Month: January 2024

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 5

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine’ “ (John 8:31).

Here are some red letter words of Jesus that have been used in the pulpit to cause fear and consternation among the flock.  Words like “if” and “continue” have been used to paint our relationship with Jesus as a tenuous connection dependent on our obedience to “His word”.  But your connection to Jesus is unshakeable and rock solid; you in Christ and Christ in you, nonstop!

And it all goes back to your new birth.  When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you underwent a new birth.  A birth where you are now “born of God”; a beloved child in the family of God.  “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (I John 5:1).  And, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God: and such we are” (I John 3:1).

One of the huge huge takeaways from this idea of our new birth is the fact that we cannot be “unborn.”  Think about your earthly parents.  No matter what happened after your birth, whether you were taken into their home or went to an adoptive family, your birth parents will always be your birth parents.  You cannot change the names of the mother and father on your birth certificate.  It is permanent.

Just like you cannot be “unborn” from your earthly parents, you cannot be “unborn” from God as your Father.  When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you became God’s forever son or daughter.  You are now “born of God.”  And your birth was sealed by the imperishable, the unchangeable Jesus Himself.  “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God” (I Peter 1:23).

You were born of the imperishable seed of the living and enduring Jesus [the Word of God].  There is incredible security and confidence in the fact that your new birth cannot be undone.  You are signed, sealed, delivered; never to be returned.  Your connection to the Father is unbreakable and rock solid.

So who is Jesus talking to here with the warning “if you continue”?  We need to understand these words in the context of the first century practice of Rabbis and physical followers.  The followers of Jesus, or disciples as they were often called in the gospels, was a fluid situation.  Followers came and went.  People joined the group.  People left the group.  For example, in John chapter 6, the apostle writes, “As a result of this teaching many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66).

Throughout the gospels, there were large crowds and small crowds.  Jesus was at times adored by the masses and at times alone with His twelve apostles.  I believe in this passage, Jesus was talking to His physical followers; again, a group that fluctuated in numbers.  Jesus is essentially saying to His followers. “If you continue with Me, then you will truly be my disciples.  But there is time to decide if this is truly what you want to do.”  These “if you continue” invitations were an offer to His physical followers to make a decision to continue or leave the group.

These disciples did not live in the age of grace, the age of the new covenant.  They were not making a one time decision to believe in Jesus.  They were not immediately indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit as we are today.  They followed Jesus, even believed His words.  But they would still ultimately face a choice to stick with Jesus as their Messiah or withdraw and leave the group of disciples.

So it makes sense for Jesus to say to His physical followers, “If you stick with Me, you will be known as My disciple.”  It is not more complicated than that.  And I don’t believe it is a passage addressed to us.

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 4

In Matthew 19 and Luke 18, we have the story of the rich young ruler that we discussed last time.  It was a story of Jesus giving an old covenant answer to an old covenant question and a reminder that eternal life is only found in Jesus.  It is interesting to compare this old covenant interaction with Jesus’ encounter with another rich man in the next chapter of Luke’s gospel.

“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.  And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.  Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.  So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.  When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’  And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly” (Luke 19:1-6).

Zaccheus was looking for Jesus.  We don’t know exactly why.  Curiosity perhaps?  But Jesus was also looking for Zaccheus.  So much so that He indicated to the tax collector that “He must” come to his house today.  And Zaccheus received Jesus gladly.

Now, we have very little of the conversation between Jesus and Zaccheus recorded for us.  We really don’t know much about their interaction.  But we can make some assumptions and there are a few things we do know.

Zaccheus was a chief tax collector and we can assume quite the opposite to the young man we met last time in regard to keeping the commandments.  In fact, the Jews made a big deal about Zaccheus’ status as a “sinner”.  “When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner’ “ (Luke 19:7).  So I think it is safe to say that Zaccheus did not approach Jesus as someone who thought himself righteous and worthy.

But to this sinner, this lost person, Jesus brought grace; Jesus brought salvation.  “And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost’ “ (Luke 19:9-10).  Jesus came to save sinners.

Now here is the fun part.  When the rich young ruler came to Jesus seeking to be justified by the law, the command to give it all away left him sad and unable to do it.  But look at the grace response of Zaccheus.  The very thing that the rich young ruler could not do, Zaccheus did.  And we have no suggestion that Jesus required this of Zaccheus.  I think it was just a beautiful response to the grace of God.  “Zaccheus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much’ “ (Luke 19:8).

Zaccheus is a picture of a generous response to the grace of God.  And it is a picture of us as new covenant saints; generously responding to the grace of God, unburdened by the weight of the law.

Understanding the Red Letters Part 3

In the gospels, Jesus explained the path to eternal life on several occasions.  Here are a few instances.

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’ “ (John 6:29).

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).

The way to eternal life under the new covenant is clear.  Believe in Jesus.  Believe in the One that God has sent.  So with that introduction, let’s look at this interaction in Matthew chapter 19.

“And someone came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?’  And Jesus said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good?  There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’  Then he said to Him, ‘Which ones?’  And Jesus said, ‘You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?’  Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’ “ (Matthew 19:16-21).

Whoa, what gives?  Do you see Jesus’ answer to how one obtains eternal life?  “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”  Life is found in keeping the commandments.  How does this fit all the eternal life verses above?  It sounds like quite the opposite of “he who believes”.

When you hear this story preached, the message is almost always about the dangers of wealth, but I want to focus on “eternal life”.  Folks who think all of Jesus’ words are meant for us to live by today have to just gloss over this “eternal life” dilemma.  In my experience, those who believe that all of Jesus words are given as a pattern for living the Christian life have to ignore more of Jesus’ teaching than those of us who see His words through the lens of the coming new covenant.  But back to the passage.

The key word in Jesus’ answer is the word “perfect” in verse 21 and it harkens back to Matthew 5:48.  “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  So here is the scoop as I see it.

Jesus knows the heart of the questioner and that this young man is seeking to be justified by the old covenant method of the law.  So Jesus complies.  Under the old covenant, the path to life was in keeping all of the commandments, all of the law.  So Jesus asks him how he is doing at that.  And seeking to justify himself, he replies that he is doing quite well at keeping the law.  So Jesus adds this zinger.

Knowing that it will be impossible for this young man to follow through, Jesus adds giving his possessions away as a requirement for perfection, a requirement for eternal life.  This was a requirement the man was not prepared to meet.  “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:22).  This brings us back to Jesus’ point about perfection, here and in the sermon on the mount.

Perfection is what is required for eternal life.  And because we cannot follow through on that, we need Jesus to be our “perfection”.  And this is Jesus’ offer of eternal life.  He was perfection for us by living a perfect life and then dying in our place to take away our sin, to take away our imperfection.  The result?  When we believe the gospel, Jesus’ perfection becomes our perfection.  “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

To summarize, the point of this story is not the danger of wealth.  And it is not that we must give our possessions away to obtain eternal life.  If that is the requirement, then we just disqualified the person we gave our money to.  The story is Jesus giving an old covenant answer to an old covenant question.  And doing it in a way that shows the complete inadequacy of the old covenant to give us eternal life.  Only faith in Jesus is the path to eternal life.

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 2

“And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood’ ” (Luke 22:20).

Jesus established the new covenant through His shed blood on the cross.  And the focus of His earthly ministry leading to the cross was to announce in a hundred different ways the coming of the new covenant.  The verse quoted above is part of Jesus’ last words to His disciples.  And it mirrors His first recorded words from three years prior.

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’ “ (Mark 1:14-15).

“Repent” (change your mind about how one is made right with God).  “Believe in the gospel” (the gospel message of the new covenant, the coming new arrangement of how one is made right with God).  And “The kingdom of God is here” (I represent the kingdom of God.  I am the means by which the kingdom of God is arriving.  I am the means whereby the new covenant will be initiated.)

The coming of the kingdom of God and the coming of the new covenant are synonymous and basically interchangeable.  Jesus rarely used the words “new covenant”, but He spoke about the arrival of kingdom of God over and over.  When Jesus begins a parable with “The kingdom of God is like …”, He could just as easily say, “Life under the new covenant will be like …”.  So the red letters contain plenty of new covenant content if we know where to look for it.

From Jesus’ first message (Mark 1:14-15) to His last (Luke 22:20), His proclamation was consistent.  Repent and believe.  Believe the gospel.  Believe in this new covenant, this new arrangement with God, secured by My death in your place on the cross.  And the result of that belief is eternal life; it is passing from death to life.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

The gospels found at the beginning of our New Testament represent a period of transition from the old covenant to the new.  And as such, we need to take great care to understand the words of Jesus in light of this transition.  To start with, we need to avoid the two extremes regarding the red letters, the recorded words of Jesus.

There is a formal group known as the Red Letter Christians who teach that the path to true spirituality is to focus on and follow all, and basically only, the words of Jesus as our guide to faith and practice.  This totally misses the fact that some of Jesus’ message was old covenant teaching to an old covenant crowd.  It also ignores that what Jesus often taught through parables and mystery and looking forward is explained more clearly in the apostles’ letters; an explanation we desperately need to fully understand the new covenant way that we now relate to God.

The other end of the spectrum is seeing the words of Jesus as only old covenant teaching to an old covenant crowd.  After all, the new covenant did not technically begin until the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross.  And Jesus’ teaching the crowds all took place before the cross.  But this is also misguided as it misses the fact that many of Jesus’ words were pointing forward to life under the new covenant and are loaded with new covenant meaning for you and I.

So how do we find the middle ground?  How do we know which words of Jesus were meant for us, His new covenant saints?  As with all things biblical interpretation, context is the key.  Particularly important is seeing how the gospel message brought to us by Jesus unfolds through a new covenant lens.  This has opened up so much of Jesus’ teaching to me personally and has shed new light on Jesus’ oft-confusing statements.

Over the next several weeks, we will unpack the words of Jesus – often misunderstood or misapplied – in light of all that we know about His mission to this planet.  His mission to usher in the new covenant.  His mission to initiate a new way to relate to God.  His mission to establish His kingdom on earth in us.  Won’t you join us?