Copyright © 2006 Ron Schwartz
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The Old Testament

Part 3. Serving God in Spirit and in Truth  

August 29, 2006

By Ron Schwartz

This is the third and final part of the Old Testament series.

The Danger in Observing the Law

Some Christians believe that observing the law cannot hurt anything.  They will still do everything they used to do, but they will just add to it the things contained in the law.  After all, how can abstaining from pork and observing a Saturday Sabbath hurt anything?

Dabbling in the law is, in many respects, like dabbling in sin. Not from the standpoint that it is sin but in that it slowly pulls you deeper into the web of self-righteousness. Most Christians begin with a few of the more obvious laws like meeting on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and avoiding pork, but the problem is that it doesn’t seem to end there.

This form of superficial obedience to God provides a sense of self-approval.  It’s like drugs.  After the initial “high,” you need to go deeper and deeper into the Jewish law to find the same fulfillment that you got when you first started.  The feeling of success and approval usually makes the believer want to do more.  Soon their library is filled with books about Messianic Jews or Jewish Christians.  They begin to search the Internet for articles on the subject.  Deeper and deeper they go into the art of superficial obedience to God.   Before you know it, what began as “it can’t hurt” evolves into “we should” and then into “we must.”

The real problem with observing the law is that it is a distraction from what truly pleases God.  Remember, everything about it is based on superficial obedience (appearance of obedience on the outside) and “feeling” righteous.   It creates a false sense of God’s approval, and it is based on the false assumption that the law ever pleased God.  Not only does observing it breed a false sense of approval (i.e., self-righteousness), but it also causes us to focus on the natural rather than on what God is really looking for: the spiritual.

Galatians 3:15 KJV

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

The Old Testament was made for the natural man.  It was given to non-spiritual people who did not understand God, who had NOT His Spirit, and who had no capacity for understanding Him. 

1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

We find here that natural man is incapable of obeying the law.  This means that God gave the law to mankind knowing full well that mankind would never be able to keep it.  Therefore, the only thing the law actually accomplished was to condemn mankind (i.e. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”  Romans 3:20).  But if keeping the law was pleasing to God (as some claim), why would God give mankind His law knowing full well that mankind would never be able to keep it, and therefore never be able to please Him (i.e. “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15)?  It would mean that, in the entire Old Testament, no man ever pleased God.  We know this is not the case.  Hebrews 11 names many people who lived in Old Testament times and were pleasing to God.  Going back to parts 1 and 2 of this series, the law was an instrument to teach us about God’s nature.  It was never meant to be the way in which to please Him.

Imagine you have been given a job.  You are to deliver a hundred tons of mail to another state every day.  At your disposal are two airplanes: the Wright brothers’ original flier that flew (with considerable trouble) just over 100 feet and a DC-10 that is capable of flying thousands of miles in a matter of hours carrying several tons of cargo.  Which would you choose?  With the Wright brothers’ flier, you would never get the job done.  It is quite impossible.  If I were your employer and I found out that you were using the Wright brothers’ flier to deliver the mail, do you think I would be pleased?  It is the same way with the Old and New Testaments.  One is inadequate (it can never complete the task).  The other is vastly superior and is the only way that pleases God.

When we endeavor to keep the law, we cease to trust God’s grace.  God’s grace becomes of “none effect” to us because we are no longer in faith (“For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect,” Romans 4:14).

Consider the distraction created by the mountain in the following story:

John 4:5-6, 20-24 KJV

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

In this story there was a certain group that esteemed a mountain as sacred because the great patriarchs Jacob and Joseph worshipped God on that mountain.  Their ancestors concluded that worshipping on the mountain must please God.  But if the mountain is holy, why do the Jews worship in Jerusalem instead of on the mountain?  This is exactly the same problem that observance of the law creates today.

In reality, man never pleased God by worshipping on the mountain, or in Jerusalem, or through observing the law.  God was once worshipped in all these places and in a variety of ways, but that’s not what pleased Him.  God was pleased with the faith and obedience of Jacob and Joseph, not with their mountain.  God was pleased with those who came to Jerusalem in faith and served Him in truth, not in the temple.

The mountain was a hindrance for the woman.  It kept her from seeing that God was now standing before her.  Her preoccupation with the mountain kept her from seeing what God was doing now.  Had she been worshipping God instead of the mountain, she would have seen that it was God standing before her.

Like this woman and her ancestors, many Christians look back thousands of years and conclude: 1) the Jews were God’s chosen people, 2) the Jews kept the law, therefore 3) the law must please God.  The truth is that it was not Jerusalem, the mountain, nor the law that pleased God, but people who worshipped Him through faith.  That’s why Jesus said, “…the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father…   But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Christians tend to look back to all those who went before them and see what they did.  They tend to be followers of men, copying their “form” of worship.  This is how denominations are born.  They are nothing more than another mountain upon which people worship.  And they prevent people from seeing the God who is standing before them.

When Christians observe the law in an effort to please God, they are as misguided as the woman on the mountain.  They fail to see that their relationship with God is not about the law.  Jesus explained that the “true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  This is why Paul wrote, “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6).”  When we attempt to please God through the law we are doing it through the “oldness of the letter” instead of through “newness of spirit.”  How can Christians believe that carnal “will” worship is better than serving God in spirit? 

Remember the Sabbath

One of the easiest ways to see how the law has become a distraction, causing us to focus on the natural rather than the spiritual, is to consider the Sabbath.   Consider the commandment: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  Many Christians have fallen into superficial obedience to the “oldness of the letter” of this law rather than understanding “newness of spirit” that it really means.  As a result, they worship on Saturday and avoid working on that day, believing that through these efforts they have kept the commandment and thus have pleased God.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Genesis 2:1-3 KJV

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

These scriptures seem straightforward enough.  However, most people fail to see beyond the superficial.  Put it into perspective.  Before God made man, He made all the heavens and the earth.  He made plants, animals, birds, and fish of the sea.  God then rested and invited man to join Him in His rest (the Sabbath).  This is where most Christians stop – at the superficial.  To many, the rest is on the seventh day, so that is why it is holy.

Hebrews 4:1-11 KJV

1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

8 For if Jesus [Joshua, the predecessor to Moses who took them into the Promised Land] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

The proponents of worshipping on Saturday often dismiss this portion of Hebrews.

In these scriptures, we learn:

• God’s rest is the seventh day (“For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” v.4)

• Only believers can enter into this rest (“For we which have believed do enter into rest” v.3).  Therefore, it cannot be a day of the week on which anyone can rest.  Also, since it is only for believers, it is a spiritual rest.

• This rest, or Sabbath, has always been available (“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” v.9 ), but only for God’s people.

Consequently, worshipping and avoiding work on Saturday cannot be what God wanted.  We “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” by believing in Christ and resting in His grace.  This is the ONLY true rest – a spiritual rest.  Superficial observance of a day of the week only serves to take away and distract us from the sacrifice of Christ’s atonement and the peace – rest - it gives us (“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”  Romans 5:1).  It elevates a day of the week rather than the Lord of it.   That is what Jesus meant when He said, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28).”  And again in Matthew’s version of the same event, “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day (Matthew 12:6-8).”

In other words, we should lift up Christ, NOT a day of the week.  We find God’s peace and enter into His rest through faith in Christ, and not through superficial obedience.

Perfection

Matthew 5:48

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 19:21

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Luke 6:40

The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

One of the foremost themes of the New Testament is that of perfection.  We must ask, “How is perfection possible?” and “How do we get there from here?”

2 Corinthian 3:17-18 KJV

17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This scripture completely encapsulates the New Testament.   It tells us that we are looking into a mirror (glass) and seeing, NOT ourselves, but God’s glory.  As we continue to watch, we see God’s Spirit TRANSFORM (change) us into the “same image” of His glory.

The word “changed” is the Greek word “metamorphoo” from which comes our English word “metamorphose.”  Therefore, what we witness is the metamorphosis of our being into something that is godly (god like).  How does this occur?  Paul writes, “…even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

We find here two things:

1)     In the New Testament, we become godly (i.e., perfectly mature) through the transformation of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and

2)     Such transformation is a work designed to address each of us individually.

This idea here is that we are all different and we all come from different cultures.  It is like a sculptor who has before him a dozen blocks of granite varying in size and shape.  He then sets out to create a statue from each block of granite.  Since each block is unique he cannot approach each block the same way, but inevitably each one will be the same.

The first generation believers understood this.  That is why they were called followers of “that way.”

Acts 19:23 KJV

And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.

Several times in the book of Acts, Christianity is referred to as “that way (Acts 19:9, 23; 24:22).”  The word “way” means “a road or a journey.”  Christianity is not like the law, which is the superficial observance of rules that never change.  The law is a religion.  Christianity is “a way” of living.  It is “a road or journey” through life.  There is nothing superficial about Christianity.  What’s more, because Christianity is “a journey,” it is able to adjust and change to fit the road of life.

Romans 8:1-4 KJV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Said in another way, we find that once again it is the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives that is able to transform (metamorphose) us.   In this transformation, the “righteousness” of the law – what we were meant to learn from it (i.e. love, charity, restraint, godliness, etc) – is “fulfilled in us.”  We become like Christ, we go the extra mile and turn the other cheek (going beyond the dictates of the law), we rest in God’s grace (Sabbath), and in doing so we become perfect (mature) and “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthews 5:20)” who merely kept the law.

Conclusion

Over the years, I have had the joy of seeing many, many people come to the Lord.  I never once told a single new convert to quit smoking or drinking.  I never had to; they just did.  The first thing these people did was to destroy their cigarettes and pour their alcohol down the drain.  I watched as they smashed their ungodly music and radically changed their appearance.  I never once had to tell them what to do.  I found that there was a presence operating in their lives with vastly more influence than I, something that gave them the fortitude and strength to change.  It was the Holy Spirit.

There is something much stronger than the law at work in the hearts of believers.  The Holy Spirit is able to pry into areas of our lives that the law cannot even begin to imagine!  I often have wondered: if the Holy Spirit’s control and leading is so strong as to radically change our lives, then why has the Holy Spirit never convicted us concerning which day of the week to worship on or what not to eat?  This is important because everyone who has done these things (following the law) has done so only after someone “told” them that this is what God wants or they discovered such a law in the Bible.  Conviction for repentance/conversion comes about by the Spirit, but conviction for the superficial obedience of the law comes from people.

Once entangled in the law, it is a nearly impossible to escape.  Paul, one of the most articulate and insightful teachers of the first generation Church, was never completely successful in getting believers to abandon it.  It provides too much (false) security.  The tangible nature of the law is just too appealing to our superficial nature, and it gives us a sense of being better than other Christians.

It is impossible to serve God and the flesh.  This is a spiritual principle.  Superficial obedience to the law is serving the flesh.  It makes us “feel” better about ourselves, blinding us to God’s true intention.  Consequently, it is in direct opposition to following the leading of the Spirit.

I realize that there are still Christians who feel that keeping certain aspects of the law doesn’t hurt anything.   I believe it does.  I believe that at the root of this law-conscious obedience are shades of self-righteousness.  Want a test?  Ask yourself: why do you keep the law?  Do you do it to find God’s approval (self-righteousness)?  If your answer is no then quit.  If you say no to quitting, then ask yourself why.

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