 
### The Christian Sabbath:  
Divine Rest in Jesus Christ

By J. Michael Feazell

Copyright 2013 Grace Communion International

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com   
The "NIV" and "New International Version" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Cover photo by Jerry Segraves. Public Domain. From Wikimedia Commons.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackbird-sunset-03.jpg

Table of Contents

The Law and the Promise

The Law and the Spirit

Entering God's Rest

The Object of Worship

New Wineskins: Celebrating Salvation in Christ

Obeying God

About the author

About the publisher

Grace Communion Seminary

Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

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## The Law and the Promise

Some churches teach that Christians ought to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The basis of this conviction is usually the belief that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians. Simply put, if the Ten Commandments are in force, then the Sabbath commandment is in force, and the Sabbath commandment is clear about the seventh day being the Sabbath.

Ironically, many Protestants have never given a second thought to whether the Ten Commandments, as a body of law, are binding on Christians. They simply assume it to be true. It is not uncommon for Protestants to display the Ten Commandments on plaques on their walls or have their children memorize them.

The idea that the Ten Commandments, written on tables of stone with the finger of God, might not be binding on Christians would be considered scandalous. Yet, when it comes to the fourth commandment, these same Christians must find a way around the commandment, a way to change the commanded seventh day to the first day.

### Day never changed

There have been a couple of fairly popular ways of "explaining" the supposed day change. One is to interpret the commandment as referring to one day in seven, not necessarily any particular day. Another is to say that the New Testament changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day.

Yet neither of these popular explanations holds water. The commandment is quite specific about the seventh day; the idea of merely "one in seven" simply is not there (see Exodus 20:10). And the Bible never even hints at changing the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. Various people meet on the first day of the week, but it is never said to be a day of rest.

### Surprising truth

We know that the law is "holy, righteous and good" (Romans 7:12), and we know that the Ten Commandments reflect the holy love of God. Yet, surprisingly for many Christians, the Bible teaches that the Ten Commandments have been superseded by something far more glorious—something that God planned from the very beginning would one day outshine completely the law he gave to Israel.

The law (the Torah), the whole law, including the Ten Commandments, was given to Israel, for a specific period of time—the time from their encounter with God on Sinai until the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Once Jesus came, a new law came in—the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2; 1 John 3:21-24). It was a new covenant relationship, or arrangement, between God and humans, and it was not restricted to the Israelites. It was a covenant with all people.

When this "new deal" came in, the "old deal" expired. From then on, the invitation to God's kingdom was open to everybody, not just to one people. The first deal, or covenant, was a preparation, a setting of the stage you might say, for the real deal—the new covenant in the blood of Christ.

The first covenant was designed to be for Israel (Galatians 3:23-25), and it was temporary, until just the right moment came. Then God's plan for drawing humans into his kingdom went into high gear, and his own Son came to be one of us.

### All according to plan

The Sinai covenant, standing as it does between the promise to Abraham and the coming of Christ, was never intended to last forever. It was, rather, a vital phase in God's plan of fulfilling his promise to Abraham and to all who, like Abraham, believe his word (Galatians 3:7-9). In it, as in every covenant he has made with humans,2 is the bright reflection of God's character and love for his people—but the climax was yet to come.

When Jesus Christ arrived, according to God's promise and in God's due time (Galatians 4:4-5), humans were confronted with infinitely more than the reflection. They were confronted with the actual character and heart of God in the person of his own Son (Hebrews 1:1-3) and invited to enter his kingdom by putting their faith in him! The Ten Commandments were given to Israel; Jesus Christ was given to the whole world.

The Sinai covenant was intended to shape the faith of the people of God until Messiah (Christ) would come. Then, with his arrival, the Sinai covenant faded (2 Corinthians 3:7-11), just as God had planned from the beginning, and the "new covenant" (Matthew 26:28) in the blood of Christ began. The time had come for those who would accept and believe the gospel to come under a new administration of the will of God, the administration of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-17). From then on, by putting their confidence in Jesus Christ, God's people would be made righteous by God himself. God would forgive them and change their hearts (Hebrews 8:7-13).

### Covenant with Israel

Many people are surprised to find that the Ten Commandments were given to Israel, and not to the rest of the world. It is just commonly assumed among many Christians that the "Big Ten" were designed for all humans and especially for Christians. But the Bible is very plain about who are the recipients of the Sinai law.

The last verse of the book of Leviticus sums it up this way: "These are the commandments the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites" (Leviticus 27:34). Verse 46 of the previous chapter gives the same basic information: "These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses."

These are definitely the commandments of God. But who are they for? They are for the Israelites, given to them by God through Moses on Mount Sinai. They are Israel's part of the covenant God made with them.

### Covenant promise

In passages such as Deuteronomy 29:22-28 and 32:45-46 we find that the primary promise associated with God's covenant with ancient Israel was a promise of land. If Israel would keep the covenant, they would remain long in the land; if they abandoned the covenant, then they would lose the land.

Someone might ask: "But aren't the Ten Commandments separate from the covenant? Why are you including them in the covenant?" Deuteronomy 4:13 gives the answer. As he was reminding the Israelites of the events of Sinai, Moses said, "He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets."

The passage in Deuteronomy 5:1-6 also makes plain that the Ten Commandments and the covenant are not separate. Far from being separate from the covenant, the Ten Commandments form the centerpiece of the covenant.

### Created to fade

In 2 Corinthians 3:6-11, Paul draws an analogy between the covenant with Israel, written on tables of stone, and the covenant with believers, written on human hearts. He wrote:

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone [in reference to the Ten Commandments], came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

What God did with the ancient Israelites was glorious. But God was not finished. From day one, he had even greater glory in mind.

### Right on schedule

When the time was right, God brought in something even more glorious, so much more glorious that it causes what he did with Israel to look faded by comparison. That is because this new arrangement, which is really just the blossoming, or goal, or climax, or fulfillment of the first arrangement, takes into it all that the first arrangement was and goes exponentially further. It becomes everything the first arrangement pointed toward but was purposely designed only to hint at.

Think of a tiny, hard gray seed that one day, when the time is right, produces a beautiful flower of radiant color, velvet texture and sweet fragrance, and you begin to get something of the idea. This "new covenant" started out as what we call the "old covenant." You could, in a way, say there is only one covenant, really, but that it grew into something that anyone looking at it when it started could never have imagined it would become. Only God knew exactly where it was headed, and he kept talking about it all through what we call the Old Testament.

### A superior covenant

The book of Hebrews gives us even more insight into this new arrangement. Here we are told, "But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises" (Hebrews 8:6).

This new covenant, or this blossoming of the old, is superior and comes with better promises. The promises that came with the first covenant were promises of land. But the superior promises that come with this superior covenant are no less than eternal life. The basis of this new arrangement is nothing less than the blood of the Son of God—something the old arrangement could not even imagine. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28).

God knew from the start that the people did not have it in them to be a holy people. But they didn't know that. And in order for people to enter the kingdom of God, they must know their weakness and learn to rely totally on the grace and mercy of God.

To come to Christ is to come to know that you need Christ. You may look good on the outside, but on the inside you, like all other people, are a sinner. The law of Moses, given at Sinai, served to openly condemn everybody as just what they really were in their hearts—rebels and sinners. But then Christ came, and the Sinai law, having served its purpose, faded, and Christ began to shine with eternal light.

### The law: good, but temporary

So if the law faded, does that mean the law is bad? Definitely not, Paul says. The law is holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:12). But the law was temporary (2 Corinthians 3:11). It had a role to play, a role given it by God. It was in effect for a specific period of time for a specific people. When Christ came, it was God's appointed time for the Sinai law to step aside. "Christ is the end of the law," Paul wrote, "so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4).

When we say that Christ is the end of the law, we don't mean that the Sinai law was a bad thing that Christ came to destroy. That is not the point Paul is making. Paul is making the point that God gave the Sinai law for a specific time period for a specific purpose, and that purpose has now been fulfilled. He is saying that the law was part of God's way of setting the stage for Christ to come. Now that Christ has come, the purpose of the law has been fully served.

### Designed for condemnation

But what was the purpose of the Sinai law? Paul says the law came in so that sin could be made all the more evident (Romans 5:20). In other words, God gave the law so that it could be made fully clear to everyone that his people were sinners. But that is not all. The gentiles, who did not have the law, were also shown to be sinners by their own hearts and consciences on which God writes the requirements of the law (Romans 3:14-15).

Two things were going on at the same time with the law. First, it was through the law that God made his will known to the people he chose. Second, and greater, along with the law as well as in it, God made his promise known.

God knew that Israel, despite the unique advantage of being his special people, would show themselves hostile and rebellious to his will. (The same would have been true of any nation God might have chosen to be his people.) God also knew his own promise of a grace to come, a promise that was greater than the law in that it overcame the verdict of the law.

### The promise fulfilled

The law condemned, but the promise, being greater, brought about forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ, who died in the place of sinners (Romans 5:15-17). God himself, in Christ, bears the shame and death of humans resulting from their rebellion and unfaithfulness, as well as provides the obedience and faithfulness they need to be forgiven and saved.

In Christ, God makes it abundantly known that he is not the God of Israel only, but the God of all humans. The barriers of separation between Israel and gentiles are removed in Christ: both are clearly sinners and both are clearly redeemed. There is no more separation (Ephesians 2:11-18). And since there is no more separation, there is also no more need for the aspects of the law that were designed to create separation: circumcision, the Sabbaths and the purity laws.

### Laws of separation

Paul frequently deals with circumcision, and especially so in his letter to the Galatians. In Galatians 5:3, he points out that when gentiles are circumcised in accord with the law, they are obligated to obey all of the law. That is because circumcision was a sign of the covenant between God and Israel.

Likewise, the Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel (Exodus 31:13). The very fact that the Sabbath was a sign designating that Israel was God's special people shows that the Sabbath was not a command for to gentiles. Gentiles were not sinners for working on the Sabbath; the Sabbath never pertained to them. They were sinners because of malice, deceit, bitterness, murder, destruction and the like (Romans 3:9-20).

The same is true of the purity laws. They were given to demonstrate the separation between Israel and the gentiles (Leviticus 20:25-26), a separation that existed only until Jesus came.

That is why there was so much controversy in the early church over rules governing the Jews and gentiles eating together. Not only were the Jews under the strict dietary and washings rules of the law, they would not even eat with gentiles in order to avoid ritual contamination. It was over this issue of separation regarding purity laws that Paul rebuked Peter in the meal incident in Antioch (Galatians 2:11-16).

### The law and the Spirit

So where does that leave us? We are not under the Sinai law (Romans 6:14). Does that mean that we ought to sin? No, of course not, Paul says (v. 15). We have now been made one with Christ. We are now under his law (1 Corinthians 9:20-21), and we serve God in a new way—the way of the Spirit (Romans 7:4-6).

In the next chapter we look at the relationship between the law and the Spirit.

1For study papers on the Sabbath and holy day doctrinal change, see gci.org/law.

2God's covenants with humans in the Old Testament include that of Noah (Genesis 9:9-17), of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 15:18; 17:2-21; etc.), of Israel at Sinai (Exodus 19:5; 24:7), of Joshua and Israel (Joshua 24:25), of David (2 Samuel 7:1-17), and the prophesied covenant to come (Jeremiah 31:31).

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## The Law and the Spirit

In chapter one we saw that the Sinai law, or law of Moses, was God's covenant with ancient Israel and not with the church. We saw that it served a vital purpose in God's plan, and that God designed it to fade when Jesus Christ, whom it foretold and pointed toward, arrived. In this chapter, we will look at the connection between the Sinai law and the law of Christ.

### Under a new law

According to the apostle Paul, Christians are not under the Sinai law (Romans 6:14). But what does it mean not to be under the law? Does it mean we ought to sin? "By no means!" Paul answers (v. 15).

Paul is explaining that we have now been made one with Christ, and as such, we now serve God in a new way—the way of the Spirit—not in the old way of the written code (Romans 7:4-6). We are now under a "new law"—the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21; 1 John 2:3; John 6:28-29; Hebrews 13:21).

The law of Moses—the law given to Israel at Sinai, including the Ten Commandments—was given on the basis of the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:11). When Christ came as High Priest forever, he superseded the Levitical priesthood, and with it, the law that was based on it (v. 12). He established a new priesthood, and the law that is based on this new priesthood is the law of Christ (1 John 2:3; 3:21-24; 4:13-21).

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:20 that he was not under the law, referring to the Sinai law. But the fact that he was not under the Sinai law did not mean he was not under God's law, since he was under Christ's law (v. 21).

The Sinai law, which was indeed God's law, has been transcended and superseded by Christ's law, which is also God's law. The Sinai law, the law of Moses, was God's law for Israel until Christ came (Galatians 3:24-25). Then, just as God planned, when Christ came, Christ's law became the law for all peoples. The temporary was replaced, right on schedule, by the permanent.

### Exposed as sinners

The Sinai law exposed everyone as sinners (Romans 3:19-20). When Jesus came, it was God's time for sin to be defeated (Hebrews 9:26). That cannot be done by a set of regulations. It can be done only by God. And that is what God has done in Christ (Romans 3:21-26).

In Christ, God became human. He, while remaining sinless and guiltless, took our sin and guilt upon himself, died, and was raised in glory.

That changed everything. Now it is clear to those who believe Jesus' message that God's purpose all along was to open the door of his kingdom to all humans. He has done what no mere human could do and what the law of Moses could not do—he has broken down the impossible barrier between himself and sinful humans.

Now humans are able to accept the invitation to go through that door—to make the decision of faith—to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that trusting and following him is the most important thing in the world (Romans 3:21-22).

### The law of Christ

It would be a great mistake to think that the law of Christ is simply a substitution of one set of regulations for another. The law of Christ is not a codified set of regulations, though the New Testament does give us clear descriptions of the kind of conduct that is characteristic of those who are under the law of Christ (Galatians 5:22-26; 6:2; Ephesians 4:20-6:20; Philippians 2:1-18; Colossians 3:1-4:6; etc.).

Far beyond any mere set of rules, the law of Christ constitutes a complete reordering of life, a total change of heart, mind, intent and purpose—a change brought about by the Holy Spirit at work in us. The law of Christ is identical with the law of God, and it is what the law of Moses, which was temporary, always pointed toward (Romans 3:21-22; 1 Peter 1:10-11; John 5:39-40, 45-46; Luke 24:44-47).

The law of Christ, which is also the law of God (1 Corinthians 9:20-21), can be summarized by two overarching commands: "This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us" (1 John 3:23).

### Greatest commandment

By obeying the law of Christ, which is identical with the law of God, we are fulfilling what Jesus called the "greatest commandments" of the law of Moses. Jesus was asked, "'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?' Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40).

Jesus said that when we put our faith in him, we are demonstrating our love for the Father (John 5:23; 8:42), which fulfills the first of the two greatest commandments of the law of Moses. When we obey Jesus' command to love one another (John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17), we are fulfilling the second of the two greatest commandments of the law of Moses.

But there is much more to the law of Christ. If it were simply a matter of doing these things on our own, we would surely fail, as we do not have what it takes.

### Remaining in Christ

Under the law of Christ, when we obey Jesus' commands by putting our belief and confidence in him, the Holy Spirit comes to make his home in us (John 14:15-17, 21). When the Holy Spirit lives in us, the Father and the Son are also living in us (v. 23), because God is one.

As we remain in Christ, the true "vine," we bear fruit, but only because we are in him (John 15:1-8). It is for this reason that Paul is able to say:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

### Righteousness apart from law

To the church at Rome, Paul declared boldly: "But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets" (Romans 3:21). Because we are in Christ, God not only forgives our sins, he also provides the righteousness believers need—his own righteousness—and it is a righteousness that does not come from observing the Sinai law. It is a God-given righteousness—a righteousness that comes only by faith in God's own Son, something Paul says the Old Testament Scriptures had actually been declaring from the beginning.

Paul continued, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe" (v. 22). Once Jesus came, the real meaning of all the Scriptures was revealed—salvation comes to humans only by faith in Jesus. The law of Moses proved everyone sinners; in Christ everyone who believes is saved, and saved apart from that law.

In short, we are saved because God is righteous, not because we are righteous. God's righteousness, his faithfulness to his covenant promise to Abraham, was attested to by the Law and Prophets (the Old Testament) and has been made fully manifest in Jesus' death and resurrection. God's righteousness, his covenant faithfulness, transforms us sinners into his own forgiven and redeemed children through faith in Jesus Christ.

Christ is our righteousness—he is our wisdom, our holiness, our redemption and our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). This righteousness, which alone is true righteousness, is not our own, but God's, and it comes only from God and only by faith (Philippians 3:9).

You see, what Paul wrote in Romans 3:28 is not negated by what he wrote in verse 31. Paul is not contradicting himself. In verse 28 he wrote: "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." In verse 31 he wrote: "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law."

Paul means what he says. We are not made righteous by keeping the law given at Sinai. We are made righteous only by faith in Christ. When Christ came, the purpose of the Sinai law was achieved. "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4).

Christ was the fulfillment of the Sinai law. He was its goal, its end, its purpose. By God's design, that law was preparing Israel for Christ, and through Israel the whole world was being prepared for Christ. But the Jews Paul was writing about retained the Sinai law, and in so doing, they had no room for accepting Christ. In rejecting Christ, they entirely missed the point of what Jesus called "their law" (John 15:25).

### The law and the Spirit

The Sinai law served to condemn human rebellion against God—but through God's own loving initiative in Jesus Christ, the Spirit is now at work to transform rebellious hearts into faithful hearts (Romans 5:20-21). The law of Christ commands a life of faith in Christ that is led by the Spirit—a life confident of God's gracious love toward us and marked by self-sacrificial love toward God and fellow humans (1 John 3:21-24).

Believers are under the law of Christ, under the Spirit—not under the Sinai law—and as such they are not considered sinners, because the Spirit makes believers into children of God, people in whom God lives, and who love with God's love. "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him," Paul recites in regard to believers (see Romans 5:4-8).

Many people find that too hard to believe. They ask: "Why would God just 'count' believers righteous, even though they still sin? Why would he simply not count their sins against them? God doesn't just pretend we are righteous. Surely there is something I must do. Surely I must stop sinning before God will count me righteous."

But that is just Paul's point. If we can be righteous ourselves, then we do not need God. Yet the real state of things is that we cannot be righteous ourselves, and we do need God. Alone, we are pitiful, wretched and hopeless sinners. Only God can make us righteous, and he loves us so much that he has taken the steps to do just that. He does it because he is good. He does it by his grace, not because we deserve it, because we don't. We have no righteousness of our own, and the only pathway to God's righteousness is through faith in Christ. By his grace through faith in Christ, God forgives our sins and imputes Jesus' righteousness to us.

### Faith in the promise

Paul's letter to the Galatians is strong. He knew that if they listened to the so-called Judaizers and placed themselves under the Sinai law, they were choosing not to have faith in Christ (Galatians 5:2-3). They would be rejecting Christ and the law of Christ. They would be missing the central point of the now-faded law of Moses.

As Jesus had said, if the Jews had believed Moses, they would have believed Jesus, because the law of Moses was designed deliberately to declare his coming (John 5:46-47; Luke 24:45-46). The Mosaic law was in force for a specific period of time, from Sinai till Christ.

When Christ appeared, everything for which God had been preparing the world was revealed. When Christ was raised from the dead, everything God had promised Israel was fulfilled (Acts 13:32). Even the promises God gave to David were designed to be fulfilled by the resurrection of Jesus (v. 34). This astounding mystery of the ages was revealed—yet many of those who had the law chose to reject what God was revealing (verses 38-41).

### Not by the law

God wants his people to love like he loves, not merely to conform to standards of conduct and rituals of separation. Jesus repeatedly condemned those who conformed to the letter of the law but whose hearts were without the love of God.

God wants us to have a new heart, a heart of belief, a heart in which the Spirit dwells. Only the Holy Spirit produces God's love in us (Romans 5:5) and enables us to keep the law of Christ (1 John 3:21-24). The Spirit comes only by belief. The Spirit does not come by keeping the law (Galatians 3:2-5). That is why Paul teaches that the Sinai law must step aside to make room for the new way of the Spirit, the way of the law of Christ.

Some have misunderstood Acts 5:32 ("We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.") to mean that God gives his Spirit only to those who keep the Sinai law. As we have just seen in Galatians 3:2-5, however, we do not receive the Spirit by observing the law. We receive the Spirit only by faith in Jesus Christ. That is precisely the point Peter made in Acts 5:32.

Peter was replying to orders of the Jewish council not to preach in Jesus' name. Peter declared that Jesus' disciples must obey God, who commanded them to preach faith in Jesus, and not people who order them to stop (verses 27-31). The obedience Peter is referring to is not obedience to the Sinai law, but obedience to the new thing God had done in sending his Son so that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

### New heart needed

Many people are good at keeping certain rules. But if the love of God is not in their hearts, then their success at keeping rules has a way of turning their hearts sour. Without God's love, they turn into sharp-eyed judges of the failings of others. They become prideful and arrogant, and begin to get the idea that the kingdom of God is meant only for them, "the obedient ones," and not for sinners. They begin to see themselves as better than sinners.

The better they keep the rules, the more and more obscure their own sinfulness becomes to them. Their own need for a Savior becomes less plain, and they begin to imagine a great spiritual rift between themselves and ordinary people. (If you have been a Christian for long, you have probably experienced that tendency in yourself from time to time. I suspect we all do.)

### Led by the Spirit

When the love of God penetrates the heart, however, believers find two remarkable things happening at once. First, they are pleasantly surprised to realize that it is beginning to feel somewhat natural to desire the things of God. Second, they are chagrined and grieved to begin to notice the seemingly hopeless extent of the twisted network of hidden wickedness in their hearts.

That is because the Spirit is at work. The Spirit, through the law of Christ, is rewiring us, so to speak, so that we begin to appreciate and love the things God loves. At the same time, the opposite side of the same coin you might say, he begins to illuminate the dark corners of our hearts, so we can see in God's light what is really going on in there.

The struggle is on. The believer is a citizen of the eternal kingdom, and as such, he or she walks with Christ with a keen sense of being in need of God's inexhaustible mercy and grace. But he or she also begins to sense the presence of the limitless power of Christ to give help in forsaking the selfish and hateful ways of the former life. New, godly habits begin to form, and old, ungodly habits begin to fade.

### Taught by Christ

We are learning to walk in the divine love God has given us. The Teacher, of course, is Christ. That is what it means to be Christ's disciples. It means to be his students.

Christ is also the living Word of God. The Holy Spirit has inspired the Bible to be an indispensable means of communicating the inner life of Christ to us. That is why Christians make Bible reading, study and meditation a central part of their daily lives.

As we read the Bible, asking God to bless our understanding and to help us hear his voice for us, God teaches us, rebukes us, corrects us, trains us in righteousness and equips us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Through this means and others, including the Lord's Supper (John 6:53-57) and through the faithful teaching of church leaders (Ephesians 4:11-16), God continually leads us into an ever-deepening communion with him.

### Motivated by grace

Paul knew that the grace of God, when we accept it, is effective in motivating us toward a godly life in ways the law of Moses could never be. He wrote these words to Titus:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

### Sabbath fulfilled in Christ

We have seen that Christians are not under the law given at Mount Sinai, which was a temporary expression of the law of God for Israel until Christ came, but rather are under the law of Christ, which is the law of God forever.

We have seen that Christians are led by the Holy Spirit, who makes his home in believers and teaches us to live by the Word of God. In chapter three we will look more closely at the Sabbath day and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

### Reflection

What does it mean to be "under the law"?

What "law" has superseded the law given at Sinai to Israel?

What does it mean to be "under Christ's law"?

What is the "greatest commandment" of God's law? Explain how this law operates within us.

What does Romans 10:4 mean when it says Christ is "the end of the law"?

Is conforming to standards of moral conduct enough to be counted as pleasing to God under the new covenant?

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## Entering God's Rest

In chapter two, we saw that the law given to Israel at Sinai, which includes the Ten Commandments, was designed to last only until Christ came. We saw that Christians are not under that law, but rather are under the law of Christ and are led by the Holy Spirit. Now, we will look more closely at the Sabbath day and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

### Natural question

The question seventh-day sabbatarians have taken seriously is this: "Since the law given at Sinai is the law of God, then why shouldn't we, as Christians, keep it as it is written?" Indeed, that is the issue at hand. If God commands, his people should obey. But the answer that sabbatarians have been taught is the wrong answer. They have been taught that since the law given at Sinai is the law of God, then Christians should keep it, and since the seventh-day Sabbath command is part of the law of God given at Sinai, then Christians are commanded to keep it, too. That is not the biblical answer.

The biblical answer is that the law given at Sinai, including the Sabbath command, was the law of God _for Israel_ (Leviticus 26:46; Deuteronomy 4:13), and it was the law of God for Israel _until_ Christ came (Galatians 3:19). It was not the law of God for all people, nor was it the law of God for all time. It was for Israel; it was temporary; it was in force until Christ, and when he arrived it was transcended and therefore it faded (2 Corinthians 3:7-11). It is no wonder that John, writing some 60 years after the resurrection of Jesus, was inspired to use such terms as "Jewish Passover" (John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55), "Jewish Feast of Tabernacles" (John 7:2), and "feast of the Jews" (John 5:1) in references to annual festivals. Now that Christ, the Object and Purpose of the law of Moses, had come, it was clear to John that the feasts of the law were not intended for Christians. They were, rather, feasts of the Jews.

### Using the law

The Sinai law is no longer the instructor of God's people (Galatians 3:24-25). Our instructor is Christ, who instructs us through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). We are not under the Sinai law (1 Corinthians 9:20-21). We are under the law of Christ (1 John 3:21-24). Still, the Spirit uses the law of Moses as one of the ways he instructs us. This is important to understand. It is right to say that Christians are not under the law of Moses: Paul makes that plain in passages such as Romans 7:6 and 1 Corinthians 9:20.

However, it is also right to say that Christians fulfill the law of Moses. They do not fulfill the law in the sense that they keep it as it was given to Israel and in the way Israel was commanded to keep it. But they do fulfill it in the sense of what God was driving at with the law, that is, the real intent and purpose that was always behind the details of the law.

Numerous descriptions of godly behavior, consistent with the law of Christ, which is the law of God for Christians (1 Corinthians 9:20-21), are given in the New Testament (for example, Galatians 5:13-6:10; Ephesians 4:20-6:20; Colossians 3:1-4:6). These descriptions of the new life in Christ go much deeper than the Ten Commandments. They reach deeply into the intents of the heart, where the Spirit of God is at work to fashion us into the image of Christ.

### Fulfilling the law

Jesus was asked to identify the greatest commandment in the law of Moses. He replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40).

On another occasion Jesus said, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). When he was giving instruction about Christian conduct to the Roman Christians, Paul wrote this:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

### Not inconsistent

Now we can begin to see what Jesus meant when he said he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). To put our trust in Jesus and follow him in the life of godly love is the only way to be the true and real people of God (Galatians 3:26-27). Only when we are one with Christ are we in fact walking in faithfulness to the covenant between God and his people, because only Christ is faithful to God. If we are to be counted faithful, we must be counted with him.

Who, then, puts his love in us and comes to dwell in us to teach us? God himself. Whatever God teaches us in person is not inconsistent with the law he gave Israel. The same God deals with all humans in the way that is in harmony with his plan.

So the Sinai law is instructive and useful for Christians, because it reflects the heart of God for his people Israel as a nation. Yet, as we have seen in previous chapters, that law, as written, was specific to ancient Israel. Because it was specific to ancient Israel, many of its details are not intended for Christians, such as the priesthood, tabernacle and temple worship, land rests, dress requirements and seasonal celebrations. The seventh-day Sabbath is another example. That commandment was a temporary pointer to something permanent that has now become available through faith in Christ.

### The Sabbath

But isn't it a good thing for people to rest from secular work once a week and devote that day to God? I doubt many Christians would argue against the value of taking a day off and using it to spend focused time with God. But that is not the real question for sabbatarians. Their real question is, "Doesn't God command us to keep the weekly Sabbath day?" The answer to that question is "No." God did command the Israelites to keep the weekly Sabbath day, but he never commanded the weekly Sabbath for anyone else.

The weekly Sabbath, as a sign between God and Israel, identified the Israelites as God's own people until Jesus came. When Jesus came, he opened the door to the real thing that the Sabbath command only presaged or foreshadowed. The real thing is for everybody, not just for Israel. The real thing is God's own rest—the kingdom of God—and Jesus now invites all peoples to enter that rest through faith in him.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Christians have entered into that reality of which the Sabbath command, now superseded, was only a precursor. God is interested in our entering his own rest, the eternal Sabbath, and his own rest is not a day of the week. The day of the week _symbolized_ the rest God entered with his creation when he finished his creation work, but God's rest did not end (Hebrews 4:3), and, paradoxically, it was a rest in which he continued to work (John 5:17).

### Entering God's rest

This eternal, spiritual rest is the rest God offers believers, and it is a rest that is entered, not by setting aside one day a week, but by faith, by believing in the One whom God has sent (Hebrews 4:3). Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that the weekly Sabbath was changed from the seventh day, Saturday, to the first day, Sunday. In other words, they apply the Sabbath commandment to Sunday. But the Bible makes no such change.

In the Bible, the Christian Sabbath is not a day of the week. The Christian Sabbath is the kingdom life believers enter through faith in Christ. It is not one day in seven—it is the entire sum of one's life in Christ forevermore. The Bible is telling us that God invites humans to enter his own never-ending rest, the Sabbath rest in which kingdom work is the only kind of work that is done.

### The real thing

While the weekly Sabbath was important and had its vital place for a time, now that Christ has come, God doesn't want us to be content with a mere precursor—he wants us to have the real thing (Colossians 2:16-17). The precursor hinted at the real thing. It was a sort of glimpse into the eternal rest that God would one day make available through the Messiah. But now that the real thing is here and available, there is no point in insisting that we still need the hint.

Paul was very insistent about this with the gentile believers in the Galatian churches. They were being told by certain Jews that they could not belong to the people of God unless they were circumcised and kept the law. Paul says, "Not so!" To be bound to the Sinai law is to be not bound to Christ.

The law cannot save. It can only declare that all are sinners (Galatians 3:19). Its role is ended (verses 23-25). Believers are bound to Christ, and not to the law of Moses (4:24-31). The two do not match; they are not on the same level (5:2-6). One supplants the other. The old must fade away in favor of the new (2 Corinthians 3:7-11). The tree cannot grow unless the seed dies and sprouts. The glory of the second is so much greater than the glory of the first that the first has no glory in comparison. The law of Christ supplants the law of Moses (John 1:17).

### Whole counsel of God

The whole counsel of God in the light of Christ regarding the Sabbath is that God's rest is no mere 24-hour day, but rather it is eternal life—the life of the new creation in Christ. It is entered in the here and now through faith in the Son of God (Colossians 1:13-14), and after death, we will enjoy it forever with glorified bodies like that of Christ (Philippians 3:21) doing the works of God in union and harmony with him in a new heavens and new earth.

That is one reason it is so empty to insist that the weekly Sabbath day commandment is still in effect. To do so is the same thing as saying that we don't believe that the real rest is now available. It amounts to the same thing as insisting that the sacrificial commands are still in effect, or that the clean and unclean meat laws and other purity laws are still in effect. To say that would be like saying that we don't believe the real sacrifice has been made, or that the real cleansing has happened.

It is a little like telling the bus driver that I still need the bus token to remind me that there really is a bus and that I am really on the bus. "But I can't let you on the bus unless you give me the token," the driver would say. "If I give you back the token you will have to get off the bus. That token has no other purpose but to get you on the bus. Now that you are on, that token is canceled." (It's only an analogy; if it helps, great; if it doesn't, toss it.)

Sabbatarians fully understand the point about the sacrifices. They know that the sacrificial commands are made obsolete by the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lamb of God. But the concept that the real rest is now available through Jesus to all who believe is not something they are prepared to accept. One reason is that many sabbatarian teachers have missed the point of the book of Hebrews, especially in its discussion of the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God.

### The rest that remains

A reading of Hebrews 3 and 4 shows us that the Israelites who died in the wilderness did not enter the rest God had for them in the land of promise. The reason they did not enter that rest was that they did not believe the promise of God (Hebrews 3:19). The story in Numbers 13 and 14 and Psalm 95 shows us that they did not believe that God could and would do what he said he would do for them. They did not believe that God would rout the Canaanites before them and give them the land. They didn't trust him.

Using this story of Israelite unbelief as its illustration, Hebrews 3:12 warns Christians, "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." The point is made plainly that trust in God is required in order to enter God's promised rest. The specific disobedience that God's people are being warned about here is the disobedience of unbelief or lack of faith.

Further, the specific faith being called for in the book of Hebrews is faith in Jesus Christ for salvation (Hebrews 2:1-4; 3:1, 14; 10:19-23). And there is something else we should notice. The Promised Land of the Israelites is called God's rest (Hebrews 3:11, 18).

The weekly Sabbath day pictured and pointed to a future rest far bigger than one day a week—even for ancient Israel. It pointed toward the "rest" of entering, possessing and dwelling in the Promised Land. But there is an even bigger surprise. That rest of dwelling safely in the Promised Land, the rest at last entered only by those Israelites who believed God, was not even the final rest. "For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day" (Hebrews 4:8). There was still a rest for the people of God, a final rest that all previous rests could only point toward.

"Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it" (Hebrews 4:1). Who enters this final and greatest rest? "Now we who have believed enter that rest..." (verse 3). How can our entrance into that rest be challenged? By following the Israelite example of the disobedience of unbelief (verse 11).

God set a certain day for ancient Israel under Joshua, calling it "Today," when they could through faith enter the rest he had prepared for them in the Promised Land (Hebrews 3:7-11). The previous generation had not been allowed to enter because of their unbelief.

Later, through the words of David, God set another day, also calling it "Today," when the people of God who would believe him could enter the rest prepared for them (4:7). The Sabbath-rest that remains for the people of God (4:9) is a rest entered through faith in Christ, and it consists of eternal salvation. It is God's rest. It is the kingdom of heaven, the reign of Christ. We do not enter it through our own works (4:10), but through faith (4:3).

### Coming to the point

What is the point, then, of this passage in Hebrews about entering God's rest? Anytime we read a "Therefore" in Scripture we should read carefully what precedes it, because the "therefore" is the point of what has come before. Hebrews 4:14 reads, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." The whole point of the discussion about rest is that we hold firmly to faith in Christ.

It is the point of the whole Bible: Believe in Jesus. The point of Hebrews 4 is not that the weekly Sabbath commandment given to ancient Israel is binding on Christians, as sabbatarian teachers try to say. Such a concept as that works against the entire message of the Bible. The Messiah has come. The shadowy figures have been obliterated by the brightness of the noonday sun.

### Loss of rest

When God finished the work of creation, he took rest in the good things he had made (Genesis 2:2; 3:8), and he gave Adam and Eve rest with him in the Garden (Genesis 2:8-9). It did not take painful toil to make the garden produce. They simply enjoyed its fruit as they took care of the ever abundant Garden, and rested in the joy of their free and unrestricted communion with God.

But then sin entered, and with it alienation from God (Genesis 3:1-10). Adam and Eve were no longer at rest with God. They were expelled from the Garden and had to live by the sweat of their brow (Genesis 3:17-19). In due time, God called Abraham and promised him that his descendants would one day inherit the land God showed him (Genesis 15:12-21). And much more than that, God promised Abraham that through his seed, everybody in the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8).

Some 430 years later, God sent Moses to lead those descendants out of Egypt, where they had become slaves, into the Promised Land. Through Moses, God made a covenant with them in the Sinai desert (Deuteronomy 4:13; 9:11).

### Entering the rest

The sign of the covenant was the weekly Sabbath day (Exodus 31:13). Every seventh day, the people of Israel were to rest from physical labor (Exodus 20:8-10). They would remember that God created everything there is, and that there was once a time when humans were at rest with God in his creation (Exodus 20:11-12). They would remember that humans rejected God's reign over them and became alienated from him.

The Israelites would also remember that they had been slaves in Egypt, crying out under forced labor with no rest (Deuteronomy 5:15). By resting from work on the seventh day, the Israelites experienced a taste of the divine rest—what life would be like if humans believed God and trusted in him for everything, if they were again at rest with their Creator.

The weekly Sabbath was the sign of God's covenant with Israel. The body and blood of Jesus Christ are the sign of God's covenant with everyone who believes the gospel (John 6:53-57; Luke 22:19-20; Hebrews 10:19-20). The weekly Sabbath was a foretaste of the divine rest in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). Through faith in him, we enter the divine rest (Hebrews 4:3).

### Jesus is greater

In order for Israel to remain in the Promised Land, they had to continue to honor the Sabbath day (Isaiah 58:13-14). So, one might reason, doesn't it make sense that in order for us to remain in possession of eternal life in the here and now kingdom of God, we should also continue to keep the Sabbath day? No, it doesn't. We have possession of the gift of eternal life only one way—by faith in Jesus Christ.

That is precisely the point of Hebrews. In Christ, God has made a new covenant with humans. It is so much greater than the old one, that everything that came before is both taken up in it and completely transcended by it, so much so that the former covenant and everything that pertained to it are now obsolete (Hebrews 8:6-13). The book of Hebrews is a declaration of the utter superiority of Jesus Christ to everything anybody had ever thought to put religious stock or value in, and an admonition to put all our confidence and trust in him. In Christ, all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18).

### Message of Hebrews

Consider what the book of Hebrews tells us: Jesus is superior to all previous forms of divine communication (1:1). Jesus is the exact representation of God's own being. He is God's agent of Creation, the sustainer and ruler of the universe and the redeemer of sins (1:2-3). Jesus is superior to the angels (1:4-14). Only Jesus saves his people, with whom he identifies and for whom he suffers (2:1-18). Keep your trust in Jesus, who is superior to Moses (3:1-6). Christians enter God's promised rest only by trusting in Jesus (3:7-4:13). Jesus is superior to the Israelite priesthood (4:14-5:10).

We inherit the promises of God through faith in Christ and patience in suffering (5:11-6:12). Our hope is secure and certain because of Jesus (6:13-20). Jesus is superior to the high priests of old, and the covenant he mediates is superior to theirs and has superior promises (7:1-10:18). Because all these things are true, let us put our confidence, trust and faith in Jesus alone, enduring all trials and hardships with our eyes fixed on him (10:19-12:12).

### Two mountains

In summary, we find that we, as Christians, have not come "to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire," that is, we have not come to Mount Sinai (12:18). Quite the contrary, we have come to "Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God" (verse 22). We have come to "thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven."

We have come "to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. To Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (12:22-24).

This is God's rest, the rest that remains for the people of God, the inheritance of the saints—and we have already entered it. "See to it that you do not refuse the one who speaks" from this mountain, Mount Zion, we are admonished.

Our hearts are strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods. We eat from a new altar, an altar from which the former covenant offers no right to eat. We look for the Jerusalem to come; the former city has no place for us. Our sacrifices are sacrifices of praise, and they are offered through Jesus by lips that confess his name. The fruit of our lives is the fruit of love as God works in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ (12:25-13:21).

The point of Hebrews is definitely not to command Christians to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The point of Hebrews is to urge and admonish Christian believers to maintain their faith in Jesus Christ despite all opposition and under no circumstances bow to pressure, even deadly pressure, from the synagogues to give up their faith in Jesus for something now weak and inferior that God has transcended through his own Son.

### Spiritual discipline

Some Christians refrain from secular work one day a week as a personal spiritual discipline to help them find special time for spiritual devotion. This is fine, but it is not the same as believing that the weekly Sabbath is commanded for Christians. It is also not the same thing as pushing the idea on others that they will be more obedient or more faithful to God if they set aside a Sabbath day. What we choose to do as a personal spiritual exercise is a completely different matter from what is a law for all believers.

No longer does the Sinai law define the people of God. Now, neither circumcision, nor Sabbaths, nor dietary restrictions are signs of who belongs to the heavenly Father's kingdom. Instead, God has made Jews and gentiles his own people through a new means—Jesus Christ. Paul wrote:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away [gentiles] and peace to those who were near [Jews]. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-18)

Christians are not under the Sinai law, but are under the law of Christ and are led by the Holy Spirit. The Christian Sabbath is not a day of the week, but our eternal rest in Jesus Christ. In chapter four, we will look at the purpose and content of worship.

### Reflection

Was the law of God for ancient Israel temporary or for all people who have ever lived?

What law or principle sums up all of the Old Testament teaching in the Law and Prophets?

To what did the physical Sabbath rest given in the law point?

To what kind of "rest" does the phrase in Hebrews 4:9, "there remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God," refer?

Since Jesus kept the Sabbath as Jews of his day did, why isn't his action an example for Christians?

Why doesn't Jesus' statement in Mark 2:27 tell us that all people and nations should keep the physical Sabbath rest?

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## The Object of Worship

The law given to ancient Israel was designed to last only until Christ came, and it should not be confused with the law of Christ given to the church. The Christian Sabbath is not a day of the week, but our eternal rest in Jesus Christ. In this article, we will look at aspects of the purpose and content of Christian worship.

### Worship in the Old Testament

No human activity has greater relevance and meaning than that of the worship of God. There is much to learn about how we can worship more effectively today by looking at how the people of God have worshiped in the past.

The Old Testament is a treasure trove of instruction about God and worship. It is primarily from the Old Testament that we learn what we know about this invisible Being we call God. In the Old Testament we learn that God is unapproachable by anything or anyone unclean, or anyone tainted by sin. In order for the people of Israel to come into the presence of God, they had to undergo careful and detailed rituals of sacrifice and cleansing from sin.

In the Old Testament, we learn about God's holiness, his absolute perfection and complete "otherness" from all created things. God is revealed as so bright that he must "clothe" himself with dark clouds in order for the Israelites not to be destroyed by his mere presence on Mount Sinai.

### Free and faithful

In the Old Testament we learn that God comes and goes in the affairs of humans as he pleases, not as humans decide. We learn that God is the architect and maker of all that is, and that everything has its being and continued existence only in him.

We learn that God is not manipulated by rituals, magic, sacrifices or incantations like the gods of the nations around Israel. We learn that God is completely and eternally faithful, that he loves his people with a steadfast love, and that he makes promises and keeps his word. We learn that nothing can keep God from doing what he decides to do. And we learn that God's purpose is to save and redeem broken men and women, to heal the weak, to lift up the weary.

We learn that God cares about and is intimately involved in every detail of his created universe. We learn that even though sin is catastrophically destructive to human beings, God does not forget his work, and he acts to save and repair and set humans right so they can be restored to him.

We learn that humans are helpless without God, that everything humans do is possible only because God allows them to have their own way. We learn that God wants people to love him and obey him because that is how they can have and achieve everything for which their souls truly long and become everything they were created to be.

We learn that God prizes and values the people he has made, and that it grieves God's heart to see people destroying themselves and others by their evil deeds and their evil hearts. Above all, we learn that God decided long ago that at the right time he would act powerfully and decisively, in accord with his covenant faithfulness, to redeem and heal humans from their sin and rebellion.

### Israel learns to worship

The people of Israel were given precise instructions about how they must go about worship of the one true God. These instructions were designed to teach the Israelites that God is completely unlike the gods of Egypt and completely unlike all the gods they would encounter in the nations around them or in the lands they would possess.

As they followed God's instructions for worship, the Israelites learned that God is perfect and holy, that he is good and faithful, that he is never deceived or tricked, that he knows everything, and that impurity cannot even come into his presence. They learned that he is subject to nothing and nobody, that all things are subject to him, and that he is to be worshiped on his own terms.

They also learned that God is personal, and that there are degrees of intimacy humans can have with him. The tabernacle, and the temple that replaced it, had an outer court, an inner court, the holy place and finally, the most intimate place of all, the holy of holies. No one was permitted to come that close to God except the high priest, and even then only once a year, and only after intensive purification rites.

Through this elaborate system of worship, Israel learned that God is absolutely holy, and that it is impossible for a person to come to God unless God makes it possible. They also learned that the most intimate relationship with God is possible only through the high priest, who represents the people before God and must be as ritually pure as possible.

When the Israelites left Egypt, their concepts about divinity were heavily influenced by the Egyptians and the other nations of the region. There was much to learn. The table at the end of this article illustrates a number of aspects of the education about himself that God revealed to Israel and preserved through them for the world in the Old Testament.

### Worship in the New Testament

In the New Testament, something completely new happened. Yet even in its stark newness, what God did in Christ was nevertheless in complete harmony with everything he had done before. Just as the Israelites learned that only one person, the high priest whom God appointed to represent the people, could come into the most intimate presence of God, so Christians learn that only by being identified with Jesus Christ, God's own Son, can they come into the presence of God.

Jesus is our High Priest. He represents us before God. In him only can we come into intimate fellowship with God. That is the meaning of the Lord's Supper—a profound object lesson of our identification, or unity, with the sinless Son of God, our perfect and eternal High Priest.

Jesus is everything to us and for us. He is our perfect High Priest; through him we can come into intimate personal fellowship with God. He is our perfect Prophet, who declares to our innermost being the perfect and certain Word of God.

He is our perfect sacrificial Lamb, whose slaughter purifies completely our sins and our consciences so that we can enter into the "holy of holies" with him. He is our perfect King, who rules us in perfect righteousness, wisdom, justice and mercy. He is our perfect Teacher, who instructs us perfectly in the ways of God.

### Barrier destroyed

When Mark recorded in his Gospel that the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, he was recording much more than the mere tearing of a piece of cloth. The veil was the curtain that separated the holy place in the temple from the holy of holies. When Jesus died, the barrier between God and humans was destroyed. In Jesus, and in Jesus alone, humans may now enter freely into the "holy of holies," that is, into the most intimate communion with God that is possible for redeemed humans (see Hebrews 9 and 10; Mark 15:38).

In the New Testament, worship is no longer defined by the regulations of the old covenant. That is not because those regulations were faulty. It is because those regulations had served their purpose. Through the rituals and regulations of temple-centered worship, God taught the Israelites, and through the Israelites the world, who he is and how humans can be restored to their original purpose and standing with him.

### World prepared

In the fullness of time, Paul writes, God sent his Son, born of a woman (Galatians 4:4). Think of that! God sent his own divine Son to become one of us, so that _through him,_ the perfect, sinless sacrificial Lamb, we might be cleansed of our sinfulness and brought into harmony and communion with God.

God had prepared the world for this _time of all times._ Through the people of Israel and his covenant with them, God had prepared a lineage through which his Son would be born. _He had also prepared the context, through Israel's worship of him, necessary for the world to understand who Jesus was._

Had there been no promises to Abraham, no Israel and no Exodus, no covenant, no priesthood and no prescribed worship form, no captivity, no Davidic royal lineage and no messianic promise, then there would have been no context in which the world could rightly understand who God was, who Jesus was, and how Jesus' death and resurrection could be the salvation of the world (see box).

### God acts, the people respond

When Christians come together in worship, they are responding to the grace and power of God in their individual and corporate lives. God acts; the people respond. This is the essence of Christian worship: the response of the people of God to what God has done.

This response—the corporate worship of the people of God—involves some form. The people gather at particular places and particular times and participate in worship in particular ways. Through this means, the people of God respond to God together in humility—to his holy majesty and righteousness, his power and glory, his grace and mercy, and his great acts of salvation.

They recall what God has done, take joy in what he is doing, and look forward to what he will yet do. They rehearse, re-enact, participate, proclaim and celebrate. They listen to his Word. They confess, repent and intercede. They praise, rejoice and give thanks.

The Israelites were given a temporary _form_ or system of worship appropriate to the _content_ of that worship. That form, described in the law of Moses, enabled the Israelites to respond in worship to the miraculous things God had done for them—saving them from Egypt, bringing them into the Promised Land and making them his own people. That form of worship was to last until Jesus came, and then to fade.

Then, just as God had planned from the very beginning (Ephesians 3:9), through Jesus Christ he did something amazingly new and transcendent, both for Israel and for all peoples everywhere. As a result, the worship practices of God's people demanded a new response to the new thing God had done.

### A new act demands a new response

Just as Isaiah had prophesied, at the fullness of time God did a new thing (Isaiah 43:19)—he sent his Son. The response of the people of God to this new thing is a fitting new response. A new response to a new thing demands new worship content — content that must be carried out in appropriately new forms. In other words, the new wine of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be placed into new wineskins, new containers or structures (Matthew 9:17).

Old covenant worship forms have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus brought something new to the worship of God. Since worship is the response of God's people to his mighty acts of salvation and grace, _the content and form of worship is a direct reflection of the fundamental beliefs of God's people._

Jesus summarized the essence of Christian belief in Luke 24:44-48:

#### He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Likewise, Paul recorded the heart of the Christian faith in his letter to the church at Corinth: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve" (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).

### New content, new form

A comparison of the biblical creeds of the people of God under the old and the new covenants illustrates the passing of the old and the arrival of the new. The old covenant people of God remembered and celebrated the great power and grace of God displayed in their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt and gift of the land promised to the patriarchs.

The new covenant people of God, on the other hand, remember and celebrate the great power and grace of God displayed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the defining point of our salvation. The content and form of our worship reflects our belief that through confidence in Jesus, all peoples everywhere can be delivered from slavery to sin and given entrance into the new life of the kingdom of God.

Israelite worship was for ancient Israel. It lasted till Christ came. Now God's people worship in new forms reflecting their response to new content—the transcendent new thing God has done in Jesus Christ. Table 2 below compares biblical creeds of the old and new covenants.

### New festivals for new Exodus

Christian worship involves new festivals because it celebrates the new Exodus, an Exodus from slavery to sin for all humanity, not the old Exodus, which was an Exodus from slavery in Egypt for the people of Israel. In worship, the people of God do not merely look back to a historical event. Through worship, we _enter_ into the essence of our faith—the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We gather before God in Jesus' name. We rehearse the gospel story. We submit to God's Word, repent of our sins, rejoice in our Savior and give him thanks.

When Christians worship, what God did in Christ is brought into our collective "here and now" experience as his people gather in his name. This rehearsal of the gospel story unites us with and renews us in God's miraculous saving work in Christ. Regardless of when Christians choose to gather, the real issue is whether their celebration becomes _a genuine rehearsal of the gospel story._

In summary, Christian worship is entering into, or participating in, the gospel; it is not entering into the Israelite Exodus. The worship pattern given to ancient Israel was _for them,_ given specifically _to them_ so they could properly respond in worship and celebration for what God had done _for them_ at the Red Sea, in the wilderness and in the Promised Land.

Christian worship, on the other hand, is Spirit-guided and is not found in a written code (John 4:24), just as the law of Christ is rooted in the Spirit and not in a written code. Christian worship specifically responds to _the gospel_ —the surprising and amazing _new thing,_ planned from the very beginning, which God did in the fullness of time in Jesus Christ for the salvation of all the people of the earth.

In this chapter we have seen that worship is our response to the gracious acts of God on our behalf. Israelite worship was designed to help Israel respond in worship to their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt and the gift of the Promised Land. Christian worship has transcended Israelite worship, and is designed to help Christians respond to God's supreme and conclusive act of human deliverance from sin and death through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of all who believe the gospel.

In the next chapter we will look at the biblical events that shaped the new "wineskins," or basic forms, into which the new "wine," or content, of Christian worship was poured.

### Reflection

What was ancient Israel to learn about God through practicing the hundreds of worship commands he gave the nation?

What was the meaning of the tearing of the veil in the temple at the time of Jesus' crucifixion?

Why is the history of Israel in the Old Testament important for us to understand?

Does the new thing that God has done through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit demand a new worship response on the part of Christians?

Who and what do Christians celebrate in their worship?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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## New Wineskins: Celebrating Salvation in Christ

In the previous chapter we saw that worship is our response to the gracious acts of God on our behalf. For ancient Israel, worship was centered in the Exodus experience—what God had done for them. For Christians, worship is centered in the gospel, what God has done for all believers. Christian worship celebrates and participates in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation and redemption of all people.

The worship pattern given to Israel was designed especially for them. God gave the Israelites, through Moses, a worship pattern designed to enable them to respond in celebration to what God had done for them in delivering them from Egypt and bringing them into the Promised Land.

Christian worship does not require observances based on ancient Israel's experience with God, but responds instead to the gospel. We might say by analogy that the "new wine" of the gospel is to be poured into "new wineskins" (Matthew 9:17). The "old wineskin" of the old covenant was not made to hold the new wine of the gospel (Hebrews 12:18-24).

### New forms

Israelite worship was for Israel. It lasted until Christ came. Now God's people worship in new forms that reflect their response to new content—the transcendent new thing God has done in Jesus Christ. Christian worship is geared around the rehearsal of and participation in Jesus Christ. Its key components include:

The Lord's Supper, also called Eucharist (or thanksgiving) and Communion, which was commanded by Christ.

Reading of Scripture, through which we rehearse and review the record of God's love and promises, especially his promise of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and through which we are nourished with the Word of God.

Prayer and song, through which we make our petitions to God in faith, repent of our sins in humility, and honor, praise and give him thanks in joyful and grateful adoration.

### Focused on content

Christian worship is focused primarily on _content and meaning,_ rather than primarily on form or time. Therefore, Christian worship is not limited to any day of the week or to any particular season of the year. Nor is any day or season commanded or required of Christians. However, Christians are free to, and normally do, set aside special seasons to celebrate major aspects of the life and work of Jesus.

Christians also set aside one day a week for corporate worship, that is, for gathering together as the Body of Christ to worship God. Most Christians set aside Sunday for such worship. Some Christians set aside Saturday. A few choose to meet at other times, such as Wednesday evening.

Typical of seventh-day sabbatarian teaching is the belief that it is a sin for Christians to use Sunday as their regular day of gathering for worship. However, there is no biblical support for this idea.

### Major events on Sunday

Surprising to many seventh-day sabbatarians, the Gospel accounts specifically pinpoint events of major importance as having taken place on Sunday. Even though there is no command that Christians worship on Sunday, there is certainly no reason for Christians to feel uncomfortable with worshiping on Sunday.

John's Gospel tells us that disciples of Jesus came together on the first Sunday after Jesus was crucified, and that Jesus appeared among them (John 20:1). All four Gospels tell us that Jesus was first discovered to have been raised from the dead on early Sunday morning (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).

All four Gospel writers considered it significant enough to mention that these events occurred at a particular time—Sunday. They could have left that detail out, but they did not. _The Gospels declare that Jesus chose to reveal himself as the resurrected Messiah on Sunday, first in the morning, then in the afternoon, and finally in the evening._ Not only did these Sunday appearances of the risen Jesus cause the Gospel writers no concern or alarm, they chose to make it plain that these things took place on that particular day of the week.

### Road to Emmaus

If there is any question about which day the resurrection occurred on, consider the plain testimony of Luke's account of the two men on the road to Emmaus. Jesus had prophesied that he would be raised from the dead on "the third day" (Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7).

Luke records that Sunday, the day on which the women discovered that Jesus' tomb was empty, was "the third day." He makes the point that the women discovered that Jesus was raised on Sunday morning (Luke 24:1), then makes the point that "the same day" (24:13), Sunday, was "the third day" (24:21), the day Jesus had said he would be raised (24:7).

Let's review certain key facts that the Gospel writers were inspired to record about the first Sunday after the crucifixion of Jesus:

Jesus was raised from the dead (Luke 24:1-8, 13, 21).

Jesus was recognized in the "breaking of the bread" (Luke 24:30-31, 34-35).

The disciples were meeting together, and Jesus came to be with them (Luke 24:15, 36; John 20:1, 19). John also records that on the second Sunday after the crucifixion, the disciples were again meeting, and that Jesus again came to be with them (John 20:26).

### In the early church

Luke recorded in Acts 20:7 that Paul spoke to the church in Troas when it assembled on Sunday to "break bread." In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul told the church in Corinth, as he had told the churches in Galatia (verse 1), to use every Sunday for setting aside an offering for the famine-stricken Jerusalem church.

Paul does not say that the church must meet on Sunday. His statement here does, however, seem to indicate that Sunday meetings were not extraordinary. The reason he gives for the weekly offering was so that "when I come no collections will have to be made" (verse 2). If the members had been setting aside the money each Sunday at home, rather than giving it each week at a meeting, then a collection would still need to have been taken when Paul came.

The natural reading of these passages shows us that it was not unusual for Christians to meet on Sunday, nor was it unusual for them to "break bread" together (a term Paul associates with the Lord's Supper; see 1 Corinthians 10:16-17) during their Sunday meetings.

As we can see, the inspired writers of the New Testament inform us that Jesus was raised on Sunday. They also had no qualms about the fact that at least some believers gathered on Sunday to break bread. While Christians are not commanded to gather for worship on Sunday, these examples show that there is no reason to have any qualms about doing so.

### Potential pitfalls

As we have seen, there are sound reasons for the Christian practice of gathering on Sunday as the body of Christ to commune with God. So then, _must_ Christians meet on Sunday? No. Christian faith is not based on days, but on faith in God and his Son, Jesus Christ. It would be a mistake to exchange one set of "commanded" days for another. Christian faith and worship is not about commanded days, but about knowing and loving God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

When we decide which day we will gather with fellow believers for worship, we should make our decision for right reasons. Jesus' command, "take, eat, this is my body" and "drink of this, all of you," is not bound to any particular day. Yet, it has been a tradition of Gentile Christians to gather in communion with Christ on Sunday since the earliest years of the church, primarily because Sunday is the day on which Jesus revealed himself as raised from the dead.

The Sabbath commandment, along with all of the Mosaic law, _ended with Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection._ To embrace it, or to try to reapply it in the form of a Sunday Sabbath, is to diminish God's revelation of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of his promises.

To believe that God commands Sabbath-keeping for Christians is to deprive ourselves of the full joy God wants us to have in Christ. God wants us to trust in him alone for salvation, and he wants us to find our rest and consolation in him alone. We are saved by grace, and we live by grace.

### Confusion

Despite all the above evidence, some people think that the weekly Sabbath is God's holy day for Christians. They declare that they will "obey God rather than men," regardless of what anyone tells them. Certainly, such commitment to do what one believes God requires is good; the misunderstanding is in what it is that God requires. The strong sabbatarian conviction that we are obeying God by keeping the weekly Sabbath illustrates the confusion and error that sabbatarian teaching has given unwary Christians.

First, sabbatarian teaching sets up an unbiblical understanding of what it means to obey God, then it sets up that version of obedience as the defining content of Christian faithfulness. The result is an "us vs. them" way of thinking, an approach to God that creates divisions in the body of Christ based on adherence to a command that the New Testament teaches is not in force.

Faithfulness to the weekly Sabbath is not a matter of obeying God, because God _does not command_ the weekly Sabbath for Christians. God commands us to love him, and loving God is not defined by keeping the weekly Sabbath. It is defined by believing in Jesus Christ and by loving our neighbor (1 John 3:21-24; 4:19-21). There is, the Bible says, a new covenant and a new law (Hebrews 7:12; 8:13; 9:15).

It is a mistake for Christian teachers to set up the weekly Sabbath as a measuring rod for Christian faithfulness. The teaching that the Sabbath commandment is in force for Christians introduces destructive legalism into the Christian conscience, clouds the truth and power of the gospel and creates division in the body of Christ

### Divine rest

The Bible says that God's will for humans is that they believe the gospel and love him (John 6:40; 1 John 3:21-24; 4:21; 5:2). The greatest joy humans can have is knowing and loving their Lord (John 17:3), and such love is not defined by or enhanced by observance of a particular day of the week.

The Christian life is one of resting joyfully in the Savior, of entering the divine rest. It is a life in which every part of life is dedicated to God, and every activity is a sacrament of devotion. To set up Sabbath-keeping as a defining element of "true" Christianity causes a person to miss much of the joy and power of the truth that Christ has come, and that in him God has established a new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:15) with all who believe the good news (Romans 1:16; 1 John 5:1).

The weekly Sabbath was a shadow, a hint, of the reality that was yet to come (Colossians 2:16-17). To hold up the hint as forever essential is to ignore the truth that the reality is indeed present and available. It robs one of being able to take full joy in what is _really_ important.

It might be something like continuing to dwell on, treasure and meditate on one's engagement announcement long after the wedding has taken place. It is high time to put one's first attention on the spouse, and let the engagement announcement recede to its proper status as a pleasant memory, a step toward its own true goal.

Places and times are no longer central to the content of worship for the people of God. True worship, Jesus said, involves spirit and truth (John 4:21-26). The spirit involves the heart. Jesus is the truth.

When Jesus was asked, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" he answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29). That is why Christian worship should revolve around Jesus Christ, around his identity as the eternal Son of God and his work as Lord, Savior and Teacher.

### More pleasing?

To believe that obedience to the Sabbath command is the criterion by which we will be saved or damned in the final Judgment, as many sabbatarians have taught, is to misunderstand both sin and the grace of God. If Sabbath-keepers are the only ones who will be saved, then the Sabbath is the standard of judgment, not the Son of God who died and rose from the dead for our salvation.

Sabbath-keepers believe that it is more pleasing to God to keep the Sabbath than it is to ignore the Sabbath. But this reasoning does not come from the Bible. The Bible teaches that the Sabbath command, along with the entire law of Moses, has been superseded and transcended in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, it is not "more pleasing" to God for us to keep the Sabbath than it is for us not to keep the Sabbath; the Sabbath was not given to Christians. The destructive element in sabbatarian theology is its insistence that Sabbath-keepers are the only _true and faithful_ Christians, which means that the blood of Jesus is not enough to save you without your also keeping the Sabbath.

The Bible opposes such doctrinal confusion with powerful assertions that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ _without works_ of any kind (Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 3:21-22; 4:4-8; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:4-8). Such unvarnished declarations of the sufficiency of Christ alone to save us apart from the law plainly contradict the sabbatarian doctrine that salvation will not come to people who do not keep the Sabbath.

### More godly?

The average Sabbath-keeper feels he or she is doing something more godly than non-Sabbath-keepers. Consider these statements from old literature published by the Worldwide Church of God:

#### Only those who continue to obey God's command to keep the Sabbath will finally enter the glorious "rest" of God's Kingdom and receive the gift of eternal, spiritual life. (Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course, Lesson 27 of 58 [Ambassador College, 1964, 1967], 5)

#### Those not keeping the Sabbath will not be bearing God's Sabbath "sign" which identifies His people, and therefore will not be born of God at Christ's coming! (ibid., 12).

Not only was Sabbath-keeping considered more godly, it was believed that no one would be saved without it. Consider this statement from a Seventh-day Adventist book:

#### Sunday observance, in the context of this eschatological struggle, will constitute in the end a distinguishing mark, here spoken of as the mark of the beast. Satan has exalted Sunday as the sign of his authority, while the Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty to God. This issue will divide Christendom into two classes, and will characterize the final time of trouble for the people of God. (Don Neufeld, ed., Seventh Day Adventist Encyclopedia, 2nd. rev. ed., vol. 3 [Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1966], 492)

This statement displays the concept that Sabbath-keeping is the deciding criterion of who is faithful to God and who is not, a concept that emerges from a fundamental misunderstanding of the teaching of Jesus and the apostles, a concept that promotes an attitude of spiritual superiority.

### Summary

Sabbatarian theology works against the grace of God in Jesus Christ and the plain teaching of the Bible. The law of Moses, including the Sabbath commandment, was given to Israel and not to the church. Although Christians should feel free to gather for worship on any day of the week, we must not make the mistake of thinking there is any biblical reason for choosing Saturday above any other day.

We can summarize it this way:

It is contrary to biblical teaching to say that the seventh-day Sabbath is binding on Christians.

It is contrary to biblical teaching to say that God is more pleased by Sabbath-keepers than by non-Sabbath-keepers, whether they are seventh-day sabbatarians or Sunday sabbatarians.

It is contrary to biblical teaching to say that one day is more holy or godly than another for the church to gather for worship.

A central gospel event occurred on Sunday, and that is the basis for the Christian tradition of gathering on that day to worship.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came as one of us to save us, forms the foundation of our faith. Therefore, gathering for worship on Sunday is a reflection of our belief in the gospel. Yet, gathering on Sunday is not _commanded,_ nor does worship on Sunday make Christians more holy or loved by God than gathering on another day of the week.

It is spiritually harmful to believe and teach that the Sabbath command is binding on Christians, because that teaching is contrary to Scripture and works against unity and love in the body of Christ.

It is spiritually harmful to believe and teach that Christians are _required_ to worship on either Saturday or Sunday, because such a teaching sets up the _day_ of worship as a legalistic hoop that one must jump through to be saved.

### A final thought

As followers of Jesus, we must learn not to condemn one another in the decisions we make in accord with our consciences before God. And we must be honest with ourselves about the reasons that lie behind our decisions. The Lord Jesus Christ has brought believers into his divine rest, into peace with him in full favor with God. May we, who love God, grow in love for one another as Jesus commanded.

### Reflection

1. Why is Christian worship focused on content and meaning rather than on form and time?

2. What great event in Jesus' life occurred on Sunday?

3. Why isn't Sunday a "holy day" for Christians in the way the Sabbath was for ancient Israel?

4. What events and situation ended the authority for Sabbath observance?

5. What is wrong with the concept that we will be saved or damned in the judgment by our obedience to the Sabbath command?

6. In what way does the belief in literal Sabbath-keeping work against the grace of God?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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## Obeying God

"If we are forgiven already, what's to stop us from continuing to sin? I realize we are saved by God's mercy and not by being good, and I realize we could never be good enough anyway, and I realize that even our goodness is tainted with sin, but still, doesn't God want us to stop sinning?"

I have never met a Christian who did not care about how he or she behaves. It just comes with the territory – Christians care about how they live. But I have met lots of Christians who have trouble believing that God could keep on loving them and forgiving them in spite of how rotten they behave. For them, we need to emphasize God's grace.

Most of us Christians have an easy time seeing at least some of our sins and trying to do better. But we have trouble handing off our deep sense of guilt and failure to Christ. Most of us are always struggling to overcome something, but our moments of peace and rest in God's unconditional love are few and far between.

Even our goodness is tainted with sin. We are never guilt-free. But in Christ, we _are_ guilt-free, not because of our behavior, but because of him. God accounts us righteous in Christ. All we can do is believe it, because we can't see evidence of it. We might see some improvement in this or that aspect of our lives, but we never see anything close to perfection.

So, we should fight sin in our lives, and because Christ lives in us, we do. But we should never measure God's love for us by our success in achieving sinlessness. God wants us to trust _him_ to be our righteousness.

When we trust him to be our righteousness, three things happen:

We realize we are not righteous (that is, we are sinners in need of mercy).

We realize his promise to forgive us and save us is good.

We rest in him.

God got hot with Israel over _unbelief_ (Psalm 106:6-7, , ; Hebrews 3:9, , ). They would not trust him to do what he said he would do for them, which was to save them, to be their salvation, to take care of them. Instead of trusting him, they would make treaties with neighboring countries, or sacrifice to the gods of other nations, or trust in their own military strength.

Trusting in God means that when we are hurt or taken advantage of, or when problems arise or tragedy strikes, all is not lost, because Christ was raised from the dead for us. It means that we know we have nothing to lose because everything we have was given to us by God in the first place.

It means we can cast all our cares on him because he cares for us. That takes faith, because God's deliverance from the many things that fall on us in this life seldom comes in ways that make sense to us. Sometimes deliverance doesn't come in this life at all. In the same way, overcoming all our sins doesn't come in this life, which means we have to _trust_ him when he says he doesn't count our sins against us (Romans 4:1-8) and that our lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

### Holy in Christ

Sin is our enemy, as well as God's enemy. It destroys the creation, including us. But God has moved powerfully, decisively and once for all in Christ to redeem the creation, including us, from the corruption of sin. The outcome of the war with sin has already been determined through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. The devil, along with the sin and death he champions, has already been defeated, but he still exercises influence in the world until Christ returns.

By grace, we are _God's_ children. Our hearts are turned to him, devoted to him and sanctified by him. We have tasted his goodness and experienced his love, and we have given our allegiance to him. We fight sin in our lives and strive to walk in righteousness because he lives in us.

Christ's victory is our victory. In other words, what Christ did, he did for us, and he stands for us with God. We are holy only because we are in Christ. That is something we can see only with the eyes of faith – we have to trust God that it is so.

### Christian life a paradox

Here is another way of putting it: God has given us an active part in Christ's victory. We stand clean and forgiven in Christ's blood even while we seek to live in harmony with God's perfect love. A repentant heart and a commitment to obedience characterize our lives of faith in Christ, yet we often fall short of Christ's ideal. When we fail, which is continually, we can trust in the forgiveness of our God who loves us so much that he gave his Son to redeem us. In Christ we stand – and we stand only because we are in Christ, who is _for us,_ as opposed to _against us._

In Christ, even though we are sinners, we are righteous. Even when our commitment flags, Christ's commitment to us does not – God is faithful even when we falter (2 Timothy 2:13). There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).

This is a paradox, at least from our perspective. But from God's perspective, it is the way the universe is put together. God loves and redeems, and he has made all things new in Christ. We are dead in sin, yet we are alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13). We still sin, yet God no longer considers us sinners (Romans 4:8). Our real lives, which are a new creation, are hidden in God with Christ (Colossians 3:3). Just as the old creation is judged, the new creation is saved.

Does that make sin OK? Sin is never OK. But it is defeated. Its teeth have been pulled. It is on its last legs. It still slaps you around and might even kill you, but God has you covered forever.

Jesus confirms the principles of the life of the kingdom in Matthew 5. The old categories of the law are transcended by Jesus' description of the transformed heart that reflects the new life in him. It is a heart that puts others ahead of self, that not only avoids hurting others but also actively loves others. It is a pattern of life that cannot be measured by outward appearances, but flows instead from a new creation, a new interior, a new birth. It is the heart of Christ. It is a heart we are _given,_ not one that we work up with moral energy and personal commitment.

"Why does Jesus say that anyone who does not keep the whole law and teach it will be called least in the kingdom of heaven?"

Because it is true. But remember, it is in Jesus that we keep the whole law, not in ourselves. Jesus has kept it for us. The law condemns us because we cannot help but fail to keep it (Galatians 3:10-14). In Christ, there is no condemnation.

We become law keepers only by putting our faith in Jesus, who himself alone is our righteousness. We don't begin to have what it takes to stand righteous in the presence of God. Jesus does, and the gospel is God's good news that God has _in Christ_ made us everything he wants us to be. He has already done it.

Because we can't see any physical evidence of that, we can know it only by faith in the One who gives us the gift (Galatians 3:22). That's why God pleads, "Trust me!"

When Jesus refers to the law in Matthew 5, he is not talking about the whole old covenant law. Otherwise we would all be wearing blue tassels and phylacteries and sacrificing lambs. Whatever way Jesus is defining "law" here, we are law keepers only through faith in him, not through our ever-bungling efforts to avoid sin.

### Devotion born of trust

Jesus is our Savior, Lord and Teacher. We can start with the confidence that we are forgiven and saved, as God's free gift to us through his Son. Jesus is our Savior. With that trust in God's word of grace, and because his love is growing in us from the moment we believed him, we can (in his strength) devote ourselves to doing whatever he says. Jesus is our Lord, which also means he is our Master, our King, our Ruler.

We come to know God better and understand his will more fully by listening to what he has given us about himself in the Bible. Some of the ways we listen to him are: reading the Bible, listening to teachers in the church (Ephesians 4:11-14), reading devotional writing by Christian teachers, as well as listening to God's prompting of our wills during prayer. Jesus is our Teacher.

Obedience is important. We are commanded to obey God. If we believe in God's mercy and love through Christ, then the Holy Spirit works in us to lead us to desire to obey God, and to actually obey him.

We bear fruit, but it is not really that we are doing it ourselves. The Holy Spirit is working in us to bear it. The beauty is that the Spirit makes us able to cooperate with his work in such a way that we are pleasing God and bring glory to him through Christ.

But we often fall short. Again, we can rest in the confidence that God has already forgiven us, already saved us and already made us his saints. In that confidence we don't have to languish in discouragement; we can get up and continue our struggle against sin, resting in the sure and unlimited love of God. Our failures, lapses and sins are not the measure of who we are in Christ; his faithful word and his victory for us are the true measure of who we are.

We are in a battle with sin, but the victory does not depend on us; it depends on Christ, and he has already won. We are living out the implications of his victory in our own struggles, and because the victory is already his, our God-given part in his victory is not at risk.

Our part has already been secured by the Son of God. By God's gracious will for us, we are safe in Christ, and we can take joy and rest in God's presence if we believe his word about that. (If we won't believe God's word about that, then we won't be able to rest in his joy. God doesn't force people to stay out of hell, but hell is not his choice for them.)

### Teaching right living

The church should teach people right ways to live, always keeping in mind that this is not the same as teaching people how to be loved by God or how to be saved. The two must be clearly distinguished from one another. God already loves us and has already saved us from our guilt, even though we are sinners. Right living can help us avoid loads of trouble, pain and heartache, but it can't make God love us or save us any more than he already has.

However, right living pleases God. He loves to see us living in tune with him and becoming the persons he has made us to be in Christ. Likewise, he hates to see us torturing ourselves and living in fear and despair about our sins, out of harmony with the new creation he has made of us in Christ. Do we stop loving our children when they ignore our rules and warnings and get themselves hurt? God loves us even more than we are able to love our children.

With the new covenant in Christ, God has eclipsed the old system of reward for righteousness and punishment for sin (Hebrews 10:9-10). That system bound everyone under sin and death (Galatians 3:21-22). Because of our helplessness, weakness and bondage, he has taken on himself for us the consequences of sin, and he, as the righteous Human for all humans, shares with us the rewards of his righteousness: reconciliation and unity with God. We receive everything Christ has done for us only one way: _in faith._ Without faith, without trust in God that his word of the gospel is true, we will not accept his love, reconciliation and eternal life.

This means that we must get rid of the notion that our behavior determines how God feels about us. God alone determines how God feels about us, and he decided before all time that he loves us, and his Son is the perfect Human for us in our place so that God's love for us may be complete and eternal precisely because its essence is his love for his Son. He will be faithful even when we are not faithful, because in Christ we are reconciled with the Father, and it is in Christ that he loves us for the sake of Christ.

So, when we teach people to live rightly, we are teaching them, and ourselves, how to live free of the bondage and pain that accompanies sin. We are not teaching how to be better than others, more loved of God than others, more important to God than others, or even more righteous than others. That is because our righteousness is only in Christ, and we walk in that righteousness only by faith in him, not by avoiding sin.

To be sure, life is indescribably smoother if we avoid illicit sex, drugs and violence. But we need to remember that the blood of Jesus is just as necessary for indifference, laziness, stubbornness, selfishness, gossip, judgmentalness, secret envy and the like, as much as it is for adultery, theft, heroin trafficking and murder. We are all sinners, regardless of how much success we achieve in right living, and we all stand in need of mercy at the foot of Jesus' cross.

### Faith in the faithful One

Still, the church does have the role of teaching right living, and every one of us has an obligation to God to commit ourselves to doing everything God wants us to do. God gives us all this instruction about right living because it is good for us, and because it reflects the way he is toward us. The more we trust in God to save us from our sins, the more we desire to turn away from sin. Yet it is God himself, reigning in his divine freedom to save sinners in Christ, who actually delivers us from sin.

Whatever instruction the church gives in paths of right living needs to be framed in humility and love. The same Bible from which we draw God's pearls of wisdom about human conduct provides us his testimony about his Son who died to save us from our failure to heed perfectly such instruction.

Every teacher of the Bible is a sinner. As fellow sinners with the world, we must guard against the tendency of the church to allow its proclamation to descend into a mere rattle of condemnation against people who don't walk in the precepts of the Bible. To become a voice of condemnation does violence to the gospel and reduces the Christian proclamation into merely another religion vainly trying to hold together a powerless façade of human morality.

The church is where the gospel visibly intersects human history. It is the place where sinners have found out they are clean and forgiven, and where these forgiven sinners continually offer to God their worship, praises and thanksgiving.

It is where this good news of the gospel is celebrated and affirmed for everyone who will listen. It is where the love of Christ can take root in the world. It is where people of faith have been made able, by their Savior and Lord in whom they trust, to be like him in the world – a friend of despised people and sinners.

Wherever the church comes into contact with the world, the world should be the better for it. The poor should be hearing good news. Prisoners should be hearing about the release that transcends physical freedom. People in bondage to personal and societal sin should be finding mercy, kindness and hope.

The cleansing, purifying light of Christ's truth and love and peace should be finding its way into dark fears, lost hopes and tortured souls. This should be happening because the crucified Christ is risen and living in his people, not because the church found an ancient book of laws it can use to more effectively condemn sinners.

Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). That is why the gospel is _good news!_ How sweet it is when the proclamation of the church is the same good news.

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## About the Author...

J. Michael Feazell served for many years as Vice-President of Grace Communion International, as Executive Editor of _Christian Odyssey_ magazine, and host of the _You're Included_ video series. He earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Azusa Pacific University in 2000 and has written _Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God_ (Zondervan, 2001).

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## About the Publisher...

Grace Communion International is a Christian denomination with about 50,000 members, worshiping in about 900 congregations in almost 100 nations and territories. We began in 1934 and our main office is in North Carolina. In the United States, we are members of the National Association of Evangelicals and similar organizations in other nations. We welcome you to visit our website at www.gci.org.

If you want to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we offer help. First, we offer weekly worship services in hundreds of congregations worldwide. Perhaps you'd like to visit us. A typical worship service includes songs of praise, a message based on the Bible, and opportunity to meet people who have found Jesus Christ to be the answer to their spiritual quest. We try to be friendly, but without putting you on the spot. We do not expect visitors to give offerings—there's no obligation. You are a guest.

To find a congregation, write to one of our offices, phone us or visit our website. If we do not have a congregation near you, we encourage you to find another Christian church that teaches the gospel of grace.

We also offer personal counsel. If you have questions about the Bible, salvation or Christian living, we are happy to talk. If you want to discuss faith, baptism or other matters, a pastor near you can discuss these on the phone or set up an appointment for a longer discussion. We are convinced that Jesus offers what people need most, and we are happy to share the good news of what he has done for all humanity. We like to help people find new life in Christ, and to grow in that life. Come and see why we believe it's the best news there could be!

Our work is funded by members of the church who donate part of their income to support the gospel. Jesus told his disciples to share the good news, and that is what we strive to do in our literature, in our worship services, and in our day-to-day lives.

If this e-book has helped you and you want to pay some expenses, all donations are gratefully welcomed, and in several nations, are tax-deductible. If you can't afford to give anything, don't worry about it. It is our gift to you. To make a donation online, go to www.gci.org/participate/donate.

Thank you for letting us share what we value most — Jesus Christ. The good news is too good to keep it to ourselves.

See our website for hundreds of articles, locations of our churches, addresses in various nations, audio and video messages, and much more.

Grace Communion International  
3129 Whitehall Park Dr.

Charlotte, NC 28273-3335

800-423-4444

www.gci.org

### You're Included...

We talk with leading Trinitarian theologians about the good news that God loves you, wants you, and includes you in Jesus Christ. Most programs are about 28 minutes long. Our guests have included:

Ray Anderson, Fuller Theological Seminary

Douglas A. Campbell, Duke Divinity School

Elmer Colyer, U. of Dubuque Theological Seminary

Gordon Fee, Regent College

Trevor Hart, University of St. Andrews

George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

C. Baxter Kruger, Perichoresis

Jeff McSwain, Reality Ministries

Paul Louis Metzger, Multnomah University

Paul Molnar, St. John's University

Cherith Fee Nordling, Antioch Leadership Network

Andrew Root, Luther Seminary

Alan Torrance, University of St. Andrews

Robert T. Walker, Edinburgh University

N.T. Wright, University of St. Andrews

William P. Young, author of _The Shack_

Programs are available free for viewing and downloading at www.youreincluded.org.

### Speaking of Life...

Dr. Joseph Tkach, president of Grace Communion International, comments each week, giving a biblical perspective on how we live in the light of God's love. Most programs are about three minutes long – available in video, audio, and text. Go to www.speakingoflife.org.

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### Grace Communion Seminary

Ministry based on the life and love of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Grace Communion Seminary serves the needs of people engaged in Christian service who want to grow deeper in relationship with our Triune God and to be able to more effectively serve in the church.

Why study at Grace Communion Seminary?

 Worship: to love God with all your mind.

 Service: to help others apply truth to life.

 Practical: a balanced range of useful topics for ministry.

 Trinitarian theology: a survey of theology with the merits of a Trinitarian perspective. We begin with the question, "Who is God?" Then, "Who are we in relationship to God?" In this context, "How then do we serve?"

 Part-time study: designed to help people who are already serving in local congregations. There is no need to leave your current ministry. Full-time students are also welcome.

 Flexibility: your choice of master's level continuing education courses or pursuit of a degree: Master of Pastoral Studies or Master of Theological Studies.

 Affordable, accredited study: Everything can be done online.

For more information, go to www.gcs.edu. Grace Communion Seminary is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, www.deac.org. The Accrediting Commission is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency.

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## Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

Want to better understand God's Word? Want to know the Triune God more deeply? Want to share more joyously in the life of the Father, Son and Spirit? Want to be better equipped to serve others?

Among the many resources that Grace Communion International offers are the training and learning opportunities provided by ACCM. This quality, well-structured Christian Ministry curriculum has the advantage of being very practical and flexible. Students may study at their own pace, without having to leave home to undertake full-time study.

This denominationally recognized program is available for both credit and audit study. At minimum cost, this online Diploma program will help students gain important insights and training in effective ministry service. Students will also enjoy a rich resource for personal study that will enhance their understanding and relationship with the Triune God.

Diploma of Christian Ministry classes provide an excellent introductory course for new and lay pastors. Pastor General Dr. Joseph Tkach said, "We believe we have achieved the goal of designing Christian ministry training that is practical, accessible, interesting, and doctrinally and theologically mature and sound. This program provides an ideal foundation for effective Christian ministry."

For more information, go to www.ambascol.org

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