Moving Forward – “Love Over Law”

Confusing Covenants. God made three primary covenants. The 1st covenant was with an individual, Abraham. The 2nd covenant was with the nation Israel. His 3rd covenant was made through Jesus for the whole world. Paul declares that those who are in Christ are included in both the 1st covenant with Abraham, and the 3rd covenant that Jesus made with the world. Not understanding the separateness of these covenants causes the same kind of confusion and emotional baggage that is created by “rebound relationships.”

A Dangerous Combination. In Gal. 5, Paul takes great debate with Judaizes who were insisting that in order to be a Jesus follower, a person must also keep the old covenant law. Paul argued that keeping the law was a “fall from grace and an alienation of yourself from Christ.” Paul declared, “the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love…It only takes a small dose of the wrong thing - to corrupt the whole thing.”

A New Commandment. Jesus replaced the former covenant God made with the nation of Israel, with a new covenant with the world. Hebrews 8 says, this new covenant would be a better one, with better promises and would last forever. Jesus said this new covenant would be known by the same kind of love expressed toward each other that Jesus had demonstrated to them. “Love is the one thing that governs the rest of the things.”

Pivotal Meetings. There were two pivotal meetings in the book of Acts. The first one is in Acts 10, when the Holy Spirit was outpoured on the Gentiles. Christianity had primarily been a Jewish movement up to that point. The apostles expanded their understanding of what this Jesus movement would be. The second is in Acts 15 when the apostles and leaders of the church declared that the Gentiles who were coming to Christ were not required to keep the old covenant law. They concluded, “It is our judgment that we should not make it difficult for Gentiles who are turning to God.”

A Vertical Trap. A pseudo appearance of godliness can be deceiving. When there is such a focus on “am I alright with God”; or such a focus on God, “that we miss what God is focused on.” In Jesus the new covenant height of the vertical relationship with God – is measured by the quality of the horizontal - our relationship with people. We are to allow the Holy Spirit to inform and align our consciences to Jesus’ new covenant reality.

A House of Cards. People often reject the renewal God wants to bring into their lives because they have built a system of beliefs that actually aren’t biblical. God's laws are timeless and true. Some old covenant commands were meant to transcend the old covenant; some were not. The principle of the tithe, found in God’s covenant with Israel is a part of a larger principle, which is the “law of the harvest.” God didn’t change his mind, he changed covenants, which is what Jesus did for us and what the law could never do.

The Secret Sauce. The beauty of Jesus’ new covenant isn’t abandoning certain old covenant commands, but it’s the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in each one of us. Human nature doesn’t ultimately produce the kind of fruit any of us want in our lives, but the Holy Spirit does (Gal 5:19-23). Jesus declares, in the final analysis, it isn’t what we believe but how we behave. At Life Community in order for us to accomplish our mission, which is “to see unchurched people and the next generation become passionate followers of Christ,” our focus will be love over law.