To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 17:52:05 -0500
Subject: HF032 - The New Adam Race (Part One)
Hebraics,
This is study HF032 - The New Adam
Early Christian writers spoke of Jesus as the new Adam. They took this
from what Paul said concerning Christ; "So also it is written, 'The first
man Adam, became a living soul.' The last Adam became a life-giving
spirit.' (1 Corinthians 15:45)
In this study we are going to consider an issue that is the
distinguishing mark of the new covenant. It has to do with our new
creaturehood in Christ. It also has to do with God dismantling the
religion of Moses. (And our religions for that matter.)
Let's begin this study with a reading from Galatians 6:14-18.
The apostle said, "But may it never be that I would boast, except in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace
and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God."
Paul is telling the Galatian believers that the religious things of the
Jews were of no importance in the new covenant. In fact, the religious
things of the Jews would serve to hinder their walk with the Lord.
It is odd how that religion can become a destroyer of God's people.
There was only one religion in all history that came from God. It was the
worship that was given through Moses. The purpose of this religion
was to prepare a people for the Messiah. Once Messiah came, the
religious part would have served its purpose. It was to be disannulled,
or dismantled so to speak.
What happened to the religion of the Jews? It was nailed to the cross.
The apostle said, "[He abolished] in His flesh the enmity, which is the
Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He
might make the two [Jews and all other nations] into one new man,
thus establishing peace." (Ephesians 2:15)
In Christ, God removed the haziness of religion to give man the full
sonlight of His Son. People who keep reaching back into the Law of
Moses are disinheriting themselves from a fuller walk with the Lord.
This is what Paul was trying to explain to the Galatian Christians. He
said, "You are severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified
by law; you have fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:4)
John lay the groundwork for this, when he warned the Pharisees
against their religious pride. He said, "Do not suppose you can say to
yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father', for I say to you that from
these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham." (Matthew
3:9)
Then we hear the Lord say to Nicodemus, "You must be born again."
Actually Jesus laid out how that religion was to be disannulled, with the
woman at the well. She said to Him, "Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship." (John 4:20) Isn't this interesting? We are still
fighting over where men ought to worship.
The Lord's response was, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming
when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the
Father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know,
for salvation is from the Jews." (John 4:22,23)
Jesus very truly told her that God's redemption program had been
working through the Hebrew peoples. But He adds something of
utmost importance. He lets her know that 'places' will no longer hold
spiritual value in the worship of the Father. From now on it will be done
in spirit and in truth.
When in Jerusalem a few years ago, I went to the western wall. To the
Jews this is the most sacred of places. I stood before the wall and
placed my hand on it, and offered a prayer. I can only say that there was
but deadness in the wall. God does not inhabit places of stone. He
inhabits human hearts, but He only does this through His Son, Jesus.
But there was life in one place in Israel for sure. About 5000 Christians
marched through the streets of Jerusalem, singing the praises of the
Lord. I sensed very much the presence of the Lord with us. You see,
religion is dead. But Jesus is alive. Choose Jesus and live.
Perhaps we need a disclaimer here - Neither the Lord nor the apostles
ever set aside the gatherings of God's people into flocks. What was
disannulled was the former covenant with its 'shadows' of reality. Why
would anyone want to live in a shadow, when they can have the full
reality of God in their life.
So when Paul says, "And those who will walk by this rule, peace and
mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God," the rule he was
speaking of was the rule of our new creaturehood in Christ. We have
been made alive in Christ. Every child of God now has the permanent
indwelling Spirit of Christ in them.
But we must make certain we understand what this new creaturehood
is. When Paul uses the term 'new creation' he has in mind God's
original creation. It says, "And God created man in His own image, in
the image of God He created him, male and female He created them."
(Genesis 1:27)
Genesis tells us how God did what He did. It says, "Then the Lord God
formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) Adam
received his spirit life directly from God. This tells us that God gave
Adam a spirit nature like His own.
When Adam turned from God, he lost his spirit nature. But we see
something of the spirit nature returned, when it says, "He breathed on
them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" (John 20:22)
The point in this is that our new creaturehood comes about as the
product of the cross. When men and women pass through the cross,
they once again are given their spirit-nature. Every time a person is
born again there is a new creation. One of the early writers said that
when a person is born again, it is as though Christ were born again in
the heart of the believer.
And this is the reason that circumcision and uncircumcision is
meaningless. The person who is given the new spirit-nature of Christ,
has instant communication, and a conscious relationship, with God
Himself. The apostle speaks of this as the 'Abba! Father!' experience.
Paul said to the Galatian believers, "Because you are sons, God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'
Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an
heir through God." (Galatians 4:6,7)
This is why there is only one message we are given to preach. It is the
message of the cross. The apostle said, "For I determined to know
nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He went
on to say, "So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but
on the power of God." Paul is speaking of the redemption of the cross,
and the resulting new creation. (1 Corinthians 2:2,5)
A problem resident in the early Church, which will always be with us, is
the tendency to recognize people after the flesh. The apostle very
carefully pointed out that we are to recognize no one by racial stock, by
gender, by achievements, by family status, by education, or by any other
thing that men tend to place pride in. The apostle even said that we are
not to recognize Christ after the flesh.
The only thing we are to recognize now is if a man is in Christ. This is
what Paul means by 'walking by this rule.'
The word 'rule' that Paul uses, in the Greek is the word 'kanon.' It
is
derived from a Hebrew word which speaks of a measuring rod. It was
used for a fixed standard by which everything was to be judged. God
only has one standard. Religions have many standards.
Just as we have a fixed 'canon' which consists of sixty-six books of our
Bible, even so the new creation is God's fixed standard of
measurement. Paul's point is that the whole belief system of the
Christian faith is to work out of this rule. That is, we are to know no
other standard of measure. (Its God's measure.)
Paul makes a double emphasis in this regard. First he says, "But may
it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ." Then he says, "And those who will walk by this rule, peace
and
mercy be upon them."
The Judiazers had their own standard of measure that they attempted
to place on the Galatian believers. Their standard of measure was, the
Law of Moses, become a Jew, be circumcised, etc.
But this brings us to the centerpiece of the new creation. The
centerpiece of the new covenant in Christ is 'sonship.' The prophets
spoke of this. It is written in Isaiah 45:11, "Thus says the Lord, the Holy
One
of Israel, and His Maker: 'Ask Me about the things to come concerning my sons,
and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands."
Paul has this prophecy in view, when he says, "For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)
The good works are our spiritual stewardships in Christ, and those
things we are to do out of our new spirit-nature. Jesus spoke of these
things as the 'outflowing' life." (John 7:38)
The bottom line is that God deals with His children on the basis of
being a son and daughter of the new creation. Because of our unique
birth from above, and because we are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ, we are also inheritors of all the promises that have been made
in past generations.
Recently I purchased a number of polished stones to hand out to our
congregation. With these stones I gave them three Scriptures to
remember. The first is Psalm 24:1, which says, "The earth is the Lord's,
and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it."
I wanted them to understand that Jesus owns it all. Whenever they look
at a tree, they are to say to themselves, "That tree belongs to
Jesus."
When they look at anything, they should keep this in mind. It all belongs
to Him.
Then I gave them 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, which says, "Let no one boast
in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all
things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to
God."
With this Scripture I wanted them to understand that all of creation was
made with the believers in Christ in mind. You can look at creation, and
say, "God made it all for me." And, "I am an heir of God and a
joint heir
with Christ."
The third Scripture I gave them was 1 Timothy 6:17, where Paul said,
"Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or
to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly
supplies us with all things to enjoy."
My point being, once again, that God made it all for the 'new Adam'
creation in Christ.
As an additional thought, and I must give credit to my son Nathan for
this, I cautioned the congregation, that if they hear the stone in their
pocket, or in their purse, praising the Lord, it means they are not doing
their job. Jesus said, "For if these [children] become silent, the stones
will cry out." (Luke 19:40)
Special note: We are about to graduate our 26th School for Christian
Workers. I intend to give each graduate a bag of polished stones.
These stone will be theirs to give with their testimony of Jesus.
There is more to be said - But lets conclude with the fact that God
never stopped loving the Adam race. One early writer said,
"Because of His measureless love, He became what we are in
order to enable us to become what He is."
Think about it.
Shalom in Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)