Like Riding a Bike
Over Spring Break my family was able to spend a week in Southern California. On one of those nights my super rad wife and I went on a date to Coronado Island. We took a short ferry ride from San Diego to Coronado, then rented some electric bikes to cruise around the island. We had never ridden electric bikes before, and immediately realized how awesome they are. Instead of exhausting ourselves trying to make it around the island in an hour, or settling for covering much less ground, we cruised the whole island easily and had time to spare.
Just in case you are starting to wonder if you accidentally started reading a traveler’s blog, hang in there. We are going somewhere.
Because Jesus said He “did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it,” we as a church family have been trying to get a good grasp on the role of the Law in the life of the Jesus-follower. We know the New Testament teaches that the Law God gave Moses is “good” and “trains us in righteousness,” but we also know that “the law brings death, while the Spirit brings life.”
The New Testament writers worked hard to help their readers see a new Spirit-based covenant has come through Jesus, which is better—way better—than the law-based covenant God brought through Moses. The Apostle Paul teaches it this way: “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory…will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?” (1 Corinthians 3:7-8)
Jesus, with a quiet confidence, said it nice and succinctly to His disciples: “when the Spirit comes He will guide you into all truth.” This indicates that the Law was not Jesus’ preeminent plan to guide people into truth. The indwelling Spirit was.
So what is it like to live according to the Spirit instead of living according to the rules and commands of the Law of Moses? It’s like riding an electric bike of course. (See what I did there?)
When I ride an electric bike there are two things at work. I still have to pedal and put in effort, but all my human effort is infused with the battery’s electric power. As I pedal, the power kicks in and multiplies my greatly limited and easily drained power. My little effort immediately turns into great effort — not according to my strength, but according to the power of the battery.
When we invite the Spirit of God in, we are connected to a power source far greater than any battery out there. The power is limitless and infinite.
Do you know how that kid’s five loaves and two fish fed 5,000 men? His little resource was hooked up to the infinite resource of God and —Voilà! — everybody ate!
Do you know how Peter and John were able to heal the lame man by the entrance to the temple? Their little compassion and small offering of care and consideration was hooked up with the deep, powerful compassion and power of God the Father and — Voilà! — the lame man was dancing and leaping and praising God.
Do you know how the little trust and hope my mom had on her death bed, as the cancer did its damage to her brain, became peace that passes understanding? It was connected with the Spirit of Christ.
Finally, do you know how the selfish brat writing this has become someone whose greatest joy is to see others built up and encouraged and confident? Jesus’ Spirit has come in and — Voilà! — a new creation has come.
I love the way Dallas Willard puts it: “Now, what we can do by our unassisted strength is very small. What we can do acting with mechanical, electrical or atomic power is much greater. Often what can be accomplished is so great that it is hard to believe or imagine without some experience of it. But what we can do with these means is still very small compared to what we could do acting in union with God himself, who created and ultimately controls all other forces.”
I pray you and I will not exhaust ourselves trying to do right without the Spirit of God guiding us and empowering us. I pray you and I will not settle for the lesser righteousness and relationship with God which comes from the Law of Moses. And I pray you and I will understand that Jesus did not come to tear down what the Law built, but to baptize it and us with the Spirit and with fire. Then, by His living in us, the whole world can see the light and feel the warmth of His glorious wisdom and love.
David
If you want to drive this “Spirit is greater than law” truth deeper into your soul in a deeply moving way, click on this YouTube link and watch the 3-minute video from “Les Miserables.”