Under New Management

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Just so you know, I really don’t think that murderers should be allowed to continue to murder. I really think they should be taken off of the church membership role. But that really shouldn’t be a problem anyway should it? It will be difficult for them to make it out Sunday morning if they are behind bars.

You see, if we are in Christ, we aren’t the same people any more. On the other hand, if you aren’t in Christ, you are the same person that you’ve always been. But for those of us who are new, having come to a saving knowledge of Him, we’ve been changed. The old has passed away.

The problem is, we’re still living in that other guy’s old body. And his body likes to do certain things. Having come to Christ, we’re different people, having been indwelt by The Holy Spirit. This isn’t funky theology. It’s something that happens. So we’re this new person living in this old person’s body.

Being this new creation, we are no longer called to observe the law, but to live by the prompting of The Holy Spirit within us. So here we are, living in this old guy’s body, sharing this residence with The Spirit of Christ. Both the Spirit and this dying body seem to have us as his audience. Each of them are vying for us to yield to their will.

We are called to obey God, not to observe the law. There is a difference, even though the law can help us to discern what God wants for us. When we are involved in and kind of behaviour, if we are a new person, the question that we need to ask ourselves has changed. Under the law, the question we had to ask ourselves sounded like this;

“What does the law say about this?”

I want to eat popcorn. Does the law say that I should eat popcorn or not? Being a new creation, the question now becomes,

“Why do I want to eat popcorn?”

Do I want to eat popcorn because my flesh desires it? Or do I want to eat popcorn by the leading of The Spirit? The questions that we as Chrsitians often ask ourselves are far from demonstrating and kind of spiritual maturity. We often evaluate the Christian way by asking,
“Is it wrong for Christians to……?” While analyzing our behaviour, the more pressing issue at hand should be to ask where the behaviour is coming from. Is this from my flesh, or from The Spirit?

In a way, the law was easier. It told us what we could and could not do. Living by the leading of The Holy Spirit requires us to listen and to be brutally honest with ourselves.

We haven’t been called to turn from sin and turn to the law. We have been called by faith in Christ to turn from disobedience unto Jesus Himself.