Harmony #57: The Sending Of the 70/72[1] (Luke 10:1-16)

In the last installment, we read about the response of three potential followers of Jesus, all of whom had something that got in the way. Today, we will see the obedient response of 70 of Jesus’ followers (Luke 9:57-62).This is not the first time Jesus sent a group of his disciples on a focused mission. 

In the chapter just before this one, Luke records Jesus sending out 12 disciples, the number of tribes in Israel, to Jewish towns. Most commentators see this as symbolically reaching all of Israel with the good news of God’s coming Kingdom.

Today, Jesus sends out 70 disciples to Gentile towns. Why 70? Genesis 10 gives a list of the descendants of Noah’s children: "from these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.” Guess how many nations? J[2]  This, then, is an inauguration of what will be a call to all of us to spread the Gospel to all the nations of the earth.[3]

* * * * *

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.

“Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag filled with extra coats, or extra sandals,[4] and don’t get distracted by lengthy, time-consuming greeting with people you meet on the road.[5]

Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house!’ And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you.  Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from house to house.

“Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in that town and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come upon you!’  But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say,  ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’

 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,1 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’  I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

 “Woe/alas[6] to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida![7] For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you[8].  And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades[9].

“The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Today, we have a smorgasbord of points. Fill up your plates as you wish.

1. The 70 R US.  Some commentators point out that in Exodus 24, Moses chose 70 elders who went up Mt. Sinai with Moses and were filled with Spirit such that they prophesied (think ‘spoke inspired truth’). They became leaders of God’s people pointing them toward truth. Jesus now sets up the priestly/prophetic role of those who will bring the good news to all the nations – which will be all of us, not just those 70.  

“You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation… that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:5,9)

2. We should ‘pray’ and ‘go’ into the field.[10] Notice we pray and go. Prayer is not the equivalent of washing our hands of responsibility or engagement. ”Thoughts and prayers” for a harvest is not enough. We must go.

Where is the harvest field? Everywhere. All the time. Even the smallest moments are opportunities.[11] Just remember: We don’t save people. Free yourself from that pressure. But we do introduce people to the one who does. We plant truth; then we nurture the environment into which truth has been planted.

3. Dear sheep: expect the wolves. There should be no expectation that conditions will be safer or easier for us than it was for them.  They, like us, ought not expect to be liked, admired, or supported; rather, we should expect to be ignored, mocked, persecuted and even killed. We have to embrace the reality that in this world, there will be trouble, and some of it is because we are faithful witnesses.

This is not all the time, of course. The early church exploded because so many people liked the message and the messengers of Christianity. But that was always mixed in with trials and persecution.

I read too many news stories where Christians in the United States are shocked and scared when something happens that makes life hard because they are Christian.

· My Bible Study club at school got cancelled.

· That social media platform is censoring me.

· My workplace won’t let me put up Christian symbols.

· When I post Bible verses people mock me.

· I’m called all kinds of phobic just because I want to be faithful to biblical teaching.”

What did we expect?

Outrage is not the righteous response. Remember, the disciples wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan town that rejected them. Now Jesus is sending them to that town (among others). The response to trials is meant to be outreach. We are meant to invite even the wolves to meet the transformational power of Jesus so the sheep multiply.

4. Jesus deliberately ensured community. The 70 didn’t have money, extra clothes to keep them warm at night, or food. They could not live in isolation. This forced them into community.There may be an added element here of letting go of the need to be comfortable (or avoiding the appearance of displaying wealth), but I’m leaning toward the idea it was primarily to make community inescapable.

I wonder what it looks like to organize our lives and priorities such that we make life in Christian community such a priority that we can’t  imagine doing life without it. I’m not entirely sure what that looks like in our setting, but it seems important. If we take nothing else away from this, just remember that we are designed to rely on each other.

5. Kingdom-minded people have generous hospitality of mind, heart, and resources.[12]  We see clearly how this looked in the early church. The first followers of Jesus took this very seriously – and literally.

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.  There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. (Acts 4:32-34)

This ties back in to the community focus. Clearly, they lived in a rhythm of asking for help and giving help. This isn’t some woke Marxist utopia; this is Kingdom generosity. “They shared everything they had…there were no needy people among them”!  

6. We are to prioritize the mission. The Middle Eastern custom of greeting honored others, but prophets on mission were given an exemption in the Old Testament. he 70 had a narrow window of time for their particular mission, so they were laser focused.

I think it is a reminder to never forget that we are on a mission, and it needs to be prioritized. We just saw potential disciples give excuses about why they had to postpone the mission (“I have to bury my father; I need to say goodbye.”) As Dr. Seuss would say, “The time has come, the time is now, Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!”

For the 70, this was a short window of time. Almost certainly they went back to long greetings when appropriate. It’s not that the greetings were bad. It’s about having the wisdom to prioritize the rhythm of the Kingdom in favor of the mission of the Kingdom.

7. The response to inhospitality is loving witness. Jesus told the 70 that if they go into a town and are welcomed, they should a) take care of their practical needs on God’s behalf (cure the sick miraculously) and b) tell them the Kingdom has come near. It’s not either/or; it’s both/and. 

But if they were not welcomed, they were to wipe the dust off your feet and leave - but still tell those who were hostile that the Kingdom has come near.  How were the 70 to respond to rejection and hostility? With witness!

If you experience rejection or hostility for being a follower of Jesus, don’t pray that God rains down fire. The door to the Kingdom is still open for all, and we should remind people of that no matter what they think of us or our message, God invites them into His Kingdom.

8. Honor people. They were not to move. This might characterize them as those who are shopping for the most luxurious accommodations when they should live simply and gratefully. This levels the socio-economic playing field. The disciples aren’t jockeying for the tastiest food and softest beds or wittiest company. They aren’t going to curry favor while in a town so they become upwardly mobile in society. They might get bread and water when they could be getting caviar and Verners somewhere else, but they will be content.

This seems really relevant. We are not called to continue to seek the bigger stage, the brighter lights, the trendier audience, the cooler venues, the more powerful and beautiful peers. It’s a trap. It’s a distraction. It’s also turns the people with whom we started into stepping stones on our way to “something greater,” which is almost always greater by Empire standards, not Kingdom standards.  

Sometimes, ministries grow organically. I’m not talking about that. I mean, if the disciples were staying in a house with someone who was just about to move into a much nicer place, it’s not like they couldn’t move with them J Sometimes, there are righteous reasons for moving to a different place of ministry. I don’t mean to imply that moving on is inherently wrong. But there is a difference between chasing bigger and better from a bad heart vs. stewarding what God gives us to steward.

Jesus is clear in this instruction: don’t chase comfort or status. As a picture on our wall said when I was a kid, “Bloom where you are planted.”

9. Accept what you are given. A joyful acceptance of hospitality, no matter how small or bland or unusual, goes a long way toward building relational bridges - especially if what someone offered was modest. The disciples’ response really mattered. Likely, the humble host is already self-conscious that Billy and Sarah up the street could give them smoked brisket instead of spam. How the disciples responded to their hospitality mattered a ton for the sake of the Kingdom.

10. Do the work of a missionary: heal and proclaim. In Luke 9, Jesus sent the twelve out to “proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal.”  In Luke 10, he sent the seventy out to “cure the sick…and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” At this stage of his ministry,  Jesus’ disciples do the same things they have seen Jesus doing: healing people and telling them about the Kingdom.  

“And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matt. 4:23)

Later on, after his death and resurrection, he will give them further instructions, but for now this was enough: heal people; do it as a sign that God’s kingdom is on its way into the world.[13]

For us, I think that bringing healing to people is a both/and: both prayers for supernatural healing (which shows the care and power of God in a supernatural way) and doing the work of bringing medical, emotional, relational and financial healing to all places of sickness in the world (which shows the care of God and the power of the church’s presence).

Friends oversees have told me that their church planting in new towns started with a year of establishing things like drug rehab clinics and orphanages. They healed the sick. When they proclaimed “The Kingdom of heaven is here,” the people had already seen what it would look like in a very practical sense.

I worry that we can overlook the importance of practical care as a sign of God’s love and provision. Helping the needy/sick/poor is not wokeness or a distracting social gospel; it’s a lifestyle that ought to be embedded in the DNA of the Christian.[14]

We can learn a lot from the “show and tell” we did in school. We don’t just show; we don’t just tell. It’s both J

11. Remember the message: The kingdom of God has come.   The “kingdom of God” in this present age is the rule and reign of God in people’s hearts and lives. In Luke 17:20-21 Jesus said,

“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed (like Rome), nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”[15]

In other words, God is here. Now. Meanwhile, the Jewish people were expecting the Kingdom of God to do the following:

· bring peace by ruling the world (through the Zealot’s warrior/political messiah)

· bring righteousness by restoring the glory of the Temple (the Sadducees’ Torah/Temple Messiah)

· bring about socio-economic justice by ‘turning stones into bread’ (the Pharisee’s People’s Messiah)

Jesus addressed peace, righteousness and justice, but not like they expected.

· The Kingdom brings peace between us and God (through salvation and reconciliation) and peace with others (#newhumanity #nobarriers[16]) through Jesus.

· The Kingdom brings righteousness by cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, and healing our souls.

· The Kingdom brings justice (just living) as God’s people bring a full range of provision and healing to the world as a demonstration of God’s care for “the least of these.”

This is the Kingdom, and it is here. Let’s ‘show and tell’ everybody.

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[1] It’s a Hebrew/Greek thing, like 666 vs. 606 in Revelation. When the Hebrew was translated into Greek, 70 was translated as 72.  In both cases, Jesus sent out as many disciples as there were nations in the ancient world.

[2] Some commentators point out that in Exodus 24, Moses chose 70 elders who went up Mt. Sinai with Moses and were filled with Spirit such that they prophesied (think ‘spoke inspired truth’). The Numbers 11 account notes two additional men besides the 70 were with Moses, Eldad and Medad, who also received the spirit and prophesied as the other elders did. So were there 70 (on the basis of being on Mt. Sinai with Moses), or 72?

[3] “The 12 and the 70,” biblehub.com

[4] Extras denoted wealth. Also, this meant they had to stay at a house, because they would be too cold to sleep outside. It forced relationship and community.

[5] “Greetings were socially mandatory, except on an urgent prophetic errand or mission as in 2Ki 4:29.”  (NIV Cultural Background Study Bible)

[6] A “woe” is an exclamation of grief, similar to what is expressed by the word alas. 

[7] “The condemnation of these towns would be based on the revelation they’d received. Capernaum, in particular, had witnessed many of Jesus’s miraculous works (see 4:31-41; 7:1-10), yet the majority of the city’s inhabitants rejected him.” (“Ministry on the way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51–19:27)”, biblestudytools.com)

[8] “Chorazin and Bethsaida have been so thoroughly destroyed that their exact location is not definitely known today.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[9] An allusion to the fall of Babylon noted in Isa 14:13, 15.

[10] Bonus point: Governments/institutions/systems take a position either for or against the Kingdom. This is what we mean when we talk about “systemic” problems. Sometimes, it’s more than individuals who oppose God’s Kingdom. It’s entire structures of society. We talk about corporations that we support (or don’t support, perhaps) because they have corporate policies that we believe promote virtue or vice. It happens in countries where religious freedom is more or less allowed. I offer this to note that “all of creation groans” as it awaits redemption. The fallenness of individuals will manifest in the things those individuals build. It’s important to “pray and go” to both individuals and the cities/countries/industries/businesses in which they live. Everything needs Jesus.

[11] “My (Paul’s) job was to plant the seed, and Apollos was called to water it. Any growth comes from God, so the ones who water and plant have nothing to brag about. God, who causes the growth, is the only One who matters.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)

[12] You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. ”For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. 2 Corinthians 9:7-12 NLT 

[13] This list is a combination of lists found at “On The Road With Jesus: The Mission Of The Seventy,” goodfaithmedia.org. and a list at Believer’s Bible Commentary.

[14] I think that’s what the foot-washing ad during the Superbowl was trying to convey.

[15] I believe that’s the best translation.

[16] Ephesians 2:14-15

Harmony #15: New Wineskins (Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39; Matthew 9:14-17)

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, this account follows on heals of the feast that Matthew, the tax collector, threw for Jesus after Jesus called him to be a disciple. I suspect they will connect.

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.[1] So they came to Jesus and said, “John’s disciples frequently fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but your disciples continue to eat and drink and don’t fast.”

Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast and mourn while the bridegroom[2] is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast. [3] But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast.” (Mark 2:18-20; Luke 5:33;Matthew 9: 14-15)

Let’s talk about this bride/bridegroom imagery. God in the Old Testament was portrayed as a groom to His bride, Israel.

“Your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth” (Isaiah 54:5).[4]

But the prophets portrayed Israel as committing spiritual adultery by worshiping false gods and forsaking Yahweh. Eventually, God passed this message on through Jeremiah:

“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. . . . Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood [idols].” (Jeremiah 3:8–10).

To make matters worse, God (through Jeremiah) asked a rhetorical question:

“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again?” (Jeremiah 3:1).

According to the Law, no. A man who had divorced his wife could not remarry her (Deuteronomy 24:1–4). Israel had been divorced by God, so, according to the law, that was it. No second chances. However…

“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful…I will not be angry forever… I am your husband. I will choose you . . . and bring you to Zion” (Jeremiah 3:12-14).’”[5]

The law forbade that a divorced wife return and be restored, but Jesus had just told them (in relation to calling and feasting with tax collectors and sinners) that he required mercy more than the ritualistic sacrifices that kept the letter of the law but not the spirit of it.[6] Here, he illustrated God showing mercy through Jesus to an undeserving and faithless people. 

This marriage language continues throughout the New Testament.

• Paul notes in Ephesians 5:32 that marriage is a mystery, like the marriage of Christ and the church.

• Revelation 19 makes a pretty big deal about the future marriage supper of the Lamb, which is the feasting imagery for an eternity that the bride, the church, will spend with their Divine groom.[7]

So when Jesus said a time of wedding feasting had arrived, he was making an important claim: the exile was over, the divorce had ended; the groom (God) and the bride (God’s people) were reunited through Jesus. The age of the Messiah had begun.[8]  That was a cause for feasting.

He also told them a parable: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk new cloth on an old garment, because the new patch will pull away from the old garment and the tear will be worse. The piece from the new will not match the old.  

And no one pours new wine[9] into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.  Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins.  No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’ “ [10] (Luke 5:36-39; Matthew 9:16;Mark 2:21-22)

Jesus’ illustrations announced the arrival of a New Era, which we refer to as the New Covenant and which is revealed in the New Testament.

There have been 3 main ways people have understood these short parables to be making that point, mainly because it seems like the new wine is preferable here, but that seems at odds with the last comment about the old wine being better b) there are differences of opinion about what the old garment/wineskins represent.

OLD/NEW WINE = OLD/NEW COVENANT

One approach is to see Jesus declaring radical break between the Old Covenant through Moses and the New Covenant through Jesus.

• “God never intended Christianity to patch up Judaism; it was a new departure.”[11]

• “Grace and law, God’s righteousness and man’s, will never mix. The new wine of the gospel must be placed in the new wineskin of grace, not into the old one of law.”[13] 

• “The new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.”[14]

 Clearly, there is a reason the New Covenant Jesus establishes is called “New.” But I’m not sure Jesus was intending to create an almost antagonism between the Old and New to such a degree that it almost sounds like we would be better off chopping off the first half of our Bible. That is clearly not how Jesus or the New Testament writers saw the Old Testament.

It’s not so clean as “didn’t have the Spirit”/”now have the Spirit.” The Spirit works and moves in the Old Covenant; the time of exile between the Old and New Testament was a time that the Jewish people mourned what they perceived as the removal of God’s Spirit.[15] Though the Holy Spirit now lives within, the Holy Spirit always lived with God’s people and “came upon them” at times.

It’s not a clean “OT era is irrelevant”/”NT era is all that matters.” Jesus and the New Testament writers constantly referred to the Old Testament, calling it Scripture that was God-breathed and capable of completing us and equipping us for every good work.[16] They didn’t ditch it at all; they built on the foundations in the Old Covenant to explain life in the New Covenant (and used the New Covenant to clarify the purpose of the Old Covenant).

It’s not a clean “The Old Testament was all Law”/ The New Testament is all Grace.” Grace actually saturates the Old Testament,[17] though clearly that message had been lost on Jesus’ audience of Pharisees. Jesus himself said that he didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.[18] It’s not as if the Law no longer offers a constraint that keeps us in the path of righteousness. If life is like bowling, the Law is the bumpers that keep us from rolling into the ditches of sin. And, as Paul makes clear, there is a very foundational New Covenant Law that was already captured in the 10 Commandments:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

That’s what is often referred to The Law Of Love – in the New Covenant. So, I don’t think law and grace are enemies. God established them both; they both play a God-ordained purpose when rightly understood and rightly applied to our lives,[19] namely, obedience as a response to God rather than a means to God.

Something new is bursting forth in the New Covenant, but it’s a fulfillment of that to which the Old was pointing, a fulfillment in which the role of God’s amazing grace in the midst of our bumbling human effort is featured front and center as the only hope on which we build a foundation that will last into eternity.

OLD WINESKINS = TRADITIONS/NEW WINE =BIBLICAL TRUTH

Another perspective is that the old garments and old wineskins are a reference to traditions established over the centuries by the rabbis that arose around the Bible and not from the Bible. In Mark, the Pharisees are told:

“You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (7:9).

Jesus’ new message of true faith and true worship was going to mess up those old traditions. In this reading, the new wine and new garments  are Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets rightly understood, and the old garment and old wineskins as what the Pharisees in the first century called the tradition of the elders. The point Jesus was making is that the true gospel is going to wreck man-made traditions[20]

I think there is important truth in this perspective. Struggling to separate human tradition and cultural bias from the true message of Scripture has been an ongoing problem. For 2,000 years, there has been a constant need in the church to discern the difference between what God would have us take from Scripture and what we would have us take from Scripture. 

In our own nation’s history, the Bible was used to defend slavery as if it was God’s will as revealed in Scripture. Thankfully, there were always prophetic voices who said, “No. You are reading into the Bible what you want to find, not what God wants you to find.”

And thank God that the Holy Spirit illuminated Scripture to those in slavery such that they saw the truth not just of Jesus but of their humanity and worth in the pages of Scripture even when the preachers their masters forced them to listen to did not. [21]

Reading these parables as showing a clash between the powerful allure of human tradition and the challenging nature of divine Scripture rightly understood fits the context of the clash that had just occurred over Jesus’ calling of Matthew and feasting with sinners.

NEW (WINE)SKINS  = NEW (REVELATION)DISCIPLES

This brings me to the third and final perspective. The Jewish sages were known for referring to vessels for containing wine as people. The wine is the teaching that the individual consumes or contains. The parables would then look something like this[22]:

• New garment/wineskin = previously uneducated students

• Old garment/wineskin= previously educated students

• wine=teaching

Disciples who studied Torah in the various schools of the Pharisees would be inclined to disregard new teaching because they assumed they had been given a superior education. It makes me think of all the situations in life where it is so hard to undo what we have been taught through words and actions.  

• In basketball, it’s much easier to teach someone to shoot than it is to correct the form of someone who is already shooting.

• When AJ went to run track at Cornerstone. They undid all his previous coaching. He probably would have been better off not having run track before he got there.

• If you saturate yourself in a media bubble, it becomes increasingly hard to even conceive that you might not be right about an issue when you hear a different perspective.

• Depending on your family of origin, you know how hard it is to undo unhealthy, formative training in all kinds of areas.

• Even as Christians, we have been raised in churches that exist in communities, countries, traditions, denominations that absolutely form us in ways that undoubtedly get intermingled with traditions, some good and some bad. I know I have found that as I have learned how Christians around the world read and apply Scripture, it has been humbling to concede that I might not have been “rightly dividing the world of truth.”[23]

 This fits the context in which these parables are found, namely the call and selection of Jesus' disciples. He was choosing fishermen, tax collectors and "sinners" who had not been educated by the rabbis. (Only the very gifted went on to study beyond the age of 13; only the truly exceptional became disciples of the rabbis. The fact that Jesus was calling adults likely reveals they weren’t qualified or weren’t overly interested in following a rabbi.)

That criticism was that Jesus’ disciples were not at all like the disciples of John or the Pharisees. And Jesus says, “Correct. I need a different kind of disciple than the ones you have.”[24]  It takes a new kind of person to believe and embrace the reality of Jesus and His Kingdom. New garments, new wineskins and new students.[25]

This has come up several times in the first few chapters of the gospels. True change will only happen in our lives when we experience the miraculous salvation and transformation that only Jesus can bring.

• We will not work our way into salvation. (Ephesians 2:8)

• All of us fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

• We will not earn the right to be saved. (Romans 11:6) I don’t care who we are – we don’t deserve to be saved. (Romans 5:8)

• It is by grace we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8-9), and it is by grace that God remains faithful to us when we commit spiritual adultery. (2 Timothy 2:13)

• This gift is available to all. “All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

“New” disciples are characterized by:

• Humility (about ourselves and our perspectives/traditions)

• Grace (paid forward from Jesus to everybody around us)

• Love (as the grace-motivated fulfilling of the Law)

• A generous invitation to the feast with Jesus

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[1] As a sign of contrition and penitence associated with prayer, fasting was a part of Old Testament piety from the time of the judges (Judg. 20:26; 1 Kin. 21:27), sometimes becoming an empty ritual (Is. 58:3). The Pharisees and their adherents apparently fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12).  ESV Reformation Study Bible

[2] In the OT, God the Father was the bridegroom (see Isa. 62:5; Hos. 2:19–20).  ESV Global Study Bible

[3] Fasting was often linked with mourning, whereas weddings were considered a time for rejoicing. Many rabbis taught that weddings took priority over many religious obligations. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[4] The story of Ruth and Boaz is a story about a Husband/Redeemer scenario.

[5] Isaiah said basically the same thing (Isa 54:5–6; 62:4–5. When God commanded Hosea to find his unfaithful wife and buy her back from slavery, he said, “Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods” (Hosea 3:1).

[6] James would later write that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13) The apostle Paul would write, “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! . . . And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:1–6, 11, 23).

[7] I got a lot of good information for that whole section from the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible.

[8] NIV First Century Study Bible

[9] New wine less than a year old was really popular (Nehemiah 10:39; Proverbs 3:10; Hosea 4:11; Haggai 1:11.  Luke records (Acts 2:13) that the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit led people to the conclusion that the disciples were “full of new wine.” (Ellicott’s Commentary)

[10] 10Do not abandon old friends, for new ones cannot equal them. A new friend is like new wine; when it has aged, you can drink it with pleasure.  (Sirach 9.10)

[11] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[12] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[13] Thru The Bible Commentary

[14] Orthodox Study Bible

[15] https://www.thomasnelsonbibles.com/blog/the-holy-spirit-in-the-old-testament/

[16] 2 Timothy 3:16-17

[17] https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/grace-in-the-old-testament

[18] Matthew 5:17

[19] An article at doctrine.org entitled “Paul and the Law” has some helpful explanations. https://doctrine.org/paul-and-the-law

[20] “Luke 5:39—What are the Old Wine and the New Wine Mentioned Here?” Mineko Hondahttps://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/229750848.pdf

[21] I highly recommend African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation, by Lisa M. Bowens, as well as Stony The Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, by Cain Hope Felder.

[22] https://www.bethimmanuel.org/articles/new-wine-and-old-wineskins-parable-luke-536-39-re-examined

[23] I found the following books to be very insightful. None of them are perfect – there were question marks in the margins to match text I highlighted – but they jarred my thinking loose in some very important ways.

·      Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes,  and Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes, as well as The Cross and the Prodigal

·      Lois Tverberg, Walking In The Dust Of Rabbi Jesus

·      Scott McKnight, The Blue Parakeet

·      John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis 1

·      Esau McCauley, Reading While Black

·      Shane J. Woods’ series on Revelation

·      The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series

[24] In Acts 4:13 Luke writes, "Now as [the Sanhedrin] observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus."

[25] https://www.bethimmanuel.org/articles/new-wine-and-old-wineskins-parable-luke-536-39-re-examined

Harmony #3: “Come And See” (John 1:35-51)

The next day John was standing there with two of his disciples. Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When John’s two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, “What do you want?”

So they said to him, “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), “Where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated Christ). Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

On the next day Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” (Now Philip was from Bethsaida , the town of Andrew and Peter.) Philip found Nathanael (Bartholemew?) and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!” Jesus said to him, “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” He continued, “I tell all of you the solemn truth—you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Come and See

If you’ve ever had someone try to explain a new game to you, eventually they probably say something like this, “Let’s just start to play. It will make sense once we get started.” And sure enough – often, it starts to click when you actually begin to experience what before had just been theoretical.

I’ve discovered it’s one thing to know about a sport and another thing to know a sport. I know basketball because I have tasted and seen that basketball is good. I know about football, but I don’t know football. I know about pickleball, but I don’t know pickleball. And all of you pickleball fans are like, “Come and see. Play it once, and you’ll know why we show up places at the crack of dawn.”

That’s the idea, I think. Jesus says to those looking and wondering, “Come and see.” Then that becomes the approach they pass on to others. There is a reason for this.

• If you just see Jesus but don’t draw closer, it will be just head knowledge and not heart investment.

• If you just draw closer but don’t actually want to see Jesus clearly, you may well invest your heart - but in false image of Jesus.

“Come and see” is a call to learn and know who Jesus is , as well as what it means to follow him. “Taste and see,” said the Psalmist, “that the Lord is good.”

A couple truths follow from this.

Following Jesus means not following …not Jesus.

Brilliant insight, I know, but we have to leave one thing to go to another thing. Have you seen those videos where two people are with a dog, and they suddenly sprint in opposite directions to see which one the dog follows? Eventually the dog always chooses one.

That’s the idea here. You can’t serve God and ____________. The Bible uses language of loving and imagery of clinging to describe what it’s like to attach ourselves to God. You can’t love/cling to God and something else. We are called to be ‘all in’ for Jesus. This reminds of marriage language – the ‘leaving’ a family and ‘cleaving’ or clinging to the spouse. You have to leave one to cling to the other – and that’s an exclusive kind of clinging. It’s different from all our other attachments.

Jesus specifically highlighted one particular thing we can’t love along with God: mammon/money/material things. But he also uses language of things we love vs. things we hate as a way of saying (as his audience would have understood) that loyalty demands preferential allegiance in all areas of life. At the end of the day, when our loyalty options sprint in different directions, we can’t choose both. Our loyalty will be revealed by that to which we give preferential allegiance in terms of time, money, study, emotional investment, formative influence, etc. We can’t share preferential allegiance with God and….

• Money. Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid” was both a winning political insight and a sad reflection of human motivation.

• Family. If it’s Jesus vs. family pressure, it’s got to be Jesus.

• Friends. Who will you follow when there is a fork in the road of righteousness vs. unrighteousness?

• Vocation. If your work makes you compromise your faith, your choice has already been made.

• Culture. All cultures have beastly values motivated by a dragon.

• Politics. There will always be sketchy things at odds with the Kingdom and the King we serve.

• Organizations. Denominations and conventions do not deserve allegiance. The SBC is making this abundantly clear right now, though picking on them alone would be timely but unfair.

There will be something or someone that we treat as ultimate, and God has made it clear that He has no interest in sharing that space with other things. When it comes to our primary, life-orienting allegiance, Jesus demands exclusivity.

Seeing Jesus means looking away from…not Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy. (Philippians 4:8)

This word translated as “fill” here comes from logízomai:

• the root of the English terms "logic, logical"

• properly, compute, "take into account"

• reckon (come to a "bottom-line")

• reason to a logical conclusion (decision).

The things Paul listed are supposed to be the thing on which we build a firm foundations that properly organizes how we conclude we ought to live in the Kingdom of God. In order for that to happen, the virtuous things in the list need to carry the weight of our spiritual, mental and emotional formation.

It’s worth noting that Paul – who wrote that verse – was clearly versed in Greek and Roman culture and entertainment. We have no idea how much of it he was forced to be aware of and how much of it he freely chose. We just know he wasn’t isolated from his culture. The early church records show that Christians used Greek and Roman stories (like Aesop) as part of the training for their kids. So this isn’t necessarily building a wall between us and culture, but when there aren’t walls, we sure need to talk about fences.

It’s so hard, in a world that demands our attention constantly, to keep our focus on Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, to make sure He is the one who gets the first and last word in anything that is meaningfully formative in our lives. I think the first fence we must build is an awareness that culture has its own list of “whatsoevers” with which it wants to fill us: “Whatsoever things are…

• Mammon (money and things = the good life)

• Sexy (value wrapped up in being physically desirable)

• Scandalous (love of gossip)

• Self-expressive (I can do/be/say what I want all the time everywhere)

• Adrenaline-building (the good life must always be exciting!)

• Anger-inducing (cancel culture, for example, thrives on the next outrage)

• Performance-based (we earn our value; so do others)

• Fear-mongering (Chicken Little Syndrome - “Life as we know it/our culture/our world is going to END if we don’t deal with…”)

• Reputation protecting (coverups, dishonesty, gaslighting to save reputation and power)

…think on these things.”

But we don’t have to go straight to culture to deal with these issues. Do you remember when Jesus told the Pharisees they were making disciples of hell? The Pharisees, who tried so hard to get every last detail right? The Pharisees, who missed the mark so badly that Jesus told them they were actually accomplishing the exact opposite of what they thought they were?

Can we be honest? People haven’t changed over time. You bet the Romans had issues – but the Pharisees were throwing stones from a glass house. We have to be careful. Church culture can have its own list of “whatsoevers” on which it causes follower of Jesus to dwell that can also lead away from Jesus: “Whatsoever things are…

• Luxurious (prosperity gospel: wealth = God’s blessing/approval)

• AMAZING (only extraordinary people and events have an impact)

• Flashy (the spectacular vs. acts of service to build the kingdom)

• Performance-based (downplaying grace – and the gift of rest)

• Adrenaline-building (our faith is only alive when we feel all the feels!)

• Anger-inducing (“Can you call down fire on the Samaritans?” )

• Fear-mongering (Chicken Little Syndrome - - “Life as we know it/our culture/our world/the church is going to END if we don’t deal with THAT!”)

• Reputation-protecting (coverups, dishonesty, gaslighting to save reputation and power)

…think on these things.”

Can we chat about the state of the church in the United States? I am not picking on us, by the way. I am feeling this because of recent headlines about things happening in the American church, and we are part of that broader community, so….

When Jesus invited people to come and see him, the moment he got disciples, the folks were going to see the disciples too. Hanging out with Jesus included hanging out with the people who followed Jesus.

When people “come and see” Jesus, what will they see in the followers of Jesus, in the family they are now supposed to enter and in which they are intended to flourish? Does it look like a new kind of Kingdom with a glorious King, or does it remind them of the Empire which they just left?

The Southern Baptist Convention made headlines this week because of decades of responding badly to abuse within the circle of SBC churches as well as in leadership. By “badly,” I mean 700+ leaders guilty of moral and legal crimes, and the SBC as an organization shaming victims, covering it up, not reporting crimes, moving perpetrators on to new congregations.

Now, those on the outside looking in are saying, “Come and see? No thanks. I see Jesus, and I like Jesus, but I also see the people of Jesus, and I’d like to keep my distance.”

Many on the inside are saying roughly the same thing. Russell Moore, who was President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2013 to 2021 and currently works for Christianity Today:

“If people reject the church because they reject Jesus and the gospel, we should be saddened but not surprised. But what happens when people reject the church because they think we reject Jesus and the gospel? People have always left the church because they want to gratify the flesh, but what happens when people leave because they believe the church exists to gratify the flesh – in orgies of sex or anger or materialism?

That’s a far different problem. What if people don’t leave the church because they disapprove of Jesus, but because they’ve read the Bible and have come to the conclusion that the church itself would disapprove of Jesus? That’s a crisis… What they are really asking is about integrity – about whether all of this holds together.

Challenging an evangelical movement about conduct that is “not in step with the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:14 ESV) often prompts a charge of fostering disunity…Yet unity is not silence before injustice, or the hoarding of temporal influence, but a concern for the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church – provided that the scandal they encounter is the scandal of the cross rather than the scandal of us.”

We may say it’s not fair – we were supposed to see Jesus, not the flawed follower of Jesus. But we are ambassadors; we are “the hands and feet of Jesus,” a phrase full of promise – and peril. “We are the only Bible some people will ever read,” is a great motto when things are going well and a damning indictment when they are not.

So is there anything we can do so that when anyone in the church or outside of the church is here to see Jesus, we help to clarify their vision rather than cloud it? Yes.

I just bought a book by Alan Kreider called The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. He’s looking at the first few centuries of the church and asking how it grew so, well, improbably? Here’s a summary of a much more complex answer:

“The Christians’ focus was not on “saving” people or recruiting them; it was on living faithfully—in the belief that when people’s lives are rehabituated in the way of Jesus, others will want to join them.”

I don’t think he means to say they didn’t spread the good news of Jesus. I think he is just stressing that the first Christians understood that living was witnessing, and that inconsistent living would drown out even the most passionate words. When we become someone new in Christ - and then live as someone new in Christ - there is something really compelling about the Kingdom community – and thus the King. And this is, indeed, what happened in the early church. From the Epistle to Diognetus which was written in 130 A.D, concerning followers of Jesus:

They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.

They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and restored to life.

They are poor yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things and yet abound in all; they are dishonored and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of and yet are justified; they are reviled and bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good yet are punished as evildoers.

When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. To sum it all up in one word -- what the soul is to the body, that are Christians in the world.

Tertullian, a North African scholar who lived from around AD 160-225:

"We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet together as an assembly and congregation, that, offering up prayer to God as with united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications. This strong exertion God delights in.

We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the [return of Jesus]. We assemble to read our sacred writings . . . and with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more steadfast; and no less by inculcations of God’s precepts we confirm good habits….

On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are . . . not spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house;such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines or banished to the islands or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church, they become the nurslings of their confession. But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us.

See, they say, how they love one another, for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred. See, they say about us, how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves would sooner kill."

In 256 Cyprian wrote this to his his people:

“Beloved brethren,[we] are philosophers not in words but in deeds; we exhibit our wisdom not by our dress, but by truth; we know virtues by their practice rather than through boasting of them; we do not speak great things but we live them… It [is] not at all remarkable if we cherish only our own brethren with a proper observance of love.” Instead, Christians should do “more than the publican or the pagan.” They should exercise “a divine-like clemency, loving even their enemies . . . and praying for the salvation of their persecutors.”

Alan Kredier imagines Cyprian warming to his point in this way:

“You Christians, you are my people and flock, you know the mercy of God, and you demonstrate this by providing visits, bread, and water for other believers who are suffering. I praise God for your faithfulness. Now I am calling you to broaden your view, to exercise ‘a divine-like clemency’ by loving your pagan neighbors.

Visit them, too; encourage them; provide bread and water for them. I know that in recent months some pagans have been involved in persecuting you. Pray for them; ‘pray for their salvation,’ and help them. You are God’s children: the descendants of a good Father should ‘prove the imitation of his goodness.’”

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I posted this in the wrong format. Here are footnotes that went with the original.

“Come … and you will see,” he replies. This language is consciously designed to describe discipleship: to “follow” (Gk. akoulotheo), to “come and see,” and to “stay, remain” (Gk. meno) each describe aspects of discipleship. (NIV Application Commentary)

Andrew is constantly bringing someone to Jesus (John 6:8; 12:22).

“Cephas” is Aramaic, and “Peter” Greek, for “rock.” Nicknames were common, especially to distinguish various persons with the same name (such as Simon; cf. Mark 3:16–18), although adding the father’s name (“child of”) could serve the same purpose (for Simon’s father, cf. also Matt. 16:17; John 21:15–17). Rabbis sometimes gave characterizing nicknames to their disciples (m. Avot 2:8). In the Old Testament, God often changed names to describe some new characteristic of a person (Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joshua; as a negative declaration see Jer. 20:3). For this naming, cf. also Mark 3:16; esp. Matt. 16:17–18. (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary On The New Testament) “Neither Petros in Greek nor Kephas in Aramaic are usual names but are actually nicknames (like the American “Rocky”), which often point to some feature of a person’s character.” (NIV Application Commentary)

 Nathanael is not listed among the apostles; in all three Synoptic stories Batholomew is listed with Philip (Matt. 10:3). But Jesus had other disciples  (Luke 10) who worked with the Twelve; Nathanael may have been one of them. (NIV Application Commentary)

The joke on Galilee started in the time of Solomon. From 1 Kings 9: 10-13 (keep in mind that Galilee and Nazareth are in the land of Cabul): “Now at the end of the twenty years…King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre… so Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. “What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.” Also, this: “By 724 BC, Assyria had captured northern Israel.  In its place, a wave of Gentile immigration repopulated the region, bringing with them a legion of pagan idols and ways of life. ‘The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria [the capital of Northern Israel] in place of the sons of Israel.  So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.’  (2 Kings 17:24) For this reason, the region took on the name Galil ha’Goyim (Galilee of the Nations or Galilee of the Gentiles). These Gentiles incorporated Jewish customs into their own pagan practices, developing a range of superstitions and false doctrines.” (“How Can the Messiah Come from Galilee?” https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/can-messiah-come-galilee/

Jesus plays on the Old Testament Jacob, or “Israel,” who was a man of guile (Gen. 27:35; 31:26); see John 1:51. (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary On The New Testament). In the language here, there is an evident allusion to the ladder that Jacob saw in a dream, and to the angels ascending and descending on it, Genesis 28:12. “What Jacob had dreamt was in Christ realized. “(Expositor’s Greek New Testament)

Psalms 46: “Come and see what the Lord has done, the amazing things he has done on the earth.” Psalm 66:5: “Come and see the works of God; how awesome are His deeds toward mankind.” John 4:29, the Woman at the well: “Come, see a man…”

“Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

That his name was Paulus means, as a Jewish man, he almost certainly had a Roman mentor. It’s one reason he was primed to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He knew Gentiles.

 I’m not picking on CLG. I’m looking at church history, the American church in the headlines, etc.

 “The number of Americans now affiliated with a church is just 47 percent. What’s significant is not just the low number, but also the speed of the plummet – from 69 percent twenty years ago to 47 percent now. And the numbers are even worse than they appear. Generation X is less affiliated than Baby Boomers, Millennials less than Gen-X, and Generation Z looks likely to be even less affiliated than them all… the most reliable studies available show us that as little as 8 percent of White Millennials identify as evangelicals, as compared to 26 percent of senior adults. With Generation Z, the numbers are even more jarring – with 34 percent (and growing) identifying as religiously unaffiliated.” http://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/witness/integrity-and-the-future-of-the-church

Made…as men and women (Part 2)

In "Made as Men and Women (Part 1)," I noted that God is Creator, Sustainer, Protector and Provider, and He has given to those who bear his image the privilege and responsibility of embodying those things in the world. So while women and men individually often share interchangeable traits and are sometimes able to function effectively in all these roles, the Old Testament gives us a foundational starting point. Men can do a lot of things, but they must commit to making the world safe within the scope of their ability and opportunity. Women can do a lot of things, but they must commit to helping the world come to life and flourish within the scope of their ability and opportunity.

(Note: I highly recommend Matt Chandler's series, "A Beautiful Design," if you want to hear some excellent teaching on these distinctions.)

This post will discuss what the New Testament shows about the design for men and women. The next will look at what the New Testament reveals about how we are to do life together in in our homes and in the church. Finally, the last post in this series will show how all of this is meant to bring glory to God.

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1) The Old Testament was the start of the discussion, not the end.

The Old Testament is “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16). It is however, incomplete.  It was an important step in the right direction, but it wasn’t the end of the journey. I ended last week by noting that in the Old Testament, the way for men and women to recapture Eden was to walk in the “path of life” (Psalms 16:11), which was found in God’s law.  It wasn’t going to change our hearts; it would, however, direct our hands. Fast forward to Paul’s discussion of the Law….

“Now you’re asking yourselves, “So why did God give us the law?” God commanded His heavenly messengers to deliver it into the hand of a mediator for this reason: to help us rein in our sins until Christ, about whom the promise was made in the first place, would come…. “So,” you ask, “Does the law contradict God’s promise?” Absolutely not! But it will not lead us to resurrection and life; if it could have, then surely we could have experienced saving righteousness through keeping the law. But we haven’t. Before the coming of Christ, we were surrounded and protected by the Mosaic Law, our immaturity restrained until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian or tutor until Christ came that we might be acquitted of all wrong and justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:19-24) 

I don’t know how you felt after last week, but I’ve been really conscious about how totally inadequate I am to stay in the path of life by my own strength.  So while the Law showed us how to live well and bring about goodness, it also showed us that it is an impossible task.  The New Testament makes it clear that this dilemma is not the end of the story - the “path of life” was paving the way for the only One who can help us do it well. 

“This is the kind of confidence we have in and through Christ. Don’t be mistaken; in and of ourselves we know we have little to offer, but any competence or value we have comes from God.  Now God has equipped us to be capable servants of the new covenant, not by authority of the written law which condemns us by showing our inability to keep it, but by the Spirit who brings life...” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

 So the New Testament will show us what the Old Testament has been  pointing us toward, and will show how Christ will transform our hearts and empower our hands so that we can do that which is simply impossible for us to do on our own.

 2)  The NT goes out of its way to talk about how God is in the process of bringing about a “new humanity” (Ephesians 2:15) characterized by unity (John 17:18-23).

 “Father, may they all be one as You are in Me and I am in You; may they be in Us, for by this unity the world will believe that You sent Me. All the glory You have given to Me, I pass on to them. May that glory unify them and make them one as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may be refined so that all will know that You sent Me, and You love them in the same way You love Me. (John 17:20-23)

 We read Galatians 3: 19-24 earlier (“the law is a tutor”). Here’s what follows:

 “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-28)

 This is probably a direct response to a typical Jewish prayer in which the men thanked God they were not a Gentile, a woman or a slave. But it highlights a shift in thinking that takes place in Christ. The things that were used before to decide who was important, or whom God liked – race, gender, social hierarchy – have been dissolved in Christ.

 What we are going to see in the New Testament won’t negate that there is a purpose and design in gender – it’s not going to claim that men and women are interchangeable - but it will show us that our differences can only be made truly complementary when we understand what it means to be unified in Christ.

 3) The NT offers Christ as the ultimate example of life and godliness. And we are being transformed as Christians into that image:

“Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6; 18)

 In Christ, we see all the elements we talked about last week for men and women brought together in their fullness (well, except for having kids J). In Christ, who was fully God and fully human, we see the imago dei fully expressed. Christ protects and provides; He creates and sustains. He challenges injustice and he weeps over Jerusalem. He takes dominion over the sea and he tenderly cares for children.  He casts out demons and he “sees” people deeply and empathetically. So whatever the New Testament has to say is going to point us toward what it looks like to be transformed into the image of Christ, in whom we see the fullness of God’s image represented.

That's one reason we see men and women moving effectively in areas that are are typically associated the opposite gender. Women can clearly order the world and make is safe. Just read the book of Judges to see how women showed leadership in Israel, then take a look at how women in the early church offered leadership in many areas. Men can also clearly nourish life. When Paul challenges men to "cherish(thalpo) their wives (Ephesians 5:29), it's the same word he uses when he talks about how " a nursing mother tenderly cares (thalpo) for her own children" (1 Thessalonians 2:7).

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 So as part of this “new humanity” who is brought to unity in Christ, increasingly transformed into the image of Christ and empowered by Holy Spirit, what does the New Testament add to what it means to be a man or a woman? It means we are designed to become and called to be mature disciples of Christ. With that in mind, there are at least three things that men and women must do if they want to live in the fullness of God’s design as mature disciples of Christ.

Count the Cost 

“If any of you come to Me without committing to me over your own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and yes, even your own life, you can’t be My disciple. If you don’t carry your own cross as if to your own execution as you follow Me, you can’t be part of My movement. Just imagine that you want to build a tower. Wouldn’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to be sure you have enough to finish what you start? If you lay the foundation but then can’t afford to finish the tower, everyone will mock you: “Look at that guy who started something that he couldn’t finish!” Or imagine a king gearing up to go to war. Wouldn’t he begin by sitting down with his advisors to determine whether his 10,000 troops could defeat the opponent’s 20,000 troops? If not, he’ll send a peace delegation quickly and negotiate a peace treaty. In the same way, if you want to be My disciple, it will cost you everything. Don’t underestimate that cost!” (Luke 14:26-33)

The walls protected people and crops.  A guard was posted in the tower during harvest. A king defending his nation in war needed wisdom to know which course of action was best.  If you didn’t know what it would cost to accomplish your goal, your enterprise would fail. 

Disciples need to make an informed decision. This is why we have to be honest with people about life in Christ. That’s why it is so damaging to say things like, “God wants everybody to be rich,” or “You will never be sick.” It makes Jesus into a Wish Fulfillment God who just gives you everything you thought you needed to make you happy. If that were true, there would be no cost to count. That’s easy math.  Jesus is just laying it out there for them. “You must know that if you follow me, it will cost you everything: your money, your time, your attitudes, your priorities, your relationships, your free time, maybe even our health or your life.”

• You cannot simply make money and do with it what you want.
• You cannot simply think of yourself when you organize your day.
• You cannot simply act out every emotion, or justify every emotion.
• You cannot simply come up with a ‘bucket list’ without consideration of God’s priorities.
• You can’t just consume entertainment mindlessly
• You can’t just settle for bad relationships with your family.

Following Christ will cost you your autonomy and independence. But what is the cost if you don’t? Look at the ruin in the world when people live outside of the path of life.

• Has sexual impurity brought greater good to the world than purity?
• Have greed and lust have helped us?
• Have gossip and slanderhelped bring life to the world?
• Can we argue that when men dominate and use women or when women emasculate and undermine men that we have somehow achieved the good life?
• Can we argue that squandering our resources, or being mean to our kids, or cheating at work, or always being jealous has somehow helped the human enterprise?

 So we can choose ruin, or we can choose life. Each will cost us. If we choose ourselves, we will surrender to ruin that we bring into our life and the lives of those around us.  If we choose Christ, we surrender to God’s will. Our life will be not our own, but we will experience what it means to walk in the path of life.

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 Take up your cross and follow Christ

 “If any of you want to walk My path, you’re going to have to deny yourself. You’ll have to take up your cross every day and follow Me. If you try to avoid danger and risk, then you’ll lose everything. If you let go of your life and risk all for My sake, then your life will be rescued, healed, made whole and full. Listen, what good does it do you if you gain everything—if the whole world is in your pocket—but then your own life slips through your fingers and is lost to you?” (Luke 9:23-25)

 It’s so counter-intuitive. How can it be that not doing what I feel like doing can be for my benefit?  Nevertheless, if you want to be rescued, healed and made whole and full, you must follow Christ.

• We die to our privacy and hiddenness and follow Christ to honesty and transparency.
• We die to our emotional outbursts and we follow Christ to self-control.
• We die to self-justification and blame and follow a Christ who frees us to say, “I am the worst of sinners” without shame and with a longing for holiness.
• We die to pornography and promiscuity and follow Christ to purity.
• We die to wanting our spouse, or kids, or our friends to make us happy and instead serve them for their happiness.

And in all these things, you will take up a cross and walk toward your own crucifixion. Day after day. Christ will empower you with His Spirit, His Word and His people, and he will guide you in the path to genuine fullness of life, and in the end you will understand how the Resurrection of Christ brings you to life.

 Ladies, if the men around you counted the cost, took up the cross and followed Christ, would this not be a climate in which you could flourish? This isn’t a 50 Shades of Grey man, who ruins the women in his world.  (The actor playing him in the upcoming movie said he was asked to do things for the movie that he would never do to women in real life. Thank God.) Ladies, is that kind of man truly more desirable than a man who has counted the cost, then taken of the cross of Christ so that he might give his life for the good of those around him every day?

 Men, when the women around you count the cost, take up the Cross and accept it, is it not be beautiful to see the glory of God’s image in them  Listen, Katy Perry caught the attention of the world during the Superbowl when she rode out on a tiger like the girl on fire, but she can’t hold a candle to my wife. Now I think my wife is beautiful, but that’s not the reason. My wife takes up her cross daily and offers her emotions, her actions, her schedule, her life in the service of Christ and those around her, and in her transformation she is beautiful in ways that far surpass the shallow markers in our culture.

 This is why 50 Shades and halftime shows break my heart. Our culture does not understand what it means to be feminine or masculine in the deepest sense of the word.  The good news is that we have a tremendous opportunity to show the world how the Resurrection power of Christ brings us life in the fullest sense of the word.

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 Press On in the Power of the Christ

“I want to know Christ; I want to experience the power of His resurrection and join in His suffering, shaped by His death, so that I may arrive safely at the resurrection from the dead. I’m not there yet, nor have I become perfect; but I am charging on to gain anything and everything Jesus has in store for me. Brothers and sisters, as I said, I know I have not arrived; but there’s one thing I am doing: I’m leaving my old life behind and straining toward what is ahead.   

I am sprinting toward the only goal that counts: to cross the line, to win the prize, and to hear God’s call to resurrection life found exclusively in Jesus the Anointed.  All of us who are mature ought to think the same way about these matters. If you have a different attitude, then God will reveal this to you as well. For now, let’s hold on to what we have been shown and keep in step with these teachings.” (Philippians 3:10-16)

If we want to flourish in God’s design for men and women, we must count the cost, take up the cross of self-denial and discipleship, and follow Christ as we press on toward the fullness of life.

Christ does all the heavy lifting in making the transformation of our hearts possible. When we are dead in our sins, He alone has the power to bring us spiritual life. Christ does all this for us. It’s why we never boast. But Paul notes that this doesn’t mean we never do anything. We don’t earn our salvation, but it is often the case that God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven” when we press on by keeping in step with God’s teaching.

When our presence harms relationships, we will ask forgiveness and seek reconciliation.  When our words hurt instead of heal, we will seek to make amends with humility. When we see the lonely or the damaged, or the sinner lost and maybe even glorying in the midst of their sin, we won’t turn up our nose and walk away. We will press in, because that’s what Christ and others have done for us, and we will press on because of God’s call to Resurrection life.

We don’t throw up our arms in frustration and bail. We don’t rest on our accomplishments when we do well, and we don’t confuse history with destiny when we fail. None of us have arrived, but we acknowledge it, we hold fast to Christ, we absorb His word, we surround ourselves with men and women who will walk with us, and we press on toward the only goal that counts, not because we are awesome in our own strength, but because Christ is awesome in His power. We recommit to walking in the path of life with the help of Christ and the power of his Holy Spirit. We won’t be perfect, but we commit to stepping up and striving for the fullness of what Christ has to offer.