Pass It On
By Grant Gaines
Do you know what the biggest difference between the Old and New Testament is (besides the obvious answer of Christ)? The answer: The way God desires His followers to interact with the lost, sinful, and “unclean” world around them.
Before Christ, the Jews were required to follow two sets of God-given laws: moral laws and civil laws. Moral laws were rules that governed daily behavior such as those found in the Ten Commandments (still followed by Christians today – see Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7) while civil laws were all the eating restrictions and circumcision requirements the Israelites followed in order to be in a right standing before God (These civil laws are no longer followed by Christ followers – see the Council of Jerusalem’s conclusion on the matter in Acts 15:1-35).
The Jews were so concerned with keeping these civil and moral laws that if anyone had become ceremonially unclean through breaking one of the laws, they would have to shout at the top of their lungs, “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever someone would approach them. They would do this so that other people would not accidentally touch them and therefore become unclean themselves. So the rule of thumb for Old Testament Jews was to stay as far away from those who were “unclean” as possible.
However, this all changed when the eagerly anticipated Messiah, Jesus Christ, was born in a lonely manger in the little town of Bethlehem. You see, Jesus, being a Jew Himself, was required by the laws of the Old Testament to abstain from all who were unclean. But God revealed a new plan of action through His Son.
When people would shout “Unclean!” because of their sins or diseases, do you remember what Jesus did? Do you remember how He healed those unclean people? He touched them. He didn’t run from them, He ran to them. He ate with sinners. He washed unclean feet. He spoke with the Gentiles (a big “no-no” for any Jew).
And thank goodness He did! Heaven knows we needed God to break the mold by reaching out to those who were unclean because if not, we, who are all unclean because of our sins (Romans 3:23), would have no way to stand before a Righteous God. This new standard can most clearly be seen through Romans 5:8 (NIV), “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
But not only did Jesus shatter the mold, He also left an excellent example of how our Christian walk should look. No longer are we to run from those who, because of their sin, are unclean (just like we used to be), now we are to run to those people – that’s the new standard God gives His followers.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV) says this much, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
The first two verses focus on the fact that we are saved by grace alone (God’s loving acceptance) rather than works. But after that, the passage tells us what our purpose is as redeemed saints – to go tell others how they can be saved or “cleaned” of their sins. Essentially, we have been bought by God’s grace so that we could share the message of God’s grace. Or as 2 Corinthians 5:18 (NIV) says it, “…God…reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” We have been reconciled (or made right with God through Christ – see 2 Corinthians 5:21) so we can now go show others how to be reconciled with God. It is our purpose, our mission.
Are you living with this purpose? Are you faithful in sharing with those who are “unclean” the only thing that can make them truly clean before God – a relationship with Christ (John 14:6)? To do anything less would be to, “…receive God’s grace in vain…” (2 Corinthians 6:1, NIV).
In other words, don’t just accept the free gift of salvation for yourself and then spend your time here on earth waiting for heaven – go share the message of God’s salvation with others! It’s what you were saved to do!
I pray that as you read this blog the Holy Spirit is bringing to mind someone who, if they were to die today, would spend an eternity separated from God in hell. I pray that you would not “…grieve the Spirit…” (Ephesians 4:30, NIV) by refusing to do what you were made to do – to be, “…Christ’s ambassadors…” (2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV) by sharing with them the Good News that we have a God who is in the business of cleaning those who are unclean.
Will you do your job today?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
