430 years

As I mentioned in the last post ("2,500 years"), most people in the history of mankind have never even heard of "God's laws" that He gave to Israel. If God had intended for His laws to be the staples that held mankind together in salvation and right living, don't you think perhaps He'd have done a little better of a job of making His commandments known to all of mankind? But as I also said in the last post... that was never the point of the law!

The law did have a point and a purpose - a very legitimate and necessary purpose. I mentioned last time that Rom 5:12 says that sin entered the world through one man (Adam) and sin spread to everyone. The next verse contains a key to the purpose of the Law. "For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom 5:13). In other words, sin was in the world but it had not been charged to man's account (imputed to him). The law entered, not to help man live right or as something for man to follow as a way to inherit eternal life. The law was "weak and unprofitable" because it could not do that! (Heb 7:18-19). Rather the law's purpose was to charge the world with the sin that they already had, but had not yet been charged with.

A dozen paragraphs earlier, Paul had begun to make this point: "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Rom 3:19). In short, the law's purpose was to charge the world with sin. It made all of humanity guilty. As Paul also said in Gal 3:19, "What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made..."

And so what's this about a "Seed?" It all has to do with a promise God made to Abraham (when he was still known as Abram), four hundred and thirty years before the law. An inheritance was promised to Abraham:

Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him," So shall your descendants (Hebrew word Zera`, meaning 'seed') be."

Paul illuminates: Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ (Gal 3:16).

Paul continues, "And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ [the promise to Abraham], that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise (Gal 3:17-18).

In other words, "Here's what it's all about. Life with God is not about Law, it's about living according to the promise of God." The law charged everyone with guilt, but God's promise was an inheritance and a life that was lived by faith, not law.

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. (Gal 3:22-25)

Abraham's response to God's promise in Gen 15:5 is what those who are of the faith also live by: Gen 15:6 - "Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness."

Abraham is known as "the father of all those who believe" (Rom 4:11) because the blessedness of life and righteousness that is imputed (accounted, credited) to man apart from works came through him. He received the promise long before the law came, and that promise supersedes the law! We have absolutely no need for "law" in order to have a full-on relationship with God. In fact, "the law is not of faith" (Gal 3:12). We had to "die to the law" in order to "live unto God" (Gal 2:19). "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith" (Gal 2:20) just as Abraham did.

Ministry of reconciliation / Have we lost the plot?

Three things:

1) Dogs bark.
2) Ducks quack.
3) Sinners sin.

When dogs bark, we don't say, "that's just not right, dogs just shouldn't do that," because we know it's in the nature of dogs to bark. When ducks quack, we don't think that anything is out of the ordinary, because that's what ducks do. So why do we become so incredulous when sinners, whose nature it is to sin, sin?

In our own culture, we think things are getting worse and worse. And you know what, perhaps it's true that more people are pushing more buttons and are blatantly committing more and more sins. And sometimes I think some of it is a result of Christians laying down the law, trying to get sinners to stop their doggone sinning! See, it really has the opposite effect of what's intended! Law doesn't stop sin. The Apostle Paul called the law "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (see 2 Cor 3:4-11) for good reasons!

Rom 7:8-11
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

When groups of Christians go around raising a fuss about the various sins of the world, it doesn't seem to have a such a redeeming effect upon sinners! Does it? I guess one of my questions that I keep asking is... is there not yet enough evidence out there that shows that our holier than thou stance against the virus of sin only serves to strengthen the virus, rather than kill it? Whether it comes in the form of politics, or from the pulpit, or in one-on-one relationships with unredeemed people, do our rules, laws and policies really help out when it comes to redeeming the culture?

And I don't mean conforming the people of our culture into moral behavior. I mean redeeming the people of our culture. I mean bringing people into a true, living relationship with God through Jesus. I mean, if we stick up our noses at the bad things people do, does that really help out in the matter of people coming to know God?

Have we (the church) lost the plot? When Jesus redeemed us individually, was it His plan for us to then get on out there and make a big fuss about all the sin that's in the world? Is it His purpose for us to be worried about the state of our culture, and to therefore go out and protest all the barking dogs and quacking ducks? (the sinning sinners). Is JESUS running around worried about all the sin that's going on in the world?

Or is our mission and ministry towards sinners of a different nature?

As I already noted (and have noted lots of times in the past and will continue to note in the future), the ministry of death and condemnation (the law) has never done one thing to redeem a human being. Never! It can't! "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" (Gal 3:21). The law condemns. The 'Letter' kills.

But the Spirit gives life, and it's solely because we're "in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption..." that we can even begin to walk in the fullness of the life and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that we've been given!

And it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:6-8).

Do we understand all that God did in order to redeem us? I've only touched on the tip of the iceberg here! And yet somehow we think our laws and protests and avoidance of sinners is going to be what saves our culture?

I think Rom 5:8 must have been rewritten in some people's Bibles to say, "while we were still sinners, Christ avoided us and wrote protest letters to us about our behavior and made a big stink of our sins."

Instead, Jesus came to meet us where we were at. His big stink was with the holier-than-thou's, as far as I can see it. But to the sinners, to those dogs who barked and to those ducks who quacked, he didn't place a muzzle on them to try to get them to conform. Rather, He touched them and came to live in them and gave them a brand new nature! He did all of this as a gift of grace.

What I really want to get at here is that His ministry toward us carries on through us towards others. Not that we're going to go through a physical death, burial and resurrection as Jesus did in order to meet others where they're at, but spiritually speaking, with His life and grace in us, we can look at sinners in the same way He does. We can bring to them this message of God's peace and goodwill toward mankind.

Instead of rehashing the ministry of death and condemnation, we have a different ministry. The ministry of reconciliation.

2 Cor 5:18-21
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation , that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

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.

What do you think? Has the church lost the plot? If God's good and holy law has this effect on people: "sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire" and "when the commandment came, sin revived and I died," then do we really expect man-made laws and 'moral standards' to have any more desirous of an effect on unredeemed people?

Righteousness apart from law

Rom 3:19-26

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 2 of 2

In Part 1, I left off by saying that there was more to the stories about joyless giving that I had briefly mentioned. Check out that post to see the stories.

In story number one, the host of the program made things worse for the woman, in my opinion. It was obvious to me that he was a supporter of Christian tithing, and so instead of addressing the fact that tithing is a non-Christian principle (again, stay tuned and I'll eventually lay out a series of posts, showing how tithing is not a New Covenant principle by any means), and freeing the woman up to simply give freely from her heart as she determined to do on her own, which would by nature involve nothing less than cheerful giving, he gave her a list of rules and principles she could try to follow in order to have more joy in her life.

This is the type of thing in which I tend to have more verbal communication with my radio than I otherwise would have. ;)

And worse yet, in story number two the woman and her husband were commended by the host for what they did. I will mention that the woman said that she and her husband were very happy with what they had done and that they were thankful that they were in a position to be giving to something that they really wanted to give to. If they were truly changing their lifestyle because in their hearts they had decided that this was a way to give, and they did it cheerfully, then I can't argue with that.

But yet the whole story seems to me to be based more on legalism and religion - and not just a small wiff of it. This couple did feel obliged to "pay a tithe" to their local church. It didn't seem like they thought they had a choice in the matter. The root of their actions, it seems to me, was obligation, not giving freely.

When it comes to both joyful living (an overall life of joy) and joyful giving, the root can never be obligation. It can never be religion. It can never be rules. It can never be law. Christ came to set us FREE from all of that! I think that many Christians are living joyless lives, or at least seem to have very little joy, because they are mixing either a little or a lot of law and Old Covenant principles into their Christian lives. It only takes a little leaven of the law and religion to leaven the whole lump (see Gal 5:1-9).

Someone (well, ok, a LOT of people) might want to take some New Testament words and make "rules and principles" out of them. I'm thinking of words such as Peter's words, "What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives..." (2 Peter 3:9). I recently heard an entire sermon on the radio based upon this passage. It basically turned out to be a list of do's and don'ts for the Christian life.

But the more I find out about my freedom in Christ, I find that the "oughts" of the Christian life are rooted in something much deeper. We can't simply yank passages out of the Bible and make rules out of them. Peter, in the above passage, continues with words that are often overlooked. "...as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." This "ought" was rooted in joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord. It wasn't rooted in any kind of obligation to "be a better Christian" by following the rules. Joy wasn't going to come as a result of trying to live by "oughts."

Rather, the types of lives we live are rooted in the fact that in Christ we have freedom and we have joy. We have a wonderful Savior and Friend, and as we get to know Him intimately and freely, not through rules and oughts, but through His grace and love, then we won't be obliged to change our lifestyles in order to try to do better for Him. Instead, the sanctification process will be much more natural, over a period of time, as we rest in Him. It deeply saddens me that for many, the Christian life is not much more than futile attempts at rules and oughts.

As you read through other New Testament epistles, note how Paul and the others lay a foundation of life, love, grace, etc. And much more than a foundation, life, love and grace are also the makeup of the entire Christian life. And the actions of the Christian life, such as giving, kindness, love, holiness, etc, are not the root of the Christian life. They are the legitimate fruit of being grounded firmly and deeply in God's love and grace!

Joyful living and joyful giving - Part 1 of 2

I've had this in draft mode for at least two or three months, and with recent posts by others, and subsequent comments from others, I thought this might be the time to finish it and post it.

I don't quite understand it (ha ha), but for some reason churches seem to make a priority of teaching on the topic of giving. And many of the teachings I've heard on this topic just make me sad. This is stuff I've heard all throughout my church life but I can't say that I ever get any happier when I hear it.

Here are two sad stories I've heard lately that I believe are direct results of how giving is taught in churches today.

1. On a Christian radio talk show, a woman called in with a problem. The gist of her problem is that she gives money to the church but she just can't seem to do it joyfully. She said something like, "We do pay our tithe to our church, but it just isn't a joyful thing for us."

2. Another woman called into a Christian talk show (I can't remember if it was the same program) and said that there was a time when she and her husband couldn't afford to pay their tithe to their church, because they wouldn't have enough money left over for other necessary things, but they felt guilty about it. So what did they end up doing? They SOLD their house, and in her own words, they took a huge loss on it. But, she says, now they are in a smaller house that costs less and they can now afford to "pay their tithe" to their church.

OH

MY.

Why do things like this surprise me? It probably happens far more than we can imagine.

But the point is... what has the Christian religion done to us??? We take Old Covenant laws and practices that served specific purposes for Old Covenant times, we stretch them and manipulate them to fit into the ways we've devised to do things in the church, and we call it "Christianity." I've written full commentaries on "the tithe" in the past and I've shared bits and pieces of my thoughts in various newgroups, and even more recently on other blogs, and I have in mind to do a full series here on "the tithe."

But for now I'll just say that I'll bet there are many similar stories to the ones I shared above, with people dealing with joyless giving, changing their lifestyles so they can "pay a tithe" to a church, and other problems rooted in legalism, and this is one of the areas of modern day legalistic Christianity that really gets under my skin.

The stories above didn't end where I left off. I'll pick up where I left off next time.

Spiritual adultery

I snagged the following quotes off of the first part of an audio series simply called "Grace" by Rob Rufus that I downloaded quite a while ago from the Grace in Flood blog. I enjoy listening to the series from time to time.

In this part, Rob is talking about Christians who go back to their old marriage partner, The Law, to try to get themselves straightened out and whipped into shape so they can be presentable to their new Husband, Jesus. But the Law only condemns, the Law only kills, the Law only pronounces judgment. The Law is perfect and holy and good and just, but the Law is a terrible, terrible husband.

Rob says:

Now I believe that what Jesus does is He looks at the church that does that and I just think that tears come down His eyes. I think He just looks at us and goes, "Do you think I'm an insecure husband? Did you think I didn't know you'd have all these idiosyncrasies? I never had any illusions. I knew everything about you when I took you on and embraced you. I am the perfect husband to my bride. I'm the perfect bridegroom. I'm the perfect husband of all husbands.

And I can love you unconditionally because the integrity of heaven's high call of justice was fully satisfied by Me on the cross on your behalf...

And you think you're impressing Me by going back to him to make me happy? You break My heart. I'm not the one putting you under the laws, the rules and condemnation. I'm the one that redeems you from it so that 24 hours a day Father's love and acceptance may pour into your life."

Perfection - Part 2 of 2 - The good news

I'll start this one off with some brief technicalities and then get on with it.

The words that are translated as "perfect" or "perfected" originate as two Greek words:

Teleios (Strong's 5046) is the adjective form of the word, and it's used more commonly. It means "brought to it's end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness; perfect; that which is perfect."

The word that is used a little less often is Teleioo (Strong's 5048). It's the verb form of the word and it means "to make perfect, complete; to carry through completely, to accomplish, finish, bring to an end; to be found perfect; to bring to the end goal."

(The root word for both words is Telos (Strong's 5056), which, simply put, means "the end, the termination, the limit, the purpose, the end, the aim, the end to which all things relate.")

I bring all this up simply to give a bigger sense of what "perfect" means, but in short the words are all related and they have to do with being complete, finished, mature, lacking nothing, perfect, brought to the end goal.

In the first post I attempted to point out the "bad news" about man's lack of perfection. Jesus came as a masterful teacher of the law, and in case anyone thought they were doing ok in regards to being perfect or complete through keeping the law, Jesus made it perfectly clear that they fell far short. The rich young ruler, for example, after claiming to have kept certain laws since his youth, asked Jesus, "What do I still lack?" (In other words, "in what ways do I still fall short of perfection?"). Jesus answered him, "If you want to be perfect (teleios), go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." The man went away sorrowful.

Why?

I'll just cut to the chase. It's because it's impossible for sinful man to become perfected (complete, brought to the end goal, perfect) through anything he does (!) - no matter how well he thinks he has performed. We can pick on the rich young ruler for not wanting to give up his riches, but who among us could have a conversation with Jesus in which we bring to Him our mighty list of accomplishments and leave Him satisfied with our supposed state of perfection! To me, the whole purpose of the Sermon on the Mount was to get that point through to man's thick, self-righteous skulls!

But I said I was getting to the good news. :) Actually, I think Jesus gives the good news near the beginning of His Sermon, right before spelling out the bad news, and I think we zip right past it without realizing it. He says, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matt 5:17). That's an earth-shattering statement!

"Excuse me, Jesus. Did I hear you right? Did you say you've come to FULFILL the law?"

"Yup."

Jesus goes on, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt 5:18).

From that point on, He begins to lay out the bad news about the consequences for those whose righteousness does not "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees."

"You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Those words, along with the rest of the bad news in Matthew 5-7, make the good news all the more clear: Jesus came to fulfill the law! I believe that one reason Jesus went on to spell out all the bad news was to show how extremely important it was that He came to fulfill the law!

When sinful man finally realizes the truth about his lack of completeness and lack of perfection and lack of true righteousness, he can see much more clearly that standing perfect before God can only come as a gift. He will finally see that he can never earn it or attain to it through anything he does. If the Sermon on the Mount, in addition to the Law, doesn't get that across to sinful man, I don't know what will.

The good news is that Jesus fulfilled the law! And the result of that, along with His sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection is that "He has perfected (teleioo) forever those who are being sanctified" (Heb 10:14). Everything that was lacking in sinful man was completed, accomplished, carried through completely, perfected... through Jesus and only through Jesus.

Col 2:9-10 says, "For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

In Christ... and in Christ alone... we have been perfected and we are complete. We can't add to it or take away from it! This is our actual, factual standing before God. Perfect, complete, holy, justified, sanctified, righteous.

Of course there is another use of the word perfect/perfected. It can also mean to be mature or complete in the things we do, in how we live our lives. This, of course, is something that doesn't happen instantly, in the way that our perfect and complete standing in Christ did. This is a matter of a lifetime of being transformed on the outside to the reality of what is true on the inside. Now, if you think that following the Law or the Sermon on the Mount plays any part in this, please understand the true meaning and the true depths of the Law, and please read the Sermon on the Mount again... and again... and again... until you understand that Jesus is not talking about Christian growth and maturity!

But if you do find yourself truly growing in grace and growing in the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - not through your own efforts but through resting in Christ, who fulfilled the Law - you may just find your outward performance naturally lining up with some of what you see in the law and with the things Jesus said! If you truly find this happening, I can guarantee that you won't ever make the claim that it's all because you've followed the Law or the Sermon on the Mount. Either that, or you've deceived yourself into thinking you have!

I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in Me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in Christ. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness (or perfection!) comes through the law, then Christ died in vain (see Gal 2:20-21). This is good news!

(By the way, I'm soliciting all comments about any or all of this - whether negative or positive, or neutral. This is my personal take on things, and I'm open to hear what you have to say).

Now teacher, don't you fill me up with your rules...

Some people who know me will know where I'm coming from with this.

Others who know me will know that I'm not necessarily coming from anywhere with this. ;)

As for me and my house... it's probably both. :)

I've had my computer down for a few days while doing a massive rearrangement of things in the ol' office, and while I'm planning on continuing with my "Jesus is Not a Religion" series tomorrow, I had other things on my mind tonight. Once I got booted up again, instead of getting caught up on important things... LOL... I spent some time looking at old Motley Crüe videos. :-D

Smokin' in the Boys Room

Big Difference 5 - We have been forgiven

It's been almost a month since my last "Big Difference" post so I guess it's about time for a new one! This one was sparked by thoughts from Steve McVey's video from today (see below), as well as yesterday's blog post from Darin Hufford entitled "Going for the Worship." Both men mentioned how things changed at the cross. As Hufford puts it, "God hasn't changed from the Old to New Testament, however THINGS have."

In case anyone is new here and is not aware of where I'm coming from, I'll just state that I think it's of utmost importance that we Christians understand what the Old and New covenants are and how they are not the same and how there are huge differences between them! Also, that we are not living in a mixture of the two covenants, but we are under the New Covenant alone. The Old Covenant was a precursor to the New Covenant, and with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, everything changed dramatically! We entered into the era of the New Covenant.

It's also important to note that just because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are accounts of the life of Jesus and are placed in the section of the Bible that we call "The New Testament," that doesn't mean that it's all New Covenant teaching! Again, it wasn't until the cross that things changed. Let me make a hopefully obvious point: Jesus' life as a man on the earth was all lived before the cross! The New Covenant came into effect at Jesus' death (i.e. the cross).

Jesus came into the world, "born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal 4:4). And we know that "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" (Gal 3:24-25). For the past few weeks, I've been working on a series of posts that will delve much deeper into all this. But for now let me just say that in many, many cases, Jesus was speaking words that were aimed at those who were under the Old Covenant/law.

Jesus, before the cross (still under the Old Covenant) masterfully used the law as a tutor (as it was meant to be used), digging deep into the real meaning of the law (not simply going around citing the Ten Commandments), penetrating the hearts of those who perhaps only had a surface view of the law. I should also add that Jesus also spoke a lot of New Covenant talk, and it's of utmost importance that we learn to distinguish the difference. Much has been revealed to us in the New Testament epistles about the reality of the New Covenant in which we live. If you ever read something in the epistles that seems to contradict anything that Jesus said, please note that none of it is wrong or contradictory! The words simply represent two distinct covenants. As you read and learn, please remember which one you are under!

One of the things Jesus said (before the cross, speaking to those under the Old Covenant) is the conditional promise of God, "if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt 6:14-15).

IF these words are meant as a condition that Christians, under the New Testament, are to heed, then I'd like to suggest that there are a lot of people in the church who are not forgiven! Do you know what that implies??? Have you ever thought through the ramifications of teaching this Old Covenant teaching in the church?! I've heard it taught time and time again. What's sorely missing if we look only at the face value of Jesus' words, is the truth of the New Covenant teaching that with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ we have been forgiven of all sins! In fact, our sins have been taken away.

IF this forgiveness condition is still in effect, then did the cross really change much of anything?! Were sins really forgiven? Was sin really taken away?

There are so many New Testament verses that testify to the fact that in Christ we've been forgiven, not based upon the condition that we forgive others, but based upon what Jesus accomplished on our behalf. I refer you to this excellent, scripture only post from Bino last year. Here are just a couple of examples:

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Col 2:13-14).

(Again, where did things change? The cross.)

"I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 John 2:12). (I might add that these words from John, as well as other words from him and other NT writers, are part of the reason I hold a different view than many of John's previous words in chapter 1, vs. 9 about confession and forgiveness... but I'll save that for another day!)

In the end, please hear me correctly and please don't get me wrong. I take all of the Bible seriously. I take all of Jesus' words seriously! But again I think we must learn to discern which of His words apply to New Covenant Christians and which of His words apply to those who were still under the tutor of the law. There's a big difference!

Here's Steve's video from today.
"Lie #92 If You Don't Forgive Others, God Won't Forgive You."


*For an explanation of this Big Difference series, see the original post.*

Big Difference 4 - Under the Law vs. Freed from the Law

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law , so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another — to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. (Rom 7:1-6 NKJV)

The first thing I want to point out here is that I've heard this passage used time and time again in the context of rules for Christian marriage, but yet it has nothing to do with that! Paul was using an example from Jewish Law to make a point about our need to be freed from the Law in order to be "married" to Christ.

The Law was given to charge the world with the guilt of sin. Rom 5:13 says that sin was in the world before the Law, but without Law sin could not be imputed (charged) to man. That was the purpose of the Law, to charge sin to man's account. The Law was never given as a way that man could get right or stay right with God, and it wasn't given as a "moral compass." If it was meant to be a moral compass... it didn't work!

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded , grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 5:20-21 NKJV)

Through the Law, sin abounded. The Law never has and never will curb sin. It produces exactly the opposite of what the carnal mind logically thinks it should.

And so the problem, as presented in the first passage above from Romans 7, is that if we are under the Law, we cannot be joined to Christ. The Law only leaves us guilty, and through it sin abounds. Even a little Law will do this. Speaking in the context of the Law, Paul warned the Galatians that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Gal 5:9). Paul had just finished speaking about the bondage of the Old Covenant (Gal 4). The Law can never and will never set us free. It only keeps us in bondage. That's it's "job," so to speak. That's it's purpose.

So... how do people who are "married" to the Law gain freedom from the Law? According to the example in Romans 7, one of two who are bound in marriage has to die in order to legally be unbound (freed) from the other. Well, the Law wasn't going to die. The Law is holy and perfect and has no obligation or need to die! So... the only solution left is that we had to die! Only when we died to the Law, were we able to be raised again with Christ. We are now dead to the Law. Having been freed from the Law through our very own death, we have been made alive together, once and for always, with Christ.

Paul exhorts the Galatians, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). He is speaking to believers who have been set free from the Law and have been made alive together with Christ. I'll paraphrase what he goes on to tell them. "If you think the Christian life has anything to do with keeping the Law, then you are obligated to keep the whole Law. If this is really what you think it's about, then Christ is of no benefit to you!" (see Gal 5:2-4)

In this life in Christ, we must stand firm in our freedom! We don't keep going back to the Law (that we died to!) in order to improve our performance in our Christian life. That's bondage! A little leaven means bondage for the whole lump of dough.

Our guide, our "moral compass," our way of living is no longer found in Laws but is found in a Person with whom we've been made alive together! This Person resides in us. He is not a set of external rules, principles or laws. He is freedom personified! We have been made alive together with Him. He (Jesus, the person who dwells in us) is the way, the truth and the life!

*For an explanation of this Big Difference series, see the original post.*

The letter of the New Testament - Part 3

Tell me something. Is the fruit of the Spirit meant to be a list of things that we work on in our lives in Christ? What do you think when you read these words from the Apostle Paul? "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Do you zero in on perhaps one or two (or more) of the "fruits" that you think perhaps you are lacking in, and then determine to start working on making them a bigger part of your life in Christ? If so, it's my personal belief that you have missed the whole point! :) It would seem to me that your daily life in Christ is not really a matter of life, but a matter of letter.

I've heard of so many different Bible study groups that study these fruits as if they were rules that we need to follow or as if they are projects that we can work on in our lives to become better Christians. For example, I've heard people say things like, "I'm really working on patience right now." I've heard of nine-week study guides... with a focus on each different fruit every week. I've even listened to nine-week sermon series' with the same sort of focus.

By the way, did you ever stop to think that perhaps the fruit of the Spirit is so much more than a simple list of nine things??? These are nine wonderful things that the Spirit works out in our lives as we abide in Christ and walk in step with the Spirit, but God's fruit goes far beyond this little list!

The point is that so many of these things that are really a result of us abiding in Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through us are turned into should's and shouldn'ts, and do's and don'ts. They become letter to us. They become things we shoot for or aim for, rather than things we trust the life-giving Spirit to produce in us as we rest in Christ.

I might turn a head or two with my next statement, but yet I think many of you "get" it. I think we can even turn grace into letter! How is it possible to turn grace into law? It's very easy! I've seen it done time after time.

Grace is God's power working in us as we rest in Christ. Grace is not a matter of "you should do this" or "you ought to do that." Grace is the source of holiness and godliness in us, but it never operates out of an insistence that life be lived a certain way, or else. Grace is not pushy. Grace is not manipulative. But man oh man, some people can use grace to be manipulative and pushy!

I heard a sermon on "giving" one time. (Actually, I've heard countless sermons on giving)! But this one sermon in particular pushed a few of my buttons because while grace was mentioned, I think it was misused. In the midst of this sermon on giving, Paul's words from 2 Cor 8:7 came up. "See that you also excel in this grace of giving." Not only was this tiny phrase taken out of context, but in the midst of this sermon on giving, giving became a "should." It became a rule for us to live by, rather than something we do cheerfully as we truly grow in grace. It got even worse, at least from my point of view, because the insistence that we grow in the grace of giving was topped off with what I believe was a manipulative invoking of the Holy Spirit. In short, the gist of it went something like this: "The Holy Spirit is in you. And if the Holy Spirit is in you, and if you are living by God's grace, then you 'should' be more generous and you 'should' start giving more!"

(By the way, this reminds me of something I've heard Paul Anderson-Walsh share at least a couple of times. This is not verbatim... it's from memory so forgive me if the details are fuzzy. I think Paul said he was visiting Bob George in Texas. He was going to be speaking, and a woman asked him what topic he was going to be speaking on (I think she wanted to put it in the bulletin?). He said the topic was going to be, "Don't Let Anybody Should On You." :) If you say that out loud, it might end up sounding like not such a nice topic to be talking about! I think the woman said something about not being able to print that (what she thought she heard). ;) Anyway, the point is clear: don't let anybody 'should' on you!)

So many things that were meant to be a representation of life are very easy to turn into letter. For example, we've had some great discussions on this blog and other blogs lately about the subject of "church." The matter of the assembling of the saints can very easily become letter to us if we make it into some sort of rule to follow rather than a wonderful part of our life in Christ in which we can freely come together to encourage one another and build one another up.

Even our "gifts and callings" can become letter. We may feel called to a certain function within the body, and at first we may gladly embrace what the Spirit is doing in and through us, but eventually it might become something we "must" or "should" do. It becomes a "rule" in our life in Christ rather than a joyful expression of His life in us.

And what about Bible study? What about prayer? What about "being a witness?" What about "go and make disciples?" All of these things are spoken of in one way or another in the New Testament, and sadly they've become letter rather than an expression of Life.

Can you think of other things that are meant to be life, but we (the church) have turned them into letter?

Why do I bring all of this up? It's most certainly not just to "complain!" I don't think complaining in and of itself will do a whole lot to help the problem. But I do bring it up because I believe all of this causes lots of problems in the church and I hope we can all encourage one another in the truth. The Spirit gives life but the letter kills. Now, our spirit will not actually die because of any of this! Our spirit remains one with God even if we don't fully realize or understand it all! But the part of us that can be "killed" by letter is our soul. Our joy, our peace, our understanding of God's unconditional love for us and His acceptance of us. Our overall desire and love for Christ can actually be quenched when we replace Christ with godly principles! That doesn't sound right, I know! But if you've tried living by "principles for Christian living" for any amount of time... I don't really think I need to try to convince you.

The substance of the Christian life is a Person. He has a name. Jesus. He is our life.

"We have died and the life we now live in the body we live by rules, instructions and principles?"

MAY IT NEVER BE! :)

The live we live in this New Creation life is not our life that we live. It's the life of Christ.

The letter of the New Testament - Part 2

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, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills , but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:5-6 NKJV)

As I said in Part 1, the above passage is referring to the Law. The ministry of death and condemnation (the Law, the letter) kills, but the Spirit, through the Person of Jesus Christ, who came to dwell in us because of grace, gives life!

But is it only the "established" law that kills (the Ten Commandments and the other six hundred Old Testament laws and precepts)?

Really, any rule or regulation that takes the place of the PERSON of JESUS CHRIST, can bring us down. If we read the New Testament epistles with the mind that they are a matter of principles or instructions or rules for Christian living, they can quickly and easily become a matter of "letter" for us rather than LIFE.

Consider just a small sample of the "instructions" we find in the New Testament epistles:

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love... continuing steadfastly in prayer... distributing to the needs of the saints... repay no one evil for evil... flee from idolatry... do not think too highly of yourself... associate with the humble... husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church... pursue love... desire spiritual gifts... forgive one another... confess your sins to one another... do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers... love one another... grow in the grace of giving... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control... be angry, and do not sin... let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification... children, obey your parents in the Lord... do all things without complaining and disputing... be anxious for nothing... put to death the deeds of the flesh... pray without ceasing... avoid sexual immorality... avoid every kind of evil... avoid the appearance of evil... do not neglect your gift... fan into flame the gift of God... fix your thoughts on Jesus... bear one another's burdens... add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love...

I'm sure you have all those things covered, right? ;)

Ok, seriously, let me ask you... do you feel better about yourself after reading this list, or worse? And remember, this list is just the tip of the iceberg!

See, we can preach this stuff week after week after week after week... and all of this is really good stuff... I mean, who's going to argue that doing things without complaining is a bad thing? Or fleeing idolatry and sexual immorality? But the problem is that in preaching all of this good stuff, we preach it as "rules for Christian living," and in doing so we're trying to help people live like Christ, but in reality we're leaving Christ out of the picture! We can very easily turn New Testament words into "letter" rather than understanding that all of these words are the result, or fruit, of the life of the indwelling Christ.

Now, if you can honestly say that most or all of the words in the above passage are a true description of your life in Christ... then you know that it's not because you've worked them all out as a matter of following them as rules.

However, I would bet... and I'm not really much of a betting man, but I would bet a LOT on this... I would bet that if you're like most people who regularly attend a church that preaches all of those things week after week, then the above list made you feel a lot worse about yourself, and not good at all about your walk with Christ. I would bet that you've heard it all. You've been taught week after week "how to live the Christian life," based upon all of these New Testament "rules" and "principles," but in fact you're nowhere close to living these things out consistently.

The reason: They've subtly become "letter" to you, and no matter how many times you hear them preached, you find no power to actually live by them. In fact, at times, perhaps many times, you feel yourself stepping backwards and not forward. And the reason for that is because in all of this ongoing teaching of how to live the Christian life, Christ is missing. Christ has been replaced by principles for living for Christ! And you may not have even realized it! You may have figured that since you're trying to do all those things, and you're trying to apply all those New Testament principles week after week and day after day, then that shows that you're following Christ. But you have unknowingly and unwittingly replaced Christ with lists of should's and shouldn'ts, with lists of do's and don'ts and with lists of rules and principles for Christian living. The lists go on and on, and they very craftily disguise themselves as "Christ," but what they really are is a carry-over from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I'm not saying that all those things were inspired by God and written down for no reason! And I'm not saying that we should ignore them! What I am saying is that the substance of the Christian life is Christ Himself, living in and through us. The substance of the Christian life is a Person, not principles. We in the church have grown so accustomed to hearing principles, rules, instructions, etc, taught week after week after week, that we have been lulled to sleep. We've grown accustomed to pastors and teachers simply giving us rules and lists of things to do, and in doing so, we've missed Christ.

I can see this getting increasingly longer than I thought it would be, so I guess there will be a Part 3!

The letter of the New Testament - Part 1

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, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills , but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:5-6 NKJV)

I would most likely be preaching to the choir if I talked about how the Apostle Paul is referring to the Law in the above passage. In the verses that follow, Paul talks about "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" - AKA "the Law." He contrasts this with "the ministry of the Spirit" and "the ministry of righteousness." Contrary to popular belief in modern Christian culture, the Law is not the ministry of the Spirit nor the ministry of righteousness! The Law is the ministry of death and condemnation! The ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness is all based upon Jesus Christ, not Law.

If you try to mix the two, you end up with the ministry of death and condemnation. Just say I had a glass of clean water and I offered it to you. But just before you drank it, I added a tiny little speck of cow manure. Are you still going to drink it?

That's what happens when you put even a tiny bit of Law in your Grace drink. It contaminates the whole thing!

So... we "get" the Law thing. Or at least I hope we do. The Christian life is not about living by the Law. Mixing the Law into the Christian life is like mixing cow dung into pure, clean drinking water.

But there is something else... something much more subtle... that can just as easily contaminate the Christian life, if not "applied" properly.

The New Testament.

Huh?

Yeah, the New Testament.

Before I get to my point, I do need to say that the true New Testament (or New Covenant - the Will of God), in and of itself, really is the basis for our life in Christ. The actual New Covenant does not contaminate us! The New Covenant is LIFE! The New Covenant is Christ-in-us.

However, we have these 27 books... Matthew through Revelation... that we call the "New Testament," and if we don't apply these written words correctly, they can very easily become "law" or "letter" to us. Indeed, the pure words that are meant to be LIFE can very easily become like pure water contaminated with cow excrement!

How? Why? What the...?"

Ok, I'll get to the point. In Part 2. :)

Law or Love?

From my notes from 9/21/01:

Which is better?
To put a person in reins and hold the reins tightly to keep them from moving to the left or right - OR to let the person live in freedom, make mistakes, and eventually (possibly, but with no guarantee) learn of God's unconditional love and begin to love God and others, so their freedom keeps them walking a straight line?

So why do we try to control people with reins??? (Rules, Regulations, Laws, etc).

Which is better?
Bondage, fear and guilt - OR love.

The possibility that others will make mistakes or using grace as a license to sin will always be a legitimate concern - but it should never be used as a reason or excuse to refrain from preaching and teaching the pure gospel of grace.

What makes a person righteous

I was digging through some of my past notes and I came across this note from 5/20/01.

The law led people to Christ, but not by works of the law. The works of the Law never benefited anyone as far as righteousness is concerned. When a person sins after coming to Christ, they don’t go back to the law to lead them back to Christ. Sin doesn’t mean that you have left Christ (and therefore need to get back). Coming to Christ is a one time event. The law leads you to faith. You become “in Christ” by faith. Sin doesn’t get you “out” of Christ. It wasn’t your good works that got you “in Christ” in the first place.

Sin doesn’t mean rejection of faith or Christ. So you don’t need the Law to get you back to Christ. Once you’ve come to Christ, the law’s purpose is done and is never needed again. It led you to Christ. It doesn’t sustain you in Christ.

The law surely can show us what sin is (therefore it shows sinners, who haven't come to Christ, their need for righteousness). But the law doesn’t do anything to fix the problem.

In Christ, the problem is done away with. We have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Even when we sin, we are still the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Again, when we were sinners, our good works didn't make us righteous, and now that we're in Christ - and therefore no longer a sinner but rather a righteous person - our sin doesn't make us unrighteous.

You ran well...

Gal 5: 1-12
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

How had the Galatians formerly been running well? What truth were they not "obeying?" Who and what did hinder them from obeying that truth? Who was troubling them? Considering the context, what was needed for them to "run well" again? (There is, of course, more context than the few verses that I shared).

There is life in the red letters... Sometimes.

I was recently listening to some music from good ol' DC Talk. I've always loved their music. Even from the freaky hip hop days. :) By the way, are those guys ever gonna get back together? Their greatest hits CD, "Intermission," came out when? 2000??? That's quite an intermission! I know, I know, they've all gone on to other wonderful things, and I could really digress quite terribly here! So on with the point...

The chorus of their song "Red Letters," from the "Supernatural" CD goes like this:

There is love in the red letters
There is truth in the red letters
There is hope for the hopeless
Peace and forgiveness
There is life in the red letters
In the red letters

I want to go on record as saying I'm not trying to judge the writer's heart or intentions. A response to what I'm going to say here could go something like, "Come on, Joel! What are you bickering about now!" And it's true that I didn't even have to use this song to make my point. I actually had another title for this post, but this song popped into my head because I had just listened to it the other day. So it simply provided a starting point for what I'm saying.

From what I understand, the "red letters" in the song refers to the words of Jesus. Certain Bible publishers have published "Red Letter" versions, to highlight the words of Jesus in red.

So, first off... everything that is said in the chorus of this song can indeed be found in the "red letters" (in various words that Jesus spoke): Love, truth, hope, peace, forgiveness and life.

HOWEVER... There are times when the red letters do not