When the ruler of the feast had tasted
the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants
which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
And saith unto him, Every man at the
beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that
which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. John 2:9-10 KJV
In my last entry I was writing about the difference
between living by religious rules and regulations and true relationship with
Christ. I thought it was interesting in John 2:9 when Jesus turned the water
into wine and the wine was taken to the governor of the feast. When the
governor tasted the new wine he said, “This
is the good stuff!”The Pharisees and the religious leaders were a
picture of those who, “tasted the old.” They had chosen to live by rules and
regulations. Remember, they were the ones who were always giving Jesus trouble.
In Matthew chapter twelve they told Jesus that His disciples were picking the
corn in the field on the Sabbath and that was not acceptable. They considered the
disciples actions to be work which was not allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus
reminded them of what David and his men did when he was hungry. They went into
the Holy place and ate the consecrated bread that they were not supposed to
eat.
One of the things I like about the scriptures is that
there is enough there to shake things up to where you can’t put God in a box.
Basically what Jesus was saying is that the bread David ate was not allotted
for him to eat. It was wrong for him to do that. Then Jesus told them that He
was Lord of the Sabbath and He can do whatever He wants to. Jesus shook up the box
on them!
There’s all kind of issues where people put God in a
box. For example, the subject of women Bible teachers is one where people try
to put God in a box. They take a couple of scriptures and say this and that,
but God will put His anointing on who ever He pleases.
God leaves enough throughout the scriptures that shows
He is going to accomplish His purpose in whatever way He chooses. If you want
to be confined to the old, you can have things however you think they ought to be.
You’ll just be doing whatever it is without God’s anointing on it.
In the sermon on the mount in Matthew Chapter 5 Jesus
talked about the old and the new. He said, “The old has said, thou shalt not
murder, the new has said, if you have anger in your heart you have murdered in
your heart.” The old dealt with the outward appearance of unrighteousness.
Jesus introduced a new thing when He talked about the motives of the heart.
When the lawyer came to Jesus he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal
life?” Jesus asked him, “What does the law say?” The lawyer could have said,
thou shall not do this or that. He didn’t say that though, he replied, “Thou
must love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind and strength and love your
neighbor as yourself. He knew that God was talking about the issues of the
heart. Then the lawyer asked him, “Okay, if I’m supposed to love my neighbor,
who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, how a
man was robbed and beaten and left for dead. The religious leader and the
priest both passed him by and did nothing. It was the Samaritan, the one who
was willing to lay down his life who did the right thing and truly loved his
neighbor.
We can use religious talk and pray and read the scriptures but the
gospel is about laying down your life. It’s easy to lay down your life for
those who are laying down their lives for you. It’s easy for me to lay down my
life for my wife when she is baking me chocolate chip cookies. I can’t wait to
do wonderful things for her then. When she’s not meeting my expectations or is
an obstacle to the things I want her to do, that’s when it’s difficult to lay
your life down.
The crux of the gospel is the cross. It’s one thing to
talk about it but the reality comes in our day to day life. The reality comes
when we are not getting our way or when we are spending time with someone we
don’t enjoy spending time with. God says, “I want to use you to display what
love really is.”
Love is the giving up of yourself and
your rights.
You and I will never do that until we first believe the
love that God has for us.
One point I always come back to is John chapter 13 when
Jesus washes the disciples feet. Knowing the very reason that God the Father
sent Him he laid aside His garment and washed their feet. He didn’t have to
prove anything or tell them He was Lord. Because he knew God’s love for Him and
knew who He was, He was able to lay down His life for them without looking for
anything in return.
In every one of our relationships if we are not not
looking for the approval of others, we can genuinely lay down our lives for
others.
They’ll be no hook in it and no hidden motives, no
grumbling or complaints because we are convinced of God’s love for us. We are convinced of His sovereignty and that He is not playing games with our lives.
God tried to convince the children of Israel of His
love but their hearts were always looking back to where they came from.
Wherever you’ve come from, if your heart is still bent on going back to where
you came from, you’ll be given every opportunity to do so.
I spoke to one man in the prison recently who said he
was a prayer warrior and fasted often but God had not proven Himself to him. He
said he was ready to walk away from God. I think he was waiting for me to beg
him not to go. I didn’t, I told him if there is still something back there that
you are looking for, go ahead. Because you’re always going to be looking back.
That’s living in the Valley of Decision where you haven’t come to the end of
yourself yet.
As for my life, I’ve burned those bridges long ago. We
all are going through hardships and difficulties. That’s how God’s love is
tested and tried in us. Even when the circumstances of life are difficult and
you’re in loneliness and despair, where are you going to go? We’ll never have
peace in this world apart from the Lord. There will always be difficulties and
that’s how we are going to see Jesus in our lives as we move from glory to
glory. The further I go, the harder the trials are going to get but I’ll be
stronger and they won’t seem like anything to me.
I say the new is better than
the old. I don’t want to live by rules and regulations, I want to live by
relationship. That is eating from the tree of life at every moment of the day.
It’s calling on the Lord and asking Him, “Open up yourself to me and show me
how to do this.”
for if you are living according to the
flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of
the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these
are sons of God.
Romans 8:13-14
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