Is the Gospel a Message of Balance? part l

In our society the idea of keeping proper balance and doing all things in moderation has gained great acceptance. Tolerance is another buzz word we hear a lot, but does the Gospel promote moderation or balance? There are good reasons for moderation and without balance, some things could disintegrate, but the gospel of the Kingdom is a message of extremes. Balance speaks of finding the center point between two extremes, but Jesus said He would rather we were cold or hot, not lukewarm. Where do we find the balance between peace and unrest? Where is the balance between joy and depression or love and hatred? Jesus said we can not serve two masters; we must love the one and hate the other. He did not leave room for moderation in relationships. We are to love one another as He loves us. The Gospel I read speaks of an extreme love, indescribable joy and a peace that surpasses our own understanding.

Avoiding the extremes of the Gospel message takes us back to the old wineskin and results in the new wine being lost.

Do not put new wine into old wineskins

Jesus said new wine could not be poured into old wineskins lest they burst and the wine is lost. Some of us have experienced the inebriation of the Spirit of God and say that we have been drinking the new wine. On the day of Pentecost, those who were filled with the Spirit were described as being drunk with new wine. They became bold and spoke with great conviction. Three thousand were saved as Peter stood up and declared the message. Stephen later spoke with a power that stirred up such opposition from religious spirits that he was stoned to death. He was sold out to the Gospel message and did not value his natural life above the truth. As an old wineskin, Peter denied knowing the Lord in the face of opposition, but as a new creation filled with the Spirit he was bold as a lion.

The new wine is lost by trying to integrate the old with the new. The fear of punishment and death was the major ingredient that kept sin in check under the Old Covenant. Stephen was not under the influence of fear but the new wine. In him, we see an illustration of the new wineskin holding up under great pressure. In fact, the whole church at that time flourished under pressure.

I believe Jesus’ reference to putting new wine into old wineskins was to illustrate the result of integrating the two covenants. The Galatian church had poured their new wine into the old wineskin of the law. They strayed from being continually filled with the Spirit of God and resorted to trusting the frailty of human effort in order to attain righteousness. They were convinced of the necessity to incorporate circumcision and keeping the law with the gospel of Christ. Paul reminded the Galatians that they had not received the Spirit’s power through performing legal requirements but by hearing and receiving the gift of God through faith. He also explained how mixing the old with the new results in loss of identity and inheritance.

The union of Abraham and Hagar produced Ishmael. Hagar is a type of the law, a slave in bondage. The promise of God was that Sarah, the free woman, would give birth to a son. Sarah and Abraham were a type of believing faith and now all who believe, as Abraham did, are heirs of the same promise. We can not mix faith with the law and expect it to contain an inheritance. Ishmael was put out of the house because he was a mockery to the son of promise through faith. Being a product of man’s efforts, and not God’s promise, excluded him as heir.

None of us would readily admit that we had gone back to the law or circumcision as the Galatians did, but we have fallen back in other ways. The law operated on the principle of balance. Even today we see a balanced scale used as a cymbal of legal justice. The believers of old were not born again but walked as natural men. The law system was designed for the natural man but the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness and cannot be received by the natural mind. Justice by faith and grace is for born again, Spirit filled believers who walk by faith in their new identity. Our inheritance is only realized through our identity with Christ. Too many have forfeited the inheritance intended for this temporary life, putting it off to the future life in heaven.

We believers should not assume that living in the New Covenant era guarantees that we will automatically experience all its benefits. If we try to mix the old with the new or, as Jesus put it, try to put new wine into old wineskins, the new will be lost because the old can not contain it. The Old Covenant promoted balance but the new embraces the extreme. The old law system was satisfied by requiring the guilty to pay in proportion to his offence, an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. The New Covenant calls for the innocent to pay the debt of the guilty. The old is illustrated by placing the offender’s debt on one side of the scale and justice is only served when the required payment balanced the scale. The new is illustrated by the extreme, by making a more than enough payment, going the second mile or giving your shirt as well as your coat. Christ’s payment for our sin was more than enough for all sin for all time.

Jesus’ teaching was misunderstood and rejected by many who thought He wanted to do away with or destroy the law. Matt 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. NKJV

Jesus was not setting aside the commandments but an out dated legal system. It was time to introduce Justice by faith and to open the way for the gentiles to come to God.

Continued in part 2

Is the Gospel a Message of Balance? part II

Jesus introduced extreme righteousness

Matt 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. NKJV

Old Covenant righteousness was attained by a “just enough” payment: one that was just enough to balance the scale of justice. Jesus’ new system of justice would produce an extreme righteousness through a “more than enough” payment.

Matt 5:27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. NKJV

The old law system could only be applied to the outward acts of sin. Sin could remain hidden in the heart as long as it was not acted upon. It would be easy to assume that lustful desire was not sin until it became a physical act, but God sees the heart: Jesus wants us to deal with the hidden root of sin. Our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, it must go deeper than what appears on the surface.

Matt 5:38 You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. NKJV

I am sure that many who heard Jesus were scratching their heads. It does not make sense to let someone off the hook. If the offender does not pay it could be interpreted as rewarding evil. The context of Jesus’ teaching is: we turn the other cheek and extend unmerited favor and grace, rather than seeking vengeance through the law. Jesus wants us to become living sacrifices, illustrating His suffering for the wrongs that were done against Him. We only overcome, or defeat, evil by returning good. What we sow we will reap. If we want mercy and grace then we must give it away.

Matt 5:40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. NKJV

Jesus illustrated a new method of settling debts. The old required them to give their coats to achieve justice, but the new says give your shirts as well. Paying more than required qualifies as extreme; it is the innocent one giving more than is required to achieve justice by faith. The just shall live by faith and not the law. Jesus began by saying that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.

The cross is an extreme measure

The innocent Christ paid the debt of the guilty but included more than required by law. He did not just forgive us and leave us with a zero balance, like the law system did, but He added grace and divine favor that we could access in our time of need, like a savings account. The key to the bank, so to speak, is the cross. Our natural mind will tell us we have no ability to pay another’s debt or to give them unmerited favor. But if we look beyond our own ability and see what Jesus provided, we see that our account contains mercy, favor and grace for us and, an abundance to extend to others.

Jesus said in Luke 6:38 “Forgive and you shall be forgiven, give and it shall be given unto you again, pressed down, shaken together and running over they shall give to you. The measure you use, will determine the measure used in return to you” (my paraphrase)

The best the law system could do was to provide forgiveness to those who offered innocent sacrifices. They went away debt free but with a zero balance in their account. Since no one has the ability to earn forgiveness or mercy, they were left vulnerable to further debt. Their very next sin weighed on them until the next annual sacrifice. The saints of old never acquired a plus balance in their righteousness account.

Taking up our cross is doing what Jesus did. We must not leave our offender with a zero balance but add a gift of grace to our forgiveness. We must use the extreme measure of faith. If we press down, shake together, heap up to overflowing our measure, we have surpassed the law as an act of faith. Faith never comes short of the law but always exceeds it. Love is the fulfilling of the law and faith must be motivated by love, not a requirement. Faith is freedom to do as love directs yet love never violates God’s commandments. On the other hand, we cannot use the law to require love otherwise it is no longer love. Just as freedom and bondage can not go hand in hand faith and the law can not mix.

The gospel was good news to Old Covenant saints.

The saints of old already had the promise of eternal life if they obeyed the law and offered their innocent lamb once a year. The good news of the Gospel, to them, was not a promise of heaven some day, but trusting that sacrifice of Christ would clear not only their debt but remove their guilt, shame and condemnation once and for all. And, if they did sin again, they would not have to wait to offer their annual sacrifice. Christ is the once and for all time sacrifice. Under the new system of justice it is no longer necessary for a priest to mediate before God, all can boldly enter His presence by the blood of Christ through faith.

Only the sacrifice of Christ has the power to cleanse the conscience from our past. The payment Christ made for sin qualifies as extreme: it was more than enough to pay our debt. It was so weighty a payment that it bottomed out the scale of justice in our favor. There is now no need to renew the payment for sin. In fact, His payment forever put the law system out of commission for those who trust in His sacrifice.

So where is the problem? I believe the problem is in our lack of understanding of the cross of Christ and our new identity in Him. We too often identify ourselves by our temporary life. We allow the limitations of our humanity to overrule faith. We are a new creation in Christ; the old has passed away and the new has come. We are now a new wineskin and able to contain the new, but if we identify with the old, limited, balanced life of moderation, the new will spill out and be lost. The old must be left at the cross and our new identity is found in the risen Christ.

Continued in part 3

Is The Gospel a Message of Balance? part lll

Some teaching I had received concerning our position in Christ seemed to be contradictory. One emphasized being seated in heavenly places with Christ while others stress the necessity to embrace the cross daily. In my confusion one day, I asked the Lord where I was to be. Was I to embrace the cross or be seated with Him in the heavens? I was rather surprised at the answer I received. Those of different persuasions on the subject spoke as if one was right and the other was wrong, but the Lord said both are right. My eternal spirit man is seated with Christ in heavenly places while my temporary flesh man must embrace the cross. We leave our old identity as slaves to sin at the cross and accept our new identity as a child of God.

Jesus said we must take up our cross daily and follow Him to become His disciple. Why did He not say we must take our heavenly seat to become His disciple? I believe the one must come before the other. Jesus was our example. He went to the cross trusting His Father to raise Him up. It was because He willingly gave up His own life that He was raised up by promise. In the same way we receive a heavenly seat as a result of willingly embracing the cross. The way up is down. It is our job to go down and His job to raise us up.

Let us take a closer look at the cross to determine if we are doing our part. First, and maybe the most important thing to remember, is that the suffering of Christ was not for His own debt of sin, but for others. He was totally innocent of all charges. He also suffered just because He was righteous. He, who knew no sin, became sin for us. Jesus willingly went to the cross. No man took His life: He freely gave it up for the sins of many. He could have called ten thousand angels to fight His enemies but He chose another way. His payment for sin on the cross exceeded that of the Old Covenant sacrificial system. It was an extreme payment containing more than enough to cover all sin for all time.

Jesus said we must take up our cross, daily, and follow Him in order to become His disciples. He gives us a choice and a daily one at that. Our cross also has to be defined by our willingness to bear it. It has to be something we can choose and not be put on us as a legal requirement. The cross is total submission of love to love. If we place a requirement on love, then love is lost and spilled like the new wine in old wineskins. Love has to be given freely from the heart. The cross was and is the greatest expression of unconditional love. It was undeserved favor toward the unlovely.

The cross we bear has to be our choice and it has to include a more than enough payment, an undeserved payment. When Jesus said turn the other cheek or go the second mile, He was describing the cross. If a court of law required my coat so that justice would be served, I would have no choice but to give. But if I follow Jesus’ directions I would, by choice, add to the payment something I did not owe, an undeserved bonus, if you will. If I only give what is required then I am operating in the realm of law. If I want to escape the realm of law, with its guilt, condemnation and shame, I have to embrace the cross, adding to the legal requirement an undeserved portion. Paul says in Galatians 3:11 No man is justified by the law in the sight of God; it is evident: for the just shall live by faith. KJV

In order to escape the law’s domain we enter into faith by exceeding the law’s requirements. One major strategy of our enemy is to keep God’s people living under the influence of the law using a counterfeit cross. Religion says we gain favor with God through works and suffering. A religious cross leads to self punishment, false humility and striving to please God by our own efforts. The devil’s domain is in the law and our escape is through the cross.

For much of my Christian experience I suffered much guilt, condemnation and shame and struggled to understand why. I believed with out a doubt that Jesus died for my sins on the cross and I trusted in His finished work. I believed nothing I could do would add to what He had completed. But I had problems I could not resolve. One day, the light went on for me concerning the cross. I realized I was not experiencing the full benefit of the cross; I had been deceived by religion. I thought I had taken up my cross and had been following Jesus, as one of His disciples, but, in reality, I had unwittingly avoided embracing it. My problems were the result of walking in legal territory where the devil is empowered to harass and condemn God’s people over past failures. Even though I would pray, and claim the power of the blood of Christ, it had a very short term effect.

I realized that I had not been enjoying the full benefits of the cross because I had avoided it. I had chosen rather to be satisfied with legal requirements. I had not blessed those who had cursed me. I had failed to do good to those who had wronged me. I did not give to those who did not deserve it. I forgave others their debt of sin toward me but I did not add the undeserved portion spoken of by Jesus. I came to realize taking up the cross was not just mental agreement but action.

I had not lost my salvation but my experience more resembled that of the Old Covenant saints than what is described in the new. I was not experiencing the wonderful presence of God because of guilt and shame. I had a hard time believing God was pleased because of my own feelings. I had poured the new wine into the old wineskin and it was spilled.

The same religious spirits that hoodwinked the Galatian church are still alive and active today. They promote mixing the requirements of the old law system in with the new to cause the new to be of no effect. Even though the cross brought an end to the requirements of the law, religion tries to sell the church a counterfeit cross and a powerless gospel. Even though Jesus dealt a death blow to the devil, the only way we can walk in that victory is through embracing the cross. Jesus provided a way for us to escape enemy dominated territory. We must find our identity in Christ. He has proclaimed us innocent and has given us authority over all the power of the enemy.

No one is justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ. The just shall live by faith. The cross walk is a faith walk. The only way I can stay in the faith is to surpass the law. Faith always exceeds the requirements of the law. I can only walk in the authority of my new identity through faith. Mixing the law with faith always produces an Ishmael. Ishmael could not receive the inheritance of God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants because he was not born of the free woman. Hagar was a type of the law and brought forth children in bondage to the requirements of slavery. Those who are free have a choice. They suffer or give unmerited favor to the undeserving as a mater of choice. Those in bondage to the law are not working by choice but by requirement.

Whenever we choose to act like slaves and focus only on what is required, we choose to take on that identity. If I want to walk and live under the blessing of my new Father I have to choose to act like Him. He is the one who is generous and gives unmerited favor to sinners. I must refuse to walk in my old identity lest I fall again to bondage of slavery and the law. God never takes away our choice, but He always says “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21)
From my own, past experience and from what I observe in the body of Christ, I conclude that many are living at the level of Old Covenant believers. We struggle to keep our joy. We fight off memories of past failures and abuses against us. We have trouble maintaining intimacy with God and even think He is against us at times. These are symptoms of trying to walk out a balanced and moderate gospel having removed the extreme from the cross. The Gospel calls for us to move to the extreme, to the cutting edge, always pressing into new territory. The Gospel of Christ calls for us to be hot or cold, not lukewarm. The fruit of the Spirit in our lives should be extreme, like the fruit of the promise land. The gospel I read promises indescribable joy, a peace that surpasses our understanding, and a rest that is not disturbed by storms. Though the cross involves suffering it causes rejoicing not gloom and depression.

I see a generation of young people today who are looking for the extreme. Extreme sports are more popular than ever. I always cringe when I see the dangerous stunts performed by some and shake my head wondering why they would live on the edge like that. I do not believe that the church, as it is today, will reach an extreme generation with a balanced and moderate gospel message. They are hungry for the extreme and are ripe for the true gospel message.