79 - The New Covenant

ave you ever wondered why so many individuals who claim to be Christians behave so badly? In some cases, large numbers of so-called Christians have behaved worse than unbelievers and some even at a level of evil explainable only by demonic influence. Have you ever been reading a history book or watching a documentary only to suddenly realize that the horror being described was perpetrated by people who called themselves Christians? Or, have you noticed that with sad regularity a Christian leader will be caught doing something awful? It’s unnerving. It’s discouraging. It leaves a person wondering if Christianity is true. If it does what it says it does, then why isn’t it making its followers more like its Founder? Where’s the change? Where’s God? Where’s the miracle?

In my opinion, this is the most serious charge against Christianity. These glaring failures make it appear that our faith is just one more set of religious teachings, one more philosophy among all the other teachings and philosophies in the world. Yet, to be fair, we have to point out that while some Christians and so-called Christian societies have behaved badly, there have been individuals and communities of believers who have loved and served their Lord with amazing sincerity and selflessness. Most of us know someone whose life reveals miraculous change. No one can deny that something really happened to that person.

So the question is: Why are some people who call themselves Christians becoming so much like Jesus, while others who also call themselves Christians behave no differently, or even worse, than unbelievers? As we read through John’s report of the disciples’ final evening with Jesus, we can hear in the Lord’s voice great expectation for the future. He clearly expected those disciples to change and become like Him. He knew that change hadn’t happened yet, but He was sure a miracle would happen to them after His cross and resurrection, one that would leave them different, empowered and, above all, obedient to God. As He served them the bread and cup from the Passover table that evening, He gave a name to that miracle. He called it the “new covenant.” He said it would transform rebellious, selfish, independent people into obedient, loving, humble disciples. That miracle was something God had promised as far back as Moses. The prophets said it was a gift that the Messiah would bring to all who would truly repent and believe.

I think this miracle, or miracles, that Jesus called the “new covenant” is what causes some people to become real Christians and others to be Christians in name only. The lack of it helps explain the hypocrisy we read about in history and the absence of a conscience in certain individuals. Actually, the Christianity Jesus envisioned that night can’t exist apart from it. Everything He and His apostles taught was designed only for people who had entered this new covenant, for people to whom God had given a new heart.