Great Boldness
How bold are you?
A person can have what I call fading boldness. That boldness exists until they encounter someone with a superior argument to the one they sought to defend.
When someone becomes absolutely convinced that what they have come to know is true, right, and good, they cannot be argued out of it. They become very bold in their ability to speak out about what they believe and why they believe it. They can’t help but unapologetically speak about it. They are not ashamed of what they are convinced of. Persuasive words and eloquence of speech will not sway them.
2 Corinthians 3:12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Moses hid his face behind a veil to hide the fading glory. It was a fading glory because the glory of the Law was unsustainable.
Only those who know what it means to be in Christ can see the Laws’ fading nature. The Old Covenant’s glory was nothing compared to the glory of the New Covenant Christ Jesus established with His blood. Yet many preachers today preach the Old Testament as though its glory is still to be envied. They pine away for the former days of old as though that glory was something to be jealous of. That kind of ministry only serves to make people more aware of themselves and look to themselves for change.
Whenever someone truly turns to the Lord, the veil is removed, and the diminished glory of what was becomes clearly evident and no longer appealing. Those who are in Christ are privileged to look with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror. We get to see a glory that does not diminish. A glory so wonderful and appealing that even when it is revealed as a reflection in the mirror to us, it transforms us into the same image we are beholding. Only Christ’s glory has transformative power.
We are taken from one glory to another glory. We have moved away from the diminished faded glory to that of an ever-increasing glory. Change does not come to the believer by means of the law with its faded glory. It comes to the believer through beholding Christ. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to reveal the glory of Christ to us. He will teach you all things pertaining to Christ. He has not been given to us to teach us about the wrong covenant and the fading glory of that covenant. He is very aware of our context and the Covenant that God is respecting and honoring at this time.
That is why where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Timidity, fear, apprehension, and doubt are demolished. Boldness is the fruit of truly knowing Him and having His glory revealed through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When this type of relationship encounter is active in the life of the believer, the fruit of endurance and active faith is manifested.
2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Paul did not lose heart! Notice what it was they were ministering. It was the gospel! Paul describes it as the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. It is not truth in general that is light Paul was interested in. It was the light of the truth of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The true knowledge of the glory of God can only be found now in the face of Jesus Christ.
The New Covenant glory is the greatest of all the covenants because it is the glory of Christ, as he prayed in John 17. The veil is removed to reveal that glory to us so that we might be transformed into His image as we behold Him. The kind of transformation it produces is not of the religious brand and, thus, of an inferior nature. The New Covenant glory produces the fruit of great boldness by revealing Christ in all His glory to our hearts and thus showing us who we are now that we are in Him. This produces the fruit of great boldness!
The Way
Do you know how?
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Have you ever been really convinced something was right only to find that it was wrong?
Saul, who later became Paul, was convinced in the Bible that he was right. He held everyone’s cloak while they stoned Stephen, a just man who loved Jesus. He zealously fought against the church and put believers in prison. Finally, he was given the authority to go further than just around Jerusalem, and while on his way to Damascus, he encountered Jesus. This man who was so convinced he was devoted to God by being zealous for the law discovered he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Saul had spent his whole life preparing himself in one specific direction, but when he encountered Jesus, everything changed. He discovered that what he had been so zealous for had been fulfilled in Christ and that this was no longer the way God operated on earth. This totally changed his perspectives on righteousness and justification. So much was his thoughts changed that he said the following,
Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Attempting to obtain justification or righteousness through the law or maintaining it through that same means is futile.
Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
The law cannot prepare a new creation for the Holy Spirit to inhabit. It can only show us how far short of the mark we are. Thus, if we look to it for any hope of being made righteous or maintaining righteousness, it ministers death and condemnation. Paul was not the only one who understood this.
Consider, if you will, what James stated,
James 2:8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. 10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. 11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So, if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.
Offending in just one part of the law is equal to being a violator of the whole law. According to James, as soon as you show any preferential treatment to someone, you have violated the command to love your neighbor. To not love your neighbor as is commanded does not require you to hate them or treat them badly. Thinking that way would diminish the purity and integrity of the law.
If a person lies, they have violated the whole law in a sense because it only requires violating one command to be found guilty according to the law. One single act of selfishness is a violation of the two highest commands.
If we consider the greatest of all the commands, which is to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, well, who claims a perfect record of that one other than Jesus? The law cannot give us hope, produce new life, or make anyone righteous before God. It is not the way for a believer to live.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
The law is not the way under the New Covenant. Jesus is the way! It is now by grace through faith in Jesus that we function.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. These three things are worth pondering deeply.
What Are You Confident Of?
Are you sure?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything, give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I have violated God’s will for me many times by complaining about a situation instead of giving thanks for it.
So, it would be a very honest confession on my part to say that I have known many times when I have not carried out God’s will perfectly in the details of my daily life since becoming a believer. I can assure you that this is not the only will of God I have ever violated. Hebrews 10 reveals another specific will of God for me that I seek to own every day of my life and am most grateful for.
Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 37 “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
I am not drawing back on having my faith rest in the finished work of Christ! He is my confidence and my righteousness. That is what I will stand on. It’s not my hit-and-miss track record as it pertains to the specific revealed will of God for daily living that tells me who I am in Him or whether or not I stand accepted. I will stand in faith that I might still approach.
I do not say this to diminish the value and importance of God’s will in specific areas of daily life. I share this simply to say that when we discover we have fallen short, we should not violate God’s major will, which is to believe and walk in faith in who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us.
Let’s allow our confidence to rest in Him and rejoice in the life He gives to us. Let’s do His will that comes after failure or in the midst of struggle.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
It is of great value to have confidence in His goodness and His invitation to approach at all times. Jesus gave His life to establish us in a relationship with the Father as sons. He did not die to enable us to improve our behavior and become loved and acceptable through our performance. Of course, knowing His love and being secure in it will definitely improve our behavior as we learn who he is and who we are in Him. But that is different than trying to behave in order to merit or earn His love and acceptance.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We can’t love Him without knowing His love first, and we definitely cannot love others without the security of being loved by Him. I will confess I have not loved Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength and loved my neighbor as myself perfectly any more than I have given thanks perfectly. I need Jesus all the time, every day. I need His love and His merciful acceptance of me based on His finished work on my behalf. In this, I have confidence! He loves me all the time, and He has accepted me in the beloved (Christ).
We need to ask ourselves from time to time what we’re most confident about when it comes to our relationship with Him. If the answer we come up with isn’t His love and acceptance of us based on the completed work of Christ, then we need to preach the gospel of the New Covenant to ourselves again and possibly find someone preaching it to listen to over and over again until it settles in the depths of our souls concretely, restores our joy, and produces the fresh fruit of thanksgiving again.
Shadow To Substance
Looking at the right thing?
Every shadow tells us that there is something of substance in existence. There cannot be a shadow without a substance.
The Old Covenant is filled with shadows. It was not the substance. Here’s the thing about shadows. Shadows cannot replace the substance because they cannot do what the substance does.
For instance, I can see a shadow of a chair cast on the floor. However, if I go to sit in the shadow, I will fall on the floor because the shadow cannot support me. The same thing would be true of a car or plane. If I were to try to travel by getting in the shadow of a car or plane, I would get nowhere. I need the substance.
Some believers love shadows; they spend their time preaching the shadows of the Old Covenant and extracting principles from them, believing that if you just tell people how to live, they can, by their own strength and willpower, do so. It’s like they are stuck celebrating the shadows.
Here’s something to consider. I love my wife, Sheila. I think she is beautiful. I enjoy my time with her. But wouldn’t it be weird if I preferred her shadow over her? Who wouldn’t think me to be weird if I were always trying to hug her shadow, or talking to her shadow, or trying to hold the shadow of her hand?
We no longer need to be preaching shadows because the substance has come! It’s time to stop looking at the shadows and start looking at the substance we’ve been given in Christ! When we stop celebrating the shadows and instead celebrate the substance, it produces a certain type of living that expresses freedom.
Colossians 2:16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. 18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. 20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world? For example, 21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. 3:1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
Often, there will be people who push others regarding their idea of what spiritual maturity should look like, and it often involves a certain level of devotion to certain things. It is a performance-based mindset that they operate in, and they desire that others adopt the same mindset. Their idea of devotion is often based on Old Covenant principles, which they think are hard, fast rules. This kind of thinking is so caught up in the things of this earth that they cannot think of heavenly things, new man realities, and Spirit-governed living.
In Christ, we are called to live according to the Spirit because the substance that has come to us makes this type of living our new reality. What was at one time out of reach and only casting a shadow is now within reach and desires that we partake. Christ in you the hope of glory! You are hidden with God in Christ and seated in the heavenly places with Christ! We no longer see according to types and shadows. We get to see God in the face of Jesus Christ! The substance (Christ Jesus) has come and revealed the Father! For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
The Big Difference
What covenant are you in?
When it comes to the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, there are a couple of major differences that set them apart and should forever bring an end to any argument for thinking the Old Covenant is meant in any way to be a part of a believer’s life.
The greatest separator is Christ Himself, no doubt. The second major difference is the new creation.
Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
Leaving behind any thought about the significance of new creation reality is a big mistake to make.
Think about it for just a moment. Is there evidence of one single person being made into a new creation from Genesis to Malachi?
It is not until Jesus comes to earth, goes to the cross, rises from the dead, ascends to heaven, and then sends the Holy Spirit that we discover a heaven-born brand new species on earth in existence—a sanctified people from every nation, race, and language. Sanctified means set apart. The thing that sets believers apart is being new creations filled with the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 6 tells us it is no longer about being under the law or having the heritage of the law as one’s history. It is about Christ Jesus and the new life He offers to those who, by grace through faith, are born again.
Think about it; you will never find this kind of language in the Old Testament.
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
I dare you to search and see if you can find anywhere in the Old Testament a statement where the Law made a new creation, and old things passed away, and behold, everything became new. It just doesn’t exist because the law was never given to make someone righteous or new.
Romans 3:19 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. 20 Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The law brings knowledge of sin, not hope of righteousness, but rather a keen sense of failure and not measuring up. Alas, too many are accustomed to being told how they fail to measure up. It makes them feel a certain way to be reminded continually that they fail to measure up. In fact, they have been conditioned to think that anointed preaching is tasked with making sure everyone knows how miserably they have failed and that they need to repent for it. So ministers continue to use the law to come against the saints and make them ever more mindful of who they are according to the flesh as opposed to preaching the gospel and reminding them of who they are according to the Spirit.
The gospel is sadly left out of the discussion in many churches because it is thought more anointed to make people feel bad and guilty over presumed failures than it is to set their minds on things above and the obedience of Christ Jesus on their behalf. The church needs to know who she really is in Christ if she is ever to live according to the Spirit. If the Spirit’s promise is conditionally based on her keeping the law, then there is no hope for a Spirit-empowered church on this earth.
Galatian 3:5 Therefore, He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
The big difference is that only in the New Covenant, which is the Spirit covenant made possible by the blood of Jesus, can a new creation exist that is capable of receiving the Holy Spirit of promise and doing life according to the Spirit. Life according to the Spirit was never the fruit of the law. Jesus has come. He completed the work required. By grace and faith in Him, we have now become something we could never have become by our own efforts under the law. We are now the very righteousness of God in Christ! It’s a very big difference!
Does Covenant Matter?
What covenant are you in?
When I was young and had only recently come to know Christ, I was driving a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. It was red/orange. It looked fast, and it was fast. But I had come to know Jesus and had begun to drive the speed limit.
I was on my way home one night, and the stretch of road I was on had just had a change of speed posted on it. It went from 45 to 55. I was doing 55 when a policeman pulled me over. He suggested I was speeding, and I respectfully disagreed. I told him it was a 55 MPH zone. It took some convincing to get him to believe me, and he went back to check the sign to confirm it. But since I was driving at the right speed limit, he had to let me go.
I had left behind the 45-mile-per-hour zone and entered the 55-mile-per-hour zone. Even though he was a policeman with authority, his authority could not override the posted speed limit sign. The sign established what he could or could not enforce.
That experience is what it is like to move from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. I cannot be punished for a violation of the Old Covenant because I am not under it. I am now accountable to the New Covenant.
When driving on an interstate, a person can be ticketed for driving too slowly. If they are in a 70 MPH zone driving 40 MPH, they can be ticketed. They are in the wrong place to be driving that slow. That speed may work in a different time and place, but it will not work on the interstate. In fact, it is dangerous for those who drive slowly and all those who use the same highway.
Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Trying to live by the principles of the Old Covenant is a wrong application for the context we are now in after coming to Christ. Things have changed.
The law was merely a tutor for a set time.
Galatians 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
I wonder if you caught the same thing I did. After faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
The Law was a tutor, not a savior. Had the Law been a savior, there would have been no need for Jesus to come.
Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
What was the tutor? The law. What are we no longer under? The law. That was Old Covenant terms. We are in a New Covenant. Trying to function under an Old Covenant mindset is like driving 20MPH on an interstate with a 70MPH limit. The enemy does not have to respond to any attempt on the part of a believer who is trying to deal with him based on Old Covenant outlines. He knows which Covenant is in effect now and who it involves, and he knows he has to yield to the authority of that Covenant.
He can’t come and accuse me on the basis of that Old Covenant and seek to hinder or restrain me based on any violation of it. I can say to him, you would be correct if I were under the Covenant you’re trying to use against me. However, your accusation is based on the wrong Covenant, and therefore, it is false and has no authority. I belong to Jesus, who shed His blood for me, and I testify that I am under His Covenant.
You see, Covenant matters! Understanding which covenant you are in and what that covenant offers is very important. How can someone really take a stand in His authority if they don’t know a thing about His covenant? Covenant matters.
Strongholds
Are you stuck?
In medieval times, strongholds were built to protect whoever was inside them. These strongholds were castles surrounded by tall, thick walls of stone. They were fortified, too.
This is the idea behind what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 10
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Strongholds are built in the soul through a process. It begins with a thought suggested by the enemy through a false instruction. The thought is made to be appealing and pleasing, and thus, it is not rejected but instead entertained. That thought is a seed, and when it germinates, it will spring forth as a high thing in the soul. A high thing is any thought that is given greater weight than the obedience of Jesus. Once it becomes a high thing, it demands to be protected, so in the soul, a fortress is built to protect it from attacks. Now, the enemy has a protected holding place in the thought life. It becomes well entrenched and can affect choices and decision-making.
But there is good news! Even though we are human, we do not fight these battles as mere humans. We have weapons that are mighty through God for pulling down such strongholds. These weapons help us to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. They bring thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ!
Let’s think about this for a moment. The arguments and high things that must be cast down have been exalted against the knowledge of God. What exactly does that mean?
God knows something, and whatever it is, God knows it is more accurate and trustworthy than anything we can experience in the flesh or know according to human reasoning. This brings us to the counsel of His word. Whatever God has spoken in the context of the current covenant in force is the final say, and nothing should be allowed to be exalted above it. This is why every thought must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ!
Notice it says the obedience of Christ, not my obedience to Christ. This is about His obedience and what it accomplished. This is the essence of New Covenant truth at its core. How many thoughts are to be brought into captivity according to His obedience? Every thought!
This is where our obedience finally comes into play. Disobedience will be punished whenever we fulfill our obedience. What is our obedience? Believe, stand firm on the truth He has spoken, and let God be true, and every man is a liar. Apply the highest esteem and regard for what God has spoken to us in His word as it pertains to who Christ is, what Christ has done, and how that is now applied to us as His new creations.
What are these mighty weapons, the New Life we have received in Christ Jesus that places us in Christ and puts Christ in us (Our new identity), the New Covenant word of truth (without mixture of law), and the person of the Holy Spirit given to us as our promise from the Father.
Suppose we struggle to understand the New Covenant Jesus established with His blood and how it has brought us to victory in a way nothing else could. In that case, we will only be able to see how impossible a stronghold looks and fail to do anything about it. But when we understand as we should, we realize just how frail these strongholds are, and we realize we can see them demolished easily by comparing their lie to the truth of Christ’s obedience and what it accomplished. We use the weapons we have been given to cast them down!
Strongholds don’t stand a chance against the weapons that are mighty through God!
Sin Shall Not
Exercising dominion?
When I was in the seventh grade, I had just started a new Jr High School. It took no time for trouble to find me. During home group time, I was leaning back in my chair, and a boy used his foot to tip me all the way back onto the floor. He laughed, and I got back up and sat down in my chair. I thought it was merely an innocent prank. So when I caught him leaning back, I returned the favor. He got very angry about it and told me to meet him at the flag pole after school. I shrugged it off as though he was just blowing off steam and being dramatic. So I just avoided him, and for days, he would bump me in the hallway and say, “Meet me at the flag pole,” and call me a name. One day, it was raining after school, and as a result, I got caught under the canopy in front of the school where the flag pole was, and there he was. He decided to increase his antics and grabbed my favorite shirt, twisting it and breathing out threats. I told him to let go of my shirt and leave me alone, or he would regret it. At that, he punched me in the stomach and then just stood there. When I straightened back up, I lit into him. I was stopped eventually by an older, bigger guy who said the principal was coming and picked me up and tossed me over the crowd into the wet grass and said run, little man. Once I got about halfway home, I began to cry, feeling bad I had so badly beaten someone up. Needless to say, that boy wanted to be my friend after that and never taunted or tormented me again.
I’m not sharing this brag about some physical altercation I won. I honestly felt bad about it once it was over. I’m sharing it to demonstrate that I tolerated a season of being tormented in front of all my friends and classmates by someone who should have had no dominion over me.
Too often, those who have been born again tolerate torment and taunting for no good reason. They put up with the idea that they should be subject to some sin that seeks to dominate them. They listen to a lie from the enemy and subject themselves to the idea that they are powerless and have a sin problem. They seem not to realize what New Covenant Scripture says about them.
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
No true born-again believer in Jesus is a slave to sin. The New Creation is set free from the power of sin and the slavery to sin. Sin has to be chosen and allowed. This is all tied to our new identity in Christ. Our identity is no longer a slave of sin but rather a slave to righteousness. We are no longer under the microscope of the law, which magnifies sin and brings death. We are under grace, which magnifies the life of Christ in us and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. There is a power at work within us!
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
The key is walking in what we received from Christ! New life!
Romans 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Instead of looking at sin as being powerful and thinking that our old self never truly died, we need to change our minds and agree with what Scripture testifies concerning us. We died with Jesus, and when we went into the grave with Him with all our sins, just as He took sin with Him into the grave and left it there. We did likewise. The sinful nature died and was buried with Jesus! The old nature is no longer alive and in control.
This is why water baptism in the name of Jesus is an active faith obedience declaring the old sin nature is dead and gone, and a new life in Christ has been received. That is why Paul, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can say authoritatively,
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Cast Out The Bindwoman And Her Son
Are you diehard?
Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.” 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
In these passages, we find that another gospel had been introduced at Galatia—another gospel involves applying the law as part of God’s plan for what completes one’s salvation experience or enhances it. To dismantle a false gospel, Paul explained the two main covenants in Scripture and how one is meant to be cast away. He demonstrates how Gentile believers embrace the law after coming to Jesus, opposing the real truth that Gentiles without the law are part of the heavenly Jerusalem.
The poem from Isaiah in the passages foretells how Gentiles without the law have always been a part of God’s plan of salvation, too. They weren’t an afterthought. God planned for righteousness apart from the Law that involved Christ and His New Covenant.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Paul called the Galatians back to the New Covenant Gospel to dispel the deception.
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Anytime the gospel's simplicity and purity are challenged in a believer's perspective, it is bewitching. In other words, there are demonic forces at work seeking to dilute the purity and simplicity of the gospel. The most effective way they have found to do this is by using a mixture. By mixing law with grace, they sully the gospel and make the promises a maybe instead of yes and amen in Christ.
The enemy is after your understanding of the gospel, Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, and what has been done for you to enjoy their love, acceptance, and help. Satan wants to skew your perspective about God.
Bewitched in Greek means to be fascinated with false representations. It is the same practice the enemy used against Eve in the garden when he called into question whether or not God really said what she had been told He said.
Law and grace are like water and oil. They do not mix. Law has a place when dealing with arrogant sinners who oppose the truth and argue for their own right standing based on their own merit or reject the notion that they need the help of Jesus in any way. But it has no place with saints who have come to Christ in full assurance of faith resting on His completed work on their behalf. Have you cast out the bondwoman? Or do you think she can help you become more acceptable to God than what Jesus has already done on your behalf? It is no gospel that encourages you to put your trust in what you can do to gain acceptance with God as your Father at any time during your journey. The real gospel calls you to faith in Christ alone. Cast out the bondwoman and her son!
Does Understanding Matter?
Understand?
My wife homeschooled our kids until they graduated from High School. One important area of their studies was reading comprehension. It wasn’t enough that they could read words proficiently; we also wanted them to understand what was being communicated accurately. To read and not understand what one is reading is still illiterate. Understanding what one reads is of great importance.
In the Bible, there was a church Paul had never met in person. Epaphras, his gospel coworker, planted it, and Paul had never been to it. But that didn’t stop Paul from caring for and being concerned for them.
As a true apostle of Jesus, Paul’s motivation to ensure the right gospel understanding was being achieved led him to write a letter that was also to be distributed to Laodicea. Just as reading comprehension was important to us regarding our children’s education, this church’s understanding was important to Paul.
Colossians 2:1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Have you ever found yourself caring about the well-being of someone you’d never met in person?
Paul’s motivation is made clear here. He wants them to be encouraged in their hearts. He wants them to be knit together in love, and he wants them to attain to all riches of the full assurance of understanding.
Rightly understanding can bring full assurance into a person’s life, and as Paul puts it, that is akin to riches. The full assurance of understanding unlocks a treasure chest of riches in spiritual matters.
I want to stop there for a moment and consider how this one statement reveals the importance of understanding. Paul is not concerned with their ability to parrot information; he is concerned about their actual understanding. Another way to think about this is to consider taking ownership, receiving, embracing, and embodying. This is the kind of understanding that fuels faith.
What is it he wants them to possess the full assurance of understanding about?
The knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. Why?
Because in them are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This, in a sense, is saying you don’t really know anything or possess real wisdom until you come into full assurance of understanding the mystery of God—both of the Father and the Son. What’s more than that is the fact that real faith is rooted in a person, not things. The more you truly know the Father and Christ, the more active the mustard seed of faith you were given becomes.
In other words, you can have full assurance of understanding the New Covenant Gospel, which reveals the plan that was hidden throughout the ages until Christ appeared and accomplished His mission. It reveals the love of the Father, the love of the Son, and the work of Christ. When the title Christ is used, it describes function and purpose with a real depth of significance.
Paul wants us to know 1) Who Christ is, 2) What Christ accomplished, and 3) How that applies to us.
Why was this so important to Paul?
Colossians 2:4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
Not knowing the depth of the effect of who Christ is, what Christ did, and how it can leave a person in a vulnerable and unprotected state. It makes persuasive words a danger and threatens one’s freedom in Christ. Understanding matters, and it matters even more so when it comes to the New Covenant Gospel.
Moving Forward
Moving ahead?
I have a challenge for everyone. Try to pick a spot to walk to or ride a bike to a straight-line spot. Then, while moving toward it, look to the left or right, or try looking backward as you move forward. What do you think will happen?
There’s a rule about turning when riding a motorcycle. Look to where you want to turn. If you try to look straight, you will struggle to make the turn because your body wants to go where your head points.
This is also true spiritually. I do not make spiritual progress by looking backward or by being distracted by the right or left. I need to look to Jesus, not myself, and definitely not compare myself with others.
Although I am spiritually complete in Christ, soul development and a walk of faith-based obedience are the heritage of a true disciple of Jesus. The Apostle Paul understood this, and this is why he wrote the following to the Philippians:
Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
He knew that Christ had saved him for a purpose, that he had a calling on his life, and that he had not yet completed all that he was created to complete. This calling to answer the purpose of God for one’s life is what Paul referred to as the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It was becoming one with Christ.
Jesus came to this earth with a purpose. He understood the calling of His life and persevered through trials and temptations to complete His mission. The Father decreed the mission and declared His identity and purpose. Jesus accepted it and faithfully fulfilled all that was His to fulfill.
We should be thankful that Jesus did not just declare His Father’s love for Him and then decide that meant He need not do anything at all that the Father desired. What if He had reasoned that He was so loved that it didn’t matter what He did? Would any of us be saved today? What if He had declared I do not need to deal with the inconvenience and anguish of the cross to have my Father’s love? It was not that He needed to perform to earn the Father’s love. It was that the Father’s love led Him to the cross for the sake of others. The obedience of Jesus was to satisfy the Father’s desires for Him and to benefit all of us through His obedience. This is also true for all of us. We are greatly loved with the same love Jesus had and still has from the Father. Our obedience in faith is not to earn anything or to somehow increase a love already unrestrained towards us.
Our obedience is to satisfy the Father’s desire for us and to benefit others by being one with Jesus. It is our upward call of God in Christ Jesus! It is truly what it means to press forward. If Christ is being formed in me and I am being transformed into His image, this desire will find a home in my heart and soul, and I will find myself wanting to know the Father’s desires for my life. It will bring me great joy to see the Father’s design and desires being carried out on this earth through my life. There is a prize that comes from that upward call of God in Christ. It is by being one with Jesus that His attitude and life find expression in and through me. That is a great prize in and of itself. Pressing forward is living well.
The Appetite Of The Soul
Hungry?
Have you ever heard someone say, “I am so hungry I could eat a horse?” We are very familiar with expressions describing physical hunger, which becomes very real through the sensations we feel in our flesh.
Ecclesiastes 6:7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied.
What about soul hunger?
When we are born again, our spirits are satisfied because we are filled with Christ in a new nature. He satisfies everything in the spirit. He can also satisfy the soul; however, that requires us to let Him do so.
Psalm 107 says something interesting.
Psalm 107:8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
God our Father wants to fill our souls with goodness! By faith, we need to prophetically thank Him for this even when things aren’t going as we would hope in situations of life.
When things are not as we would hope, our souls usually become hungry for goodness, for answers and solutions to problems and the emotional pain they can cause.
We find nourishment for our souls by giving thanks to God for His wonderful works and recounting His faithfulness throughout our journey with Him. In times when the enemy wishes to challenge the faithfulness of God or the reliability of His promises, it can be to our advantage to tell our souls of His wonderful works not just to us but to others we love and have rejoiced to see Him at work in.
The enemy wishes to starve our souls by means of distraction. The Apostle Peter pointed this out,
1Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
When we get distracted by the things of this world, our souls starve for good things. The things of this world are like trying to survive on marshmallows. It’s nothing but fluff! It can momentarily satisfy, but it cannot touch the deep longings.
It is as the Psalmist says,
Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Letting the faith we possess in our spirit invade our soul by speaking according to what we believe leads to giving thanks to God for what is yet unseen but promised. This leads to the soul being filled with His goodness! Soul appetite isn’t evil, just as being physically hungry isn’t evil. It is meant to be filled with His goodness. Remember Philippians 4 “Think on these things!”
No Rebuilding
Wanting to rebuild?
What would you think if your neighbor came to you and said, “My house has served me well up until now, but to accomplish my vision and cannot contain all I plan to bring into it, I need a new house.” Then they tore down their existing house, but when they rebuilt a new home, it was exactly the same as the one they tore down. It looked the same and had the same lines and boundaries as before.
Would you think they were a little out of touch with reality?
Galatians 2:18 “For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Paul says here that if he rebuilds the things he destroyed, he makes himself a transgressor. Now, someone might read this and stop there thinking he means he does not intend to break the law. To truly understand what Paul is getting at, you have to keep reading.
Galatians 2:19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Paul is actually speaking of the destruction of the Old Covenant way of righteousness being destroyed. The idea of any confidence in the law for righteousness at any point in the life of a believer in Jesus is what Paul destroyed.
Paul is saying that righteousness cannot be initially achieved or maintained through the law.
Paul goes on to say something to make it even clearer: “I do not set aside the grace of God!”
He explains what it means to set God’s grace aside: “If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
My being in right relationship with God will never again be contingent on the law. The law has nothing to do with my being in right relationship with God now. The law was never able to make me a new creation capable of housing the Holy Spirit. The law never made anyone fully righteous. The law never took away sin; it magnified it. That is why Paul makes the point regarding having been crucified with Christ.
When Christ died, I died. When Christ rose from the dead, I rose from the dead. It is no longer I who lives! It is Christ in me! I am now living by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I am a new creation in Him and His habitation! He is my righteousness!
If I try to go back to the law with the idea that I can gain or increase my righteousness, I am rebuilding again something that was destroyed. That is setting aside the grace of God and, in a way, saying that Jesus died for no real reason at all. Relying on the law is like spitting on the death of Jesus and treating it as though it were not needed.
The truth of not rebuilding is a major part of the New Covenant Gospel message. To rebuild the law back into my idea of any means of righteousness is to become a transgressor of the New Covenant grace of God. Believers need to be convinced and committed to not rebuilding again!
How Serious
How do you know it is important?
In my sixty-one years of living, I have learned that there are different levels of seriousness in life.
For instance, there’s the seriousness that is expressed when someone simply wishes to make an important point that isn’t life or death. “I’m not kidding here; I’m serious.”
Then there’s the seriousness of parents on a road trip with kids fighting in the car. The dad or mom says, “Stop it, or so help me, I will stop this car and pull you out!”
Then there’s the seriousness of wishing the worst that could ever happen to someone should they violate something of great importance. I call this the highest level of seriousness.
This is the level of seriousness Paul went to over the gospel. He took the gospel seriously when men from Jerusalem came to Antioch, and it resulted in an open rebuke for Peter from Paul and temporarily led Barnabas astray. That resulted in Paula and Silas being sent to Jerusalem to bring the matter to the apostles and elders. After that, we discover Paul took it seriously with the Corinthians, and now we need to see how seriously he took it with the Galatians and the other churches in that region because the Galatian letter was to be read to all the churches in the region.
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
This matter of the importance of the New Covenant Gospel is very serious. An entire letter is committed to it. But at the start of this small but powerful letter, Paul says something that should cause any believer to stand up and take notice due to how serious he makes the issue.
He says, “If we or an angel from heaven!” He establishes the importance of the gospel first preached to them in such a serious way that he makes it clear that if he were ever to veer away from it and begin to mix in the law, he would wish himself accursed or even an angel.
Paul goes on to make it clear that he will never back off this position to please any man. He makes it clear that as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, he must stand on the truth of the New Covenant Gospel of Jesus regardless of how unpopular it might make him.
Paul devoted his life to preaching the gospel with clarity and simplicity. Paul uses much of the rest of Galatians to paint a contrast between the law covenant and the new covenant in Christ. One is of faith, and the other is not of faith. The sad reality is that the average believer might never truly read Galatians in a meaningful way, asking the Holy Spirit for revelation and understanding. Even sadder is that not many ministers in churches take the time to teach it to Christ’s disciples. Why would anyone spend time with it if they do not understand how serious it is? No one will ever outgrow their need for the New Covenant Gospel. How serious? Super serious if you were to ask me.
Simplicity
Is it complicated?
There’s something beautiful about simplicity. It declutters, unclouds, and clears away things that seem important but are not.
The English dictionary defines it this way as a noun: the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do, a thing that is plain, natural, or easy to understand, the quality or condition of being plain or natural.
Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated.
It seems there is never a shortage of those willing to complicate the New Covenant Gospel message, which magnifies Christ alone, by twisting it with many demands and conditions that are not found in the simplicity of preaching found in the Scriptures.
This was a great concern of the Apostle Paul.
2Corinthians 11:1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
There is a simplicity in Christ that is not meant to be convoluted with extras. Paul speaks of how the serpent deceived Eve by craftiness.
The word craftiness in the Greek panourgia can mean trickery, sophistry, craftiness, or subtilty. In this case, the translators chose craftiness as an adjective, meaning clever at achieving one's aims by indirect or deceitful methods. It is akin to a salesman twisting the truth in such a way as to get you to question what you first knew about the product.
Paul speaks of another Jesus he had not preached to them, their receiving a different spirit than the original spirit they had not received, or a different gospel that they had not accepted but were willing to tolerate. Oh, the dangers of tolerating mixture!
Unity, solely for the sake of unity, is a disaster that is looking for a place to happen. It leads to confusion and disruption of genuine faith at the simplest level. There are some things we are not meant to accept or tolerate.
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed in the world, Received up in glory.
That view of the mystery of godliness is simple but clear. Add a few self-proclaimed theologians to the mix, and we will have a ten-page thesis on the subject that has run-on sentences and is hard to understand. Simplicity aids us in avoiding needless compromises that put us at risk regarding the truth concerning Jesus, His gospel, and the Covenant we are now under. Oh, the beauty of simplicity.
Glory In Weakness
What do you rely on?
Do you know your calling? Do you want to know it? Have you been trying to understand it according to your skills and talents in the natural? Do you think it is to be discovered based on your strengths? Do you know why God the Father chose you to be one of His own?
God does not call, nor does He save, based on natural strength and abilities potential. There’s no such thing as someone being brought into the kingdom for what they can do for it based on their natural abilities. Don’t believe me?
1Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
God likes to take advantage of our weaknesses. He likes to show Himself strong in our weaknesses so that the glory might be His and not ours. He likes to show the world how foolishly they think and how foolish their confidence in themselves is.
God has never enjoyed and still does not enjoy any flesh glorying in His presence. Why is flesh (Self-reliance) not enjoyed by God?
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
When self-reliance is lost, it opens the door to relying on Christ Jesus. In that place, Christ becomes everything! He becomes our wisdom from God, our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We do not fight for our rights to receive anything based on our own delusional strength and goodness.
God did not save me because I was all that and a bag of chips. He saved me because I desperately needed to be saved. I needed to be rescued. I could not buy my own redemption. I could not earn my way into righteousness. I could not make myself holy. I needed these realities to come to me from a source that possessed them already and had more than enough to rescue me and transform me.
Paul, as an apostle of Jesus, learned this lesson and embraced the empowerment it offers when one walks into it.
2Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that you do not have what it takes in the power of the flesh to be what God calls you to be. No one can will themselves to become a new creation, nor can they behave themselves into such a supernatural transformation. There’s nothing about the flesh that could ever have what it takes to get into the kingdom, let alone remain in the kingdom. It is all of God and His grace and His mercy and goodness that anyone ever gets new life, is sanctified and has even the tiniest amount of wisdom. God has not called us to be supermen and women. He has called us to live in a place of reliance upon Him in relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. My weakness brings Him glory, so I will glory in my weakness as opposed to my strength!
A Good Minister
Know the difference?
When we think of what a minister is, we think of someone who is tasked with instructing the body of Christ. This would be a correct idea of a minister.
But do you know the difference between a good one and a deceived one?
The Scripture offers a clear idea of how to discern the difference.
1Timothy4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
Paul is equipping his son in the faith, Timothy, to be a good minister, and he offers him this advice. He makes it clear that the Holy Spirit has declared this to be true.
He says the Spirit says some will depart from the faith! This will happen because they give heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
What do these deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons promote? You would think it would be something extremely dark and evil. However, it has something to do with marriage being forbidden and foods being avoided.
I have a confession to make. I enjoy sausage, bacon, ham, pork chops, pork ribs, and I have eaten dear, egret, quail, duck, all sorts of bread and many other things there might be some who think was wrong for me to have eaten. I ate them with gratitude in my heart towards God, who supplied them to me for my nourishment in that moment. I ate them with a clear conscience and faith.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Paul says these teachers have had their consciences seared with a hot iron. In other words, they have allowed their thinking to become hardened against the real truth that promotes freedom in Christ regarding marriage and food. They teach that spirituality avoids marriage and chooses celibacy instead. Their brand of spirituality also avoids certain foods that, under the New Covenant, have been deemed acceptable when eaten with thanksgiving. Placing such basic restrictions on saints is an act against true faith and practice. They would rather someone go hungry for the sake of their idea of spirituality than to eat and be nourished.
For those who believe and know the truth, every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. The word of God and prayer sanctifies the food we eat! The word of God that ays rise and eat it will be all right, and prayer that offers thanksgiving for its provision.
It amazes me that, in this instance, Timothy was expected to give these instructions to the saints in order for him to be deemed a good minister. It was not a complicated list of things for this designation to be his.
It is not being a good minister to bring the saints under ridiculous restrictive bondages. It is not good to make petty things a matter of spirituality. Suppose we remember what Jesus said about the religious leaders of His day who were deemed as being against the truth and blind leaders of the blind. He said they would strain a gnat and swallow a camel. In other words, they majored on minors and minored on the majors. Their focus on spirituality was in the wrong places and on the wrong things.
A good minister stays away from such practices and seeks to bring the saints into the freedom Christ died to give to them with grateful hearts, always ready to offer Him thanksgiving.
Looking
Where are you going?
I hope the title captured your curiosity. I own and ride a 1997 Police Editon Harley Davidson Roadking Motorcycle. I truly enjoy it, but I have to employ safe practices to do so. It is a very large and heavy bike. It is classified as a cruiser and, for some cruisers, can be tricky to handle in tight turns.
The top riding trainer offers the following advice when wishing to turn without a problem. Look where you want to go. If you want to make a tight right turn, look at where you want to go. You will not make the turn looking straight ahead or to the left. To make an effective turn, you need to look at where you want to go.
Another road rule often offered to all who operate motorized vehicles is not to drive distracted. Distracted driving is dangerous and has led to many accidents. Everyone should be looking at where they are going if they wish to get there. To reach the end of your journey, you must look in the right direction at all times.
There’s a spiritual principle that we can extract from this.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This verse basically says not to get distracted and not to multitask things you shouldn’t for the sake of temporary pleasure because it can occupy you in the wrong way and use up your energies on the wrong thing. You have a destination, a destiny! To achieve that destiny, you will need endurance and focus.
Jesus is our example of this. He pressed through the most difficult of circumstances and the most severe temptations for distraction, and He endured the cross. The joy of the promise of destiny was of greater value to Him than the trials and temptations of temporary comfort and convenience in that moment. He accomplished His purpose!
We are meant to draw inspiration from Him by looking unto Him and allowing Him to empower and comfort us in our moments of trial and difficulty. He sent us the Holy Spirit for this very reason.
Jesus made us new creations that the Holy Spirit can inhabit. We now live according to the Spirit with His empowerment. When we look to Jesus, we see Him as a man relying on the Holy Spirit’s supernatural help, enduring and pressing through every situation. His victory has become our victory. But we will not live in the realization and revelation of this marvelous privilege if we do not look to Jesus!
Looking at ourselves and what we bring to the moment is not helpful. While looking at others and what they brought to a similar situation might encourage us a little, it is not the source we need most. If we want to reach where God has called us, we must look to the right place and the right person.
I encourage you today to always be mindful of where, what, and who you are “Looking” to
Get Up And Get Dressed
Are you awake?
I remember when I was young, my mom would come into my room in the morning and shake me and my younger brother to wake us up, and she would say, “Time to get up, get dressed, and get ready for school.”
She was right, you know. Now, my brother and I would have rather stayed asleep a little longer, enjoying our dreams. But there were things to be done if we were to grow and mature and be ready for what was ahead.
As parents, my wife and I experienced the same thing with our kids when they were younger. I think this is a reality for every generation. Sleep can be sweet, and it is needed for good health, but there is also a need to awake, get dressed, and be prepared for what lies ahead.
This is especially true, spiritually speaking.
Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
When someone is asleep in bed, they are not dressed for the day. They are not clothed as someone with a purpose. When the CEO of a company goes to bed, he or she does not dress as they would for the workday. The same would be true of a mechanic, plumber, electrician, or farmer.
I realize that many people are now seen out in public in their pajamas. Try as you might, you would never be able to tell what they do productively in life. In other words, if they are not clothed according to their purpose, no one can discern their purpose.
This is true of the church as well. That is what Paul is getting at here in Romans 13
Church, it’s time to wake up! That is why I pray for an awakening in the church. Our final phase of salvation is nearer than it has ever been. Jesus is coming soon! When He comes, we all get new bodies that are in keeping with the glory of the new creation we are in Christ. It will be obvious then who and what we are without even trying. However, in this moment we are in, we need to be reminded of who we are and whose we are, and we need to awake and put on the armor of light and the Lord Jesus so that it is plain for all to see the image we bear of Him!
We say no to spiritual laziness, as that is the way to give provision to the flesh. We say yes to Jesus and all He desires! We say yes to bearing His image in the manner of life we choose to live. We are not showing up in public in our pajamas and slippers! We are showing up ready! We want it to be clear what our purpose is and Who it is we belong to and are looking for as His return grows closer!
I hear an alarm ringing loudly in the realm of the Spirit, calling the church to “awake, awake, rise, and shine!” Get up and get dressed, my chosen ones! It’s time to get up and get dressed!
What DNA?
Do you have His DNA?
There has been a recent fascination with origins. People submit DNA tests to discover where their ancestors came from and what parts of the world their ancestry covers. They want to know where they came from. Some do this for nostalgic reasons, while others do it to help their sense of identity.
All this is determined with a sample of DNA. Do you know what your DNA is? Do you know where you are from?
My birth certificate indicated who my parents were, when I was born, and where I was born. I grew up knowing who my father and mother were, who my grandparents were, and so on. If someone asked me a question about my family origins, I could answer confidently. As a child, I knew how to tell someone where I lived in case of an emergency.
So many things go into making sure a child knows who they are, what family they belong to, and how to navigate situations with accurate information should the need arise.
Question: Does the church make the same efforts in making sure believers understand where they come from? Jesus spoke of origins when teaching what it means to inherit the kingdom of God.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
When someone is born again, they receive Jesus’ DNA. That is what eternal life truly is. It is not merely a state of mind; it is a genuine life-giving DNA establishment. By grace through faith in Jesus, one becomes a New Creation. That means they become born from above. In other words, they are no longer ordinary in the worldly sense.
I am not of this world any longer. I have been born from above. My confidence in this matter is much more important than many realize it to be. It establishes a different way of looking at life and imagining possibilities and opportunities according to the Spirit as opposed to the natural.
2Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
The wealth and riches of His grace invest His DNA into us so that our transformation is completely about God’s work, not our ability to determine and fix ourselves or make ourselves good enough.
1Corinthians 15:47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
It is about which image you now bear due to a DNA change when you met Jesus. The Law could not perform a DNA change. The Law could not produce the power to bring a person to new birth as a new creation in Christ. When this part of the gospel is not understood, it leads to disinformation and misguided allegiance. Jesus is the source of DNA for anyone who has been born again. The question will never be how good a person thinks they might be. It will always be about what DNA you possess.