The Missing Factor

There is a dangerous and destructive thinking among Christians, that is inconsistent with Jesus' teachings, example, and provision.

It's an insidious, faith destroying hindrance to Christian maturity and stability, and in addition, it dilutes our testimony. It has kept us from fully trusting in, and experiencing God's love, and the benefits of walking with Him, in this life.

It causes us to wander in the foggy no-man's-land of uncertainty and confusion. It s a perspective that makes much of God's word, to us, to seem complicated, contradictory, and had o understand. The culprit is, "mixing the covenant".

We all know, to some degree, that Jesus has brought us into a new covenant with God, but for the most part, there seems t be some confusion about what it means to leave behind the old covenant and move forward into the new. Many times, unknowingly, we drift back and forth between the two covenants. We acknowledge the principles of the new covenant, or at least, we verbalize terminologies such as: faith, righteousness, grace, and relationship. The problem is we try to apply these principles with an old covenant perspective, and it just doesn't work (if we are looking for more than empty religion or behavior modification).

In my desperate search for clarity of understanding, when I came upon some erroneous beliefs within a particular church I was involved in, I began (in addition to my own prayer and Bible study), to read and listen to many different ministries (which I mentioned earlier). Some of these authors and speakers stood our to me as examples of those who dared to believe all of God's word and put it into practice in their lives, in a way beyond the limitations of religious thinking. It was, at that time that I came to realize that we must accurately recognize the difference between the two covenants.

Otherwise it is challenging to reconcile the God of the old testament and the God of the new. One would think that He sometimes is full of compassion, and reaches our to help and heal; while other times He changes His mind (about what Jesus has done), and is silent and ready to punish us for our sins. First of all, we must be settled in the fact of His unchanging character, integrity and unconditional love. The covenant changed but God didn't.

Under the old covenant, God had to deal with man through laws and rules; and could only speak to him through specially anointed prophets, until Jesus came and dealt with the sin issue, and made it possible for us to approach God personally, and without fear.

In this new covenant we are considered righteousness before God, and that not dependant upon our good works, for we are now "in Christ".

As dr. James B. Richards says, "The idea that righteousness could be a free gift was beyond comprehension. This far reaching idea is, in fact, the source of both, incredible persecution from those who did not believe , and unconceivable power for those who did believe." "..it is the sense of wholeness that comes through faith righteousness that breaks the crippling grip of religion and sets a person free to know the living God."
"It was not the idea that Jesus was Savior, that made Paul's writings ...so radical. Many people who persecuted Paul, believed Jesus was Savior. The thing that was so radical was the inconceivable idea that Jesus was our righteousness. This idea, which is the very core of the Gospel, had always been more than the natural mend could grasp." "Paul identified this belief as the stumbling stone of the Gospel, yet amazingly, it is the heart of the gospel."

We tend to look to the old covenant for direction in our Christian life today, but Jesus hadn't yet come and they did not yet have the Holy Spirit within to guide them, as we do now. Many of the things which Jesus showed us about God had not yet been revealed to them, under the old covenant. Although we can learn from their example, and be encouraged by God's faithfulness in their lives, we cannot built doctrine upon old covenant standards. In order for us to understand and benefit from the old testament, we must read it from the perspective of the New Covenant (in view of Jesus); otherwise we soon forget what Jesus has one for us.

If, when you encounter difficulties in your life, and you allude to the old testament examples, or even worse, refer to Job, you are mixing the covenants. If you face a serious illness or tragedy, and ask, "what did I do wrong?"...or ever, "why is God doing this to me?"..you are confusing the covenants.

Paul was exasperated when he heard that Peter, after telling the people that they didn't have to follow the Jewish laws in order to be right with God, and them obligating them to be circumcised.

Paul called the Galatians foolish, and marvelled that they were so easily turned back to trusting the works of the law. He went on to say that, "..no one is justified before God by keeping the law." "I do not frustrate the grace of God.." Paul continued, "..for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."

Paul was accused of liberalism hen he preached the truth about God's grace. Even today, many Christians believe that we are saved by God's grace but we have to keep the law to be righteous. They argue that, "If yo don't emphasize the law, then people will get into sin". We think that we need to be constantly reminded of the law, in order to keep us on track. We forget that though Jesus, God put His laws in our hearts, a nd now we have an awakened conscience, and if we are willing, we can live a righteous life. People will sin anyway, whether we bombard them with the law or nor, if they are so inclined. Instead of memorizing the law, maybe we should put our attention on learning to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

I have witnessed some sincere Christians actually treating Jesus' teachings as though they were simply more laws to obey, and thus missing the whole heart of the new covenant. I'm not advocating throwing out the law; for all scripture (when understood an used scripturally) is beneficial, but the new covenant is not about keeping external rules.

This is what it's about, "to be found in Him.." and therein "not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith n Christ, the righteousness of God by faith."