Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations
with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through
the powerful lens of love. In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing
fresh insights and gaining deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith
in practical ways. So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the
context of the Bible intersect to transform our lives. Welcome back everyone to the Love
in Context podcast. There it is. Yeah. We're excited that you are here to join us for the
final episode of Pentultimates next to last. Oh, next to last. Yeah. Cause we got one more.
We're going to talk about covenants with between like people. Oh, that's right. Yeah. That's
right. But we are going to be talking about the messianic covenant. Woo. Everybody's been
waiting for this one. And wives know this is not the covenant about how to get your
husband to do dishes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That, that would be the, the he is messy antics.
Yes. Yes. Covenant. Yes. Uh, this one I had to like be really careful how to pronounce
that. Ben's like, I had to think about that one. Yeah. Um, so this covenant that implies
that I don't think about anything else I say. So this covenant, uh, uh, this is great. Uh,
spoiler alert for everyone. This covenant talks about Jesus. Yeah. So that's where we're
going today. The Messiah, the Messiah. Yeah. So, uh, the messianic covenant obviously refers
to Jesus and it, so the messianic covenant is the, what we often will call the new covenant.
It's central to our faith, right? It signifies this, this new relationship between God and
humanity through Jesus Christ. Um, this is going to be incredibly important for Jew and
Gentile and alike. Uh, it, it emphasizes the forgiveness of sin, the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit and the promise of this eternal life is qualitative light for God now dwells
in you, right? From, from then on. Um, and even, uh, I might even say beyond forgiveness
of sins to actually you becoming a new person. Uh, one of the, one of the examples I love
to give is out of Jeremiah right here. It says Jeremiah 31, the days are coming declares
the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of
Judah, it will not be like the covenant I made with your ancestors when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because they broke my covenant though I was a husband
to them declares the Lord. This is, this is the covenant I will make with the people of
Israel after that time. I will put my law in their minds and I will write it on their
hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people no longer. Will they teach their
neighbor or say to another, know the Lord because they will all know me from the least
of them to the greatest declares the Lord for I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more. Okay. So what is the biggest difference between this, uh,
previous covenants and this covenant you're going to know God and God's going to fully
know you. Yes. Now of course somebody there is probably clacking away. They're like, Oh,
the God already knows everything. Yeah, I understand that. But in an experientially
way like God is going to know you in relationship. In other words, he's going to be indwelling
in your life. Right. And uh, I was like, I know that God knows everything, but at the
same time he is, he is desiring relationship and closeness with his kids. Well, in the
passage you just read talks about a marriage relationship, right? Yeah. Like in a marriage
relationship, the reality is like, I can say things about my wife, but that's different
than me knowing and being with my wife. Right. Yeah. Like, like I can tell you all the wonderful
things about her and probably a few not so wonderful things about her. Right. Yeah. Probably
just focus on the wonderful ones. If you're talking to us, focus on those ones. Yeah.
Yeah. Um, I can tell you all those things, uh, but it'd be like this way I know about
her versus like being with her and actually doing life with her and knowing her. There's
a difference there. Yeah. And uh, so, so in Jeremiah, once again, what's happening in
the book of Jeremiah, they're going into captivity, right? Um, because they have not been following
God's, uh, Torah because he says, Hey, if you do the Torah, like your fields are going
to produce, you're going to have lots of kids. Uh, there's going to be peace. Like your enemies
will run away from you. You're going to be the story I put on display. All the world
is going to be changed because of you. And they're like, nah, they didn't say that. But,
but like as a nation, they basically wanted to be like everybody else. They didn't want
to be God's chosen people. Yeah. They wanted to be like everybody else. And uh, what ends
up happening is God has to, uh, send them into captivity. So they learned and they don't
want to be like everybody else. They actually want to be something different. Yeah. Um,
Jesus, of course, the Torah made flesh comes and puts that all on display. Jesus is what
the Torah was always supposed to look like in a person. Right. And he goes and puts it
on display. And as a Jewish Messiah goes to the cross and coordinates his kingdom with
his death and ultimately has power over death, becoming back from the grave. Yes. Right.
And because, uh, and Galatians, Paul's going to make a statement. He says, because of Jesus's,
uh, faithfulness, we now have faith in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And because
of this, our identity is carried with him to the very throne room of God. And we're restored
back to the father. Jesus is going to say this slightly differently. Um, but it's the
same, same idea is that, uh, he's talking in John 15. He says, I am the true vine and
you are the branches. If a man remains in me, he will bear much fruit apart from me.
You can do nothing that the process of actually being part of this kingdom life of being connected
to this life, giving fruit and, and being productive and everything in your life is
actually going to be being connected to Jesus. Yeah. That's it. It's not, it's not through
your effort. It's not through anything that you can do. Not through any of those things
is being connected to Jesus. And if you do that fruit's going to come out of your life.
And this, this invitation is like, it's not about what you can do. It's about what's been
done for you and whether or not you trust that. And Jesus says, if you trust me and
you follow me, suddenly everything's going to be way different. And you're not going
to have to do a ton. Now, um, I think sometimes the misnomer there is like people like, okay,
well, so I accept Jesus and then I don't do anything. If you accept Jesus, you're stepping
into a kingdom and so now you're following the King. Yeah. Are actually, our designs
actually to work. Correct. Right. Like we had jobs before Adam and Eve had jobs before
the fall. Right. Like they were tending the garden. They were tech support, you know,
at Apple. Yeah. No, that's not it. Yeah. Exactly. They actually, I think got fired from that.
They didn't do so well, but, uh, but they were tending the garden. They were in charge
of all the animals. They had jobs and there's actually, and there's actually scriptural
evidence in the new Testament to talk about that when, uh, when heaven is restored to
earth, cause there's actually side note, there's more scripture talking about having coming
to earth versus us going to heaven. Side note. Um, and some of you are typing away right
now. That's okay. I'd love to have that conversation. Yeah. We'll have that conversation a hundred
times. Yeah. Um, 101 times though, we're done at 101. We're done. It's actually at four
91. We're done. Okay. Forgiveness is done at that point. No, we're after four 91. Um,
but, uh, when heaven is restored to earth and we are part of that kingdom, eternally,
we will still have jobs, right? It'll look different, but we will still have work to
do in that kingdom. Yeah. Like that is the reality of who we are. We're not designed
to sit idle. We're not designed to do nothing. Yeah. And so oftentimes we get this message
of Jesus came to redeem restore and all you have to do is say yes. A hundred percent correct.
But in that redemption and restoration process, you're made into a new person. Yeah. Your
identity, your focus, your drive is going to change. And the reality is, is if you say
yes to Jesus, what you're actually saying is yes, I'm going to trust in you. Um, when
I sit in a chair and I say that I trust this chair, I demonstrate that by sitting in the
chair. Yes. I, if I say that I trust this chair and I never sit in it, which by the
way, I've broken a lot of chairs. So I don't trust all chairs. I've gone to your house
sometimes around the fire and you're like, Oh, you can sit there. And I very gingerly
sit down. Right. I've broken a lot of chairs. I was like, but if I have faith in a chair
and I believe that the chair is going to hold me, I sit in it. Right. If you believe and
have faith in the promises of Jesus, then you're going to live like you're a part of
his kingdom. Right. Uh, it's not something that you produce, but it is something that
is produced in you. Yeah. The, the power of Jesus inside you, the hope of glory, right
is what actually transforms the world. Like when the Holy spirit is in your life and he
is working through you, then you're able to go and actually be the hands of feet and feet
of Jesus in the community and magic, not magical, amazing things happen. Yeah. Right. Because
of Jesus working through you. And so yes, there is a, you absolutely do something, but
it's also not you doing it as Jesus doing it through you. Yeah, absolutely. So there
is a responsibility, but also the responsibility is almost is, is like the same responsibility
that you have with a gift that you'd be given is to actually go and bless with your blessing.
Right. Um, you didn't earn the blessing, therefore we share the blessing. Yeah. Right. Yep. And,
and so in the fulfillment of the messianic covenant, what you have is you have God saying,
Hey, we are returning to how Israel is supposed to be. Correct. Right. You have before Saul,
you had Israel without a quote unquote King. Yep. Without an earthly King. Let's put it
that way. Um, and now you have the kingdom of God moving forward through the line of
Israel through Jesus. And guess what? There is no earthly King is King Jesus. Well, and
let's, let's go back to, because let's, let's talk about all these covenants because all
these covenants find their, find their fulfillment in Christ. Yep. Right. So Adamic, no way
a covenant, but we're just going to focus on the Adamic is, is, uh, through one man,
all sin enters the world. Right. Yes. But this whole thing is be fruitful, multiply,
subdue the whole worth and fill it. Right. So the, the, the covenant is about filling
the entire earth and bringing the kingdom of God everywhere that you go. Yep. This is
fulfilled in the second Adam, which is Jesus Christ. Yes. As, as we live into his kingdom,
we bring the kingdom with us wherever we go. Now, instead of a physical temple, we, the
people are the temple of the Holy spirit. And we actually walk in this world, bringing
the kingdom of God everywhere we go. If you're ever at work and you're like, man, this is
a dark, dark place. Guess what? You're the light of the world. Go turn on a light. Right.
Yep. Like we usher light in. Correct. Right. Uh, and I like to use the analogy of light
a little different than a light switch, right? Yeah. So that's what we're used to. Yeah.
Turn a light switch on, instant light. We're good to go. Right. That's probably not what
they knew though. Yeah. Probably what they knew was actually more of like this light
gradually filling a space. Right. Right. Cause we have to think of it more in the context
of a sunrise or sunset. Right. Well, I even think if you're talking about a person carrying
light in their context, it would have been like you're carrying a torch from room to
room. It's pitch blackness and you walk in with a torch. Yeah. Like it's not, you're
not the one on fire, but you carry the fire inside you. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
So think of light a little bit like that where it's like where you're bringing it with you.
So then, then there's these, this Abrahamic covenant, which is that, um, they're going,
it's, uh, you're going to be blessed so that all people can be blessed and all the world
is going to, uh, be drawn to God because of this. And it's a, it's a covenant that you
accept through faith, right? Because it, uh, Abraham believed God and it was credited to
him as righteousness. Yes. Right. So there is righteousness to God through faith. This
is fulfilled once again in the person of Jesus that in faith we cast our identity onto Christ
and, uh, because of that, we're carried to the throne room of God and we have his presence
place inside of us. Yep. Right. It's not through anything that we can accomplish. Um, the,
the next one is not one that is necessarily applicable for the Gentiles, but might be
applicable for Jewish people because there's called to live in a specific way. It's a mosaic
covenant. Like they're supposed to live a certain way to put God on display. Hint, hint
Gentiles. If the, um, Jews are supposed to live in a certain way to put God on display,
what are we supposed to do? Also live in a specific way that puts a God on display. So
like the way that you, uh, work, the way that you parent, the way that you, uh, communicate
with like colleagues, the way that you, uh, uh, grocery shop, it should put God on display,
right? Where you spend your money should put God on display. Right. Um, I, I always hear
that really convicting thing that says, if you want to know what you really care about,
look at your pocketbook. I hate that. I mean, it's true, but I hate it. You know, um, Jesus
comes as a, as a, as a stand in for all of Israel, right? It's really important, really
reason why it's really important to understand is the Jewish Messiah. He steps in and he
fulfills the covenant, the mosaic covenant, the Torah made flesh and, uh, and, uh, and
steps into this Isaiah 55 role. Yep. Right. And that it's through him, all the world and
all the nation is going to be saved. Right. But he's not only that he's also, like we
talked last week, he's this Davidic Messiah. Yeah. Right. And he's establishing a kingdom
that can't be stopped. He's establishing his rule, reign and expectations moving forward.
Yep. Right. Yep. And his kingdom isn't to fight the physical powers of this world. It's
none. Right. We, we often make that mistake where we're like, okay, we see the physical
thing that's wrong, Lord fix it. And he's like, you know, I'm much more concerned about
your heart. Right. Right. I'm like, you're, uh, look at your neighbor, like maybe their
life looks really good, but where's their heart at much more concerned about that. Uh,
you read stories, you read about stories all the time where, where it's someone who is
a well-off has had a good life. And the next thing you know, they commit suicide or do
some sort of heinous act and, and the Lord saying, no, I'm going after the heart. I'm
not going after the physical state of the person. Right. And, and sometimes he does
heal physically. I'm not going to, I want to just clarify that before the keyboards
start clacking too much. We've seen too much of it for us not to know that God does it.
Yeah. God does it. Um, but he's much more concerned about your heart than he is you
physically. Well, coming from a Pentecostal and free Methodist background for you, of
course I grew up Southern Baptist, but, um, but Ben being a Pentecostal church now, like
we expect miracles, we expect God to do miracles. But here's the thing that I think is really
important that you always temper miracles with every person who was ever healed died
at some point. Yep. But every person who has encountered Jesus is changed forever. Yep.
And so the greater miracle is always for somebody to come into a experiential knowledge of Jesus
Christ and God as father. Right. And, uh, that's not to say that God's not going to
meet you in your physical elements or in your emotional issues. Right. Like he's not going
to step in and actually heal these things. But the much, much deeper thing is that if
your heart doesn't change, if your being doesn't change and, and like, you don't cast your
identity onto Christ, like you're missing the greater miracle. You are, uh, you are
eating a snack when a banquet is coming. Well, so look at John chapter four, uh, the woman
at the well, like it's a pretty prominent story in the Bible. Um, and, uh, side note,
go do your own research on this guys. Uh, but one could argue the woman at the well
was not as despised as people originally make her out to be. Correct. But there's some really
interesting conversation about that. You guys can absolutely have your own opinion. Yeah.
You can have your own opinion on it. Do some research on it. But regardless, uh, what miracle
took place at this well? Like the miracle that took place was the fact that she came
to know who Jesus is. Right. And then she went into the community and shared that with
everyone. Well, and, and Jesus gives the story. He says, I will give you a water that will
bubble up a Springs inside of you. And she's like, Oh, well, I want that water. So I don't
have to drink water or pull water again. And yet she does drink of that water metaphorically.
And it does bubble up into the entire community. Right. Like this is the, this is the reality
of what, what Jesus does is that she thinks the physical issue is the issue. Yeah. And
Jesus says, no, I got something better. It's actually going to do more of what you want.
Yeah. And the thing that is crazy about this story is that the disciples were more shocked
about this than other miracles. It might be that this one, it could be that this one just
happened a little earlier, right? But, uh, they were so shocked that when they came back
because they went to go get food for Jesus, they came back and they're like, they're like,
what is he like thinking? Like, what's he doing? Why is he talking to her? And then
they're like, why is he talking to a Samaritan? Why is he talking to a Samaritan woman? I
don't understand why this would be happening. And so finally one of them like becomes brave
and is like, are you still hungry? And he's like, no, I'm good. I got, I got food. You
don't know about who got him food. Yeah. Who got, who got you food? Right. Completely missing
the miracle of what's happening because, because, uh, you know, this, this happens a lot in
our lives as we get tend to get focused on what we think God should do rather than understanding
God's for everybody. We get so focused on what we want that we forget that God is here
for everybody. I'm going to say that one more time because I don't think you heard me. We
get so focused on what we want that we forget that God is here for everybody. And, uh, and
his invitation is open to everybody, especially those people that in the case of like the
Jews and the, and the Samaritans, especially those people that you think are terrible,
awful, have nothing to do with them. People, if you really want to know how they, like
how they felt about them, like even in the text itself, James and John, when they're
leaving Samaria, like, are like, Jesus, do you want us to burn it down? Call down fire
from heaven. Right now, why would they say fire from heaven? Because where's the last
place that got burned with fire from heaven? Sodom and Gomorrah. And so he's like, do you
want us to burn it down? Like Sodom and Gomorrah? Cause in their head, like it's so corrupt.
They are so corrupt that they're like Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus says like, no, no, no,
no, that's not what we're doing. Um, and, uh, and so it's like one of those things where
something like it was the messianic covenant. Like I think sometimes people like, yes, it's,
it's a fulfillment of all these covenants, but it's built, it's predicated on what came
before it. Yeah. Right. And, um, I, I, I don't love, I don't love the way that we've taken
the book of Hebrews and we said, this is a better covenant then. Cause I think what the
book of Hebrews is more illustrating is that it is the fulfillment of all the covenants
that came before it. Like it is the covenant that was originally the design that we were
working towards. Right? So yes. Is Jesus a better high priest than having a high priest?
A hundred percent. That's always what it was working towards is that God was supposed to
be our high priest. Right? Is, uh, Jesus a better temple than the physical temple? Yeah,
of course. Is the Holy spirit's presence better than, you know, when they rest in us rather
than on us? Absolutely. Like this is a better thing. Right. Um, and I, and I think sometimes
if when you read the book of Hebrews, if you don't understand that this is written to the
Hebrew people, hence the book title that you might misconstrue what he's actually having
a conversation about, he's talking about that Jesus is taking everything that we had and
he's leveling it up. Yeah. Like dramatically. Yeah. And it's a really cool. It's really
cool. Well, I've had people talk to me and they'd be like, well, the book of Hebrews
and James are just so different in the new Testament. I was like, yes, cause they're
really written to the Hebrew people. Both those books are like they're written to a
culture that is different culture that's supposed to be different culture that's supposed to
be set apart. Right? Yeah. Cause, uh, we talked about this in James and Hebrews has the same
thing, but in the book of James, he's writing to Jewish people and he's like, you know what
you're supposed to do. You know, Torah, like, and you know what Jesus said to do with Torah.
Right? Like you have a great example of what it looks like to put Torah on display. Yeah.
It's called Jesus Christ. Yep. Right. And, uh, Hebrews is, and is like, is saying, Hey,
you gotta understand that Jesus is fulfillment of everything that's come before it, you know,
and uh, you actually find, and once again, I want to go back to this idea of a fulfillment
abolish, right? Yeah. Like in a rabbinic sense, fulfilled doesn't mean do away with any more
than abolish means do away with. Like fulfill means you actually put it on display and it's,
it's able to be seen by the people around you. Abolish means you're actually downplaying
covenant that came before it. Jesus didn't come to abolish the Torah. He came to fulfill
the Torah and to put it on display and show us what it's always supposed to look like.
The thing that where I think people get missed issues with is when they get into Galatians
is understanding what is the role of the Gentile as opposed to the Jew, which is probably most
of the people who listen to this. Right. Most of us are probably Gentiles. Yeah. And I mean,
that, that also goes back to the book of Acts about midway through where they're, where
the disciples and Paul, they're hashing this out. I'm like, do we hold these people to
the same standards? Do we not? And then they come, and then they come out with the four
things that they expect of the Gentiles. Right. And so there's this whole conversation around
this, right. And they're like, no, Israel is actually supposed to be its own separate
thing. Right. And it's, and it's not, there's not a special blessing for Israel and there's
not a special blessing for Gentiles. We're both calm to put God on display in different
ways. And we should be super thankful for the Jews and for the, for the Orthodox Jews
who follow Jesus. Right. Because their preservation of Torah and history helps us understand what
Jesus actually means for us to do. Yeah. Right. Like an example, like a way to think of this
with the Jew and Gentile thing is like, it's like welcoming an outsider into your family.
All right. So you have a sibling, that sibling gets married. Yeah. Right. You're welcoming
an outsider into the family. Yeah. Right. It's going to probably change some family
dynamics, right? That's, let me rephrase that. It will change. I was going to say, you may
need to say that differently. It will change some family dynamics. Yeah. Okay. So, uh,
between the outsider in well, and, and, and it's the same family though. Like it's, they
have different history, but they're the same family and they're, they don't act the exact
same way. Yeah. Um, you have a number of, uh, adopted siblings. Yes. Is any single one
of them not your family? Nope. They're all your family. The second that you brought them
in, they're your family. Yep. Period. The same way we are, we have been adopted in,
we've been grafted into this tree. We're a part of the family that God's been building
from the very beginning. And good news about Jesus and about God is that they love adopting.
Yep. Right. They love adopting. They do. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't think we can understate how
overstate how, um, important the messianic covenant is. Right. And it's really important
to understand what it is and what it isn't. Yes. Right. Because, um, the gospel, the good
news that Jesus preached is that the kingdom of heaven is here. The covenant is expressed
through his blood. Yep. Right. And, uh, you, you remember that you and I, we had this,
we were preaching, uh, um, a couple of years ago and we were, we use that illustration
with, uh, the Lagos, right? Where there's a big pile of Lagos, a bunch of different
colors and we said, this is the information in your Bible. Yeah. Right. And then, uh,
and then you separate them by stacks and you're like, this is the different books of the Bible.
And then you actually stack up all the colors next to each other and neat little rows. It's
like, this is systematic theology. Right. And then we showed a picture of, uh, uh, of
the Lagos actually being built into a house with a, like a yard and, and a door and all
this stuff. And I said, by the way, this is the gospel. Yeah. And so sometimes we can
see the individual pieces and never actually build the entire picture. Yeah. Um, because
the, the life death or the, the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus is the doorway
by which we enter into this different life. Right. And so the covenant is incredibly important
because that's what happens in the messianic covenants fulfilled the, through the death
burial, resurrection of Jesus. Yeah. And then we're invited into this kingdom life where
we follow a King in the line of David golden years in a, in a kingdom that doesn't end
and always is moving forward. The earth is being subdued. It's being filled. We are being
fruitful. We multiply all these covenants are being fulfilled in our midst. Yep. It's
good stuff. Good stuff. So the last one we're going to be talking about next week is we're
going to talk about what does it mean to live in covenant with each other? Yeah. What does
it mean to live in covenant with your friends and, and, and your church and your spouse,
you know, like these, there are covenants that we jump into all the time. And, and,
are you actually in a covenant relationship, but you're not behaving like you're part of
a covenant. Yeah. Right. That, that, that's, I think that's, that's the, the place that
we go next because we exist in this covenant to relationship with God. Now, now, as we
do this, how does that change how we covenant with people around us? So until next time.
And that's a wrap for today's episode of love and context. We hope you enjoyed this
engaging conversation and gain valuable insights into the powerful message of love within the
Bible. We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. Connect with us by sending
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