Grace - The Old and the New

Hey Everyone,

 

Here's another article on Grace by Mick Mooney.  In it, he makes a very good point about how we are led by Jesus, since He Himself is "The Way".  Enjoy!

 

Grace=Peace,

 

Jeremy

 

 

The old and the new

By Mick Mooney

 

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3:9-10

 

As a believer, it is so important to actually believe the reality of what Christ has done on your behalf. He has really made you into a new creation. You really are now a saint. You really do have a righteous nature! Christ really did cut away your sinful nature (Colossians 2:11) so that you can now freely live with him and for him. All of this was not the fruit of your work, but the fruit of Christ's perfect finished work upon the cross.

 

Whenever we look at ourselves apart from the revelation of the cross, we cannot see the reality of our new selves. This results in holding on to a religious mindset that believes that we are still the same people we were before we accepted him. When we continue to believe that we are our old selves, then our old mindsets, our old ideas about God and ultimately our old sinful practices begin to reflect this belief.

 

The old self is naturally spiritually inadequate because it was made through the body of Adam, the original sinner. However, the truth is that we are no longer the old self; we have been made into a new creation.

 

We were all born the first time through the body of Adam, but through our faith we have been born again spiritually through the body of Christ. He is not like Adam, he is not a sinner. Adam may have passed on the nature of sin, but Christ is the righteousness of God, and it is this nature that he passes on to all who are born through him!

 

Now if we believe that the old self was sinful, how much more should we believe that the new self is righteous? Think about it, if Adam's sin was powerful enough to make all mankind sinful, how much more is Christ's righteousness powerful enough to make all who are in him righteous? (Romans 5:15-17)

 

Now that we are in Christ, it is so important to believe the right things regarding both our true identity in him, and how God is now relating to us based on this reality. He relates to us based on the righteousness of Christ, not the sin of Adam. In fact, it is only through focusing fully on the work that Christ completed through the cross that we can have the confidence to believe it!

 

It is the glorious news that we are a new creation, made perfect by faith in the eyes of God. We are not only adequate in our relationship with him, but we also qualify, based on Christ qualifying on our behalf, to be citizens of heaven. (Colossians 1:12-13)

 

So now we are in the new covenant of grace, but what about the old covenant of law? Some believers might argue that the law is still applicable and essential to Christian living because it helps us know the way in which we should live, but is that really true? Some may genuinely ask: "how we will know what is good from bad without the law? How will we know what God expects from us without the law? How will we live a moral life without the law? How will we know the way God wants us to walk without the law to show us the way?"

 

The Apostle Thomas had a very similar thought. At the last supper Jesus said: 

 

'You know the way to the place where I am going.' Thomas replied 'Lord, we don't even know where you are going, so how can we know the way?' John 14:4-5

 

Thomas had a very sincere question. He was basically asking Jesus how they would ever be able to know the way if they didn't have a map or written directions?

 

What was Jesus' response to Thomas? Did he say, "You know the way because you have been instructed by the law?" Or did he say, "You know the way because you have the Ten Commandments to guide you?" If not, then what did he say? He answered:

 

'I am the way.'

 

As Christians, we know the way to live, because we are led by, and are living in, 'the way' himself! The Holy Spirit is not just a nice idea, he is real! One thing is for certain: When we do our part, he does his! Our part is to look to Christ for our justification before God, and the Holy Spirit's part is to bring about the transformational life.

 

You can't go the wrong way by putting all your confidence in Jesus and the fullness of his grace, because he is the way! It is when we try to find the way by following a written code that we actually lose our way, because our focus is no longer on our glorious Saviour, but our own failed attempt at legalistic righteousness.

 

Christ loves God's ways, and he loves to see his beloved living in God's ways. Christ also knows that this will only come to pass if we can look to him alone. Complete dependence on the Spirit of Christ to lead us is what brings about a transformed life! The Apostle Paul also testifies to this wonderful truth:

 

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.  Romans 8:3-4

 

Anything that is loving and moral and good is from God, and we can rest assured that these good qualities will bear fruit in our lives by the power of the Spirit without ever seeking direction or help from the law.

 

Why can we say with confidence, as Paul did, that Christ is the end of the law for all who believe? (Romans 10:4)  Because now that we see Jesus, we see the power of his life and understand that his powerful life is now living in us!

 

The law was never the saviour of wicked mankind; it was given to mankind that we might find the Saviour. Now that we have found him, let us believe him when he says 'I am the way' and follow without looking back to the law.

 

Living in the new covenant of God's grace and being led by the Spirit isn't a license for immorality. It is freedom to let Christ transform your life by the working of his Spirit in you. Praise God.