Welcome aboard ... as it occurred to us after starting this program that we have now been doing the Growing in Grace podcast for 19 years. Springboarding off of recent programs, we examine the typical mindset that is often adapted within a multitude of church buildings where they focus on what they consider to be wrong with people instead of the goodness we've received as believers in Christ. This leads to the futile attempt of doing or avoiding a variety of things that will "hopefully" bring people to a place where they are considered clean and more acceptable to God, but it is usually followed by repeating the same efforts over and over.
Anything that you are taught that you "must do" in order to be considered right with God is not the gospel but a fable. So let's ask the question ... is Jesus truly a Savior or is He not? Did He do everything necessary to save to the uttermost or are we responsible for our eternity by our actions? If the latter is true, then He died for nothing.
Religious teaching will tell us to work at keeping the law of commandments, but it’s only a small portion that we hear about while most of it is ignored—which causes hypocrisy to loom very large. And when a commandment from the Old Covenant is broken, modern-day legalists will disobey the Law’s requirement to execute punishment—sometimes including death for what we consider to be minor offenses.
Even the greatest commandments from the law (according to Jesus) caused people to fall short of the perfect requirement … because nobody has ever loved God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. Nobody has loved God by being diligently obedient to the command, but now we’re able to do so—and to love one another—not due to our effort of obedience, but because we have come to know and believe in God’s love for us. (1 John 4:10-16). It’s a different way—and a better covenant.
Those Christians who are seeking to improve right-standing with God through their efforts are guaranteed to fail. Many will often wonder where they stand with God as they work to improve their behavior in order to attain more of God’s forgiveness, righteousness, holiness, sanctification, and even His love and acceptance. Don’t be discouraged by the guarantee of failure and the inability to acquire these blessings through your works. As the Jewish people under the law could’ve told you, it only leads to self-righteousness, which profits nothing. What if you could discover a guarantee to experience the fullness of the life of God on a daily basis, without fear, and without it being dependent upon your ability? It’s already been gifted to you in something called the gospel.
As we recognize the identity of righteousness that belongs to us in Jesus Christ, we can put away our own efforts and rest in him. Before the cross, the Jewish people were in bondage to the Mosaic law as it demanded a perfection the people could not attain. Their works were based on pursuing their own righteousness because they did not understand God's righteousness. We are declared perfected, justified and sanctified. As the Apostle Paul stated, "For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God."
One of the greatest battles for us in this life is the battle of identity. That is, understanding who we are as children of God. The first Adam lost that battle in the garden and the human race became identified as sinners. The last Adam (Jesus) came to offer the free gift of becoming God's righteousness and receiving life. This was made possible because Jesus won the battle of His identity. As a boy growing into a man, He believed and understood who He was as the Son of God and conquered on the basis of that identity. Jesus did not have to do anything to prove who He was. We can experience the same victory as new creatures in Christ.
We often put the focus of the Christian life on our dedication and commitment to God. Under the Old Covenant, the lives of the Jewish people revolved around this sincere effort to establish right standing with Him. The results were utter failure and they were constantly reminded of their faults and inability to escape a guilty conscious. The Christian life isn't supposed to be about our dedication and re-dedication based upon our moral efforts. The New Covenant revealed God's dedication to us through the blood of Jesus Christ.
This week's podcast is a follow-up on last week's chat about religious flesh. Often when you hear someone give a Christian testimony it will be based on all the bad stuff they used to do that they don't do any more. But the Apostle Paul revealed how he gave up his efforts to abide by the good commandments of the law and the attempt to establish his own righteousness. Why? Because being in Christ is better. Under the Old Covenant of law and works sin increased (not decreased), and the law aroused the passion to sin. But in Christ sin will not have dominion over you. Why? As Paul stated, because you are not under law but under grace.
