Pleading the Case

There is a lot of confusion in the Christian faith about the idea of "sacrifice" still being relevant today. There is even a misunderstanding for what the word "sacrifice" actually means in the New Testament, both with Christ's own one time "sacrifice", offering up his life in order to atone for our sins, as well as the way "sacrifice" is most often understood by us today. Most of the time when the word "sacrifice" is used it is usually in the context of something we give up, did without and even suffered for in order to help someone else. It is not uncommon to hear a parent say that they sacrificed so much in order to give their child or children a better life, but then felt disappointed or resentful that the child or children didn't appreciate them for it. Or, it is equally as common to hear someone say that they monetarily gave sacrificially to support a Christian cause. In both of these instances "sacrifice" is being used to mean things that we have given up and suffered for, but neither of these examples is Biblically correct according to the actual meaning of the original Greek word for sacrifice, "thysia." This Episode addresses where the cause of this confusion has most likely come from and why, as well as why it is critically important for us to have a correct understanding of "sacrifice" and why they are significant for us to "offer up" today.

As many of you already know that in the last four days (beginning on Tuesday, October 23rd, of this week) 14 pipe bombs delivered to 11 political targets were discovered. This Episode intentionally comes on the heels of the assassination attempts of high ranking political figures, both past and present, including two former Presidents of the United States. Even though the guilty person(s) who committed these detestable acts will have no one else to blame but themselves, does that excuse all others who have contributed to creating a climate of hatred and division in this country from culpability. Especially those who claim Jesus as saviour?

If you listened to the previous episode, "Law Vs Grace," you know that the first Covenant under the Law does not apply to us in any way once we have come under a Covenant of Grace. The 10% tithe, required under the first Covanant, as with all things required by law under the first Covenant is no longer mandated under Grace. Neither are church buildings. There is no mandate for them anywhere in the New Testament after Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Then why is the 10% tithe still being prescibed? And why are church buildings central to our faith? Can a correlation be made between maintaining the practice of a 10% tithe and the necessity for building churches? If the 10% tithe is no longer required, nor are church buildings, then are we off the hook for giving anything at all. If we aren't off the hook, then what, or who, should we be giving to and why?

Is there any reason to pursue a deeper understanding of the law vs grace? There is if we truly believe that Jesus was the promised messiah, and that he came, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, then we need to know what that means for us, now, in our daily walks with him. Otherwise, we will blend the law and grace creating a hybrid Christian faith that blurs the lines between the 2, thus blurring our understanding of Jesus and what it means to follow him as well as to look like him. Perhaps the confusion comes, on one level, because we claim salvation through Jesus, but at the same time we have lost sight of what it looks like to live out our lives according to Jesus’ example leading up to his death on the cross. And for Gentile followers of Jesus, this is particularly concerning since gentiles were never under the first covenant under the law to begin with. It was only after Jesus fulfilled the law, thus rendering the first covenant null and void, that the second covenant of grace was extended to include gentiles as well. In that the new covenant was established on better promises, though, why would anyone, jew or gentile alike, ever choose to be subject again to such a yoke of slavery?

For 430 years Israel existed without the law after God made his covenant with Abraham. So why was the law given? According to Galatians 3:19 "It was added because of transgressions until the seed (who was Jesus) to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator." After the law and the high priestly system of rule was established, Israel remained a theocracy, "a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God, or a god," "from the time of Moses until the election of Saul as King." Since we know, based on scripture, what a disaster that turned out to be, why do we, who are citizens of heaven, already seated with Jesus in a heavenly realm, still demand a king?

Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." Even though this passage comes across as being somewhat abstract, what Paul is essentially telling us is to "love God with our heart mind and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves." And if we want to know what that looks like two of the best examples in the gospel accounts are in John 4, when Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman by the well and the Parable of the Good Samaritan beginning with Luke 10:25 when "an expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life." This is a companion episode to the previous one, "Racism, Faith and Worship, Oh My!" that has as it's basis Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman . Central to both is worship.

Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, recorded in John 43-42, is very overlooked for the most part. Especially, for what Jesus reveals to her, and ultimately to us, about worship. It is during Jesus exchange with the Samaritan woman that Jesus tells her that "the true worshipers that God desires are those that will worship him in the spirit and in truth." Although, the setting for this encounter is no where near Jerusalem or the temple inside the walls of that city, what Jesus said about worship has now been interpreted as primarily having to do with what takes place inside of a church during a "worship service." A setting that has very little in common with the setting that Jesus made this prouncement or why. This episode not only addresses this, but it also addresses how prejudice and even racism interferes with what God considers to be worship in the spirit and in truth without our even realizing it.

In II Corintians 11:2-3 Paul tells us "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (NIV). So, how do we know if we have been led astray from our pure and sincere devotion to Christ? After studying James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (DBY) for more than 25 years I am more than convinced that this single passage is the key for being able to accurately determine the condition of the church at any time and place in history. And the key to unlocking this passage lies in our understanding of worship. The second par of this two part series begins with the second part of the first line of this passage, "to visit orphans and widows in their affliction," and concludes with "to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

In II Corintians 11:2-3 Paul tells us "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (NIV). So, how do we know if we have been led astray from our pure and sincere devotion to Christ? After studying James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (DBY) for more than 25 years I am more than convinced that this single passage is the key for being able to accurately determine the condition of the church at any time and place in history. And the key to unlocking this passage lies in our understanding of worship. This two part series begins with the first part of the first line of this passage, "pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:"

Years ago I found myself asking the question if Jesus is the last Adam, then would that mean that the church, Christ's bride, is in effect the last Eve? If not literally, at least symbolically? How to prove this, though, became more than a challenge for knowing where to even begin such a search. After much thought and deliberation I finally realised that the place that I needed to start was at the beginning with the creation of the first Eve through the first Adam. That if we, as the church, Christ's bride, are seen by God as the last Eve, if you will, then there should be correlations between the description of the creation of Eve in Genesis 2:21-25 and passages in the New Testament having to do with Jesus and what he did on our behalf in order to redeem his bride. This episode, the fifth and final part in a 5 part series, concludes with Genesis 2:25 proving that Jesus not only came to redeem a bride, but the bride he came to redeem, is in effect, the last Eve.