8.81 Living by God’s ability in the New Covenant

When people are motivated by the law, churches may experience temporary results but ultimately, everyone comes to the end of themselves at one point or another.

So what is the force that motivates us in the New Covenant? When Jesus was on this earth, He gave people grace (John 1:17). He was always “giving”, “giving” and “giving”. He preached the good news, fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, met their needs and gave them life. Crowds came to Him to receive from Him.

Likewise today, we are to draw from Jesus and His ability. The disciples of Jesus were constantly receiving from Him. When it was time to send them out, Jesus told them, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

(Matt 10:7-8)
And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Jesus could only send them after they had first received. Now that they are full of His grace, they could channel His grace to others. The law demands from our self-ability, but grace is a river the flows from within us to bless others.

Today, we have not only received from Him, we have also received Him. Christianity is not about what we do. It is about what He has done on the cross, and what He continues to do in us through His Spirit. Gal 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” We are the expressions or channels of His life and power. In fact, God rejects service without the anointing (empowerment) of His Spirit. He wants everything to de done by His ability, not by the flesh.

Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the wine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” When we walk in our own ability, we are not abiding in Christ. When we abide in Him, and depend on Him who is in us, we will bear much fruit, and we can do all that He asks us to do.

Let us use the example of Peter who boasted of His love for Jesus. He depended on His self ability to perform. He was confident that he could love Jesus with all his heart, soul and strength. But he denied Jesus three times before the night was over. He failed to fulfill the law in his self-ability. When he had blown it and when he had nothing to offer, the resurrected Christ came to Peter and restored him by the power of His grace. Jesus empowered Peter to feed his sheep. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached in the power of the Spirit and 3,000 got saved.