"Don't
misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or
the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until
heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will
disappear until its purpose is achieved. -- Matthew 5: 17-18 (NLT)
"That's
an Old Testament verse -- we are under the New Covenant." How many times
have we heard this rationale used by well intending Christians as they try to
dismiss the conviction of the Holy Spirit? And make no mistake; that is what we
are trying to do whenever we try and find a way around a Scripture; regardless
of where it is found in the Bible. The root for this logic is founded in New
Covenant theology which espouses that the Old Covenant with the law is no
longer relevant because of the work of Christ on the cross. Now I know that
most would not espouse such to this extent but we must realize today that even
New Covenant "Lite" is basically the same. You know what I refer to. We may not
come right out and say we dismiss the entire Old Covenant, just this one verse
here, or that one law there. You know, the one I want to excuse breaking in my
life. What does the key verse clearly say -- not even the smallest detail of the
law will disappear until the end. The fact is that whenever we try and dismiss
anything in the Old Covenant by using the New Covenant excuse, we are
essentially advocating for New Covenant theology, which dismisses all of it. It
is no better than what most of the world does -- salad bar theology. That is
where we pick the verses we like and dismiss the ones that make us
uncomfortable and think that we are somehow serving God.
I understand that no one could keep the 613
Mosaic laws and that was why Christ had to come to earth to die for our sins.
That is not the point. How do I know it is not the point -- because Jesus said
so in the key verse. There is no getting around the definitive nature of these
verses -- I DID NOT COME TO ABOLISH THE LAW. But not only did Jesus come to
fulfill their purpose but the cold reality we never seem willing to face is
that Jesus actually raised the bar on the law. Jesus looked at the law and
expected even more from us if we want to call ourselves followers of Christ.
Take murder for example. The Ten Commandments clearly says -- do not murder. Yet
what did Jesus say?
"You
have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder, and whoever
murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whoever says to his brother, "Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But
whoever says, "You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. -- Matthew 5: 21-22
(NKJV)
Where the Ten Commandments dealt with the
symptom, Jesus dealt with the root cause. Talk about raising the bar! Forget
murder! Jesus says we should watch carefully our anger, which could lead to
murder. The anger alone puts us in danger of judgment. The Ten Commandments
don't apply to you? That's right! Even MORE is required of you.
What about adultery? The Ten Commandments clearly teach that thou shall not commit adultery. What did Jesus teach?
"You
have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not commit
adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has
already committed adultery with her in his heart. -- Matthew 5: 27-28 (NKJV)
Once again, Jesus bypasses the outcome and
deals with the cause. Forget the symptom -- what is the sickness? How do we get
to the point of wanting to commit adultery? Of course there is the selfishness
of sin but the root cause is lust. It is when we look upon somebody lustfully
and consider. Jesus again raises the
bar. What about bearing false witness? Clearly outlawed in the Old Covenant.
What does Jesus teach?
"Again
you have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not swear falsely,
but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' But I say to you, do not swear at all:
neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool;
nor by
Do you notice these are all in the same
chapter; right after the key verses? Jesus addressed all these issues in the
same teaching as if to illustrate the fact that the law is still very much in
place and we still very much need to try and adhere to it; knowing that when we
fail -- we are covered by His blood. Not that because we are covered by His
blood we can ignore them.
And it is not just the Ten Commandments. The
Mosaic Law dealt with divorce amongst the Israelites and Jesus raises the bar
to say that he who marries a divorced person commits adultery unless there was
infidelity. The Mosaic Law allowed a great deal of an eye for an eye yet Jesus
raises the bar and says to turn the other cheek to your oppressors.
So, where does the concept of New Covenant
theology come from? In Latin there is an expression -- cui bono? It means who
benefits? Who benefits from Christians becoming morally lazy? Who benefits from
Christians dismissing large swaths of the Bible? Who benefits from Christians
thinking the blood of Jesus is actually a license to sin? The devil -- that's
who. This is a lie from the pit of hell designed to get us to lower our moral
guard. To compromise our spiritual health. I have heard the well meaning cries
of "grace abounds!" To which again I return to the only true arbiter -- the Word
of God:
Well
then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his
wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue
to live in it? -- Romans 6: 1-2 (NLT)
It is because grace abounds that we will not face judgment under the law not that it excuses disobeying it. Remember what salvation is. Coming to the cross is not an exercise in prayer or even faith. We do not come to the cross because of logic or even love. There are so many false conversions in the modern church because we have made salvation more convoluted than it ought to be. There is only one reason why we seek a Savior and that is the weight of our own sin upon our soul. Because of that, salvation should drive us towards the moral code we so easily dismissed when in the world because we never want to go back to where Jesus found us.
Lastly, I am not speaking about perfection. None of us will ever be perfect. I have heard the flawed argument that since we cannot keep the 613 laws we should not worry about them. Just focus on the cross and Jesus. We can all hold hands and sing kumbya until Jesus comes again. The problem with that strategy is that the devil will not play along. While you are staring at the cross and not worrying about your pre-disposed sin nature -- he will push all of your favorite sin buttons. That is how well intended Christians fall. That is how we see sky-rocketing divorce rates. But even though we cannot expect to attain perfection when it comes to the law, we should be striving for it. We shouldn't be dismissive of it. Jesus set the bar high not so we can look at it and say -- "hey that bar is too high." He set it that high because that is His standard that He expects us to strive for. Don't look for the way around -- look for the way up.
Rev. Anthony
