Fanning the Flames

Covenant Contrasts Part 15

(The old covenant verses that you will read in this series are true.  They are God-breathed Scripture.  But their time is over.  They have no bearing on our new covenant lives with Jesus.  Yet they are taught Sunday after Sunday as words to live by.  They fill our Christian books, devotionals, and sermons.  This mixed covenant message leads to confusion, frustration, angst, and a huge lack of confidence in our life with Jesus.  And this way of teaching must come to an end.  May you grow in the knowledge and grace of the new covenant as we study these covenant contrasts together.)

Anther contrast between the old and new covenants is a change of heart.  Yes, a real change of heart.  Under the old covenant, that heart was an entity that needed to be wrangled and tamed and renewed.  “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).  This describes the old covenant heart.

Unfortunately, I have heard this passage preached as a description of the believer’s heart more times than I can count.  I say “unfortunately” because I don’t believe this is the heart that beats inside you and me.  We have a clean heart.  We have a new heart.

Watchman Nee reminds us in The Normal Christian Life, “The heart, God says, is ‘desperately sick,’ and He must do something more fundamental than cleanse it; He must give us a new one.”  And a new heart is what we received when we believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

This new heart is the promise of the new covenant found in the prophets.  “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).  The new heart is a clean heart.  Peter reported to the church in Jerusalem regarding the gospel coming to the Gentiles, “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8-9).

And finally, the new heart is an obedient heart.  “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed” (Romans 6:17).

As with all of our new covenant promises, embracing your new heart is an act of faith.  Your new heart has a natural bent toward God.  You may not feel it all the time.  In fact, there may be times where you think, “This feels a lot like my old crummy heart.”  But we believe BY FAITH in the gifts of God that we cannot see with our eyes or feel with our skin.  And one of these gifts is a new clean obedient heart.

Covenant Contrasts Part 14

(The old covenant verses that you will read in this series are true.  They are God-breathed Scripture.  But their time is over.  They have no bearing on our new covenant lives with Jesus.  Yet they are taught Sunday after Sunday as words to live by.  They fill our Christian books, devotionals, and sermons.  This mixed covenant message leads to confusion, frustration, angst, and a huge lack of confidence in our life with Jesus.  And this way of teaching must come to an end.  May you grow in the knowledge and grace of the new covenant as we study these covenant contrasts together.)

A quick study of the tithe in the Old Testament produces these highlights.  First, it’s purpose was to meet the needs of the Levites.  This tribe of priests was not given any land as an inheritance.  So they relied on the tithe of the children of Israel for their sustenance.  “To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting” (Numbers 18:21).

Second, the tithe items that appear in the Old Testament are seed, fruit, produce, oxen, sheep, grain, wine, and oil.  “Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S; it is holy to the LORD” (Leviticus 27:30).  “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year” (Deuteronomy 14:22).  “The sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of sacred gifts which were consecrated to the LORD their God, and placed them in heaps” (2 Chronicles 31:6).  “All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses” (Nehemiah 13:12).  A concordance search of “tithe” or “tithes” shows no evidence of money being collected.

Finally, God pronounced punishment upon the children of Israel when they abandoned the tithe, and prosperity when they put it back into practice.  ” ‘Will a man rob God?  Yet you are robbing Me!  But you say, “How have we robbed You?”  In tithes and offerings.  You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!  Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows’ “ (Malachi 3:8-10).

My point?  ALL of this tithe business is old covenant.  And it is over for new covenant saints.  The word tithe only appears two times in the New Testament, both in Jesus’ accusation against the Pharisees that they tithe their garden herbs but ignore the more important practices of love, mercy, justice, and faithfulness.  Tithe or tithes is nowhere to be found in any of the apostles’ letters of instruction to the church.

So why do so many Bible teachers today emphasize the tithe or, in some cases, require a tithe to be collected from the congregation?  How many times, for example, have you heard this Malichi passage preached at you?  I can say with new covenant confidence, this warning and promise do not apply to God’s new covenant saints.  Do not let any church leader tell you what amount you are required to give to their ministry.  There are no godly percentages.  The requirement under the new covenant is ZERO!

So there is no giving under the new covenant?  Yes there is, but it is exactly that; GIVING as in a gift, not meeting a tithe requirement.  In the New Testament, Paul gives us at least four principles for new covenant giving.  Give generously.  Give purposely.  Give cheerfully.  Give according to your ability, according to what you have available to give.

Give generously.  “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6).  This “reaping” is not necessarily for yourself, but the fruit of the gospel going forth.

Give purposely and cheerfully.  “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Give out of what you have.  “For if the desire to give is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12).

And included in these instructions is “do not give under compulsion.”  Paul specifically addresses the pressure leaders place on their people to give.  You are free from giving under compulsion.  You are free of a percentage.  You are free of the tithe.  You are free to give generously, cheerfully, and according to your ability.  The old covenant is over.  The tithe is over.

Covenant Contrasts Part 13

In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came and went.  And His coming and going was also only directed at certain individuals.  His primary role was to anoint various prophets with a message for God’s people.  The historical books of the Old Testament record many instances of God’s Spirit coming and going.

Compare this to the movement of God’s Spirit in the new covenant.  In the upper room, just prior to His death, Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper [Gk. Paracletos, one called alongside to help], that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be IN you.” (John 14:16-17).

Look at all the promise packed into these two verses.  First, the Holy Spirit will be sent to us by the Father in answer to Jesus’ prayer.  Second, the Spirit will be “another” [Gr. allos, another of the same sort; not heteros, different] meaning that He will be a “Helper” in the same way that Jesus has been to the disciples.  Third, He will be with us forever.  Fourth, He will be known as the Spirit of truth.  Jesus referred to Himself as “the truth” (John 14:6).  The Spirit, as Jesus’ equal, will also be known as true.  Fifth, the world will not be able to receive God’s Spirit, because the world does not know or recognize Him.  Sixth, the Spirit abides with the disciples at that time through the physical presence of Jesus.

Last, and I think the most radical idea of them all, the “Spirit will be IN you.”  Will be IN you.  Will be IN us.  Will be IN you and me.  At the time of Jesus’ words, God’s Spirit dwelt with the disciples through the presence of Jesus, the God-man.  But a future time is coming, after Jesus has physically departed, when the Spirit will literally live IN the disciples.  And by our faith in Christ and His work on the cross to bring us into His family, the Spirit will live IN us as well.

And how long will the “IN YOU” last?  Forever.  That is the contrast that I want to emphasize here.  Under the old covenant, God’s Spirit came and went and anointed various people as various times.  Under the new covenant, God’s Spirit will indwell EVERY believer FOREVER!

Covenant Contrasts Part 12

In the Old Testament, God dwelled in “holy” places.  And these holy places were very specific geographic locations.  God appeared to Moses in a burning bush where He told Moses, “You are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).  During the exodus from Egypt, God instructed the Israelites to “construct a sanctuary [tabernacle] for Me, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8).

Later, after Israel possessed the promised land, King Solomon built a temple dedicated to the Lord.  Here God dwelled in the Holy of Holies inside the Holy Temple in the Holy City of Jerusalem in what became known as the Holy Land.  Do you see the pattern?  God dwelled AMONG His people in holy places.

Under the new covenant, God still dwells in holy places.  And that holy place today is in you and me!  “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20).  God lives in you!

How do we qualify as a holy place?  God Himself has qualified us through the death of Jesus.  “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints … having reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Colossians 1:12, 22).

Or said another way, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7).  We have this treasure, Jesus, living inside our earth-suit.  We are not deity.  But we contain the Deity!  There is no arrogance in that understanding, only gratitude.

In contrast to the old covenant, God no longer dwells just AMONG His people.  He now lives IN His people!

Covenant Contrasts Part 11

The apostle Paul described the old covenant as “the ministry of condemnation” (II Corinthians 3:9).  Why would he say that?  He might be writing from his own experience with the Law.

In Romans 7:14-25, Paul shares the weight of condemnation that plagued him in his pre-conversion attempt to obey the Law.  He famously laid out the contradiction of wanting to obey the Law but not having the power to do you.  The mind was willing.  The flesh was powerless.  He closes the passage with this desperate question, “Who can set me free from this contradiction churning inside?” (Romans 7:24 paraphrase).

Paul is quick to jump right to the new covenant answer.  “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! [because prior to my conversion and living under the old covenant] on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.  [But under the new covenant] there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:25-8:1).

Under the new covenant, under the new arrangement with God, there is NO condemnation for those who believe the gospel.  The “ministry of condemnation” is over because the old covenant is over.

So what is our focus now as “ministers of a new covenant”? (II Corinthians 3:6).  We are engaged in a “ministry of reconciliation.”  “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

How many times is some variation of the word “reconcile” used in just these three verses?  The message we preach is, “Come home to Jesus.  Be reconciled to God.  Be at peace with God through the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:1).

Condemnation was the ministry of the obsolete old covenant.  Reconciliation is the ministry of the new!