Jesus describes the Christian life in these terms:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" John 13:34-35
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:20
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments” John 14:15
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”John 14:12-14
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” John 15:4-8
What is this fruit that Jesus says that His disciples will bear? “But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence).”
Galatians 5:22-23 Amplified Bible
The nature of the Christian life is that God raises the bar to make impossible demands upon us with wonderful promises to us along with a supernatural enablement for us. He commands us to love like He loves, to do the things that He did, to speak his word, to live a moral standard of life exceeding that of the most moral and religious and virtuous men of the time, to obey His commandments, and to bear fruit that lasts and glorifies Him.
Jesus is trying to overwhelm us to show us the utter impossibility of the Christian life on our own. He does this in order to show us that true Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing. It is either extraordinarily high jumping ten feet according to the promises and by the power of God or it is living on your own strength and limitations jumping at no more than six feet.
The Christian life is a supernatural life. It is not produced by merely human forces. It takes resources that we do not have. It is bad news to all those who chose to attempt to be a Christian and live the Christian life on their own strength. It refuses to believe the words of Christ who says “for apart from me you can do nothing.” But it is good news to the sinful, the weak, the limited, and helpless. It liberates and frees us to face our sinfulness, our weaknesses, and our limitations, and let them become a launching pad for the power and glory of God! But it makes a particular demand upon us all. It demands that we live on God alone. It demands a daily declaration of dependence!
There is a false view of Christianity that has all the appearances of Christianity but is not Biblical Christianity. The apostle Paul warns that this kind of religion will characterize the Last Days.
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
2 Timothy 3:1-4
Notice the key component of End Times religion: “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power”. It is a kind of religion that is manageable, duty-defined, decision oriented, willpower based, and only limited to what I can do on my own strength without God’s help. I call it “can-do” religion. While the apostle Paul cried “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), the attitude of "can do" religion is “I can do all things”.
How does "can do" religion manifest itself in daily living? You do well as long as you never have to jump higher than six feet! As soon as the bar goes over six feet you either quit jumping, rest content to jump no more than six feet, and play it safe. How many of you are living your life like that? I find that many people are satisfied living a religious life within the confines of their own weaknesses, inabilities, limitations and who deny that God would want them to jump ten feet.
They reason like this: Even though the Bible says, “love your enemies”, “I cannot love my enemies, therefore I am not required by God to love my enemies. So I don’t and that is okay or it’s not okay but there is nothing that I can do about it so it’s still okay. The irony of this belief is that in part it is true. In the end, loving your enemy is a gift from God, not something you can do yourself. But it is not Biblical to say that the only things that God can require of you are things that you are good enough and able to perform. That kind of Christianity is easy and doable.
But true Christianity doesn't lower the bar, it raises it. Every single thing God requires is beyond my reach. Biblical Christianity is impossible! Do you know why? Because the Christian life is supernatural! The mystery of the Christian life is that God commands us to jump ten feet we and we cannot. Then He offers us the promise of that we can and will jump ten feet and that He will give us a new desire to jump ten feet and will grace us with an enablement to do it!
When God promised the New Covenant He made these wonderful promises:
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live… But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.(Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27)
John Piper says about these promises: “All of these covenant promises have been secured for us by Christ who said at the last supper, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20) The blood of Jesus Christ obtained for us all of the promises of the New Covenant. What distinguishes them from the Old Covenant is that they are promises for enablement. They are promises that God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves."
We need a new heart to desire God and to delight in God. We need the Spirit who’s fruit is love and joy in God and who gives us a new power to obey God, so that when we are called to fulfill the two commandments “love God and love others” (Luke 10:27), the Spirit and the Word of God produce these wonderful realities within us.
To be continued...
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