For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

No I haven’t gone New Age. There’s just no way to understand the impact of grace on our lives without putting it in jarring contrast to what we formally know and expect as Christianity. Grace always upsets the applecart.

It appears that God set up a universe of laws and then stepped into that universe and brought a new world order.

On the one hand there is this exacting universe of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, rewards and punishment, wages and payment, and on the other there are the gifts of God, the grace of God and the mercy God, all completely undeserved and unearned.

To follow Jesus in the gospels is to discover another world inside the first. In this world things are not as they appear to be. In this world the last are first, losers are winners, the poor are blessed, and the hungry are filled. In other words, the last ones reap the benefits the first ones never got. No wonder the religious leaders of his day were upset at Jesus; He brought a whole new order that denied them what they had worked so hard to gain.

Imagine spending all your religious life exacting out every detail in order to gain your way into heaven and then finding out that all these other people you judged as uncaring and unfit get there on a free pass. And they get there following some young upstart preacher who came out of nowhere and yet claimed to be the fulfillment of all the laws and the prophets you based your life on. No wonder they wanted to string Him up.

You can call them what you want: two systems, orders, or covenants, but the important thing to realize is that both are still here today and still in full operation and constantly tripping us up.

The first one is calculated and measured out; the second one is dumped on you in full measure. The first one is earned; the second one is given. The first one gives death; the second one gives life. As such, the second one is always an offense to anyone living by the first and thinking they are getting somewhere following it.

And here is a true statement worthy of consideration: The first one is much more prevalent in the church and in our own lives than we or anyone else recognizes. Jesus came to put one to death and to start the other. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood…” (1 Corinthians 11:25) And we keep trying to resurrect the first instead of living in the power and resurrection of the second.

As we prepare in these next few weeks to remember the death and resurrection of Christ, think about two things. One was spoken from the cross over the first order: “It is finished” (John 19:30). The other deals with the second: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Teleconference Bible Study is Tonight!
When: 7 pm PST; 10 pm EST
Where: 218/237-3840 Access code 124393
What: Email Marti for advance Study Guide at [email protected]