Why the Church Sucks Sometimes (Part 1)

Being
young with all these “radical” movements going on all the time and
especially being a part of the Race, I hear certain phrases a lot.
Things like “walking in freedom” or “not being bound by the law.” That
all sounds great and, without fully understanding it, I’ve become a
supporter of these concepts. I and my squadmates talk regularly about living differently and experiencing freedom but I don’t think I could have explained any of it to anyone until a few weeks ago.

Ever heard of the New Covenant? Yep I have too.

Ever actually known what the New Covenant is? Yeah me neither.

I’ve heard people speak before about us living under the New Covenant.

Yeah I want to do that! Wait…what does that mean exactly?

[If you’re more knowledgeable than me about all of

this please excuse my rough explanation]

In a nutshell the New Covenant is Jesus.

[paraphrased from Hebrews 8:7-13]

If the first plan – the old covenant – had worked out,

a second wouldn’t have been needed.

God said,

“The days are coming

when I’ll set up a new plan.

I’ll throw out the old plan.

The people at that time didn’t keep their part of the bargain,

so I looked away and let it go.

This new plan I’m making with my children

isn’t going to be written on paper,

isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;

This time I’m writing out the plan in them,

carving it on the lining of their hearts.

I’ll be their God,

they’ll be my people.

They won’t have to go to school to learn about me.

They all get to know me firsthand.

They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,

with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.”

By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people,

God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.

Chapters
9 and 10 go on to compare the old vs. new “plan” if you want to read
more. God chose to implement laws during the OT time because, well
because the people couldn’t handle freedom. But also because how do you
know what freedom is unless you’ve first lived under the law? God
Himself said the old plan was no good anymore. So why do we still chose
to go by it?

So
I’m hearing all of this from British pastor Anthony Chapman [if you see
an awesome quote in here it was probably from him, not me] and all the
sudden it clicks: This freedom thing I’ve been talking to people about
all year I finally [kind of] know what I’m trying to explain to them!
The Old Covenant was laws. The 10 Commandments and all that other
stuff. Today in our lives we are not supposed to be living under those laws.
If you stop reading after that sentence you may have a bone to pick
with me…but hear me out. Yes the 10 Commandments are great principles
to live by – don’t worship idols, don’t kill, don’t cheat on your
spouse, etc. So I’m not saying we still shouldn’t honor those
principles. But what I am saying is that if we are just following a
bunch of laws, are we truly in relationship with the Lord? Are we doing or not doing things in our lives out of obligation to fulfill a law or out of love?

Relationship was emphasized when Jesus came. He was Emmanuel, God with us.
God no longer was only reachable through a priest but now He was
choosing to dwell among us and have personal relationship with each of
us. Now that personal relationship is possible with God, why should laws be necessary? If we truly love God, why do we need laws and rules to tell us what to do?

Now we can live in freedom!
Freedom to do what we please. Yep, I said it. We actually do have the
freedom in Christ to do whatever we want [1 Cor. 10:23-33]. BUT because
of our love for God we chose to use discretion. All
things are permissible but not all things are beneficial. The even
better part about this is that we live under God’s grace. So if we make
a choice to do something that isn’t beneficial something that doesn’t
show love to our Father, we are forgiven. We have the freedom to mess up and still be loved.

This
may all seem very elementary to some of you. Or maybe for some of you
it’s just words you’ve heard before and it doesn’t seem like a big
deal. Let me assure you that when you get it, REALLY get it, it will
change how you live your life. I’ve always known in my head all that stuff about relationship and grace. But now understanding it in my heart has caused a shift in me.

I used to [whether I would admit it or not] live by laws.

Oh I shouldn’t do that. The law tells me that is a bad thing to do.

Now I’m finally understanding what it is to live by love.

My Father trusts me to make my own decisions.

I have the opportunity to chose.

Out of love for my Father I want to make choices that honor Him.

But if I mess up, He loves me the same and He is big enough to absorb my mistakes.

So friends…what if…

What if we truly grasped the concept of living in the New Covenant; living under love instead of laws?

What if these 3 principles became part of our lives:

* You belong before you believe

* You’re accepted before you’re acceptable

* You’re forgiven before you repent

Wow
these rocked my world! I mean, loving people regardless of what they
believe, loving them despite what they do, and loving them before they
get their lives straight? What if we stoped simply acting like loving
people but we actually were loving people? What if we loved people with our actions, how we spoke about them when they weren’t around, and with our thoughts about them? Come on let’s be honest…if we were REALLY doing this with EVERYONE [yes, everyone] we met, people couldn’t help but come to a relationship with Jesus.

What if it was time for us to make some radical changes in how we live our lives?