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