In between...

As I've been learning more about the old covenant and the new and listening to and following the Spirit/voice of God a new passage stuck out to me that makes me have to ask where we are as a church? My answer seems to be in between. 

Before I share the well known verses - I share my thoughts so when you read it, you can see it from a different perspective.

Now that the law is fulfilled, we don't have to worry about keeping the law anymore. We don't have a list of things to do and not to do. Instead, we are now amazingly overwhelmed and get to hear the voice of God. We get to have His Spirit IN US and let Him work in us and through us and minister to us and teach us "all truth" (John 16:13).  This was a radical step for the disciples and the first century church because only a select few people got to have the Spirit in the OT. So the transitional point for most of where the NT is written is explaining to people that you don't have to worry about fulfilling the law anymore, actually if you try to do any of it, you have to do all of it (Gal. 5:3). The new teaching was, you now have the Spirit of God living in you, you can hear His voice, and you should just follow Him. 

Wow! That's 1) Awesome! and 2) so much simpler. Don't worry about doing all of these list of things to be a good "Christian" but instead just talk to the Holy Spirit and do what He says. When you listen to Him, He will lead you to all truth and into a righteous way of living.  Notice the focus is not on "away from sin" but "into righteousness." It's now you're new life, to  listen to and follow the Spirit daily and hourly. If you don't hear the Spirit of God, then you look at the Bible as still a list of things to do and not to do, and you pick and choose which ones you want to apply as best as you can. Basically, if you're not hearing from the Spirit, you're living life the way you want...as best as you can. (It sounds harsh, but hang on.) You'll find yourself kind of stressed out or uptight or proud of yourself when people say things like "the will of God" or "walking in righteousness." The point was never to do good things to be a good Christian: read your Bible, pray, go to church, witness to others about Jesus, go serve homeless people, etc. Those are all good things, but those are still a list of things to do so that you feel good about how good of  Christian or person you are. The whole point was that Jesus fulfilled all lists and now invites you into a relationship with Him where you talk to Him and He talks to you. You just do those things that He says. (Reading through the Gospel, you'll notice Jesus teaches and heals people in a numerous amount of ways - why? Because He hates formulas and likes relationships with people, where people know Him and not His pattern. They want to know His voice not His business plan to replicate His ministry.)

We could go on, but the point is all about hearing from the Spirit and following what He says or in other words "walk by the Spirit." (Ever thought about what that really means? It's more than just doing what feels right and not doing what feels guilty. Those are bumper lanes of behavior not an active relationship.)

If your mind is like mine, then you automatically freak out a little bit. Wait. So we're not telling people how to be a good Christian anymore? About Church? The Bible? Witnessing? You're just going to turn them over to listen to "the voice of God" and they can do whatever? The answer is "Yes but no." That same fear hit people already in the NT. Yes, we are turning them over from our list of things that they need to do to be a good Christian and entrusting God to be more powerful than we are and more concerned about their life than we are. (We often think it's our job to be sanctified now that Jesus has saved us - He saved us, we work hard to flesh it out. WRONG! Jesus still cares more about it and will get you there than you ever could or would.) But there's this fear of just letting people go. That's why we have many of the New Testament scriptures that are "conduct scriptures" (the ones that tell you what to do or how to do it). 

Follow the Spirit. (People start getting worried or start dreaming of what they could do and blame it on the Spirit.) Then, they clarify. You can't be filled with the Spirit and do __________________. It's not possible. That's not the Spirit I introduced you to, the one you were filled with when you accepted Jesus. When you ARE listening to the Holy Spirit (the good Spirit) then you'll naturally do these things... You don't have to go chase after them, this is just a gauge that's a sign you are listening to the right Spirit. This helps guide people and prevents them from going off and killing someone, having sex all the time, getting jealous over what they have or not, dividing your church over "theological differences" and then blaming it on the Spirit of God, saying "He lead me to do this." Ehhh. Nope! It will actually look like this__________________.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions,divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:16-23

So this is how I find us in between. Most of us know to stay away from witchcraft, orgies, adulteries  and getting drunk. We water down and struggle some with rivalries/comparing ourselves, division in "cliques" or "viewpoints" in the global or local church, and some impurity. Yet, I don't see is fully being characterized by "radical joy and this crazy love flowing from us. I don't see patience overflowing from us and such continued faithfulness that people ask what's up?" Some people, I know have it and I see it. At large, I don't see this joy.  Francis Chan questioned this in His book "Forgotten God"

But look over those traits right now and ask yourself if you possess each to a supernatural degree.  Do you exhibit more kindness and faithfulness than the Mormons you know?  Do you have more self-control than your Muslim friends?  More peace than Buddhists?  More joy than atheists?  If GOD truly lives in you, shouldn't you expect to be different from everyone else?

 So I find us in between, rejecting the bad stuff but not fully walking in the good stuff. My conclusion: I think we're still trying to be good Christians rather than stopping being "good Christians" and following God's Spirit. I love reading the Bible in the morning, but sometimes I find myself doing it so that I feel good about myself and like God's happy with me because I did it. God's happy with me because 1) He made me so He likes me, then 2) Jesus saved me and is in me so that I will fully be what He made me. At times, I find the Spirit leading me not to read my Bible in the morning but to stare out the window and just talk to Him, to draw, to write, to send an email, to lay in bed 20 more minutes and keep dreaming about possibilities. The point is not for me to have more of the Bible in my head, but for God to live in and through me. When that happens and comes out it looks like love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and faithfulness and self-control and kindness. It looks like these things because those are everything that God is. It's not me mustering them up, it's just God coming out. We can't make joy, but He can't help but be joy. We can't make love, but He can't help but be love. When He lives in me, He naturally flows out as Joy, Love, Goodness, Self-control, Peace, etc. 

So I encourage us to, let go of doing the right things (the law), and instead enjoy Jesus and listen to His Spirit. Just ask "Holy Spirit, what do you want me to do right now or what do you want to tell me?" and listen. It may be an audible voice, it may just be a random idea in your head, and it may be a yearning in your heart. Listen and go with that. Keep asking the question. If you're wrong, there's grace and He's happy you're trying. He'll let you know too. Don't doubt, but celebrate that you are literally hanging out with the creator of the universe. Seriously?! Yes! I pray today that you get to hear His voice more and get to really enjoy hanging out with Him!