Is it really true that we should do everything Jesus said? I've provoked criticism of my teaching at times when I've said that the answer to that question is, "no." There is a new movement of those who call themselves “red letter Christians”, who say: “I’m living by the red letters in the New Testament.” That refers to the Bibles that have the words of Jesus written in red. “I’m doing what Jesus said.” Well, the truth is, we need to consider how to rightly divide the Word. Jesus Christ said a lot of things at times, when He was not speaking to us. Remember that Jesus lived under the Old Covenant. The New Covenant didn't become effective until His own death.
I’m not minimizing the words of Jesus, His words are very important. In fact, His words are so important that we need to properly understand them. And we do that by examining to whom He was speaking, when He was speaking, and what He was saying.
I'll say it again a second time for emphasis: Jesus ministered under the Old Covenant, so he said a lot of things to those people, that once He had died on the cross and been raised from the dead, what He told them became obsolete in terms of your life. "Now," you might say: “wait a minute, you've gone too far! You are saying we don’t have to do everything Jesus said!" Well, do you really believe you should do everything Jesus said?
What about in Matthew 5 when Jesus said that if you look upon a person with lust in your heart, you should pluck your eye out? Any man reading this, if you really believe you should do everything Jesus said, you better get busy and start digging at your sockets right now. What about when Jesus said, “if you are tempted to steal, chop your hand off”? What about when he told the rich young ruler, to sell everything that he had and give it to the poor?
Somebody will protest, "Don't be ridiculous! Of course, He didn't mean that we take that literally!" My response would be, "Okay, then we are in agreement that we aren't to do everything Jesus said. It's just a question now of what words he spoke apply to us and which don't."
Those who say you should do everything that Jesus said, conveniently pick and choose the things they want to do, while ignoring and explaining other things away. How about when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, and said: “as I have done this to you, so you should do this to each other”. Have you washed other Christians’ feet? If we are going to stand doggedly and determinedly on a certain point like this, then let’s practice it, let’s be consistent about it.
For instance, take the words of Jesus in what is commonly known as "the Lord's prayer." He said to pray, saying "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." He goes on to say a few verses later that you won't be forgiven by God unless you forgive others. Now, wait a minute. Was He talking to you at that moment? He was not. That was spoken before the cross -- before the New Covenant began.
Every passage that deals with forgiveness after the cross teaches that we forgive others, but not so that we will get forgiveness. We forgive others because we have been forgiven and it's now our nature to forgive. For instance, Ephesians 4:32 say, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Under the Old Covenant, people forgave or else. Now, under the New Covenant, we forgive because we have been forgiven.
It is a misunderstanding to suggest that we should do everything that Jesus said. What we should do is understand what Jesus said and what it meant, when it was said, and take his words seriously enough to rightly divide the word of truth and to apply his words in the way they were intended to be applied. If you believe that you should do everything that Jesus said, you are going to experience a lot of self condemnation in your life because I know you are not going to do everything he said, like plucking out your eye, selling all you have and giving it to the poor, or washing other Christian’s feet. So let’s rightly divide the Word and take the words of Jesus seriously enough that we examine them in light of the New Covenant.
Showing posts with label Old covenant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old covenant. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Joel Brueseke - NEW Covenant! (Get out of the shadows)
Heb 10:9 "He takes away the first that He may establish the second."
About this New Covenant: This is not "Old Covenant, Part 2." This is not a continuation of the Old Covenant. This is not a mixture of two Covenants. This is not a "new" way to do the same old thing. This is not an amendment to the Old Covenant. This is not "picking up where the old left off." This is a completely different covenant. This is "a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Heb 8:6).
The old system of a priesthood of mortal men (see Heb 7:23-25 "prevented by death from continuing"), and everything that went along with it, served a purpose under that old covenant, but it is now done away with. The old tithing system that was set in place to provide for the Levites, widows, orphans and strangers, served its purpose under that old covenant, but it is now done away with. All of the sacrifices, which had a purpose under that old covenant, have now been done away with.
The curse of the law has been done away with. In fact, the Law has been "wiped out," "taken out of the way," "nailed to the cross." (Col 2:14). Did Paul really say that? YES HE DID! Trying to be obedient to God's Law has been done away with. Man's relationship with the law altogether has been done away with! One has to be dead to the law in order to be married to a completely different spouse, Jesus Christ. (Rom 7:1-6, Gal 2:19-20). They are not the same, and you cannot be married/joined to both.
God's law was "a shadow of of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb 10:1). It, along with the sacrifices, could never make anything perfect and could never take away sins, but really only brought about a reminder of sins! (Heb 10:2-4).
However...
JESUS HIMSELF - the PERSON - is the reality, is the substance (Col 2:17). The reality/substance is not a system of rules and laws and sacrifices, but is a Person. Jesus' one-time, once-for-all sacrifice did away with ALL of that! With one sacrifice, the system of laws and ordinances was done away with, as was the entire priestly system and the entire OLD COVENANT. "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh..." (Rom 8:3). Jesus Himself became a curse for us (Gal 3:13) and became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). With one sacrifice, Jesus TOOK AWAY the sin of the world! "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). "But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb 9:26).
If we want to live in the fullness of the reality of Jesus Christ, we need to get out of the shadows and instead focus on the substance - the Person of Jesus Christ who IS our life and who is our light. He Himself IS the reality of the abundant life.
About this New Covenant: This is not "Old Covenant, Part 2." This is not a continuation of the Old Covenant. This is not a mixture of two Covenants. This is not a "new" way to do the same old thing. This is not an amendment to the Old Covenant. This is not "picking up where the old left off." This is a completely different covenant. This is "a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Heb 8:6).
The old system of a priesthood of mortal men (see Heb 7:23-25 "prevented by death from continuing"), and everything that went along with it, served a purpose under that old covenant, but it is now done away with. The old tithing system that was set in place to provide for the Levites, widows, orphans and strangers, served its purpose under that old covenant, but it is now done away with. All of the sacrifices, which had a purpose under that old covenant, have now been done away with.
The curse of the law has been done away with. In fact, the Law has been "wiped out," "taken out of the way," "nailed to the cross." (Col 2:14). Did Paul really say that? YES HE DID! Trying to be obedient to God's Law has been done away with. Man's relationship with the law altogether has been done away with! One has to be dead to the law in order to be married to a completely different spouse, Jesus Christ. (Rom 7:1-6, Gal 2:19-20). They are not the same, and you cannot be married/joined to both.
God's law was "a shadow of of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb 10:1). It, along with the sacrifices, could never make anything perfect and could never take away sins, but really only brought about a reminder of sins! (Heb 10:2-4).
However...
JESUS HIMSELF - the PERSON - is the reality, is the substance (Col 2:17). The reality/substance is not a system of rules and laws and sacrifices, but is a Person. Jesus' one-time, once-for-all sacrifice did away with ALL of that! With one sacrifice, the system of laws and ordinances was done away with, as was the entire priestly system and the entire OLD COVENANT. "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh..." (Rom 8:3). Jesus Himself became a curse for us (Gal 3:13) and became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). With one sacrifice, Jesus TOOK AWAY the sin of the world! "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). "But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb 9:26).
If we want to live in the fullness of the reality of Jesus Christ, we need to get out of the shadows and instead focus on the substance - the Person of Jesus Christ who IS our life and who is our light. He Himself IS the reality of the abundant life.
Joel Brueseke - Ten specific examples of what was against us and contrary to us...
If the last post didn't step on any toes, I'm sure this one will. But let's at least look at what the Scriptures say. "Let us reason together." :)
First, a summary:
Scripture tells us that something was against us and contrary to us. It tells us that we were in bondage to something. It tells us that in Christ, this has now been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete. Isn't it quite astounding for God to go to such great lengths to take something out of the way, nail it to the cross and make it obsolete! So what is it that was against us, and contrary to us, and put us into bondage... and God then took out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete?
Gal 4:24 "For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage..."
Col 2:13-14 "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."
Heb 8:13 In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."
What came from Mount Sinai? God's LAW. What is the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us? God's LAW. What has been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross? God's LAW. What has been made obsolete? The Old Covenant, which was based upon man keeping God's LAW.
Brace yourself, I'm here to lay it down.
----------------------------------------
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall have no other gods before Me."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not murder."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not commit adultery."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not steal."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
(All of the above: "The Ten Commandments," taken from Exodus 20:3-17)
We now have something so much better than all of this! All of the above is good and holy, but it was weak in that it could never do a thing to make us good and holy. All it did was to make us guilty before God. It was against us, contrary to us, and put us into nothing but bondage. But what the Law could not do, God did by sending His Son. We have now died to the above so that we could be joined with Christ, whose life in us will always lead us into what is good, holy and righteous. We are now free to serve righteousness, which is something we could never, ever find in the Law!
First, a summary:
Scripture tells us that something was against us and contrary to us. It tells us that we were in bondage to something. It tells us that in Christ, this has now been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete. Isn't it quite astounding for God to go to such great lengths to take something out of the way, nail it to the cross and make it obsolete! So what is it that was against us, and contrary to us, and put us into bondage... and God then took out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete?
Gal 4:24 "For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage..."
Col 2:13-14 "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."
Heb 8:13 In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."
What came from Mount Sinai? God's LAW. What is the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us? God's LAW. What has been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross? God's LAW. What has been made obsolete? The Old Covenant, which was based upon man keeping God's LAW.
Brace yourself, I'm here to lay it down.
----------------------------------------
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall have no other gods before Me."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not murder."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not commit adultery."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not steal."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
(All of the above: "The Ten Commandments," taken from Exodus 20:3-17)
We now have something so much better than all of this! All of the above is good and holy, but it was weak in that it could never do a thing to make us good and holy. All it did was to make us guilty before God. It was against us, contrary to us, and put us into nothing but bondage. But what the Law could not do, God did by sending His Son. We have now died to the above so that we could be joined with Christ, whose life in us will always lead us into what is good, holy and righteous. We are now free to serve righteousness, which is something we could never, ever find in the Law!
Joel Brueseke - What was against us and contrary to us has been wiped out and made obsolete!
This post, and the post to follow, are not posts that are meant to turn your head a little. They're not simply "double-take" posts. These are absolute all-out in-your-face posts! I might even make some enemies with these posts, and I'm willing to take that risk. But my ultimate hope is that the words in these posts will be used to set people free.
For too long the Church of Jesus Christ has been involved in an atrocious, yet all too widely accepted, form of Christianity that continues to include within it various forms of the very thing that Christ came to set us free from! Actually, this has been going on for 2,000 years. Certain early Christians, such as the people in the churches of Galatia, were so involved in this atrocity that the Apostle Paul, in a strong rebuke, called them foolish and he asked them who had bewitched them that they would turn back to such things!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul said (Galatians 5:1), but yet there are still many Christians living today who are in bondage to the very thing that Christ set us free from! It should not be this way! So what is this terrible, heinous form of slavery that Christians are involved in, through the preaching and teaching of it, and through the daily yoking of themselves together with it?
The LAW. God's Law. God's holy Law. I'll be specific: The Ten Commandments (and any and all other of God's 600+ laws and ordinances in the Bible). This is what Christians, to their detriment, are misguidedly teaching and preaching as the way of the Christian life. The paradox here is that God's good, holy law... is not good for us! It was against us and contrary to us (Colossians 2:14). It was bondage to us (Galatians 4:24). See, God's good and holy Law has this itsy bitsy little shortcoming when it comes to sinful man: It can make no one perfect or holy or good! (See Hebrews 7:18-19 and Romans 8:3). So what God did through Christ was not to enable us to live according to the standards of His Law, but rather He took the Law out of the way by nailing it to the cross with Christ! (See again Colossians 2:14). And so with the Law nailed to the cross and our sin taken away, we were freed from our bondage and made close to God by His grace. We now live, not by God's Law, but by the Life of Christ that has come to indwell us.
So why the obsession with the Law in Christianity??? Do we not get that it was against us and that we had to die to it in order to belong to Christ? (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 7:4). Jesus
said He didn't come to destroy the Law. He came to fullfil it. And guess what? At the cross, all was fulfilled!!! When Jesus died, God's Last Will and Testament (the New Covenant) was executed. When all was fullfilled, and the New Covenant came to be, God made the first covenant "obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13)! We can't miss the fact that Jesus, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Jesus sat down, signifying that the work was complete and sufficient and finished forever!!! What the Law could never have done, Christ did once and for all.
Thank GOD that what was against us and contrary to us (God's Law) has been wiped out and nailed to the cross and made obsolete! Because of this, we are truly FREE!
For too long the Church of Jesus Christ has been involved in an atrocious, yet all too widely accepted, form of Christianity that continues to include within it various forms of the very thing that Christ came to set us free from! Actually, this has been going on for 2,000 years. Certain early Christians, such as the people in the churches of Galatia, were so involved in this atrocity that the Apostle Paul, in a strong rebuke, called them foolish and he asked them who had bewitched them that they would turn back to such things!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul said (Galatians 5:1), but yet there are still many Christians living today who are in bondage to the very thing that Christ set us free from! It should not be this way! So what is this terrible, heinous form of slavery that Christians are involved in, through the preaching and teaching of it, and through the daily yoking of themselves together with it?
The LAW. God's Law. God's holy Law. I'll be specific: The Ten Commandments (and any and all other of God's 600+ laws and ordinances in the Bible). This is what Christians, to their detriment, are misguidedly teaching and preaching as the way of the Christian life. The paradox here is that God's good, holy law... is not good for us! It was against us and contrary to us (Colossians 2:14). It was bondage to us (Galatians 4:24). See, God's good and holy Law has this itsy bitsy little shortcoming when it comes to sinful man: It can make no one perfect or holy or good! (See Hebrews 7:18-19 and Romans 8:3). So what God did through Christ was not to enable us to live according to the standards of His Law, but rather He took the Law out of the way by nailing it to the cross with Christ! (See again Colossians 2:14). And so with the Law nailed to the cross and our sin taken away, we were freed from our bondage and made close to God by His grace. We now live, not by God's Law, but by the Life of Christ that has come to indwell us.
So why the obsession with the Law in Christianity??? Do we not get that it was against us and that we had to die to it in order to belong to Christ? (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 7:4). Jesus
said He didn't come to destroy the Law. He came to fullfil it. And guess what? At the cross, all was fulfilled!!! When Jesus died, God's Last Will and Testament (the New Covenant) was executed. When all was fullfilled, and the New Covenant came to be, God made the first covenant "obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13)! We can't miss the fact that Jesus, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Jesus sat down, signifying that the work was complete and sufficient and finished forever!!! What the Law could never have done, Christ did once and for all.
Thank GOD that what was against us and contrary to us (God's Law) has been wiped out and nailed to the cross and made obsolete! Because of this, we are truly FREE!
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