Recently in my travels I saw a billboard that said “Are You Ready?” with a football scene in the background. As I continued to drive, I thought to myself, “Yes, I am ready for some football!” The National Football League (NFL) season is back after the longest work stoppage in history. The NFL had a work stoppage due to financial and labor negotiations between the league, the owners, and the players. Fortunately, everything worked out in time for the season to kick off with only one casualty, the Hall of Fame game. However, before the football season could move forward, a new labor agreement had to be established.
Due to the execution of the new agreement, the old agreement which the players and owners used to abide by is no longer valid. This means that if there are questions on compensation or labor rights, then those seeking answers would need to search the new agreement for the new benefits. A lot can be learned from the old agreement, especially to see how and why some of the new terms were drafted. However, it would be futile for them to spend time searching the old agreement for the new compensation and labor benefits.
The same is true for Christians today. Many believers are looking at the old agreement (or Old Covenant) for their rights and benefits when in fact there has been a new and improved agreement known as the New Covenant established. The old agreement is good to reference, so we can see where enhancements were made in the new agreement and learn from it. However, it is not meant to be referenced for current rights and benefits, for they are new and improved and not found in the old agreement.
The new agreement was established at the end of Jesus Christ’s walk on earth over 2000 years ago. During that time, He lived under the law of the Old Covenant. Throughout His days on earth, Jesus never sinned even though He was faced with every temptation that we face today (Luke 4:13). Then, the day came when He chose to be the perfect, sinless sacrifice for all who sin and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). After three days, He rose again stripping the devil of all power and authority (Colossian 2:15). This is when the new agreement of grace (unmerited favor) was established and when every one of our sins (past, present, and future) were paid for, before we were even born.
The reason Jesus came to make salvation available to all through a new covenant was because God found fault with the old covenant of the law that He Himself wrote on stone for the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Hebrews 8:7; Exodus 31:18, 32:16, 34:1). “By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and His people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust” (Hebrews 8:13, MSG). Man was not able to fulfill the law and failed every time he tried to, which brought on God’s judgment from generation to generation (Exodus 34:7). The law was established to make man aware of sin and the need for a Savior, not for man to be established in self-righteousness (Romans 7:7). The Ten Commandments, or The Law, were fulfilled by only One in the history of man and His name is Jesus.
By fulfilling the law and becoming the perfect sacrifice, Jesus paid the price for anyone and everyone who believes He is Lord and Savior (Acts 13:39). Similar to paying off a debt, once paid in full, the payments to the lender stop because the debt has been fulfilled. This is how Christians should be viewing the sin debt that we all faced because of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:12). We had a debt to a perfect, sinless God that we could not repay as humans – so God paid it for us through Jesus Christ, once and for all.
The new agreement was established so God’s people would be in right standing with Him again, based on Jesus’ work and not ours. This allows all believers to rely on God for the necessary provision we need to fulfill the destiny He has planned for each of us, through His grace and not our own efforts. We are able to fulfill our destiny when we understand our right standing through Jesus and all the benefits that are ours through the new agreement.
So how does the new agreement work? God made it simple. He sent His Son Jesus to do all the work for us through the cross because we could not. Through Jesus’ work, we were given a new agreement that changed everything. This new agreement hinges on the fact that God chooses to be merciful to our unrighteousness and sins and no longer remembers our lawless deeds (Hebrews 8:12)!
In order for the new agreement to be executed, all we are required to do is comprehend that prior to receiving Jesus we were unrighteous and could not measure up to a perfect standard, but now we are in right standing with God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). This new agreement cannot be activated by any works we do; we can only receive our righteousness through faith (Romans 4:13). This is done by making Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of our lives. When we make Him our Lord and Savior, we are dying to our old way, sin, and are re-established in the righteousness of Christ (Romans 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Make note that both “sin” and “righteousness” are used as nouns (people, places, or things) not as verbs (action words) in these references. We literally move from living in a place of sin to a place of righteousness.
As believers, it is so important to understand that it’s not through our works that we benefit from the new agreement with God’s blessings, approval, and favor. It is through relying on the perfect and completed work of Jesus Christ. By Jesus becoming our perfect sin offering, we no longer need to make yearly, weekly, or even daily sin offerings when we fall short because He has already done it once and for all, for everyone who believes He is Lord (Hebrews 10:10).
When we know our New Covenant rights and understand that our righteousness comes from faith in Jesus Christ, then no weapon formed against us will ever prosper (Isaiah 54:14-15,17). Fulfilling our call will be a joy not a chore. Our actions, such as serving others and our Lord, will be a result of believing that we are righteous by faith and not a requirement to gain righteousness and blessings from God. We can depend on His unmerited favor for our peace, restoration, and success in life because Jesus Christ hand-delivered our new agreement through the cross.
We need to start learning what rights we have as Christians in the new agreement and stop trying to implement the old. When we understand that the new agreement is based on grace and not law, we will have a solid foundation. Then, we can begin receiving all the blessings God has for us through Jesus Christ, which will allow us to serve the Lord and fulfill His plan for our lives. So let me ask you, “Are You Ready” to start experiencing the blessings that have been promised to you in our new agreement? Glory!
