Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
The moral crusades that many evangelicals become embroiled in are nothing more than a ministry of death and condemnation. Even in places like Nigeria there are movements that have so condemned homosexuality that the laws have been changed to include capital punishment for the offenders. “That is going too far!”, you suggest? In the natural, to be sure, but in the realm of the spirit it carries death just as certain.
The law was a schoolmaster to bring the world to Jesus Christ, but without the gospel the law is death. People who desire the Ten Commandments be placed upon the walls of public schools are greatly misguided. The Ten Commandments represent certain spiritual death since no one can completely adhere to them and if you break one you have broken them all. The pitiful and self righteous attempts to contain and even alter the behavior of sinners by outward means may be the role of the government, but the church must provide a panacea that cures the heart.
I am not pro-life and pro-heterosexual marriage because I was convinced by any physiological arguments. I believe what I believe because of the grace of God that changed me some 35 years ago. But even what I believe about those issues is irrelevant in the realm of spreading the gospel. When Jim Elliot and his brethren went to find and witness to the Auca Indians they did not attempt to persuade them to cover their nakedness. They went with the gospel and it cost them their lives. Later on believers went again and many Aucas were saved by the power of the Good News. How counter productive and absurd would it have been for Elliot to bring some moral crusade to this tribe? But that is exactly what some believers and churches do in the midst of a dark community that is every bit as lost as were those Auca Indians.
But the grace of God through Jesus Christ is the portal that leads to freedom. Be not mistaken, though, all of us journey upon a path filled with stumbling. And therein lies another wonder of redemption and sonship. A man is driving his car and sees the sign that says 55 miles per hour. He realizes that is the law and sometimes, not all times, he drives under that speed limit. That is the law. And in the Old Testament the law was written outwardly and obeyed with varying degrees of consequences for those who disobeyed it outwardly.
But in the New Testament this same driver now travels a road where there is no speed limit; there is no law. But he has been implanted with a communication device that advises him when he is driving too fast and unsafely. And when he reaches 55 miles per hour that voice inside tells him to slow down. The man slows down, not because it is the law, but because he loves, respects, and even worships the One whose voice is speaking to him.
Christ is the end of the law to all who believe.
Brethren, let us not be ministers of that which kills and has passed away, for if we were still judged by the dictates of the law we would all be put to death, both physically and spiritually. Let us minister the Good News that God has come as a man and has provided a way, the only way, for a sinner to gain eternal life. And purely by faith in this God/man a sinner can be eternally forgiven, and the residual effects will change him in this life as well.
So often the church has come across as a self righteous old man who cannot wait for your soccer ball to be kicked into his yard so he can race to confiscate it. We must be different. Jesus rubbed shoulders with the vilest of sinners, and if you believe that all His followers became perfect you have not read the New Testament or even some accounts of the early church. So many believers act as if they are fearful of being portrayed as condoning sin, and in that fear lurks self righteousness that blocks a redemption that is far from being fearful of sin. In fact, the redemption of Jesus Christ seeks out sinners and their sin and when allowed that redemption defeats sin and rescues the sinners.
The law has dropped us off at school, Jesus Christ University, and when we enroll by faith the law which dropped us off dies along with Christ who is the end of the law for everyone who believes. We no longer strive to lead lives that glorify God because of any law, but the love of Jesus Christ constrains us. Through Christ we offer a hope that transcends human endeavor and self rehabilitation. It is a glorious message that bids all sinners of every stripe and lifestyle to come and dine with your Redeemer and Creator. A new life awaits you which ends with an eternity in the presence of the King of all Kings. It's an offer of grace that is unbalanced in the sinner's favor.
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