an honest inventory of ourselves, we realize we're really not all that great. We have pride, attitudes, and short tempers, not to mention the more hideous sins we harbor deep in our thought lives.

We are clay pots to be sure...nothing much to look at, very fragile, and they don't really do much...except provide a place for beautiful flowers. Understand what I'm getting at?

However, despite all this, God delights in using us clay pots. He puts nothing less than Himself in us to use us for His glory. Even though we have many shortcomings, He doesn't abandon us or give up on us. This brings a great deal of joy and comfort to me, because no matter how many times I mess up, as long as I have a repentant heart and keep turning back to Him, I will always have this treasure in me. This is grace.

It would do us well to remember who's the treasure, and who's the clay pot.

The Ministry of Righteousness

"For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory." 2 Cor. 3:9

This passage is loaded with so much about the superiority of the New Covenant over the old. I could write a whole book on this chapter alone, but I didn't want to do that. This thought crossed my mind though:

The Law - referred to by Paul as the ministry of "condemnation"

The New Covenant of grace - referred to as the ministry of righteousness

Righteousness does not come through good deeds or following the law. Righteousness comes another way...through the cross. And because I believe, I have this righteousness! I can think of no other way to put it than this:

Woo hoo!

Some days it's very easy to realize that we don't have it together. Our lives are full of mistakes, bad attitudes, and pride. But it's so important to remember that, apart from our performance, we have the righteousness of Christ. That is so awesome!

One of My Favorites

The first chapters of 2 Corinthians are some of my favorite passages in all of scripture. I went over one of those again this morning:

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant...."

It's so important to be reminded that, apart from Christ, we can do nothing. It's also important to remember that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. It brings peace to know that we can rest in His abilities rather than trusting in our own. In other words, when God gives us a mission to accomplish, He gives us the enabling of His Holy Spirit to get things done. We don't need to (nor should we try to) accomplish a spiritual mission through natural means.

"...our sufficiency is from God...."

I love that.

Remember that today.

The Fragrance of His Knowledge

"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." 2 Cor. 2:14

This is a great verse. Note the phrase, "always leads us in triumph in Christ...." In Christ, no matter what is happening, no matter how dire the situation, there's always triumph. Nothing can keep us from God's love, nothing can keep us from the life God has for us, and sin no longer has dominion over us. How awesome is that?!

I also love the second part: "...and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. My in laws make potpourri for their business. When they make it, the scent is very strong, and you can smell it everywhere and on everything. The same is true when we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. People can "smell" Him...people can know that He's real and that He loves them through us.

Complete

"Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us...." 2 Cor. 1:9-10

Here are a couple of verses that struck me the other day. Actually, the one part that really struck me is the three different "time applications" of the deliverance from death.

We know that death results from sin...so what Paul is saying with the phrase, "who delivered us from so great a death," is that God has stepped in with regard to our sin. By the death and resurrection of Jesus we have been delivered from the death that we all deserve. And no matter how many times it's said, it never gets old to hear that Jesus took our place, and took the penalty of death for us. We've been delivered from death to life.

Now Paul also says, "and does deliver us...." This is a personal application on the part of Paul and his company. Jesus was working in the midst of their troubles in Asia. They really did face death on a number of occasions for their confession of Jesus. Even so, Jesus was still delivering them.

Finally he says that they trust "He will still deliver us." Paul speaks of a future time when death, the last enemy, will be defeated. There will come a day when all who believe in Jesus will no longer face pain, or sorrow, or death. We will fully realize the life that Jesus purchased for us.

I guess the implications of this passage really spoke to me. The victory that Jesus gives us over sin and death is all encompassing, complete, and full. As He said on the cross, "It is finished."

Completed. Totally. Once for all.

The Body

Well I'm currently in 1 Corinthians. I recently read chapter 12 where Paul is talking about the Holy Spirit and gifts and functions in the body. Two points I noticed:

1.) The Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

No one can claim they have no gift. We all need to find out what it is and use it. The idea that ministry is left up to the paid professional with the four year degree is not biblical. God empowers regular people by the Spirit for the profit of the entire body. Not using your gift is (putting in harshly) disobedience.

2.) God has put apostles, prophets, and teachers (along with others) in the body.

The "teachers" interest me. Who are these people, and what are they supposed to be teaching? Obviously, they are to be teaching the truths God has set out in His Word. How important are they? I'm not so sure that we can "rank" the importance of each gift in this fashion: you're more important than him because you're a teacher and he just has the gift of helps. No, Paul actually addresses this mindset in this chapter. But he does say, "first apostles, second prophets, third teachers," meaning that these offices are critical to the health of the body. It makes me wonder if we have men and women like this. Each local church needs men and women like this.

Life is Good

The other day I was walking down the drive from the shop back to my house. It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and I'm loving my new job. I've got great kids, a gorgeous wife, and work is busy. Life is good!