
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Jesus came to introduce something NEW.
The Temple Model was built around a standard that only the elite could meet.
Jesus introduced a new standard that only he could meet, then died on behalf of everyone’s sin.
The Temple Model required people to come and make peace with God. Jesus said, “Go make peace with your neighbor.”
The Temple Model was nation-specific.
Jesus declared His message was for all nations.
We still hold onto things that hold us back.
Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Is your religion liberating?
Galatians 5:2
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
If you try to blend the old with the new, you will lose everything associated with the new.
Galatians 5:3
3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
If you reach back for the old, you must take it all. You can’t pick and choose.
Galatians 5:4
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
If you add the law approach to the Grace approach you end up with all law and no grace.
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The
Circumcision and all it represents is vertical. “God, how am I doing?
Paul reiterates what Jesus taught… “That’s over. Quit looking up. Look around. How are the people around you doing?“
Paul is saying, “Look, you’re in. Quit worrying about what God thinks about you. If you believe that God sent his son into this world and he died for your sins, you’re in.“
If someone will die for you… they are for you. You never have to go to bed one night of your life wondering how you and God are doing. You’re fine.
So shut up already and quit looking up and start looking around, because the only thing of any value is how you treat other people not how you treat God. God is fine!
Galatians 5:7
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?
Galatians 5:9
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
Yeast is what allows a dense mass of dough become a well-risen loaf of bread. And yet yeast is nothing more than a single-cell fungus. It only takes a small dose of the wrong thing to corrupt the whole thing.
We still hold onto things that hold us back.
Galatians 5:12
As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
If we drag even a bit of the old along with the new, the old will win out in the end.
Galatians 5:13-14
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:6
The
Matthew 27:51
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The Jesus Model introduced a
1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that
Everyone you come into contact with deserves to be treated as sacred.
New Meaning to Passover
*Luke 22:19-20*
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.