John Fischer The Catch

I’m going to unabashedly use my Catch this morning to urge you to hear the most important biblical message most Christians don’t know about. If you’ve read the Catch for a while, you’ve heard pieces of it, but until you’ve heard it all in context, from start to finish, you haven’t really heard it. I’m talking about the new way to be a Christian which we used to call The New Covenant, but the New Covenant sounds so boringly theological, and I can’t have something so exciting and freeing sound so boring. It just isn’t. So we’re calling it “Our New Relationship with God” which I am currently teaching in a 12-part series before a live audience and a video of each talk is being made available week-by-week on our website. (For those of you who are computer challenged, don’t worry; there will be a step-by-step guide at the end of this Catch as to how you can find and enjoy this series.)

Why am I taking up a Catch to tell you about this? Because it’s that important. It’s so important that I will stick my neck out and say that to tie into this series will change your life. I know because it’s based on what the Spirit of God does in your life and there is no way you can turn the Spirit of God loose in your life and not be changed.

It also doesn’t matter that you already think you know 2 Corinthians 2:14 – 6:13 because no one ever really “knows” a passage of scripture. This is impossible, because the scriptures are so deep and our minds are so shallow and our experience so limited that you can never get to the bottom of truth. If you ever think you’ve gotten a passage of scripture “down” then think again or join the local Pharisee chapter.

It doesn’t matter that you participated in our teleconference Bible study on the passage and went through the workbook. It doesn’t matter that you’ve taught this yourself. I’ve taught it now surely into the hundreds of times and I have gotten two new insights already into the fourth week.

I can say all this with confidence because what I’m saying is not based on me and my clever argument or my new “take” on the scripture, it’s based on the real work of the Holy Spirit which always accompanies any new dig into the word of God.

Here’s an example. My last message was on adequacy in chapter 3 where Paul says that we are not adequate for this ministry, but we are. It’s one of those paradoxes the scriptures are famous for. Now I’ve normally come to this teaching assuming almost everyone feels inadequate for life. But this time someone in the class mentioned that they surmise in this particular group most people are competent at what they do, so their tendency might be to think they are adequate in themselves for life, and thus miss what they could be experiencing if they were willing to go beyond their own adequacy. Will we stay with what we know we can do or will we venture out into what we know we can’t do unless God shows up in our lives to give us the power and the presence to do it? Never saw that before in this passage.

See what I mean?

So … I promised step by step for the computer-challenged. Here we go:

1. In the column to the right, click on the picture of me in front of a microphone (just under the picture of me hugging my guitar). That will take you to a set up page for the videos.
2. The picture of me in my office in the middle of the page is a brief, 2-minute introduction to the series. Click on that if you haven’t seen it yet.
3. After viewing that, scroll down to where it says: “To begin viewing the series, click here” and click on the purple “here”.
4. You are now on what we call the “viewing page.” There are currently three videos there. In a day or two number four will be up. Eventually all twelve videos will be on this page and you can see them any time and in any order you want. Each video is roughly 45 minutes long. Because there are already three, you will have a little catching up to do. Take it how ever you can work into your schedule, but I urge you not to miss a single one.

There. No excuses now. And here’s something else I’d like you to do. As you watch each one send me your questions and your comments. To keep them private, simply reply to this email or send to [email protected]. For a public comment and to join into the dialogue, scroll down to “Leave a reply” at the bottom of the page and enter your comment in the box provided.

I found a great illustration about the old way and the new way of our relationship with God in the sports section yesterday. The writer was speculating about Don Mattingly, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that has surprised everybody by making it to the playoffs. So far they have won their division, defeated the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series, and start the best-of-seven National League Championship Series against the St Louis Cardinals tonight, the winner of which goes on to play in the best-of-seven World Series. (Marti wants to know if this will ever be over.)

In spite of all this unexpected success, the future of Don Mattingly’s managerial career is still in doubt. Not everyone, at least until now, has had total confidence in Mattingly’s ability to manage the Dodgers. As a rookie manager, he started his career in 2011 with the team, and though there are many factors other than his abilities that have lead to it, his first three years have been rocky. At least until the last three months, and the unprecedented turnaround this team has taken.

The point of the article was that Mattingly’s contract runs out this year, and no one — not the President, nor the General Manager, nor the team owners will say anything yet about whether he will be the manager of the Dodgers next season. “Their refusal to publicity commit to Mattingly beyond this season led to speculation that his return might have depended on how far the team advanced in the playoffs.”

“I really don’t want to speak about my contract at all,” Mattingly said. “I don’t think it’s the right time. We’re talking about winning games. That’s all I’m concerned about.”
Of course that’s the right thing to say, one of those diplomatic cliches all ball players learn to say when questioned by the media, but think about the added pressure on every decision, especially those decisions that can make or break a ball game — decisions that can make you either a hero or a goat — when his job is on the line.

So Mattingly plays through the playoffs knowing his job next year is tied to his team’s performance versus what could happen if they decided right now to extend his contract based on how the team has already performed. The front office would be in effect saying: “Here’s your new contract, Don. Whatever happens on the field, we want you to know you’re our man. You have proven that already. Now go out there and kick some butt!”

Would you like to be Don with a contract or Don with a contract to prove? The difference is comparable to our relationship to God. The old way is all based in our performance. Under the old way, God has given us His laws, now it’s up to us to follow them. Under the new way we’ve already got a contract good for eternity, signed in the blood of Jesus on the cross for our sins. We have the position. We are accepted already. Jesus declares us proven, not by our performance, but by Christ’s. The law is written on our hearts. It only remains for us to walk in the Spirit of His power, and He has given us everything we need for the job

“No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’” said the prophet Jeremiah about the new covenant, “because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (Jeremiah 31:34).

So how about it? You’ve got the contract. You’re the one. Now I expect you to all go out there today and kick some spiritual butt!

[Click on the picture in right column to jump into our new covenant series “Our New Relationship with God.” We will be posting one 45-minute video each week from now until mid-December. We’ve already got three up, but don’t worry about jumping in. You can catch up later.]

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3)

There it is: the new way and the old way right up next to each other. The fact that this verse is in the Bible and was a characteristic Paul identified in one of the first churches to ever follow Christ shows how the old way of relating to God holds on tenaciously to our psyches turning us all into Pharisees in much less time than we can learn the ways of the Spirit.

Like a tweet I past on yesterday — “Religion changes your behavior. Jesus changes your heart” — our new relationship with God is all about the heart. The old way is based in God’s expectations for us written on stone tablets. It’s a distant relationship with God. It’s not even a relationship with God as much as it is a relationship with God’s laws or God’s expectations, which for all of us are so far beyond any of us as to render us all disobedient. So the old way either grovels in our failure, or it severely reduces the expectations to something we can do (which enable us to pridefully judge all those other people who don’t), while hiding behind a religious facade that has nothing to do with the real attitudes and changes in the heart that God wants to form in us.

In fact, that pretty much describes the church for thousands of years — fake, self-righteous leaders and groveling parishioners.

Our new relationship with God changes all that because through it, God writes His ways and means on our hearts. This is not a relationship with God’s laws; it’s a relationship with God. It is close and intimate. Because of the blood of Jesus that covers all our sin, God can come near to us and change us on the inside.

“‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’
declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

No more groveling. No more faking. No more spiritual caste system. God’s forgiveness opens the door to an entirely new relationship where we all know God — priest and parishioner — on the same basis, not on the basis of what we do, but on the basis of what He has done.

If you harbor guilt in your heart, you are not walking in the new way. If you think there are those who are better than you, or not as good as you, you are not walking in the new way. Our new relationship with God is based on what He has done. Period.

Whatever we do comes out of that relationship, not to earn it, but to live and walk in it.

Starting this week and running into the middle of December, I will be posting on our website, weekly, the next installment of a 12-part video series I am teaching on 2 Corinthians 2:14 – 6:13 entitled, “Our New Relationship with God.” I can’t overemphasize the importance of this material, or over-urge you to take advantage of this opportunity and set aside some time each week to watch the next video.

When I say, “New,” I don’t mean it just came on the scene, or we just invented it, or it’s the next new thing to talk about like postmodernism or the emerging church. What I mean is: it’s a new way to relate to God versus the old way we all started with.

Nor do I mean stages of growth, like you operate under the old way until you find out about the new one and everything’s new after that. No, these two ways are both present in our lives. They’ve been around since the beginning of time and it’s most typical of us to alternate between the two.

Here’s how you know if you are operating in this new relationship with God:

you open your mouth and amazing things come out
you have been directed to talk to or pray with certain people
you fall to sleep at night in a state of delirious exhaustion, not because you’ve     been working so hard all day, but because you have been used all day by God
you know what to do
you are filled with joy
you feel as if you have been set free
you are not afraid to show your faults
you are out in the open with nothing to hide
you are happily not in control of everything
you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen next
you are in a constant state of amazement
you love everybody

This is by no means the end of the list (it’s barely a beginning), but you should start to get the idea. And of course the old relationship with God would be characterized by the opposite of all these things, such as: you are trapped, hiding, competitive, critical, tired, judgmental, overworked, in control of everything and not happy with anything.

Chances are you are all somewhat aware of both states of existence, but let me guess — your life is more often than not, characterized by the old way. (Let me tell you right now that mine is, and I’m teaching this!) So you can see why we all need it, and we need it all the time.

I would go as far as to say that once you are a Christian that there is no understanding you need to have more than this one. So am I being arrogant when say that these next 12 weeks could be the most important weeks of your life? Maybe you should try it and find out.