The Law vs. the Holy Spirit

As I have stated before, I knew I could not live up to the expectations of God, therefore, I left the church for 13 years. I had no anger at the laws of God. They seemed right to me, I just knew I couldn't call myself a Christian and not live by those laws. So I left. I left, that is, until I heard a speaker say, "Invite Jesus into your life and let Him live His resurrected life in and through you. Let Him use your hands, your feet, and your mouth to share His Good News of the Gospel." It was then the "the light" went on in my heart and said, "You mean I don't have to live the Christian life, Jesus will do it for me?" With this child like thought, I prayed to give my life, as best I could, to having this type of relationship with God.

I discovered it was the Holy Spirit who came into my soul the second I prayed to receive the Lord and sealed me as God's child (Ephesians 4:30). I could not study enough, desiring to understand just how this alliance worked. For at least 2 to 3 years I searched out everything I could get my hands on that would help me understand this Holy "Ghost" living His life in and through me.

For the past two postings we have looked at Jesus' take on the Holy Spirit (John 13-17). As I pondered, with the Lord, what to post today regarding the Holy Spirit, I came across a verse I had not seen before, and I want to explore it with you in light of my frustration of not being able to be a "good little" Christian.
Hang in there with me as we dissect 2 Corinthians 3:7-9. The Good News is on the way.

7Now if the dispensation of death engraved in letters on stone [the ministration of the Law], was inaugurated with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its brilliance, [a glory] that was to fade and pass away,
8Why should not the dispensation of the Spirit [this spiritual ministry] whose task it is to cause men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit] be attended with much greater and more splendid glory?
9For if the service that condemns [the ministration of doom] had glory, how infinitely more abounding in splendor and glory must be the service that makes righteous [the ministry that produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God]!

What is this saying? If you remember when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets containing the 10 Commandments, his face glowed with the glory of God. In fact, he had to cover his face because the people were frightened (Exodus 34:29-35). Our verses are saying if the 10 Commandments were introduced to us with such fan fair, if you will, how much more infinitely abounding "fan fair" should be the introduction of the Holy Spirit.

Why? Notice how the Law is referred to as "the dispensation of death, the ministration of doom, the service that condemns us." On the other hand the Holy Spirit is referred to as "the ministry that causes men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit, the service that makes righteous, produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God."

This all brings us to Romans 7 where Paul struggles with the law, just as I had struggled with not being able to keep the principles and laws of God.
Romans 7:18 b "I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
19For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
20Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [[c]fixed and operating in my soul].
21So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands."

There is a sin principle living in us that overrides our desires to do what we know to be right and we are subject to that principle as we have no power to carry out what we know is right. We feel trapped in our pathetic selves along with experiencing a lot of guilt, as I did, and questioning God's goodness and love towards me, the great sinner.

Why is the Holy Spirit's coming such a big deal in God's sight and in Jesus' sight and hopefully in your sight. I always knew that Jesus came to earth, showed us how to live and took away my sins which meant I would go to heaven in the bye and bye. The bye and bye gets closer the older I get. Anyway, I wanted something relevant for today, not in the "sweet bye and bye.

One day I found myself like Paul, in Romans 7: 24, scream out in my heart, "O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?" It turned out to be Jesus' emissary; the Holy Spirit would set me free. From what you may ask? The Holy Spirit came to set me free from myself; to save me in the here and now from me.

Yes, Jesus did the work here on earth and paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come. Remember Jesus saying, "It is expedient that I go away for if I do not go away the Holy Spirit cannot come." But I would rather have Jesus here, you say.

In Jesus' physical body he could only be with just so many people at one time. With the Holy Spirit indwelling His people He can be with me right now, with you right now, wherever you live and with all believers across the world 24/7. What the law cannot do, save us from hell and ourselves, the Holy Spirit can do, living from the inside out of each of us, conforming us to the image of Jesus.

God announces how much more fan fair we need for the Holy Spirit's coming verses the Law! The law keeps us stuck in never being able to measure up to what we know is right. It is a ministry of condemnation. The Holy Spirit says, You can never measure up to God's laws, that is why you need a savior; a savior to save you from the consequences of not living up to the law.
We will all drown in the sea of laws. Look back at 2 Corinthians 3:9. The Holy Spirit produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God! We do not produce and foster righteous living and right standing with God. The Holy Spirit will do the work of God in and through you. How? By believing God's word and taking by faith the Holy Spirit is initiating your growth as long as you desire to grow. Titus 1:2 says, "God is not a man that He should lie (about these things). Now all of this is a big deal and is the Good News of the Gospel.

WHAT DOES BEING A CHRISTIAN REALLY MEAN?

If anything good has come of all the political turmoil we find ourselves in, it is the mainstream media's discussion of God and what it means to be spiritual. Last night my husband and I watched PBS's second in a three part series entitled "God in America." Even though it covered various God oriented religions, I am a spokes person for Christianity.

A recent Pew survey tells us that not only secular people but also Christians don't know much about Christianity. Christians not knowing much about their faith seems strange to me, yet I was one of those people brought up in the faith and at age 30 still had little idea of what Christianity was all about.

From the time I was little, up through high school, I was taken to church weekly. I went to a church where the Bible was taught; thus I should know a lot. Even the high school I attended taught the Bible. Yet I missed what the Bible was saying. I knew the stories and the characters from Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and all, but what were those stories telling me? All I understood was there is a God and that these people loved God and were obedient. Jesus is God's Son sent to earth to show us how to live. He loved God and was obedient. What was the bottom line application for me; love God and be obedient?

Around the age of 16 or so I decided I had nothing against Christians or my Christian upbringing, but I could not muster up the love for God others seemed to have, nor could I come close to "doing what Jesus would do." Obedience was not an option for me. I could not pull it off. I drifted from the faith of my family for 14 years.

Due to some difficult, unexpected things happening inside my home and outside my home, I began to think about God again. But what to do, I did not know. A friend invited me to a "Prayer Breakfast." I liked my friend, had nothing against Christians, so I went. Little did I know my life would be changed forever that day.

The speaker told her story; how each thing she desired and pursued, upon getting it, her bubble of excitement would bust. The entity did not satisfy. Off she would go chasing another goal and so on. I was mesmerized as I identified with her. Our goals were different yet the pursuing, obtaining, and the let down were the same. Why this melancholy, I would ask? I have the thing I so desired.

Being caught up in her story, I was suddenly brought back as I heard her say, "If anyone would like to invite Jesus to come into their lives, pray this prayer with me." Oh no! I thought. I was raised being asked this question Sunday after Sunday. What in the heck are they talking about? I never did understand the meaning of "invite Jesus into your life." Like, where was He to live and what was I to do as a result? What are they asking of me?

Anxiety rose up in my stomach. I so identified with her story. I so wanted to understand what this "invite Jesus into your life" meant. As I later found out, God looks at the heart of people not necessarily their actions. He looked at my heart that day. Of all the things my heart might be holding that were not so godly, there was one thing He saw and I knew also. I was desperate to know Him.

As she continued, I heard something that would forever change me and take me out of the kingdom of my own darkness and translate me into the kingdom of His son (Colossians1:13). She said, "Invite Jesus into your life and let Him live His resurrected life in and through you. Let Him walk around the streets of Atlanta using your hands and your heart to reach out to the hurting people of Atlanta."

My immediate thought was, "Do you mean Jesus will live the Christian life for me? He will live His resurrected life in and through me?All I have to do is to invite Him into my life and He will do His Father's will as I allow Him?" Reality hit me. Me, in my own strength, trying to be like Jesus was not Christianity. Conversely, Christianity is God's strength in me doing God's will, not vice versa.

Now this is doable, I reflected. Jesus will do for me what I cannot do for myself. A pin hole of light hit me as I began to understand with Jesus in me, actually it is the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), I will have to have a very close personal relationship with Him as we will be working together. This is what Christians are talking about when they ask, "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?"

I was ecstatic! What a relief! I felt free. A burden came off of me that day and was put onto Jesus, just like He asked in Matthew 11:28. I am to let Him work through me. Why does it have to be this way? God knows we are sinful (missing the mark of perfection). No big surprise to God. Because God is perfect and demands perfection (perfect good works, perfect Godly thoughts) from us, He knew we could never measure up to His standards. We were stuck, mired down in our own imperfections and dysfunctions. In order to bring us into His family and begin to change us from the inside out His Son would come to earth, live a perfect life "for us", take our punishment on Himself for every sin in the world (past, present, future) and give us the opportunity to take His perfect righteousness, if we so choose.

You and I are not Christians because of our good works. Good works are the icing on the cake and come after we have fallen in love with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do not earn any "brownie points" with God by doing good works. The bottom line is I cannot fix you. You cannot fix yourself. Only God can fix us. He happens to have already done this 2000 years ago in Jesus' finished work on the cross. We either accept Jesus' righteousness for ourselves or reject it and do our own good works by trying to do what Jesus would do.

If you allow Jesus to live in you and do His works, then God gets all the glory. As you will know I could not have done that by myself. If you live doing the works of Jesus yourself, then you will get the glory and it counts for nothing .You get to choose. Do good works your way or God's way, "Christ in you is your hope of glory." Amen

Colossians1:13 [The Father] has delivered and [a]drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son [b]of His love.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God?

Matthew 11:28 and Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will [a]ease and relieve and [b]refresh [c]your souls.]"

Leave a comment or question please or send on to a friend who might benefit from this post. Micky