THE NEW COVENANT:NEW LIFE

I'm posting a blog post that my Internet and Kingdom friend, Aussie John [his blog handle from down under] posted on his own blog which I will link to at the end of this article. I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Aussie J writes...

I have quoted Isaiah 42:6 previously to draw attention to the fact of our Lord Jesus being revealed by Isaiah as the covenant person.

E. J. Young, commenting on that same passage says this:

“The lan­guage is strik­ing, for the ser­vant is actu­ally iden­ti­fied as a covenant.  A covenant, how­ever, in this instance is not a pact or agree­ment between two equal par­ties. From the par­al­lel word light (i.e. sal­va­tion), we learn that it is actu­ally a divine bestowal of Grace. God sov­er­eignly bestows to man His bless­ings of sal­va­tion and it is this sov­er­eign dis­pen­sa­tion that is called a covenant.

That the ser­vant is iden­ti­fied with the covenant of course involves the idea of his being the one through whom the covenant is medi­ated, but the expres­sion implies more. In form it is sim­i­lar to our Lord’s “I am the res­ur­rec­tion and the life,” or the phrase in 49:6, “to be my sal­va­tion.””

These next words are vitally important for us to understand:

“To say that the ser­vant is a covenant is to say that all the bless­ings of the covenant have their root and ori­gin in, and are dis­pensed by him. … “

We know that Moses was the medi­a­tor of a covenant between God and Israel, but the prophet Isaiah is telling us that the ser­vant (Jesus Christ) is the covenant, the New Covenant promised in Isaiah 49:6,8; 31:31ff.

As Young says,

“In New Tes­ta­ment terms, this means that they to whom God sov­er­eignly bestows the grace of sal­va­tion receive the ser­vant Himself.”

Whilst, I dare say, a majority of those claiming to be Christians, are filling their lives and their time with the busy-ness of the demands of traditional ideas of church, trying, but failing miserably at keeping the commandments ( don't you dare tell fibs and claim you don't break at least one every day), attending meetings, putting money in the plate, doing all the rote things expected of them and expressed by pulpits all over the world, which according to a couple we spoke with, “pleases God”, some, at least, are resting in what God has done in His precious Son completed on Calvary, and in whom His pleasure is absolute!

That's the context of what Paul is saying to the Colossian Christians:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

This is what the New Covenant is all about! Paul knew from his own experience of law based attempts at living a righteous, works oriented life, that failure to please God was the only way for normal human beings. The nation Israel had the same experience, because“the mystery hidden for ages and generations” was a still a mystery until God fulfilled the promise made in Isaiah 42:6:

“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you;I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

It was not until the New Covenant was inaugurated by the finished work of Christ on Calvary that the latter part of that promise was fulfilled. That's why Jesus could exclaim, “It is finished”!

If you and I had to depend on how well we carried out the duties which have been traditionally demanded from the pulpits of traditionalism since Constantine's day, not one human being would see Christ on His throne, because traditionalism relegates Christ to the level of an entrance ticket to heaven, after a lifetime of the hard yards of rule keeping.

In reality His finished work as the New Covenant Person means that He is the absolute, and only means of new life; He IS the New Covenant complete in all of the majesty of a God who put aside His own glory to become the man, Jesus Christ, our Covenant Person.

No wonder Paul told those who had believed the truth of the Gospel in repentance and faith, have had revealed to them “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”


Thanks Aussie J! A GREAT word indeed. You can read more Aussie J here...

http://john-caesura.blogspot.com/

Paul B.

CELEBRATING THE ORDINARY!

I heard a phrase one time that intrigued me to no end. The phrase is "celebrate the ordinary." It was used to show how ordinary things can be turned into an adventure rather than waiting for only "extraordinary things" to happen. Who experiences many "extraordinary things"anyway?  Much of daily living is lived in experiencing mundane often boring things that are more routine than exciting.

What "celebrating the ordinary" does is it keeps us appreciating what we have and are presently experiencing rather than always hoping something will happen that is exciting. It keeps us from wondering what we're missing out on in life. We're not missing out on anything. That's the point. Life is fun and appreciated where we are and with what is happening.

It is very similar to the old idea of "stop and smell the roses." Some people live their life without ever really enjoying their life at all. They may even miss seeing what they have and waste their time longing for what they think other people have or are afraid they have missed out on. What a waste of time and energy and of life itself.

Mary and I HAVE had extraordinary times together. We've pastored large, exciting churches as well as small ones some of which were just as thrilling. We've traveled in ministry to more places than either of us can count. We've gone to meetings sponsored by the multi-billion dollar Corporation for which she once worked. We've traveled to places like Hawaii, Israel, London, Egypt, and last year Greece, not to mention trips on our motorcycle to Colorado, Bear Tooth pass in Montana, Yellowstone and Jackson Hole Wyoming. Those trips can ONLY be described as extraordinary when you're on a motorcycle. Add to that the REALLY extraordinary events we've shared like the birth/marriages of children and grandchildren and who's to doubt that some really great things have been experienced by the two of us.

But, generally our days are presently made up of the ordinary and it is the celebration of those times that make life far more exciting. This is true especially now as age begins to dictate the slowing down of extraordinary times/events. In fact, the older one gets the more likely it is that attending funerals and going to doctors become more common place than do weddings and births or travel and sight-seeing.

This is when having learned to "celebrate the ordinary " comes into play. But I do think it takes learning this early in life rather than later on. You don't magically wake up one day doing it. It takes a commitment, time, and it takes a lot of practice when you're young and starting on your journey.

I could give a myriad of personal and present examples by telling about things like our noon dip in the pool. About 11:00 am we eat a good lunch sitting in our recliners, watching a couple of good hour shows recorded in the past few days. Then we adjourn to the pool and walk 20 times around, 10 with her leading and 10 with me leading. Then we float, we sun, we read, and finally go inside to the computers.

I could tell of our forgetting things as we get older but celebrate it by jokingly saying "There she goes," meaning she's losing it or "There he goes," depending on which one forgot something. This, instead of dreading getting older or getting upset that we are. We just are! And we are forgetful! "Celebrate it" is our motto. And we do.

I could even tell you about the moment we get in bed every night and Mary snuggles in close to my back. There is a small thing she says that makes me laugh every time. I will leave unshared what she says since it is personal and of a nature that would draw a censure from some I'm sure. But what do they know!! They just need to get a life, I'm thinking!    ;)

We started learning this "celebrating life" concept several years ago when we would take trips and Mary would navigate while I drove. We'd REALLY get upset and even fight if given wrong instructions or if we made wrong turns or whatever. One day we decided we would travel with a new philosophy. it was simply this! "There are no mistakes, only different ways of going and doing things we hadn't planned on. So we'll celebrate the unplanned." [Mistakes]

You ought to try it sometime. It will revolutionize any trip you take together. 

It carried over into other things for us and most little things, even ordinary things, have become an adventure. We've truly found that "Celebrating the ordinary" can be a great thing.

Try it sometime. But you have to be able and willing to laugh a lot. Especially at yourself!

Paul B.

WHAT DOES THE IDEAL LOCAL CHURCH LOOK LIKE?

I've borrowed this from one of my very favorite pastors. I thought it worth a wide audience, including the few who may read my blog. Enjoy!

Twenty Characteristics of the Ideal Church

(1). The ideal church is full of people who believe the ministries of the church are important, but refuse to place church ministries on par with the kingdom of God, because...

(2). The ideal church believes Christ's reign in the hearts of His people is far more important than any and all church ministries. 

(3). The ideal church has caring shepherds who empower gifted people to serve in the kingdom rather than church professionals who manipulate guilty people to give to the church.

(4). The ideal church resists the urge to spiritualize those things associated with the church because of the knowledge that Christ is King over the totality of life, which means...

(5). The ideal church believes the worship center is no more important than the workplace, the Sunday morning (or evening) corporate worship time is no more important than Tuesday morning (or evening) family time, and the ideal church knows that God is as pleased with His people away from the church meetings as He is with them in the church meetings.

(6). The ideal church has a budget that arises out a desire to advance the kingdom. Church leaders will refrain from threatening members who don't give to the church because there is a great trust that the Holy Spirit will always stir His people to give in order to adequately meet the needs of Christ's kingdom. If the church budget falls short, then a re-evaluation of whether or not kingdom work is actually being done in the church will take place.

(7). The ideal church has paid staff who see themselves as people who serve instead of professionals who are served.

(8). The ideal church will constantly ask the question, "Why are we doing what we are doing?"

(9). The ideal church will have worship services that are designed for worshippers to encounter God through singing to Him, learning of Him, resting in Him, and being empowered by Him. As a result, the ideal church will have members who learn by experience that corporate worship is nothing more than the overflow of one's personal worship, because...

(10). The ideal church understands the importance of reality over perception. People in an ideal church are more concerned with who they are rather than how they are perceived, and as a result...

(11). The ideal church is transparent in all its transactions, sincere in all its statements, and real in all its relationships. 

(12). The ideal church is not afraid to change because change occurs for the purpose of the church being a better instrument to reach people for the kingdom. 

(13). The ideal church will fellowship around the very limited essentials of the faith (the Person of Christ and salvation by grace through faith), and grant members freedom to hold and teach diverse views on secondary and tertiery doctrines. 

(14). The ideal church is characterized by love for people--all kinds of people--and that love is seen in its emphasis on missions, mercy ministries, and the care and support of members in need.

(15). The ideal church has a well-written constitution that is kept up-to-date and followed closely in all business matters, but the church is known by those in the community for its grace and freedom. 

(16). The ideal church will rejoice when other churches grow, and will hurt when other churches hurt, because the ideal church realizes that all believers, regardless of the church to which they belong, compose the kingdom of God and we are one family with Christ as our Head.

(17). The ideal church will have servants who lead others not because of their gender, socio-economic status, or race, but because the servant/leaders have been gifted and empowered by God to serve, anointed by the Spirit in their service, and have given evidence to the church of their love for people.

(18). The ideal church understands that sin is more about one's nature than it is one's actions; authority is more about one's gifted service than it is one's titular status, and truth is more about Christ in one's life than it is words in one's mind.

(19). The ideal church cares more about building relationships and seeing lives transformed than the number of people who are baptized; in other words, baptisms are not a number to be dutifully obtained except as an identification of lives truly changed. 

(20). The ideal church doesn't desire to be like all other churches, but allows the Spirit of God to create a unique and effective personality that reflects who He is in the lives of His people in that local church. Cookie cutters may be good for baking, but they make for lousy churches.

Paul B.

FAITH AND OBEDIENCE

Paul reminded the Roman Christians that they had been set free from being a slave to sin and now they were to, "obey from the heart that form of teaching which was delivered you. " [Romans 6:16-17]  We need to understand that there is absolutely no conflict in the New Testament between faith and obedience. There is a genuine conflict between living by faith and living by the Law, as there is between Grace and Law, but none whatsoever between faith and obedience in the life of a believer.

In fact, were one to attempt to separate faith and obedience one would effectively destroy both. There is no real biblical faith without obedience and no real biblical obedience except it flow from the reservoir of genuine faith.

The biblical message of Christ and His Cross work is to be understood two ways. There are those things declared to be accomplished and you can bank on them being true. [Generally written in the Indicative mood] Then there are those things commanded that are to be obeyed in light of His accomplishments. [Written in the Imperative mood.] The only thing we do with the accomplished things is believe them. [Rest in their genuineness] It is impossible to obey a fact declared accomplished. It isn't even addressed to our will but to our mind or understanding.

Likewise, a command is not to be believed but obeyed. It is not addressed to our mind or understanding but to our will. We can certainly trust it is a wise thing commanded and is best for our lives, but it is to be obeyed.

The Christian life is to be lived with this duality in mind always. As we believe who He is and what He has accomplished on our behalf, we are to then obey what He commands in every realm of life whether it be marriage, family, work, ministry or whatever a day may bring. Christianity is not a thing of religious activities to be performed, but a way of life. As we choose to obey what He commands, trusting who He is and what He's done to be real, we will find the power and authority for the living of life. Troubles, trials, good times alike, will come and go, but life will be meaningful and abundant BECAUSE He is alive in and through us.

Study the New Testament to know the ways of God and obey the will of God as you see it trusting that the ways you've learned are true. This is obedience flowing from that reservoir of faith in His accomplishments which was mentioned earlier. Do this as a way of life and a "well done" will be heard for your living of life in this, the year of our Lord, 2015.