It is Finished

“It is finished.” ...... Mankind has never heard better words. Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross spoke these words as He breathed His last. The price had been paid. He had suffered the full wrath of a Holy God. No longer would anyone have to offer sacrifices, because the ultimate sacrifice had been made. The beautiful passage in Colossians 2 describes Christ’s work on the cross. “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,  having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

It is hard for me to grasp what life was like for the Israelites before Christ. They were under the Mosaic Law. It was a list of do’s and don’ts to live by, and if these were broken then a sacrifice had to be made. Whenever I read through the old testament I am always grateful that I am not under the old covenant. We are no longer the law, and we are no longer required to make sacrifices. However, I think many Christians today still live under a law. It may not be the same do’s and don’t of the Mosaic Law, but there are still the rules to live by. If one of the laws/rules is broken they feel the need to make a “sacrifice”- a good work, to cover their mistake. This is legalism and moralism at their core. The mindset that in order to maintain a good standing before God we must make sure our good works outnumber the sin in our lives. The gospel frees us from thinking this way. When we can fully embrace the gospel we realize that nothing we can do will make God love us more, and nothing we can do will make God love us less. Think about that. 

Tullian Tchividjian in his great book “Jesus + Nothing = Everything” writes about how the  Gospel frees us from legalism and points us to Christ’s finished work on the cross. He writes, “Paul isn’t saying that our performance leads to our rescue; he’s saying that genuine rescue leads to our performance. Our improvement comes from God’s approval; God’s approval doesn’t come from our improvement.” If we truly understand God’s grace and what He did for us, it will lead to a life full of obedience out of love.” Jesus had harsh words for the Pharisees because their obedience to the law was not with the right motives. They kept the law as perfectly as any human could. However, it was not out of love for God, but rather their love of attention from others. A few pages later Tullian goes on to say, “As we continue working out our life of obedience in light of Christ’s obedience, one thing is clear: the issue is never whether or not to obey. We know the Bible has plenty to say about keeping God’s commands. That’s indisputable. But what motivates our obedience, what animates our obedience, and what prompts us to obey? Is it fear or faith? Is it guilt or gratitude?”

It was Paul’s prayer for the different churches he wrote to that they would be able to grasp that. To know the love of God. I believe one of the reasons many people struggle with legalism is because they translate how humans love each other to how God loves us. No one can love another person perfectly. If someone does something extremely hurtful to you, it is nearly impossible not to love them less. Christ’s love is unconditional and not based on how we did last week. In Ephesians 3:17-19 Paul writes, “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” I encourage you to pray that not only for yourself but for your brothers and sisters in Christ. One final passage from Tullian’s book. “Most of us become guilty of this Christless Christianity because we look at the Bible and we see all of the imperatives without being washed by the indicatives. We spend more time asking what would Jesus do instead of what did Jesus do. We have to keep reminding ourselves of the difference between moralism and the gospel. We have to keep remembering that the reason Christ came was first of all not to make bad people good but to make dead people alive. If we forget that, our Christianity will turn out to be Christless.” 

“I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” - John 17:26