The Naked Gospel: Truth You May Never Hear in Church (7 page)

The Cross is the central event in time and eternity,
and the answer to all the problems of both.

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

I
F YOU WERE TO PULL A “PRODIGAL SON” ROUTINE ON A PARENT
, how do you think they would react? You may recall that the prodigal son asked for his inheritance early so he could enjoy life in the fast lane: “Dad, I was wondering if I might cash in on your will before you die?”

Good luck with that one today, right? It’s just not done. You may end up with some cash in your hand, but it wouldn’t be from the will. The attorneys would nip that in the bud. It’s not legal to cash in on a will unless the author of the will is believed to be dead. Interestingly, this is a point made in Hebrews:

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because
a will is in force only when somebody has died;
it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.

HEBREWS 9:16-17, italics added

Why all this talk about wills, the legal system, and inheritance? Here the writer is drawing an analogy between a will going into effect and a covenant taking effect. In fact, the terms
will, covenant,
and
testament
are translations of the same Greek word.

The writer’s analogy and play on words serves to make an important point. Just as a will isn’t in effect without a death, a
covenant doesn’t go into effect without a death. Meaning the New Covenant did not begin at Jesus’ birth but at his death.

As you may imagine, this point carries radical implications. First, the New Testament doesn’t actually begin in Matthew 1. In fact, it doesn’t begin at any page in the Bible. It begins at the point in history when Jesus’ blood was shed.

No blood was shed in the first chapter of Matthew, and no sacrificial death was carried out in the manger. It was not our Savior’s birth that changed everything. It was his death that inspired the apostles to declare the message of “out with the old, and in with the new.”

As Paul puts it, Jesus was “born under the law, to redeem those under the law” (Galatians 4:4-5). So Jesus lived for thirty-three years on planet Earth while those around him still operated under the Old, not the New.
^*

Where should we look, then, to see the New? The first effects of the New are evidenced in the book of Acts at Pentecost.
^†
The apostles’ letters to the church instruct us about life under the New.

When we attempt to mix Old with New, we end up with a contradictory covenant of our own invention. This is where I lived for years. Since there were a few elements of the New in my imaginary covenant, it didn’t kill me right away. Instead, it afforded me a slower death.

I had adopted a belief system that was essentially a balance of Old and New. I neither suffered under the stringency of the entire law nor enjoyed the bliss of unconditional favor. For that reason,
it would be years before my framework for relating to God would finally take its toll.

As you read this, you may be thinking, “Well, that’s not my problem. I have never struggled with whether or not I am under the law. I’ve always known better.” That may be true, but that was true for me too! I would never have said that I needed to adhere to the Jewish law—far from it. It wasn’t the law of Moses that was holding me hostage; it was my own modern-day form of law that I was trying to live out.

Having raised my antennae toward the Christian world around me, I intercepted the subtle message that there are requirements to remain in God’s favor. This collection of “Thou shalts”—read your Bible, share your faith, participate in a lot of “church”—was a measuring stick by which I determined my worth and standing. These criteria served as a concrete way of determining whether or not I was in right relationship with God.

I had already accepted the work of Christ as the means to heaven. But it was my approach to daily living that was beating me up. Law as an everyday operating system was doing its work.

If we’re under a New Covenant, then what about the Old one? Is there still a place for it in our lives? What do the Scriptures say? Hebrews dismisses the notion of mingling the two:

He
sets aside the first to establish the second.
And
by that will,
we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

H
EBREWS
10:9b-10, italics added

Through the New, we find our standing as holy children of God. The first (Old) covenant was set aside because it made no one perfect. After all, it was a performance-based system, and no one could perform in a way that met its standards! Imagine walking on eggshells your entire life as you try to do everything written in the law. How overwhelming! For that reason, the Old is now obsolete. It has been set aside due to our inability to cooperate with it:

By calling this covenant “new,” [God] has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

H
EBREWS
8:13

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

H
EBREWS
7:18-19

What does the writer of Hebrews say? The Old is “weak and useless” in its attempts to perfect us. Today, we have a better option—the New. This new system introduced through the death of Jesus Christ actually works. It places us in perfect standing even though we don’t perform perfectly. Only through the New can we genuinely draw near to God.

When I’m feeling distant from God, it’s because I’ve measured myself and have come up short. This leads me to believe that God must be measuring me by this same standard. So I end up with the false conclusion that he’s distant from me. Under this logic, how would I get close again? Obviously, the only option would be to achieve in a way that I hadn’t achieved previously.

But the Scriptures are clear: there’s only one way to get close to God—through the New Covenant. Any other way is a counterfeit that is invariably rooted in ill-conceived parallels with human relationships and driven by moment-to-moment feelings.

T
HROUGHOUT THE FOUR GOSPELS
, J
ESUS TALKS ABOUT THE LAW
. S
O
what does he say about it? And in what ways should Jesus’ words affect how we apply the law today?

As a kid, I remember being fascinated by a mirror next to my mother’s sink. It was a table-stand mirror that was round and double-sided. I could swivel the mirror to switch from standard reflection to a 3x magnification. After washing my face, I’d look into the standard reflection. My face would appear clean and clear. But once I flipped the mirror, the magnified side would reveal things I hadn’t been able to see before. Flaws in my complexion that were previously concealed became highly visible in the magnified image.

Here are two examples of how Jesus spoke about the law. As you read his words, see if you can identify the ways in which he’s magnifying the dirt on the face of humanity. Even the premium law keepers of the day appear filthy in light of what the law
really
requires:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders
will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you
that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”

M
ATTHEW
5:21-22, italics added

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

M
ATTHEW
5:27-28, italics added

What was Jesus doing when he spoke of the law? He was amplifying it, just as the double-sided mirror magnified the blemishes on my face. Jesus was using the law to show religious leaders exactly where they stood.

We often attempt to apply directly to our lives every word Jesus said, without considering his audience and purpose. But the context of Jesus’ harsh teachings must be seen in the light of the dividing line between the Old and the New. Remember that Christ was born and lived during the Old Covenant (law) era:

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem those under the law,
that we might receive adoption to sonship.

G
ALATIANS
4:4-5, italics added

Jesus was born under the law. His audience was under the law. And they needed deliverance from it. So what would Jesus teach about the current religious system? Would he praise his hearers for their performance? Would he leave them satisfied with the status quo? Or would he highlight their feeble attempts at keeping the law? Naturally, he’d do the latter. Otherwise, what use would his work on the cross be to them?
So Jesus exposed the futility of life under law. He exclaimed, “Gouge out your eye” and “cut off your hand” if you truly want to keep the law (Matthew 5:29-30), so that his Jewish listeners would reach a crossroad. They would decide to try harder or to give up.

Which response do you think Jesus was hoping for as he swiveled the mirror so they could see their dirty faces in magnified form?

Once they gave up, they could consider a radical new way.

Jesus’ real intent might be most clear in the story of the rich young man. This man had tried his best to keep the law. Jesus looked at him and loved him. So why would Jesus point to the one thing this young man
couldn’t
do? Why would Jesus send him away brokenhearted?

“Teacher,” [the man] declared, “all these [commandments] I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

M
ARK
10:20-22

Should we put our possessions on eBay in order to enter the kingdom? Jesus said we should, didn’t he? But this simply doesn’t jibe with New Testament teachings on salvation through faith alone. Jesus’ impossible teachings of “sell everything, sever body parts if necessary, be perfect like God and surpass the Pharisees with your righteousness” are not
honestly
compatible with salvation as a gift from God.
Couldn’t we resolve all of this by realizing the dividing line in human history? Peter, James, John, and Paul wrote epistles about life under the New Covenant. Years earlier, Jesus was teaching hopelessness under the Old. The audience wasn’t the same. The covenant wasn’t the same. And the teachings aren’t the same.

Barbara had been struggling with depression for more than a decade. Painful circumstances had overwhelmed her to the point where she had little hope. One day, she was watching television when our church’s half-hour program came on. Barbara listened as I told of my own battle with guilt and anxiety over performing for God.

Barbara’s struggle was so similar that she decided to call me. After we had talked together just a couple of times, Barbara began to notice some change. There was a difference in the way she felt about herself, in her perception of God, and in her overall energy level as she made her way through her day.

Barbara shared with me that reading the Bible had always been discouraging to her. There was always
more to do
that she wasn’t doing. “Every time I picked up the Bible, I felt like a failure,” she said.

Lately though, all of that had changed. We had examined a few dozen Scripture passages about her identity in Christ, her freedom from the law’s demands, and the boundless forgiveness she has in Christ. She told me that when she set her mind on those truths, she began to experience some relief from her debilitating depression.

But one evening, Barbara came into my office with a downcast expression again. “What happened?” I asked.

“Well, everything was fine most of the week as I was reading the verses you gave me,” she said. “But then I decided to
read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. After that, I’m not sure what happened.”

“Ah, I see,” I responded. “Let me assure you that what you experienced is normal for any honest, eager child of God when they read that passage.”

I explained the dividing line of Old and New. I told her how Jesus’ harsh teachings aimed at the religious kill you every time. Barbara began to see the distinction between what Jesus taught to Jews and what God wanted her to enjoy under the New. Her countenance lifted. Once again, truth had done its work.

One thing about distinguishing the Old from the New—it always liberates.

A
LTHOUGH SOME CLAIM WE’RE OBLIGATED TO KEEP THE LAW OR
portions of it, Paul doesn’t mince words about the issue:
“Christ is the end of the law
so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 NIV, italics added). But substituting rules for the work of the Spirit is not a new phenomenon. Nearly two thousand years ago, Paul was outraged at believers whom he had personally taught. They were straying from the simple message of “Jesus plus nothing.” Filled with emotion, he begged them to reconsider their position:

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?

G
ALATIANS
3:1-3

Later in the same chapter, Paul clarifies the believer’s relationship to the law: “The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law” (Galatians 3:24-25 NIV).

The law led us to Christ. How? By acting as a yardstick against which we measured our morality. We came up short. God’s solution was to justify us, to declare us righteous, by Christ’s work. So Paul asks us to consider the following: First, how did we receive the Spirit—through believing or through the law? Second, what should supervise our actions now?

In college, I was relieved when professors chose the multiplechoice format for tests. Even without studying, I had a fighting chance of identifying the correct answer. In Galatians, the apostle is quizzing his readers on their years of learning under his teaching. He takes it easy on them by giving them multiple-choice options.

If Paul were to rewrite this portion of his letter in test format, it might look like the following:

Question 1:
How were you saved?

            • by observing the law

            • by believing what I heard

Question 2:
How do you expect to grow?

           • by my human effort

           • by the Spirit

Using this line of questioning, Paul is urging Christians to continue
in the same way they began.
They started by believing and by opening themselves to the Spirit’s work. Salvation had nothing to do with the law. Likewise, maturity in Christ isn’t achieved through human effort either.

Paul emphasizes that the law should not act as our supervisor. Is Paul referring here to salvation or to daily living? Both. First, we’re saved by hearing with faith. Now that we’re saved, our daily lives are carried out by faith in the indwelling Christ, not by the law. The Spirit within us is more than enough to bring about a life the law never could: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18).

So if the Scriptures say that the law has no place in the life of the believer, the most logical question is this: If the law isn’t our moral guide, then what is? As Christians, we have an inborn desire for our behavior to turn out right. In fact, the desire to please God is what drives some to embrace the error of law-based living!

Fortunately, God hasn’t taken us out from under the law and left us with nothing. When we believe, the Holy Spirit then lives in us. The Spirit produces fruit through us as we depend on him. But it’s important to recognize the “system” that the Holy Spirit uses in place of the law. He operates through a radically different system, namely, one called
grace.
Recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives requires a solid understanding of grace.

But often our idea of grace boils down to nothing more than mercy. In this case, the typical definition of
grace
might go something like this: “Grace is what happens when a punishment is lessened or waived after someone has done wrong.” Grace is often seen as a response to sin, much like being pardoned from a capital crime.
But the New Testament portrays grace as far greater than this. Notice what grace does in the lives of Christians:

The grace of God
has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness
and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

T
ITUS
2:11-12, italics added

Grace is the system that the Holy Spirit uses to counsel and teach us on a daily basis. Grace is in place, whether or not we’ve sinned recently. We worry that an absence of law will result in a lifestyle that is out of control. This concern is natural. But it contradicts what the Scriptures say about the effects of grace. Grace isn’t just a treatment for sin; it’s actually the cure for sin!

When we question the function of grace in our lives, we’re insulting God’s intelligence. Would he usher in a New Covenant that not only allows but actually promotes sin? Is God foolish to think that grace really motivates us to live godly lives?

The secret is that grace deactivates our pride. Removing the law from our lives means our self-effort is no longer prodded to control behavior. The law excites human effort. It encourages us to depend on resources outside of Christ. But unconditional acceptance deactivates human effort and allows the Holy Spirit to be all that he wants to be through us.

Our greatest fear is that we’ll be out of control. But we were never made to be in control. Self-control has always been a natural attribute of
the Holy Spirit.
The reason he lives within us is to produce the self-control that we’re afraid we’ll lack under grace.

Paul encourages us to trust grace under the New Covenant by quoting Jesus himself on the matter:

But [Jesus] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2 C
ORINTHIANS
12:9

Jesus doesn’t appear fearful about the outcome of too much grace in Paul’s life. Grace isn’t merely a response to sin. Grace is the core of the New. It allows Jesus to produce through us what’s needed in the moment. After hearing this divine position on grace, Paul decides that Someone greater than himself will work in his life. Jesus will produce what he cannot.

The same is true for us today.

Long-term prisoners often struggle after their release. They grew accustomed to the confines of prison. In some ways, walls and bars provided a sense of security for them. They were told when to shower, when to eat, when to exercise, and when to sleep. Every aspect of their lives was regulated as law enforcers kept a watchful eye.

Once released, some grow uneasy. Suddenly, they must figure out for themselves where to go, when to do things, and what to do with the rest of their lives.

Similarly, freedom from the law can make some of us uneasy.
^*
When boundaries are removed, we’re left to make up our minds concerning what is and what isn’t profitable. But this is what Christian maturity is: since we’re in Christ and he’s in us, we don’t look to external rules to determine our every
move; instead, we’re urged to move away from religious bondage and to journey toward a beautiful freedom, never looking back:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

G
ALATIANS
5:1