Taffi Dollar - Leveling The Playing Field
We’re gonna look at how Jesus came, and part of his assignment was to cause us to begin to walk and experience a level playing field. Now, just in a brief summary and a synopsis I guess, I would go back to Genesis chapter 1, where they’re in verse 26 and 27, where the Bible talks about how God made mankind. He says, «Let us make man,» and that word «man» means «mankind,» and it’s plural, referring to the woman and the man in our image and in our likeness. And he says, «Let them,» referring to mankind, «have dominion, and let them have authority, and over the fish of the sea and all the things that were in there».
And so both man and woman were created in the likeness and in the image of God. They both were given the authority by God to exercise, to bring things into subjection. They had been given the authority through their words, through their decisions, and God gave them the freedom to be able to make the decisions. He said, «All the trees of the garden that you can eat, but this one tree, you’re not supposed to eat of». And so the freedom that God gave unto Adam and unto Eve, they chose to eat of the fruit of the tree and to do the thing where the enemy subtly came and began to deceive them and caused them to get into a place where they ate of the fruit of the tree.
The Bible talks about how they saw the tree to be desired, to make them wise, and how enticing, and, Lord, they were into eating of the fruit of the tree. And so they did eat. And of course, we know after that, the Bible talks about how their eyes were open and they saw things and they covered themselves up, and over in Genesis chapter 3 talked about how, as a result of them eating of the fruit of the tree, that the man would rule over the woman and the woman would be affected as well. Things would happen in childbirth and offspring and the enemy as well would be destined to crawl and all these kinds of things.
And so, it took Jesus coming to undo all the things that the enemy did in the Garden of Eden. To unwind and to take back the authority that the enemy had been given by particularly Adam, because the Bible talks about how he wasn’t deceived, but he had the authority. And even Eve, as a result of them yielding to and deciding to eat of the fruit of the tree that God told them not to eat of. And so that decision and the consequence of that decision had very dire impact on all of us. And so, as a result, the Bible talked about how, you know, sin was conceived and how as a result there were things that were different. And so it took Jesus coming to undo the plan of the enemy.
So let’s look at a couple of things here concerning the playing field that Jesus had to level out by coming, because he had to end up giving his life in order for us to have access to what God’s original plan, and his ideal is, from the foundations of the world. And so during this time that the enemy had authority and under the law there were so many things that caused men and women to be on unequal playing and unlevel ground. Women, in many instances, had no rights. They were considered property. They were at a disadvantage, in many instances couldn’t take care of themselves, considered minors, and so it took Jesus coming and dying in order to empower and establish the access in the lives of his people, and so particularly as it relates to the playing field and leveling the playing field concerning women.
And so there were so many things that Jesus came and things that he caused to take place. And so let’s look in Genesis chapter 17. I think this would be a good place to start. Verse 9, and we will kind of look at some things concerning the law in which boys, Hebrew boys, Jewish boys, were granted access, and we can compare it with Hebrew girls during that time of living under the law and the difference between the covenants that Jesus came to deal with.
And so in Genesis chapter 17, verse 9, we’re gonna read through verse 14: «And God said unto Abraham, 'Thou shall keep my covenant, therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every, '» listen to this, «'every man child among you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you.'»
So the child who had to be circumcised after eight days. And he says, «'He that is born in the house, or bought with money of a stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with money must needs be circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.'» And so he says, «'The uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.'» So the circumcision was a big deal, and to the point where Jewish boys within that time period had to fulfill the covenant of circumcision. And so it was through this that the covenant was established, and it took Jesus coming to create a new covenant and to establish things on our behalf.
Now, look over at Mark chapter 15 because Jesus had to die, and well, let’s go to Isaiah 53, and we can see where God’s plan for Jesus was for him to sacrifice, to be the propitiation for us. He saw us in time needing to be able to have the ability to stand on equal ground in Christ and not be subject and ruled by the enemy based on the old covenant that we, as Dr. Dollar has taught us, under the law weren’t able to fulfill. So it says here in Isaiah 53, look at verse 10. Verse 10: «Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him,» referring to Jesus, «It pleased God to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin». He says, «He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand».
Look at this in the New Living Translation. We wanna look at that in another translation here. «But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants». Think of that, «He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan,» he says, «will prosper in his hand». And so Jesus had to give up his life, he had to sacrifice himself, become the offering, burnt offering. There are all kinds of descriptions of sacrifices under the Old Testament, but Jesus had to become the ultimate sacrifice and not just cover our sins under the Old Testament, but he had to remit to totally, not through the blood of bulls and animals and goats, but it was his precious blood that was necessary, that had to be shed on our behalf. You know why?
So he could level the playing field. And so it wasn’t where only men, Jewish men, could have the blessing and be privileged. But now, through Jesus’s blood, glory be to God, women could be blessed. Children could be blessed. You didn’t have to be Jewish. If you were other ethnicity, you could experience the blessing of God. And so the Scripture says, «It pleased the Lord to bruise him,» because of the assignment. Let’s look at this assignment here in Mark’s Gospel chapter 15, verse 36, because I’m telling you it’s no need for you to think less than or that you’ve not been privy to walk in this blessing, but I’m telling you that was why Jesus came and why he gave his life.
And even in this instance where he has a conversation with God here in verse 36, because everything changed when Jesus died. Everything was turned right side up. All access was given as a result of his death because, you know, under the Old Testament, it was priests who were male and they had to go in on behalf of others, and when they went in, they would stand there and, if they hadn’t taken the necessary preparation, they would fall dead. But thank God, we don’t have to have a man to go behind the curtain anymore on our behalf, we can go directly.
And so Jesus asked God here in Mark chapter 15, he says, «And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, 'Let us alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.' And Jesus cried with a loud voice,» and the Scripture says, «He gave up the ghost». Go to the next verse. Let me see. I’m trying to find, okay, and then it says, «The veil of the temple was ripped in two from the top to the bottom». Oh my goodness. And then people who were there began to realize and recognize that, «Truly this man was the son of God».
And so Jesus, in one of the gospels, he had said and quoted, «My God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you turned your back on me»? Because you gotta understand, in order for Jesus to take on the sins and take on illness and take on all the things that were required in order for him to pay the price, God forsook him. And he said, «My God, why have you forsaken me»? And that was part of the plan and that was part of the price that he had to pay for you and for me. And so it took Jesus dying in order for us to get into a place where we could live. Whoo, aren’t you glad about it?
Look over at Colossians chapter 2, verse 11 and 12. He had to level the playing field so that he can empower and change the destiny of young people and change the destiny of those who were not Jewish, those who were not male, those who were not rich. He had to make it where they could begin to live and experience God’s best for their life. So Colossians 2, 11 and 12, it says, «In whom you were circumcised,» See, you know, we have been circumcised, but not like the eight-year-old under the old covenant. He says, «In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ».
And look in verse 12, he said, «Buried with him,» You know, when he died and when he was put in that tomb, when he was placed in the grave, we were «Buried with him in baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead». Glory be to God. So when we were in sin, it took Jesus coming so that we can begin to be born again and be alive, made alive because we were spiritually dead and he resurrected us with him. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 12. Thank you Jesus. So the level playing field gives everyone equal footing because at the foot of the cross, we all look the same. Come on somebody. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how fast you are, how witty you are, how slick you are. That doesn’t have anything to do with anything. We were in need of a Savior so that we could have eternal life with Christ.
So it says, «For the eyes,» look at verse 18 of chapter 3; 1 Peter: «For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,» ooh, my gosh, «that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened,» made alive, «by the Spirit». Because when the Holy Ghost came on the day of Pentecost, when Jesus said, «I’m going away. But even though I go away, I’m gonna send back a comforter, and he will be with you». And so that Holy Spirit that came on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, it didn’t just fill the men, the Jewish men, but according to Scripture, it fell on everybody. «That he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, that we might be quickened,» the scripture says, «by the Spirit». Somebody say, «I’m quickened by the Spirit».
That word «quicken» means to be made alive. Alive in Christ. We get born again and the Holy Ghost comes on the inside of us and we, you know, are no longer in a place where we’re bound by sin. Sin no longer reigns and rules over us. The Scripture says, look in verse 19, «We’re quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went up and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ».
And so the equal footing that we’re talking about is the fact that now we have access. Somebody say, «I have access». You have access. Glory be to God. You have access, you have opportunity, and in Christ, you have a fair chance because of what Jesus did. Now, we know the enemy is trying to do everything and he’s behind this, still trying to create havoc and strategies to kill, to steal, and to destroy. You may say, «Well, Taffi, I don’t feel like there’s a level playing field. I don’t feel like there’s equal footing, that there’s equal ground».
You know why? Because the devil is loose. But once we begin to know who we are in God and we know our identity in him and we understand what and who we are in Christ, we can begin to live our best life, the highest type of life, the «zoe» kind of life. The life that is full, that overflows, the abundant life. The qualitative life as well as the quantitative life, that abundant life is both qualitative and quantitative. But there is a devil loose and the devil is trying to do everything that he can to cause us not to believe that we have the opportunity to live and walk on a level playing field because we are in Christ.
Somebody say, «I’m in Christ». Because we are in Christ, we are in him. He says over in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7, he says, «If any man or any woman, mankind is in Christ, he is a new creation. A new species of being. All things have passed away, and all things have become new». So we are in Christ and because we are in Christ, we stand on equal ground and the field has been leveled. And somebody said, «Well, how many times do I get to swing»? You get to swing until you hit the ball. I read the end of the book. Glory be to God. And we win. We win. We are victorious.