Proverb 23: 4
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it.
There is some confusion over the part the Old Testament plays in a New Testament people. This verse gives an excellent opportunity to see how the Old and New Testaments work together.
Hebrews 13: 8 reads, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” That means that God has not changed His mind or principles. True, we are no longer living under the Levitical priesthood, so some things have changed but not God nor those premises that He sought to teach the Old Testament people. Jesus didn’t come here to throw out everything that God taught for thousands of years. Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5: 17). Jesus became the embodiment of the law. He changed it from a bunch of rules to a lifestyle. His life and ministry took legalism out of the law, turning it into a passion. His coming and his leaving takes us deeper, where our relationship with him is the focus but yet embodies all of the law and prophets. Our relationship with him, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit would have contained all of these elements even if we had never seen, heard of or read an Old Testament text. So, when you love Jesus, you automatically love the law and want to do those things that the prophets taught, even had the law never been taught. Compassion which comes from our love of Jesus now drives us to do all the things that the prophets had to instruct and order the Old Covenant people to do.
One of the things I love is seeing where the Old Testament text and the New Testament intersect. I enjoy seeing the fulfillment of the Old Testament and those mirror images of each other. For example, let’s look at this text from the book of Matthew. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will you heart be also. No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6: 19-21, 24). Then Jesus went on to speak about not being anxious about our needs and concluded with, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6: 33). Jesus’ teaching in Matthew says the same thing as the proverb. It just took Jesus more words because He wasn’t just laying down a law. Rather, He was teaching the substance of the law. He was teaching why that rule was ever given to us. He could have just quoted the Proverb to us, but He came to lead and teach us rather than to give edicts. Under the new Covenant we are supposed to be able to understand, use wisdom and thereby make good choices for ourselves. We are still supposed to refrain from chasing after material wealth. We are still supposed to keep our minds from the consideration of it and our needs but now we have a fuller explanation. Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of the law, but as you see, the basic tenets have not changed. Legalism is gone but love compels.
I hope you enjoyed this comparison and feel empowered by it. Love, it turns out, wrote the Old Testament. Now, through the lens of Jesus’ ministry, we see more clearly.
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