Are We Trying To Earn Salvation Without Thanks For The Hindsight, Insight and Foresight Of Jesus?

 
 

 
 

Good Morning Friends,

  
 

I do hope you spend some time each day counting your blessings given to you by God’s grace. For sure we are to be obedient and do good works but deals with the Devil abound. Thankfully, God has made us an offer that is not based on what we can do but upon what Jesus did. By forgiving our sins God gives us a new heart and His Spirit that enables us to draw near in an intimate fellowship that reveals truth. Yes, we are to be dutiful, and we are to learn from life, but we need to have a changed attitude. So, Are We Trying To Earn Salvation Without Thanks
For The Hindsight, Insight and Foresight Of Jesus?  

  
 

Scripture: Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

   
 

2 Corinthians 3:15-4:6 (NRSV)

   
 

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So, when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

  
 

Matthew 5:17-26 (NRSV)

 
 

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat. He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs— who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the Lord!

 
 

Psalm 147: 12-20 (NRSV)

 
 

 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you. You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how the Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, while those of you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—

 
 

Deuteronomy 4:1-9 (NRSV)

 
 

The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.

  
 

Psalm 25:14 (NRSV)

 
 

Message: A covenant is a serious agreement two parties enter that must not be taken lightly, especially the covenant we have with God. The old covenant did an amazing job of revealing our sins and now the New Covenant is offered to us if we just accept the proposal to be at peace. Perhaps you have blown something off as if it is no big deal and not important. Well, the covenant that God made with Abraham that was fulfilled in Jesus and has been extended to us by God’s grace through faith is a big deal. It is the New Covenant of Christ of which our text this morning is all about. Join me in contemplating the importance of this New Covenant for our lives today as the only way to make lasting social change. First consider the confidence it gives us to have a Kingdom mindset. Second consider how our affirmation of the New Covenant acknowledges in us a usefulness to be as servants for each other and for God as a witness to the Glory of God. And third reflect on the reality that entering a relational covenant with God gives us the hope that we can stand before God and before the world to boldly proclaim that God keeps promises. What Jesus explains in today’s text is that there are sins of commission but also sins of omission and of our disposition. We are brought to the reality that we cannot legislate love. Friends, if we have love good things will come to life. If we do not accept the offer of love our lives will be miserable. And yes, Christians can fall victim to a complaining and grumbling mindset, but at least part of the goal is to be thankful so we can honestly praise God. The Pharisees had inconsistencies between doing the right things outwardly and right with God in their hearts when it came to obeying the law. Their hearts were not changed. They were covenant breakers who failed to be the example of salt and light that they should have been. Thankfully, God offers a solution to the problem if we would but accept the offer.

  
 

And So, despite the offer of grace, unfortunately the lure of legalism is still with us. This legalism consists of rules and regulations and keeps us from focusing on seeking the love of our Lord and having a thankful heart. But there is no dual covenant in effect here for God’s power cannot be denied, nor His mission frustrated. The thing is that the irresistible force here is the power of Christ’s resurrection, and it is not just an event of the past but of all time that permeates everything with hope. And this is where most of the Pharisees and all of the Sadducees missed the boat of enjoying the life of abundance. For in situations where all seems dead, the resurrection’s power changes everything and through the Holy Spirit teaches us. In this covenant of love God’s laws are demonstrated in history itself. When things seem doomed, it is the power of Christ’s resurrection that transforms a drought into a downpour. And the beauty, is that all who evangelize become instruments of this very same power in the stream of Holy History. There is no lack in Jesus. The resurrection is already woven into the fabric of life as a witness that our hope is not in vain. That is why we should rejoice in all things. That is why we should be obedient to the law of praising God for God’s people should always be thankful. So, friends, we can take things for granted or we can take things with gratitude. Our attitude makes all the difference in this life. There is wisdom in not trying so hard but in thinking differently.

 
 

Pray we realize that we are changed by the love of grace not the law. Pray we realize that our sinfulness and the law’s inability to save us leaves us with only one option for salvation. Pray we clean up our anger and realize that the New Covenant is an offer we are not to refuse, for it is the one that God offers. Pray we realize that the New Covenant is the Gospel and the only truly Good News. Pray we realize that saying yes to the New Covenant is like saying yes to a marriage that reveals the heart of those making the promise. Pray we believe in the sufficiency and superiority of the New Covenant and realize that it has greater glory than the old covenant for it transforms lives through love. Pray we believe in the power of resurrection. Pray we believe, no matter how mysterious it is, that God is capable of intervening and bringing good out of evil by the power of his infinite creativity. Pray we believe in signs of hope no matter how small they may be. Pray God’s love permeates us just as the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit infuses and invades all history. Pray we live to the glory of God in a Kingdom that never ends. Pray we are obedient to the command to commend God with our praise.

  
 

Blessings,

 
 

John Lawson