Author: Bruce

I have been in Japan as a missionary since 1995. I'm currently going to a church called Crossroad Nishinomiya, an international church in Nishinomiya, a city right between Kobe and Osaka. Check out their website: www.crossroad-web.com. #crossroadnishinomiya

１９９５年に宣教師として日本に来ました。　今、西宮クロスロード教会という国際の教会に行っています。どうぞ、そのホームページを見てください：　www.crossroad-web.com. #西宮クロスロード教会

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1 Corinthians

Marriage and divorce

1 Corinthians

It’s kind of hard to decide how to parse this passage because it keeps jumping between subjects. But I thought since I talked about marriage last time, I’d keep with that topic here.

And here, Paul re-emphasizes Christ’s ideal for marriage. He says,

To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.

But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

Here, Paul is drawing from Jesus’ own words when talking to the Pharisees. Jesus said to them,

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)

And again,

Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery. (Matthew 19:8-9)

I won’t get into details concerning Jesus’ words here because I’ve already done that here and the two succeeding blogs.

But the point Paul is making here is that marriage was intended to be permanent, and that’s how we ought to view it. He says again in verse 39,

A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. (1 Corinthians 7:39)

Which of course goes both ways. A husband is also bound to his wife as long as she lives. And so as much as it depends on us, we need to work to keep our marriage alive.

But what if it doesn’t depend on us? Paul addresses that later in the chapter.

To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.

How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)

This is pretty straightforward, so I’ll just make a few comments here.

First, when Paul says, “I, not the Lord,” I don’t think he’s saying his words aren’t authoritative.

What he’s saying is that Jesus never specifically spoke about this situation where an unbelieving spouse desires to leave the believing spouse. So Paul says, “Since Jesus didn’t address that situation, here’s what I as his apostle, say to you.”

And as an apostle, his words on this topic are authoritative. If an unbelieving spouse desires to leave you, let them leave. God will not hold you responsible for that.

Second, just because your spouse isn’t a believer doesn’t mean that you should automatically leave them. By staying with them, God’s hand is on your family, and it gives him more room to work in the life of your spouse and your children, because God can work through you.

“Sanctified” here doesn’t mean saved, but “set apart.” And I think when any family has a believer in it, God takes special notice of that family to work in their lives.

Finally, notice that Paul emphasizes in verse 39 that if you’re a single Christian, you should only be marrying a Christian. He speaks specifically to widows here, but it only makes sense that he is speaking to all singles. You should only marry a person that belongs to the Lord.

Sometimes people think, well, if I marry a non-Christian, I can witness to them and they may be saved. But Paul tells the believer to let an unbelieving spouse go if the unbeliever wishes to leave. Why?

How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:16)

Answer: we don’t. There are no guarantees. And if you marry an unbeliever, I have seen many cases where the believer ends up miserable.

Marriage is tough enough when believers are married. But when two people have fundamental differences in their faith, it can cause even more hardship. Because of that, it’s best to avoid that kind of relationship from the beginning.

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1 Corinthians

Sex in marriage

1 Corinthians

The need for sex is a very strong one. I think one reason God created us that way was so that people would come together in marriage and have children together.

And yet, as I mentioned yesterday, there are special parameters God has given concerning sex. It is only to be enjoyed between husband and wife.

Particularly in Japan, however, it seems that “sexless marriages” are on the rise. Numerous articles have actually been written on the subject.

Corinth was also having its issues concerning marriage and sex, and so they wrote Paul about what they should do.

In answer, Paul wrote,

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” (1 Corinthians 7:1)

Apparently, this is what some Christians were saying.

On one hand you had some people involved in sexual sin (chapter 5).

But here we see people going to the opposite extreme, saying that it was good not to have sex at all.

And in the Christian context, in which sex is restricted to married couples, the idea was that it was good not to get married.

But while Paul does say that singleness can be a good thing (1 Corinthians 7:7-8, 32-35), he told the Corinthians,

But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:2)

Paul recognizes here that because the sexual urge in people is so strong, it can lead to sin unless they find a way to fulfill that urge.

And again, one main reason God gave us that urge was so that two people would come together in marriage, become one, and have children.

It is, in fact, a picture of our relationship with God. That we are joined with Christ, with he as the groom, and we as his bride, and in that joining we give birth to righteousness in our lives, the fruit of our love for him.

But anyway, Paul says when you get married, feel free to enjoy a life of sex with your spouse.

More, he encourages couples to make it a regular part of their lives.

He writes,

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.

Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.

Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:3-5)

There are some key principles of marriage that we need to remember here. Namely, that when we get married, we no longer belong to ourselves alone. We belong to each other.

And so Paul says don’t deprive each other sexually except for short times so that you might devote yourselves to prayer.

And even then, that decision should be made mutually.

But then he says, be sure to come together again. Why?

Because if you don’t Satan will swoop in with sexual temptation. This is especially true with men, but also true with the women.

How many marriages are damaged because couples don’t follow the Lord’s instructions.

Instead, husbands and wives find their sexual fulfillment outside of marriage, ultimately destroying their marriage, not only causing pain to themselves, but to their children as well.

Let us not do that. Let us find satisfaction and joy in our own husbands and wives and never seek to find it anywhere else.

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1 Corinthians

The problem with sexual sin

1 Corinthians

All sin is of course bad. But here in 1 Corinthians 6:13-20, Paul says there is something unique about sexual sin, particularly for the Christian. He says,

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? (1 Corinthians 6:15a)

He explains further later,

But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17)

And again,

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

But what happens when we sleep with a prostitute? Paul tells us, saying,

Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” (1 Corinthians 6:16)

In other words, the sexual act was created by God not simply for pleasure or procreation, but to bring a special union and intimacy between man and woman.

It joins you to that person not only physically, but emotionally. And when you sleep with a prostitute, you join yourself to her in that way.

With those two things in mind, Paul then draws a very ugly picture of what happens when we join ourselves with a prostitute,

Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? (1 Corinthians 6:15b)

I don’t think I need to explain any further on what Paul is saying.

But not only is sex with a prostitute wrong, all sexual immorality is wrong.

What is sexual immorality? It’s any kind of sex outside of marriage between a husband and a wife.

Sex between husband and wife is blessed by God. Anything else is condemned by God, and is so listed in verse 9.

The problem with sexual sin is that it affects us in a way that no other sin does. It binds us to the person that we sleep with. Paul tells us,

All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)

I think most people can understand that.

But again, our bodies are members of Christ. So when we join ourselves to a prostitute, it’s like we’re joining Christ to a prostitute.

When we join ourselves to another person’s husband or wife, it’s as if we’re joining Christ to that person in adultery.

When we join ourselves to a person that we’re not married to, it’s like we’re joining Christ with that person in fornication.

I don’t know about you, but that’s too terrible a thought for me to even consider. So as Paul says,

Flee from sexual immorality…

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

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1 Corinthians

What freedom in Christ does not mean

1 Corinthians

One of the key things that Paul taught in his letters was freedom from the law. That we are no longer under law, but under grace.

But much as people do in this time, people in Corinth were corrupting that teaching.

Paul had just finished lambasting the Corinthian church for the way they were treating each other, and he told them,

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

How were the Corinthians responding?

“But you said, ‘Everything is permissible (or ‘lawful’) for me.’ So why can’t I do these things. It’s my life, after all.”

But Paul answers, “All things may be lawful for you, but not all things are beneficial.”

We will see an example of this in chapter 8, where he says that eating food sacrificed to idols is lawful, but we shouldn’t do it if it will cause another Christian to stumble.

Our eating such food would not be beneficial to our brother’s spiritual well-being.

He then says again, “All things may be lawful for you…but you should not be mastered by anything, least of all sin.”

Paul expands on this in Romans,

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

Many times people start out choosing to sin, but ultimately find themselves in slavery to it.

Gluttony is an example of this. Pornography is another.

In both cases, people start out by indulging themselves, but in the end, find themselves out of control.

Even if the doctor says they need to lose weight or risk suffering a heart attack, they can’t stop.

And even if pornography is destroying their marriage life, they find they cannot get away from it.

Some of the Corinthians said, “But God created us to eat. That’s why he gave us stomachs, after all. And he created us as sexual beings. God created us to fulfill those needs. Why then all the restrictions?”

But Paul reminds them that while God did indeed give us stomachs and create us as sexual beings, nevertheless, meeting these needs were not the main purposes for which he created us.

We were not created simply to live for and please ourselves.

Paul said,

“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” (what the Corinthians were saying) –but God will destroy them both. (1 Corinthians 6:13)

In other words both food and the stomach are temporal things, not eternal. We weren’t created simply for indulging our stomachs.

And Paul goes on to say,

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (1 Corinthians 6:13)

Put another way, our body is not meant for sinful purposes, but for the Lord’s. We were created to be his temple. And he paid a great price on the cross that we might be his.

Paul wrote,

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

What does freedom in Christ not mean?

It doesn’t mean that you live for yourself and indulge yourself in sin.

Rather, it means being set free from the sin that was destroying you. It means being free to walk with God without fear of being punished.

Rather we walk in the knowledge that God loves us, and is now dwelling in us through his Holy Spirit.

And each day we live out the purpose for which we were created for: to love, honor and glorify God.

How about you? How are you using your freedom?

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1 Corinthians

How we present ourselves to the world

1 Corinthians

Lawsuits just seem to be a way of life in the States. You can get sued by anybody for just about anything, no matter how ridiculous your claim might be.

Lawsuits are much less common in Japan, but we still see them here.

And they were apparently common in Corinth, even among the believers. And Paul was flummoxed by two things.

Number one, how badly one brother or sister could treat another. Number two, the reaction of the hurt brother or sister, namely dragging the one that hurt them into court.

More, the ones who were hurt started acting badly themselves, perhaps under the guise of fighting fire with fire. Paul tells them,

You yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:8-10)

In short, don’t fool yourself. You may call yourself a Christian, but if you are living this way, in unrepentant sin, you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Some people say that this means you can lose your salvation, but I would tend to question if this person were really saved in the first place.

But Paul takes the assumption that they are truly saved and says,

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)

In short, “You all have been washed clean and set apart for God. You’re supposed to be different now. How then can you treat your brothers and sisters this way?”

In this, I think he addresses both the offending party and the victim.

Then concerning the concept of lawsuits among believers itself, he says, “You guys are going to judge the world and even angels someday. And yet none of you are competent to handle these internal matters of the church between yourselves?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-5)

The other thing that really bothered Paul was that they were bringing their dirty laundry in front of unbelievers.

Because of this, unbelievers were seeing the terrible things believers were doing to each other and saying, “Is this what a Christian is? They’re no different from us. They hurt each other and treat each other unfairly just like we do.”

In short, it was a stain on the church, which is why Paul said,

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already.

Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? (1 Corinthians 6:7)

The Corinthians were defeated in two ways.

First, Satan was having his way in the church by having them fight each other instead of him.

Second, their in-fighting was wrecking their reputation in the Corinthian community.

Jesus said that the world would know we are his disciples by the love we have for each other. (John 13:34-35)

But as we look at how we treat each other in the church today, are we living that way?

Or are we being defeated by the enemy as he turns us against each other?

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1 Corinthians

When brothers and sisters flaunt their sin

1 Corinthians

I mentioned yesterday that I needed to make some clarifications in the things that I said. Basically, there are two things I want to note.

First, I don’t believe Paul is saying that we need to disassociate ourselves with brothers and sisters who are struggling with sin. The key word here is “struggle.”

All of us struggle with sin. All of us have sins that we have to deal with day in and day out. And some of those sins can be persistent.

But struggling with sin is completely different from blatantly sinning.

When you are struggling with sin, you are doing just that: struggling. You know what you’re doing is wrong and you are grieved by it.

Deep in your heart, you desire to get rid of those sins in your life. And day by day, you’re coming before God in prayer and asking for his help.

In that kind of situation, it’s probably best to also ask your brothers and sisters for their support in both prayer and accountability.

But if you fall, you should also be quick to grieve and repent of your sin.

“Blatant sin” is where you openly flaunt it with no remorse over it whatsoever.

You say, “This is the way I am, and I am not going to change. You are just going to have to accept me as I am.”

And if people try to confront you with scripture, you find ways to explain it away or justify yourself.

That’s what this brother in Corinth was doing. He wasn’t struggling with sin. He was openly flaunting it.

And Paul says here there is no way you should be associating yourself with such a person. If you do, that kind of attitude of open defiance will spread throughout the church like yeast in bread.

The second thing I want to clarify is the spirit with which we discipline the person.

Note that Paul says here, “Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief [by this man’s sin]?”

Our attitude toward that person should not be of arrogance, but of grief. And it should be our greatest desire that they come to repentance.

That’s the second purpose of putting a person out of fellowship (the first being again that his attitude doesn’t spread throughout the church).

Paul says,

Hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:5)

“Hand this man over to Satan.”

That sounds pretty harsh. But what Paul is saying is, “Since this man is flaunting his sin, let him go out into the world without the protection of the church and let Satan have at him.”

Why? Because we want Satan to destroy him?

No, because our hope is that like the prodigal son, he will come to realize the absolute misery of sin and come to repentance.

The result? His sinful nature is put to death and he himself is saved when Jesus comes back.

In short, our whole attitude toward this person should be one of love.

But love does not mean just accepting him when he is blatantly sinning. It means grieving, and letting him go until such a time as he comes to repentance.

Let us never forget the seriousness of sin.

It was so serious, Jesus had to die for it.

And to flaunt our sin in the face of Jesus’ death is to “trample the Son of God underfoot,” and to “insult the Spirit of grace.” (Hebrews 10:29)

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1 Corinthians

Proud of tolerating sin?

1 Corinthians

Tolerance. I’ve talked about this somewhat in another blog, and it’s one of the key buzzwords in American society.

And as I’ve said, showing tolerance is fine in that you can disagree with a person and still be at the very least civil, and hopefully even friendly with them.

What this means for us as Christians is that we need to be tolerant with those who are not. They do not believe the same way we do, and so we cannot expect them to act as we do.

With that in mind, we are to love them, spend time with them, share the gospel with them, and pray for them.

That’s what Jesus did. He was a friend of sinners. He spent much of his time, in fact, with sinners, completely scandalizing the “religious” people of the day.

But Paul is very clear here, we cannot be tolerant with people who claim to be Christians and yet blatantly flaunt their sin.

And yet, sometimes churches, in the name of “love” and “acceptance,” do just that. That’s the problem the Corinthians had.

A man in the Corinthian church was sleeping with his father’s wife. My presumption is that this was not his own mother, but his step-mother.

Even so, this was despicable even among the secular Corinthian community.

But the Corinthian church was apparently saying something like, “See how loving we are? See how accepting and forgiving we are? See how broad-minded and tolerant we are? Even though this man is sleeping with his step-mother, we still welcome this man in our church.”

When Paul heard of this, he was horrified. He said,

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast–as you really are.

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Yeast in the Bible is almost always used as a picture of sin, which is one reason why for the Jewish Passover Feast, they never put yeast in the bread.

Years later in the New Testament, we see Jesus breaking the Passover bread saying, “This is my body.”

The picture was of Jesus’ sinless life and how he was broken for our sins.

At any rate, Paul is telling the Corinthians, if you let this sin go, it will spread within the church. If you let this Christian continue to blatantly flaunt his sin, it will cause other believers to follow his example.

So he said, “Get rid of this yeast of immorality, malice, and wickedness. Instead, be a people, a church, that is pure and filled with sincerity and truth.”

He goes further, saying,

But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. (1 Corinthians 5:11)

Very strong words. Not very “loving” according to many churches today. But very clear.

Again, though, Paul makes a distinction between the immoral unbeliever, and the blatantly immoral believer, saying,

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? [None.]

Are you not to judge those inside? [Absolutely!] (1 Corinthians 5:12)

Paul then concludes,

God will judge those outside.

“Expel the wicked man from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:13)

Should the church love sinners? Yes.

But should we accept blatant sin in the life of a believer in the name of love? No way.

That said, there are some clarifications that I think should be made which I will get to tomorrow.

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1 Corinthians

Who we follow

1 Corinthians

As we go through life, there are any number of people that we look up to as our examples, starting with our parents, then teachers and coaches, to pastors and so on.

And hopefully, all of them are good mentors to us. But Paul reminds us here to be very careful about who we choose to follow.

There are many people, even in the Christian world, who sound good. But as Paul says,

The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

And so Paul said when he came to Corinth,

I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. (1 Corinthians 4:19)

That’s the question we need to ask ourselves. What power is behind the people we are following?

Is it God? Or is it something else? Natural charisma? Money? Position? Or is there even an evil spiritual power behind them?

How do we tell what kind of power is behind them? By the fruit that they bear. Jesus tells us,

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:15-16)

What kind of fruit do we look for? The fruit of their teaching and the fruit of their lives.

Paul himself points that out when talking of Timothy and himself.

For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.

He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Corinthians 4:17)

When we find such people in our lives, we should follow their example. As Paul said,

Therefore I urge you to imitate me. (1 Corinthians 4:16)

But when their fruit is rotten, we need to run as quickly and far away as possible.

How about you? Who are you following?

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1 Corinthians

Warnings against pride

1 Corinthians

C.S. Lewis once called pride, “The Great Sin” in his book Mere Christianity. Why? Because it’s pride that builds walls between us and God, and also builds walls between us and others.

We see the former right at the beginning of the world in the garden of Eden. It was the pride of wanting to be like God that tempted Eve and caused her to fall. It was pride that apparently caused the fall of Satan as well.

And here in this passage, we see the pride that was tearing apart the Corinthian church, and putting a wall between Paul himself and the Corinthian believers.

From verses 4-13, and also 18-19, it appears that a number of the Corinthians were looking down on Paul.

It seems that because of their pride in what they had and what they knew, and because of their self-satisfaction in life, they looked at Paul in all his weakness and suffering as if he were somehow inferior to them.

But Paul tells them,

“Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. (1 Corinthians 4:6)

What does he mean, “Do not go beyond what is written?”

It’s not clear, but I think he’s referring to what we’ve been taught concerning our position in Christ. Namely, that we are saved, not because of who we are or what we’ve done, but because of his grace.

If we remember we are all products of his grace, there is no reason to take pride in ourselves over others. Or to argue that this person is greater than that person.

Paul makes this clear, reminding the Corinthians,

Who makes you different from anyone else?

What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

The answers: “God,” “nothing,” and, “for no good reason.”

Those are pretty humbling answers.

But so often we don’t think that way, slamming down walls between us and God, as well as with those around us.

Would that we were all fully cognizant of the true meaning of God’s grace in our lives.

How much better would our relationships be with God, with our spouses, with our fellow church members, and with all whom we associate with?

How about you? What walls are in your life because of your pride?

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1 Corinthians

Proven faithful

1 Corinthians

The apostle James wrote,

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1)

Those are pretty sobering words for me, because I am often put in that position of teacher. God has given me his Word and the gift to teach it as a trust, and as Paul says,

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2)

The truth is, though, all of us have been entrusted with things from God. We’ve been entrusted with our resources, our gifts, and our talents. And God expects us to be faithful in our usage of them.

If we are not, he will hold us accountable.

And because he’s our judge, he is the one that we need to be most concerned with pleasing.

Not the pastors of the church. Not the people at church. Not anyone else around us. Only God.

If we get too concerned with the praises of man, we become susceptible to pride at their praise or compromise at their displeasure.

Because of this, we need to constantly be searching our hearts. Why do we do the things we do? Are we doing them for the right reasons?

I struggle with this all the time. To a degree, I fear what I will hear from Christ when I stand before him. What will he say to me?

Paul, even though he had a clear conscience, admits that even he wasn’t always sure of his motives. He said,

I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.

At that time each will receive his praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:3-5)

I think one of the main points he’s trying to get across here is to guard your heart from pride.

You may think that you’re doing the right things for the right reasons, but that doesn’t make it true.

As Jeremiah wrote,

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

The Lord responded to Jeremiah, saying,

I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. (Jeremiah 17:10)

So whatever we do, let us constantly be searching our hearts, and asking the Lord to do the same. Let us ask that he reveal the motives of our hearts to us.

That will go a long way to not only keeping us humble, but also to keeping us faithful with the trust he has given us.

How about you? Are you being faithful with what God has entrusted to you?

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1 Corinthians

How we approach our work for the Lord

1 Corinthians

In a lot of ways, I’m kind of reiterating what I said yesterday, but certain things kind of struck me as I reread the passage today and I wanted to highlight them.

One thing is the privilege that we have to work hand in hand with God. Paul said,

We are God’s fellow workers. (1 Corinthians 3:9)

Think about that for a minute. God doesn’t really need us. He could do everything he wanted to accomplish without us.

But he chooses to use us. And he invites us to join him in his work. I read that and just say, “Wow!”

God doesn’t just save us to sit down and bask in his grace. He wants us to also become an active part of his Kingdom.

And so he stretches out his hand toward us and says, “Won’t you join me in this work? Let’s work together on this.”

The second thing we need to remember though is he doesn’t call us into this work to bring glory to ourselves. Paul said,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task. (1 Corinthians 3:5)

A servant doesn’t draw attention to himself. For the most part, the best servant is invisible. You barely notice he’s there, and yet all that needs to get done is done. And in the end, he should say humbly,

We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty. (Luke 17:10)

Still, though an earthly master might not show any appreciation for his servant and even treat him as a nobody, God again sees us as his fellow workers. And he gets down into the mud with us to do the things he has asked of us.

More without him working in us and through us, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything. For as Paul writes,

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6)

So where is the room for pride? There is none. Paul tells us,

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:7)

One final thing to remember in whatever ministry we’re in is that the people we’re working with are not, “my people.” Rather they are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:9)

Too often, we get wrapped up with marking out our territory in ministry. And if we’ve been doing certain things in the church for a number of years, we mark those duties as our territory, and the people we’re working with as our people.

But the Lord assigns each person their own task, and sometimes those tasks change as he invites other people to join in his work. And he does that for the betterment of his kingdom.

Yet many Christians become upset when Christ calls others into work that “encroaches” on their territory. And they become jealous when they find that others are more skilled or talented than they are.

Let us remember, however, that each person has their part in the body of Christ. Each person has been assigned their task. And as much as we are fellow workers with God, we are also fellow workers with each other.

So let us work with one another, casting aside our jealousy and territorial way of thinking, realizing that it is God’s field, not ours. It is God’s building, not ours.

Most importantly, let us focus on the relationship we have with God.

One of the main reasons he calls us to join him in his work is so that we can spend more time together with him. And as we do, we will find joy.

How do you approach the work God has given you?

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1 Corinthians

With what we are building up the church

1 Corinthians

It’s interesting pulling this whole passage together. Usually when I have read it in the past, I’ve taken different parts of it and looked at them individually, but I’ve never really read it as a whole.

What is Paul talking about here? He’s talking about how we are building up our churches, and he warns us that we need to be careful how we build.

He reminds us first of all that Christ alone is the foundation of the church. (1 Corinthians 3:11)

But with what do we build on that foundation? The charisma of this pastor or this leader? Jealousy? Backbiting? Pride?

Charisma isn’t bad, but you can’t truly build a church on a pastor’s charisma.

And the rest? It will tear a church apart.

And so as each person, from the pastor all the way down the chain to the newest Christian, does their work within the church, they need to ask, with what materials am I trying to build this church up?

And depending on what we use, we will be judged.

Paul says,

If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.

If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

In other words, none of us will go to hell because we fail in the duties that God has given us. But we can lose our reward. And some will literally get into heaven with nothing to show for all they did here on earth.

Why? Their hearts were not right before him. And again, Paul is pointing specifically to hearts of pride, jealousy, and division, things that can destroy the church.

It is with this in mind that he says,

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

The “you”s here are all plural in the Greek.

And Paul is saying, “You Christians collectively are God’s temple.”

Put another way, “The church is God’s temple.” And if we do things that destroy the church, God will bring judgment upon us. If our pride, jealousy, and divisive spirits tear apart the church, God will hold us accountable.

So Paul tells us to get rid of these things. Get rid of the “wisdom” of this world that leads to pride, jealousy, and division.

Instead, embrace the “foolishness of the cross,” that would lead us to be humble and grateful to God, and accepting of those around us.

How about you? Whether you’re a pastor or the newest Christian in the church, you have a part in building up Christ’s church. With what are you building it up?

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1 Corinthians

Immature

1 Corinthians

In chapter 1, Paul talks about those who are mature (1 Corinthians 2:6) and those who are spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:15)

But at the beginning of this chapter, he makes clear that the Corinthians fit neither description. He said,

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly–mere infants in Christ.

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.

For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-4)

Very hard words. But what would Paul say about you if he were to look at you? More importantly, what would Jesus say about you?

Now let me be clear, if you are a young Christian, new to the faith, I’m not talking so much to you. Obviously, as a baby Christian you have much to grow, and that’s fine.

But if a baby never grows up, there is something seriously wrong.

If my 5-year-old daughter were still drinking milk from a bottle there would be something wrong. That’s cute in the early years, but not at 5.

If she were still crawling instead of walking, if she were still babbling instead of talking, those would be serious problems.

And yet so many Christians remain babies. They never really grow up. What do I mean?

In short, they remain worldly.

For the Corinthians, they showed this in that they continued to have hearts full of jealousy and were constantly quarreling with one another.

They had hearts that were full of pride, comparing themselves to one another, and looking down on others. And it was tearing apart the church.

How many churches today split for the same reasons? How many Christians leave their churches for those very reasons? Those are marks of immaturity.

So if your heart is still full of these things, how do you start to mature?

You need to get back to the basics, and it’s rooted back in the milk of the gospel. Namely, that God loves you. Not because of who you are, or what you have done, but because of who he is.

And he loved you so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sins.

Why do we have hearts of pride? Why do we compare ourselves with each other? Why are we jealous of others and quarrel with others?

Because these basic truths have not sunk into our hearts yet.

If we really know that God loves us that much, what others think of us won’t matter. There’s no need for jealousy or for comparisons with others because we know that God accepts us as we are.

More, we know that there’s no room for pride because we know that we have nothing to boast about.

As Paul will say later, everything we have we received from God. And if we have merely received it (in contrast to working for it), where is the room for boasting? There is none.

How about you? Have these truths sunk into your heart?

Let us no longer be worldly. Let us no longer be immature.

Rather, let us soak ourselves into these truths. And as we do, we will grow and become the people God desires us to be.

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1 Corinthians

To know the mind of God

1 Corinthians

The thing about dealing with an invisible God is that you will never know anything about him unless he reveals himself to you. And even when he does, what he tells you will be beyond you unless he gives you a heart that understands.

That’s one of the wonders of grace and salvation. That though we can’t see him, he revealed himself to us.

And though we didn’t have hearts that could grasp what he was saying, he brought enlightenment to us through his Spirit.

That’s what we see in this passage.

Paul asks,

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11)

I’ve always told my wife, “Much as I’d like to be able to, I can’t read your mind. If something is bothering you, tell me.”

It can be difficult to read people sometimes. What are they thinking? What are they feeling? What are they planning?

And if it’s difficult to read people who we can see, how much more difficult is it to read God who we can’t see?

People in their own wisdom will never be able to comprehend God or his purposes.

Paul gives an example of this in verses 7-8, when talking about God’s plan of salvation. He tells us that God had in mind from the beginning what he would do, but it was hidden from us.

God had given the Jews pictures through the sacrifices and pictures through the prophets about what needed to be done for our salvation. And yet they couldn’t grasp it.

So Paul tells us,

None of the rulers of this age understood [the wisdom of God], for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

Even Caiaphas, the high priest, couldn’t grasp it, not even the words that came out of his own mouth when he said,

You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. (John 11:50)

John said of those words,

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. (John 11:51-52)

Talk about God using you in spite of yourself. But Paul’s words in verse 14 are a perfect description of Caiaphas.

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

High priest though Caiaphas was, had someone told him that Jesus had to die for the sins of the people, he would have thought they were crazy.

Why? Because he was without the Spirit in his life.

But we who are Christians do. For Paul tells us,

However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”– but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

And again,

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:12)

And yet again,

“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

Do we understand all things now? Of course not. There are still many things we see dimly.

Even salvation, which is one of the clearest things God has revealed to us, is clouded in mystery.

But as we draw nearer to God and mature, he will reveal these things to us even more as he teaches us his spiritual truths. (1 Corinthians 2:13)

So let us pray, “Holy Spirit, open the eyes and ears of my heart that I might know you, and that I might understand all that you have prepared for me.”

And he will reveal himself to us.

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1 Corinthians

Speaking with power

1 Corinthians

This is a passage I’ve been thinking about recently whenever I’ve given messages at church. Honestly, it’s something I need to keep more in mind whenever I write these blogs as well.

Paul wrote,

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

If you do any kind of Bible teaching, whether as a Sunday school teacher, Bible study leader, pastor, or whatever, I think it would be worth your time to memorize this passage and meditate on it before every message you give.

I’d like to think that I’m a pretty good speaker. I’d like to think that my teaching is clear and simple for those who hear.

But the truth of the matter is that while I may impact people through my words and wisdom, the change I can effect is limited. Why? Because my wisdom and my powers of persuasion are limited.

More, I cannot infuse people with the power to change. People may hear what I say and agree.

“Yes, I should love my enemies. Yes, I should forgive those who hurt me. Yes, I need to take off sin and put on righteousness.”

And yet, unless God is working in them, nothing will change.

What Paul recognized is that there is only one thing that truly brings about change. The power of God through the message of the cross.

It is because of what Christ did on the cross that we can have a relationship with God.

It is because of what Christ did that our old nature died, and we have received a new nature.

It is because of what Christ did that we can put away our sinful past and find true life.

That’s why Paul said,

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

How about you? If you are simply a church member, what kind of messages are you hearing at your church? Can you say that the message of the cross is central at your church?

Or are the messages based on the wisdom of your pastor and the idea that you need to change yourself?

If you are a teacher, what is the focus of your message and preparation?

Entertaining your audience? Showing your wisdom and knowledge?

Or is it preaching Christ and him crucified?

Is it letting his power flow through you as you speak so that their faith rests, not on you, but on Christ?

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1 Corinthians

No room for boasting

1 Corinthians

In illustrating the “foolishness of God,” Paul uses the people in the Corinthian church as an example.

Now if you were going to save as many people as possible, wouldn’t you start with the rich, powerful, wise, and influential? Wouldn’t that make sense?

But Paul says of the Corinthians,

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.

Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

This is not to say God doesn’t save the rich, powerful, wise, and influential. Paul says here, “not many,” not, “not any.”

Still, God saves people not because of what they have or who they are, but because of his grace.

And time and again, he puts to shame those who claimed to be strong and wise by those who were, by their standards, their inferiors.

But these “inferiors” put the strong and wise to shame by one thing: their faith in God.

For instance, God took an old man named Noah who was willing to actually take God at his word and build a huge ark when no one needed a boat that big (if they needed one at all).

Noah’s neighbors must have thought he was nuts. But in the end, he was proven wise when the rain started to fall and the flood waters started to rise.

Later, God took the Jewish people out of captivity in Egypt and had them surround a fortified city, just marching around it for 6 days.

Then on the seventh day, they marched around it 7 times, blowing their horns, after which they shouted and charged the city.

When Joshua’s soldiers first heard this plan, they must have questioned Joshua’s sanity. For that matter, the inhabitants must have wondered what those crazy Jews were doing.

But when the Israelites charged on that seventh day, the walls fell and they captured the city.

Years later, God took a bunch of young Jewish exiles in Babylon who refused to eat the food provided by the king because it was against their dietary laws, and instead just ate vegetables and drank water.

Their fellow exiles must have thought they were out of their minds. In the end, however, these four men were not only healthier than their compatriots, but wiser and more capable as well.

Time and again, throughout history, you see God doing this kind of thing.

And he did it again through the cross.

What people considered as a sign of weakness and defeat, an ignoble death on the cross, God used for our salvation. And he used it to save, not those whom the world admires, but those whom it despised.

People despise us because they consider us weak. Because to them, only the intellectually inferior and emotionally crippled need God. They despise us because we would put our trust in him instead of ourselves.

But ultimately, they will be put to shame.

A warning, however.

Remember that you have nothing to boast about if you are a Christian. It’s not because of who you are or what you have done that God saved you. It’s because of who God is and what he has done.

As Paul wrote,

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

So as Paul concludes,

Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31)

Who are you boasting in? Yourself? You will be put to shame.

In God? Then there is no room for pride.

What is your attitude today?

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1 Corinthians

The futility of human thinking and wisdom

1 Corinthians

A few weeks ago, as I was preparing a pre-Easter message for my church, Paul’s words in verse 18 here struck me.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

I’ve been a Christian all my life, so the message of the cross is something that I’ve just always taken as “normal.” I was taught it, so I believed it.

But I must admit, if someone were to start preaching, “Your salvation is found in the message of the electric chair,” or “Your salvation is found in the hangman’s noose,” I’d probably think you were out of your mind.

Yet that is exactly what many Jews and Greeks thought of Paul’s message. Paul said,

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:22-23)

The Jews were looking for the power of God to save them, just as he had done in Egypt by sending plagues upon the Egyptians and parting the Red Sea for them.

Because God had done things that way in the past, they were expecting their Messiah to do the same.

But here, Paul preached salvation, not through Christ’s overcoming the Romans through signs of power, destroying them, but through Christ’s submission to the Roman cross, getting beaten, whipped, and crucified by them.

And so they stumbled over the idea that Christ was the promised Messiah.

The Greeks, meanwhile, were impressed with human reason. They were looking for what ideas Jesus might have that might stimulate their way of thinking.

But when Paul preached to them in Athens, he instead preached Christ’s death and resurrection, at which point most of them blithely dismissed anything he had to say. “Who wants to listen to this kook?” (Acts 17:31-32)

Which shows the problem of coming to God with our own set ways of thinking and in our own wisdom.

We expect God to meet our expectations, that all he does and all he says will match what our logic and “wisdom” tell us he should do. And when he doesn’t we dismiss what he actually does say and do as foolishness.

But Paul says,

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

I will be the first to admit I can’t understand all that God does and why.

How is it, for example, that Jesus’ work on the cross can pay for our sins? How exactly does that work? How can one person’s act provide justification for us all? I don’t know.

I’ve heard and used illustrations that explain it to a degree, and so I have an idea. But at the same time, I can see why people would have trouble accepting it and think it’s simply foolishness.

But what we consider foolish, God will prove to us wise.

What we consider weakness on God’s part, he will prove to us strength.

And ultimately, as Paul quotes, God will, “destroy the wisdom of the wise, and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent.” (1 Corinthians 1:19)

So Paul asks,

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:20-21)

We will never find God on our own terms, based on our own human wisdom. Our thinking is too limited. Too narrow.

If we are to find him, we must yield ourselves to him and his wisdom. And that starts with acknowledging Jesus as Lord, because this Jesus who was crucified is to us now both the power and wisdom of God.

He is the power of God to save us. And he is the wisdom of God incarnate that puts to shame all of our wisdom.

Won’t you yield to him today?

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1 Corinthians

Elevating people over Christ

1 Corinthians

I suppose it’s natural for people in the church to look up to Christian leaders as their example, and as the ones they admire.

After all, these leaders have been following Christ longer, and presumably have more wisdom and knowledge than we do. More, we can actually see them, and have face to face conversations with them.

By no means am I saying that it’s bad to look up to people within the church as role models. But the danger comes when we elevate them over Christ.

Instead of following Christ, we follow these leaders. Instead of making Christ our example, we look solely at our leaders.

One problem that can come from this is divisions within the church, as the Corinthians had. Some people were saying, “I follow Paul.” Others said, “I follow Apollos.” Others said, “I follow Cephas (Peter).”

And Paul gets very sarcastic saying,

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:13)

In other words, “Who are you following anyway?”

Later, he would tell them in chapter 3,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

In short, “Stop elevating people over God. The people are merely servants of God.

No one seeks to elevate the servant in the household, but the master. So why do we elevate the leaders in the church when they are merely servants?”

But so many people do. And we have seen it lead to divisions within the church today.

The other problem with elevating people above God is that they are merely human, and because of that, they will inevitably let us down.

And if our faith is based on the lives of these people rather than God, then when they fall or disappoint us, our faith will fall as well.

So let us not elevate people, no matter how godly they are, above him who died for us and rose again. Let us not get into fights over this pastor being better than that pastor.

Each has their own work as God has assigned it to them. It’s not our place to judge them, and we especially have no right to judge them compared to other pastors.

Leave the judgments to God who alone knows what he has required of them.

And let us not rest our faith on the faith of others. Rather let us rest our faith and hope in God alone.

If we rest our faith on others, we will inevitably be disappointed. But if we put our trust in Christ, we never will be put to shame. (Romans 10:11)

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1 Corinthians

Sanctified and called to be holy

Sanctified and Holy

The church in Corinth, as we will see throughout this book, had its share of problems, many of them serious.

That said, it’s really amazing the things Paul said about the church. He called them “sanctified in Christ” and called to be holy.

Considering their problems, it’s hard to see the former, and while they were called to be holy, set apart for Christ, they certainly weren’t living that way.

But it’s a reminder to me that God does not merely see where we are now, but where we will be. And we are to look on other brothers and sisters in Christ the same way.

We are not to see them simply where they are at now in their Christian walk. But we are to see them as people Christ has already set apart for himself. They are now his.

And so as Paul did with the Corinthians, we are to remind our brothers and sisters that they are called to live that way. To no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again.

Just as importantly, we need to see ourselves the same way.

It’s easy to look at ourselves as Christians and get discouraged. We see our sins and how we struggle, and we wonder how God could accept us.

But let us remember that we have already been accepted. God has already set ourselves apart for himself. So now, let’s live that way.

But remember too that we don’t need to do this on our own strength. For Paul tells us,

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

We may not always be faithful. But God is. And he will never stop working in us until the day we stand before Christ, holy and blameless in his sight.

How about you? How do you see your brothers and sisters in Christ? How do you see yourself?

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Romans

The One who establishes us

Romans

And so we finish off Romans.

I think it’s been one of the more fun books that I have blogged through. And as we do, we finish up where we started. With a reminder that salvation is ultimately the work of God.

Paul writes,

Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God. (Romans 16:25-26)

Here we see the wonder of the gospel. That years before Jesus came, God gave glimpses of what was to come through the prophets.

It was something that was unclear for hundreds of years but found its clarity in Jesus Christ. And now this gospel is clear for all to see that,

all nations might believe and obey him. (Romans 16:26b)

But it’s not a gospel based on our works. Rather, it’s based on the grace of God. He is the one who establishes us in our faith, and in our salvation.

Before time began, he chose us, predestining us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.

Through Jesus, he paid the price for our sin. And through the Spirit, he sanctifies us day by day so that we might become more like Jesus until the day we see him in glory.

That’s the wonder of salvation. Not that we deserved it. Not that we earned it.

But that through his grace, God’s love was poured out on us that we might believe and be transformed into his likeness.

So as Paul said,

To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:27)

Indeed, amen and amen.

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Romans

That we may not be naive

Romans

Here, towards the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul gives the church a warning.

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. (Romans 16:17)

What exactly was Paul talking about? False teaching. It was a plague back then, and it is a plague in the church today. And Paul tells us to watch out for them.

The problem is that those who teach false things often sound so good. Paul wrote,

By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. (Romans 16:18b)

But in truth,

Such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. (Romans 16:18a)

And Paul tells us,

I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. (Romans 16:19b)

How can we safeguard ourselves against false teaching? I think Paul gives us the key identifying false teaching in verse 17. It is “contrary to the teaching you have learned.”

This is assuming, of course, that you are familiar with the true teaching of Christ.

If you are not, then it will be impossible to be “wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”

Rather, you will live in a naive manner, prey to any wolf that might come to devour you.

The Romans were, however, grounded in the Word of God, and because of that, Paul said,

Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you…

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. (Romans 16:19-20)

So ground yourself in God’s Word. Be hungry for the truth that is in it and you will never be deceived.

People who are trained to detect counterfeit money (like bankers) never start by studying the counterfeit. They start with studying and handling the real bills.

They become so familiar with the real bills, that when a counterfeit bill falls into their hands, they can almost immediately tell the difference, just by the feel of it.

In the same way, if you become real familiar with the truth in the Word of God, you will never be deceived.

So let us make it our goal to become familiar with what’s true and good.

And “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” (Romans 16:20)

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Romans

Working hard, tested, and approved

Romans

Here in this passage, we see Paul sending greetings to different people in Rome.

These were people who Paul really appreciated. Some supported him financially, others worked side by side with him in ministry, others had spent time in prison with him for the sake of the gospel.

But two things really strike me here.

Twice he refers to women (Mary and Persis) who worked hard in the Lord. And he talks about a man named Apelles, who was tested and approved in Christ.

I was just thinking how I’d like to have people say those things about me.

That I worked hard in the Lord.

That I was doing all the things that God asked of me.

And that through whatever circumstances and trials I might go through, that I have been found approved in Christ.

More than that, though, it’s my deepest desire that when I go to heaven, God would say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

For while the praise of man is wonderful, it is the praise of God that really counts.

How about you? What would God and others say about you?

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Romans

Supporting those on the front lines

Romans

It is easy, sometimes, to forget that we are in a spiritual war. But we are.

And many people are out on the front lines sharing the gospel.

Some are doing ministry at home. Others are in foreign countries. But whether at home or abroad, these people especially need our prayers.

Paul himself knew that. If there was one person you would think could make it without others’ prayers, it would be him.

But he was particularly mindful of the fact that he couldn’t do it alone. He wrote the Roman church saying,

I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there. (Romans 15:30-31)

Sometimes we think of missionaries and other ministers as Christian supermen and superwomen. But they’re not. They’re human just like us. And they are fighting in a terrible spiritual struggle.

So join them in that struggle by praying for them.

Pray for your pastors. I talked yesterday about supporting them financially, but they also need your spiritual support. Pray for them.

Pray for those you know are missionaries. They need your prayers too.

Let us never forget those who are out there on the front lines.

All of us, hopefully, are doing God’s work wherever we are. And whenever we do God’s work we become targets for Satan and his demons.

But those who are on the front lines are especially targets. So let us not neglect praying for them.

More, let us send them our words of encouragement. And as God gives us the finances to do so, let us support them in that way too.

It can be lonely out there on the front lines. Let us remind those who are out there that they are not alone.

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Romans

Sharing with those from whom we receive spiritual blessing

Romans

Money is always a touchy subject. And talking about tithing always is within the church.

A lot of Christians argue that tithing is not a New Testament teaching, and I believe they’re right. (There are others that do differ with me on this).

However, I do believe that the Bible is clear that we are to support those from whom we receive spiritual blessing.

I think we can see this principle in this passage, though the situation is not talking about tithing.

In this passage, Paul talks about how he was going to Jerusalem with a gift that the people from Macedonia and Achaia had given to support the poor in Jerusalem.

And Paul says a very interesting thing about it. He says,

They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them.

For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. (Romans 15:27)

Two things to note here. They wanted to do it. They had hearts that were willing to give.

But second, Paul said that in a sense, it was something they owed the Jews, because salvation came from the Jews. (John 4:22)

That is, God chose to bring the Savior through the Jewish race. The Jews, through people like Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, spread the good news of God’s salvation to the Gentiles, and as a result, many were saved.

So Paul says, “Since they have received these spiritual blessings through the Jews, they owed it to the Jews to share their material blessings with them.”

I believe the same is true with us and our pastors.

They have shared many spiritual blessings with us. They dedicate their lives to us that we may know God better, and come into a closer relationship with him.

It is only right that we share our material blessings so that they can support themselves and their families.

But again, this needs to be something done, not simply from a heart pulled by obligation, but from a heart that is willing. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians,

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

So if you’re not willing to give, don’t give.

But if you have a heart that is so in love with money that you are not willing to give to those that support you spiritually, then that’s an area that you’re going to need to grow in if you want to be like Jesus.

Jesus was a giver. He gave up heaven for us. He gave up his very life for us.

If we really love Jesus, shouldn’t we have that kind of heart as well?

How about you? Are you a giver?

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Romans

That people may see and understand

Romans

It is easy to look at people like the apostle Paul, and think that only people like him are called to be ministers.

It is true that he was given a special grace to take the gospel out to the Gentiles that they might see and understand the truth of the gospel. It is because of him that people like us (non-Jews) are believers today.

But the truth is that all of us are called to be ministers.

We all have the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that those we touch might become acceptable offerings to him as the Spirit sanctifies them. (Romans 15:16)

Some of you might think, “But I can’t do that. I’m no minister. I don’t have the power or ability to change lives.”

No, you don’t. But Jesus Christ does.

Paul himself gloried not in his accomplishments, as if it were by his power and wisdom that people came to Christ. Rather, he said,

Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. (Romans 15:17)

And again,

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done. (Romans 15:18)

In short, it is Christ who changes people by the power of the Spirit. (Romans 15:19)

But in his grace, God chooses to use us to accomplish this.

As has been said before, for some people, we are the only Bible people will ever read. For some people, we will be the only people through whom they will ever see Jesus.

So let us fulfill our priestly duty that God has given us. Let us share his gospel with them that,

Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. (Romans 15:21)

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Romans

Accepting others where they are

Romans

If there is one thing I think we’d all like, whether we admit it or not, it’s the ability to change others. To make others act in a way more palatable or acceptable to us.

Maybe it’s bad habits people have. Maybe it’s a fault they have.

The truth is, though, we can’t change people. We can try to bully people, make them feel guilty, or passively aggressively hint that they should change.

But Paul tells us here,

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. (Romans 15:1)

As I’ve mentioned before, this is specifically in reference to those with tender consciences, those who feel restricted by rules that are not required by God.

As I think of this passage today, however, I think of another application.

We may consider other people weak because of their bad habits, faults, etc, and ourselves as strong because we don’t have them.

More, we try to make them change, many times not for their own sake or for their own good, but for our own. We’re trying to make others act in a way that pleases us.

But Paul is saying here, we should bear with the failings of those around us. I like how the NASB puts it,

Now we who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of those without strength.

Many times as we deal with people, they simply don’t have the strength to change. They may know they should change, but it’s a struggle.

And until God gives them that grace and strength, we shouldn’t pressure them, push them, or try to manipulate them.

Rather, as Paul says, we are to,

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)

How does Christ accept us? He accepts us in our weakness.

I’m sure Christ knows every single fault and weakness that we have. But he does not shove them all in our face and require us to change right here and right now.

Rather, he shows patience, love, and mercy. And not only does he show us how to change, he gives us the power to change.

While we may have the ability to show people what needs to change and have ideas on how they can change, we cannot give them the power to change. Only Christ can do that.

So let us show patience, love, and mercy to those around us, and leave the change in their lives to Christ.

And as we do, God will be glorified.

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Romans

That we might have hope

Romans

Sometimes as we go through scripture, I think most of us wonder why God put all of the things he put in there.

For example, why did he put all the laws he gave the Jews in Exodus and Leviticus?

Or the stories of the awful things people did, stories of rape, murder, and so on.

Do we really need to read all this?

But Paul says something very interesting in verse 4. He says,

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

In other words, God puts everything in his word for a purpose.

Through the law, for example, we see pictures of the God’s holiness, his justice, and his mercy.

Through the awful stories, we see the sinfulness of man, and just how bad things can get when people walk away from God and do things their own way.

But we also see the grace of God working through the worst of situations to bring out something good.

We see how through times of persecution, God delivered his people. We see how even when God allowed his people to die in persecution, the peace he gave to them, even in facing death.

We see how through times of suffering, when God seemed far away, yet God was there all along and ultimately brought comfort to his people.

And because of all this, when we see evil in this world, when we go through suffering or persecution, we have hope to endure. We find the encouragement to keep on going.

And as we do, we find the same God that was with his people thousands of years ago, working in their lives, is still alive today and working in us now.

So whatever you’re going through and where you are in life, let us immerse ourselves in the Scriptures.

Let us remember that God is not dead, but is alive and at work in us.

And as Paul prayed,

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

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Romans

Living as one

Romans

Paul sums up what he has been talking about in chapter 14 in this passage. He starts by saying,

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Each of us should please his neighbor for his good to build him up. (Romans 15:1-2)

Basically, the “weak” here are those with tender consciences which don’t allow them to do things that are actually okay, or on the other hand require them to do certain things that they don’t have to do. We saw this in Romans 14.

The strong are those who don’t have those limitations or feelings of obligation.

But Paul says those who are strong should not condemn those who are weak. Rather, they should look out for the good of those who are weak to build them up.

He then points to the example of Jesus, who though he was strong, put up with us who were weak.

He put up with a squabbling group of disciples who were selfish, self-seeking, proud, and in general a mess. And he served them, even going so far as to wash their dirty feet (John 13).

More, he put up with people that hated him for no reason, who insulted him, and ultimately crucified him, and he interceded for them, praying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

And then he died in their place, taking the punishment they deserved.

Now all of us, both Jew and Gentile, have reason for hope, because 2000 years ago, Jesus laid his life down for us.

So Paul tells us,

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)

And he prayed,

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)

God calls us to live as one. And the key to that is not to focus on each other and our respective failings, but to focus on Jesus Christ, keeping our eyes on him, and following after him.

To the degree that we do focus on each other, it should be not to tear each other down, but to build each other up.

How it must tear at the heart of the Father to see his children biting and devouring each other.

Let us not be that way. Let us live as Christ did, putting up with each other, loving and accepting each other, and serving one another.

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Romans

Breaking conscience

Romans

There is one last thing that I should mention before leaving this chapter, and that’s the motivation of our hearts. Why do we do the things we do?

Paul makes it crystal clear here what our attitude should be. He said,

Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord.

Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord.

So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. (Romans 14:6-9)

Paul’s reminding us here that we are not living merely for ourselves but for the Lord.

So when we regard one day as “holy to the Lord,” we do it not merely because of tradition, but because of our love for the Lord.

Whenever we eat or drink something, we do it not just to indulge ourselves, but we do it with a heart of thankfulness for God.

In short, whatever we do, we do it to the Lord. Paul wrote in another passage,

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

But if you are not doing things out of that kind of heart, that is sin. Paul wrote concerning eating meat offered to idols,

But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

Here, Paul is talking of a person who is bothered by the fact that the meat was offered to idols. They can’t get out of their head that it was offered to something spiritually impure.

And because of that, if they were to eat it, it wouldn’t be out of a heart of thankfulness to God. Rather it would be from a heart of, “I’m doing something wrong. I’m doing something sinful.”

If they were to eat from that kind of heart, it would become sinful to them. Because it would come from a heart of, “I feel this is wrong but I will do it anyway.”

And God is never pleased with that kind of attitude.

My point is, we should never break conscience. If our conscience tells us something is wrong, we should avoid it.

Even if we know other Christians think something like drinking is okay, if in our hearts it bothers us, don’t do it.

Even if we know other Christians sometimes watch R-rated movies, if it bothers us, don’t do it.

Everything we do should be done with a heart confident that we have God’s approval.

This is not to say that if we are confident that we definitely have God’s approval.

That’s why it’s important to read the Bible: to be certain.

But where the Bible is silent or says the choice is up to us, let us live by our conscience, asking God to continually shape it and mold it so that we can live in a way that’s pleasing to him.

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Romans

Dealing with each other in love.

Romans

In chapter 13, Paul said,

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

And again,

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)

In this chapter, we see a very important application of this verse.

We saw before that there were people who were bothered by their fellow Christians eating meat offered to idols. It also seems that there were those who were bothered by those who drank wine.

We don’t see the former problem so much if at all in our society today, but we do see a lot of the latter: Christians judging others over drinking.

Now the Bible is clear cut in saying “Don’t get drunk.” But it doesn’t teach that we must completely abstain from alcohol.

Yet many Christians who drink alcohol condemn as legalistic those who don’t, and those who don’t drink alcohol often condemn as sinful those who do.

But again, Paul says, “Don’t judge others about these kinds of things. Leave judgment up to God. These are God’s servants, not yours. They are accountable to him, not to you.”

And yet, Paul does say this.

If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:15)

So he said,

Make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. (Romans 14:13)

And again,

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.

It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. (Romans 14:19-21)

In other words, as Christians, we shouldn’t just live for ourselves and think only of ourselves.

Rather, remember that you are accountable for God for your actions, and he calls you to love your brothers and sisters in Christ.

But if you do something that distresses them because they think it’s wrong, you’re not acting in love. Worse, you could cause them to break conscience and fall into sin.

For as Paul wrote,

But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

We’ll talk more about that tomorrow, but the key point is that we should never cause someone to break their own conscience.

I heard a story once of some people at my church back in Hawaii.

Some of the guys were hanging out at someone’s house, and they all had a beer. But unbeknownst to them, one of them was a recovering alcoholic.

And unfortunately, being with other brothers that were drinking, he started to drink too. But unlike them, he didn’t stop until he got drunk.

Now it wasn’t their fault. They didn’t know. But it shows the problems that can happen if we abuse our freedom at the expense of our brothers and sisters.

So let us not be selfish in our thinking. If our brother or sister is bothered by something that we do, then avoid doing that thing where they can see it. Let us be sensitive to them and love them.

After all, Christ died for them too.

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Romans

Judging your brothers and sisters

Romans

If there is one problem within the church, it’s brothers and sisters judging each other.

Now I want to be clear, this has nothing to do with black or white issues.

Paul had no problems with judging others when it came to issues that were clear cut right or wrong. You only have to look at I Corinthians 5 to see that.

But we’re talking about issues that the Bible either says nothing about or says is up to each individual Christian. And here we see two of the latter.

Among the Christians in Paul’s day, there were arguments about eating meat and vegetables.

People who ate vegetables were condemning those who ate meat, perhaps because the meat had been offered to idols before being served as food at the dinner table.

Others argued about religious holidays, most probably the Jewish ones and whether Christians should continue to observe them or not. The Sabbath was probably a particular issue they faced.

The key thing here is that Paul did not consider them black and white issues. And Paul says here not to get into arguments over “disputable matters.” (Romans 14:1)

These were issues that were purely matters of conscience.

Some Jews felt that they should continue to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. And for them, to suddenly stop observing these special days seemed dishonoring to God.

The Gentiles, on the other hand, probably felt that it was a purely a Jewish tradition and had nothing to do with them.

Paul condemns neither. He said,

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike.

Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.

Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. (Romans 14:5-6)

In other words, if you consider a day special because of your faith, then celebrate it. God will honor that. But if every day is alike to you, that’s fine too.

For those who felt bad about eating meat offered to idols, Paul said,

I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.

But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. (Romans 14:14)

Paul was telling the Romans, “I personally feel that even if food has been offered to idols, it’s okay to eat it. But if you feel bad about doing that, then by all means, don’t eat it.”

But then he said,

The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall.

And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. (Romans 14:3-4)

And again,

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt?

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. (Romans 14:10-13)

I really don’t think there’s much that needs to be added to this. It’s about as clear as you can make it.

The main point is that God is our master. He is the one we have to answer to. So we have no business judging one another on things that are a matter of conscience. Instead, we are to leave judgment to God.

When I was a teenager, I was working with other teens teaching Bible clubs to kids. For the first two weeks, we went through a training camp. But in between our classes, sometimes people played cards.

Now we weren’t gambling or anything, but there was one person there that was bothered by it. She had always been taught it was wrong.

Now when one of the other teens heard this, he said, “That’s so stupid!”

He didn’t say it, but if he had been an adult, he probably would have said, “That’s so legalistic.”

But another guy said, “Hey, it’s how she feels. Respect that.”

So we never touched cards again for the rest of camp.

We refused to judge her for her beliefs. And she, though she did say our playing bothered her, didn’t condemn us for thinking it was okay to play cards.

The end result was that we kept harmony, and we were able to do great things for God that summer.

That’s what Paul is saying here. We will not always agree.

But on issues where God says it’s up to us, or on issues where God says nothing at all, let us accept one another.

And if we do, we will make a difference in this world for Christ.

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Romans

Embracing the Day

Romans

When Jesus departed from this earth, and the disciples were left looking at the sky, an angel appeared to them saying,

Men of Galilee…why do you stand here looking into the sky?

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)

Luke tells us that hearing this they returned to Jerusalem with great joy worshiping continually in the temple (Luke 24:52-53), and they also waited for the coming of the Spirit (Acts 2).

And when the Spirit came, they went out and turned this world upside down.

Now, years after this event, Paul brings all this back to mind, saying,

And do this (i.e., love each other), understanding the present time.

The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. (Romans 13:11-12)

In other words, knowing that the day of Jesus’ return is coming soon, we are to be awake, alert, and ready. I love the ESV translation of verse 12.

The night is far gone; the day is at hand.

Paul’s saying, “The time when Satan ruled is long past. The Day of Christ is at hand.”

He then takes the metaphors of night and day, and says,

So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:12b)

In short, since the time of Satan’s rule has passed, and the time of Christ is at hand, let us put aside the deeds associated with that time of darkness, and instead put on the deeds associated with the light.

What are the deeds of darkness? He tells us in verse 13,

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. (Romans 13:13)

Most people, when they do evil, do it in secret, in darkness. But Paul says here to step out into the light. Act as you would when you know the whole world is watching.

More, act knowing that God is watching and sees all you do.

Note also that though Satan’s time has passed, though he has already lost because of the cross, nevertheless, he continues to fight. So we are to be prepared for battle wearing the armor of light.

We are to have on the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the sword of the Spirit, and our feet fitted and prepared to take out the gospel. (Ephesians 6:14-17)

Paul then concludes by saying,

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Romans 13:14)

We are to be people clothed Jesus Christ himself. His power and his character should be resting upon us as we live each day.

And if we are clothed with him, then there is no room for feeding our sinful nature.

Again, I like the ESV which puts it,

Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:14b)

So knowing that Christ is coming soon, let us be like the 12 disciples, living each day in joy, filled with the Spirit, and turning this world upside down for the sake of Christ.

Let us embrace the Day.

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Romans

To fulfill the law

Romans

It has always seemed strange to me that Paul said,

For whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8b)

After all, isn’t loving God the other half of fulfilling the law?

Jesus did say after all that the two great commands are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40)

Why then focus only on the latter?

I’m not sure, but I think perhaps the reason is that we cannot separate the former from the latter. That if we truly love God, we must love our neighbor. And if we don’t love our neighbor, we’re not truly loving God.

John says as much in his epistles.

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? (1 John 3:17)

And again,

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.

For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (1 John 4:20-21)

It’s very hard to argue with John. How can we claim that we love a God whom we have never seen, while at the same time we hate the people around us that we can see?

How about you? Do you claim to love God?

If so, how are you treating the people around you? Are you loving them? Or are you looking down on them? Are you despising them?

If you’re doing the latter, it’s time to take a close look at how much you truly love God.

So as John wrote,

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18)

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Romans

A debt that can never be repaid

Romans

Paul’s use of words here are very interesting when you think about it.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another. (Romans 13:8)

What is a debt? It’s something that you owe to someone else.

Paul is literally saying that we owe it to the people around us to love them.

Think about that a moment. What would you say if someone were to say to you, “You have to love me. You owe it to me.”

It’s hard to wrap your mind around it, at least it is for me.

Quite frankly, if someone were to say that to me, I’d probably say, “Forget that. I’m out of here. I don’t owe you anything.”

Yet Paul says we do. Why?

First, no matter who they are, they are people created in the image of God. And for that reason alone, they are worthy of our love.

Second, God loves them. And if God loves them, then we need to see them the same way. As people deserving of our love.

But so often, we devalue people. We see them as unlovable.

Why?

Sometimes it’s because they’re “different.” Sometimes it’s because of the things they do. And too often, it’s so hard to see beyond that.

But we need to remember that as people created and loved by God, they are worthy of our love.

To withhold that love from them is to tell God, “You made junk. You are wrong to love that person.”

I think, though, there is another reason we owe love to others. It’s because God loves us and gave his Son for us.

Jesus paid a terrible price on the cross to save us from our sin. And it’s a debt we can never repay.

But since we have received a love and grace that we didn’t deserve, we owe it to God to pass on what we have received from him to the people around us, even if in our eyes, they don’t deserve it.

Jesus put it this way,

Freely you have received; freely give. (Matthew 10:8)

How about you? Are you passing the love you have received from God freely with those around you?

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Romans

Doing what’s right…no matter who’s in charge

Romans

In this passage, Paul talks about the Christian’s relationship to government. And the basic principle that Paul gives is that we are to submit to those in authority.

Why? First and foremost, because ultimately, God is the one that put them there. And so if you rebel against those God has put in authority, you are actually rebelling against God.

Second, God has instituted the idea of authority for the benefit of society. Without authority, there would be total anarchy, and all of us would be living in fear. So Paul says,

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. (Romans 13:4)

For the most part, because of authority figures in society, we have peace and stability. And Paul tells us that as long as we do what’s right, we shouldn’t have any problems.

I think of Obadiah (not the prophet) in I Kings 18. He served in the palace of one of the most wicked kings in Israel’s history, King Ahab.

But he did such an exemplary job that Ahab put him in charge of running the day to day operations of the palace.

Yet, all the while, Obadiah feared God and did what was right.

Which brings up another point. Sometimes what is right is contrary to what those in authority has ordered or wants.

What do we do in those situations? Do what’s right.

So when Ahab’s wife Jezebel ordered that all the prophets of God be killed, Obadiah secretly sheltered 100 prophets from the king and queen, saving the prophets’ lives.

Daniel and his friends did the same, as seen in Daniel 1-3.

When they were ordered to do something contrary to the Word of God, they did what was right and followed God’s instructions instead.

So did Peter and the rest of the apostles when threatened by the Sanhedrin to be silent concerning Christ (Acts 4-5).

And in each case, God blessed and protected them. Why?

Because they did what was right. And in some cases, they even won the favor of those that initially were against them.

Paul says,

For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. (Romans 13:3)

This is particularly true of the ultimate authority: God.

If we do what’s right, we have nothing to fear from him.

Rather, we will be commended by him. So if the desires of those in authority are against what God wishes, then we are to follow our ultimate Authority.

But even when we have to go against the wishes of those in authority here on earth, we are to respect them.

Paul says,

Give to everyone what you owe them…if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:7)

That was the example of Obadiah, of Daniel and his friends, and the apostles. And that’s how we are to act too.

Peter sums this all up by saying,

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.

“Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (I Peter 3:13-16)

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Romans

When people hate us

Romans

One thing that the early Christians had to face, and Christians have to face to this day is hatred and persecution.

And Paul told the church how to handle it. He said,

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14)

Those words echo what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount.

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)

Jesus himself, lived out those words. When he was on the cross, facing those who put him there, he prayed,

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)

We are to do the same. When we let bitterness consume us, it destroys us.

So Paul says, “Let go of bitterness and resentment to those who hurt you. Instead, pray for them.”

He goes even further in verse 17 saying,

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. (Romans 12:17)

Rather,

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

The wording is perhaps not the best here. Paul is not saying, “Follow the moral standards of the people around you.”

He’s saying, “In the eyes of the people around you, whether they persecute you or not, do what is right.”

And that of course means not giving into bitterness or anger and taking revenge.

He then says,

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)

Sometimes this means simply agreeing to disagree agreeably.

Sometimes this means we need to apologize to someone even if we feel they shouldn’t have been hurt by something we did.

Sometimes it means finding a middle ground in which you don’t have to compromise the Word of God.

I have friends here in Japan, for example, that refuse to go to any Buddhist funeral or memorial ceremony, but they will go out of their way to serve their family or friends after the ceremonies in any way they can.

Finally, Paul tells us,

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12:19-20)

In short, remember justice belongs to God, not you. God will bring all people to account for what they’ve done. So don’t give in the desire to “fight fire with fire.”

And again, don’t hold on to bitterness. It will only eat you up.

Rather, follow the example of Jesus and show his love to them.

Who knows? Through your actions, they may actually come to Christ.

I wonder how much Stephen’s prayer (Acts 7:60) for those who were killing him ate at Paul before Paul himself finally came to Christ.

So as Paul concludes,

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

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Romans

Living as a Christian…with the rest of the body

Romans

It would be easy to look at this passage and just think that these are things we are to do as individual Christians.

But it’s important to note that Paul is saying all this within the context of the body of Christ. He says first of all,

Love must be sincere. (Romans 12:9)

I love how the NLT puts it.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.

It can be so easy, for example, to pretend as if we’re listening to someone talking, when all the while, our brain is a million miles away.

But don’t just pretend to take an interest in others, really take an interest in them.

He then tells us as a church,

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

As a church, we need to hate and fight against the evil that we see in this world, while clinging to what is good and right. But that needs to start with what’s inside the church.

When we see bitterness and unforgiveness in the church, do we fight against that, instead embracing forgiveness?

When we see divisions and factions, do we fight to resolve them and instead embrace unity?

When we see pride and prejudices within the church, do we banish them from our midst, and embrace acceptance and love? (Romans 12:10, 16)

When we see blatant, willful sin, do we deal with it in godly discipline? (1 Corinthians 5)

And when we see a person fall, do we gently work to restore them? (Galatians 6:1)

Paul goes on to say,

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

When we go through trials, are we supporting one another, giving each other hope, encouraging each other to stand throughout our trials, and praying for each other. Do we,

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:15)

We talked about earlier how it’s important to minister to those within the church, not just without.

Paul brings this up as well, saying,

Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:13)

That’s what our Christian lives should look like. Does yours?

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Romans

But don’t we need to go out?

Romans

I suppose I should address an objection that people might make concerning my last blog.

I said that one reason Christian fellowship is necessary is that we need each other. We all have a role to play in the body of Christ, and that we have a responsibility to use our gifts to minister to each other.

Some might object, “But shouldn’t we be using our gifts to bless the world, not just the church?”

Yes, we should.

But remember that many of the gifts we are given are meant first and foremost for the church.

Paul in Ephesians, for example says,

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)

Why did Christ do this?

To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

Think about evangelists for a moment.

If there is one gifting that is used to be outside of the church, it’s that one.

But Paul specifically tells us that one of the main purposes of the evangelist is to prepare God’s people for works of service.

As well as preaching the gospel, evangelists help encourage other believers to share their faith too. They show other believers how it is possible to make a difference in the lives of their unbelieving friends.

And as each of these people Paul lists use their gifts, we all grow up in unity in the faith and become mature.

“Okay, Bruce,” you may say, “but my gifting is not from that list.”

It doesn’t matter. Paul goes on to say,

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Again, we see that everyone in the church, every supporting ligament, every part, needs to do its work that we may all build each other up and become mature.

That’s why Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:10,

As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Galatians 6:10)

So yes, using our gifts to touch the world is vital. But we also need to use them within the church.

Remember what Jesus told his disciples:

Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Notice that the way that people will know we are Christ’s disciples is by the way we treat each other.

And if we are loving and serving one another, people will see a difference in the followers of Christ, and that’s what will attract them to Him.

But if we are fighting amongst ourselves, living selfishly, and with an attitude of pride, they’ll rightfully ask, “So what’s the difference? Christians are just like us.”

How about you? Are you loving God’s people? Or are you avoiding them? Are you serving God’s people?

Or are you withholding the gifts God has given you from them?

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Romans

What destroys fellowship

Romans

It is so easy to think of the Christian life as an individual thing. I suppose with the individualistic mindset of Western countries, this is particularly true.

But the Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. We are meant to be in fellowship with other believers.

Yet there are many Christians who no longer attend church.

Why? There are many reasons, but through Paul’s words, we can find one common reason. Paul wrote,

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. (Romans 12:3)

And again,

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:16)

If there is one thing that will destroy Christian fellowship, it’s pride.

It’s a pride that says, “I don’t need other Christians. I’m fine by myself.”

It’s a pride that says, “These other Christians are at a much lower spiritual plane than I am. What can I possibly get from hanging around them?”

It’s a pride that says, “I’m at a different social status than these others. What do I have in common with them?”

It’s a pride that says, “This person has hurt me and that person has hurt me. I’m not going to go back to church until they apologize.”

But Paul reminds us,

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:4-5)

Here we see an important truth: All Christians are part of the body of Christ. And we don’t merely belong to ourselves anymore.

We belong to Christ, first and foremost. But we also belong to each other.

Why?

Because all of us bring something different to the body of Christ. We all have different functions within his body. And the whole body depends on us to fulfill that function.

So Paul says,

If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;

if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:6-8)

You may think that you don’t need others. But even if that were true, others need you. And God gave you the gifts you have to bless others.

Remember that in serving others, we serve God.

That’s why Paul admonishes us,

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. (Romans 12:11)

But if we out of our pride withhold what God has given us from the church, God will hold us accountable.

Always remember: we belong to the others in the church. And they belong to us. We need each other.

So let us get rid of the pride that would separate us from our brothers and sisters. Instead,

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)

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Romans

To know the mind of God

Romans

I like how some translations put the first part of Romans 12:2.

Do not be conformed to this age. (HCSB)

So often we talk about “the age we live in,” and how things have changed. And things have certainly changed.

When I first moved to Japan back in 1995, email was still a “new thing,” as was the internet.

So back in those days, I used air letters, and if I needed to make quicker contact, the telephone. Land lines, that is.

Now, of course, we have smartphones, email and Zoom, not to mention social media.

But as well as changes in technology, we have changes in the way people think, particularly about morals.

Things that were once considered “sinful,” are now considered normal. I wonder how many people remember what a couple “living in sin,” means.

More, we are now living in the age of “tolerance.”

Now don’t get me wrong. Tolerance in itself is a good thing.

Tolerance basically means that even if you don’t agree with someone, you can still deal with them on a day to day basis in a way that’s civil, and hopefully even friendly.

But in this age, tolerance means, “All beliefs are equally legitimate. And if you disagree with someone, it doesn’t mean they’re wrong or you’re wrong. You’re both right.

So don’t you dare even think that the other person could possibly be wrong. If you do, you’re being ‘intolerant.'”

Of course, this all goes out the window when these same people consider what Christians believe.

At that point, “tolerance” becomes, “You’re wrong. You have to change the way you think.”

But if we truly want to know the mind of God, we cannot conform ourselves to the way this age thinks. Because while the way people think changes over time, God never changes.

There are multiple pressures to conform.

They can come from society; they can come from family; they can come from friends. And these pressures are everywhere.

I can particularly see it in Japan, with its emphasis on “wa”, which means “group harmony.”

One of the true few “sins” in Japanese society is the breaking of this “wa,” and it can get you ostracized in a hurry.

This is not to say that group harmony is itself a bad thing. Paul himself writes,

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)

But there are times when the way you’re being pressed is contrary to the Word of God. And we cannot let ourselves be conformed to this age. Because ultimately, the patterns of this age will destroy us.

If we let ourselves go along with those patterns, we will end up hurting God, others, and ourselves.

So let us not be conformed to the patterns of this age. Rather, as Paul puts it,

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2b)

How are our minds transformed? Through the Word of God. By reading it, meditating on it, and by the power of the Spirit, living it. And as we do so, we find life.

Because not only are our minds transformed, but our whole lives are transformed.

We find the way God meant for us to live from the beginning.

We find a marriage that works, relationships that work, peace in the midst of troubling circumstances, and joy within the darkest valleys.

In short, we find the will of God in our lives. And we find that that will is good, pleasing, and perfect.

How about you? Is your mind being conformed to the pattern of this age? Or is your mind being transformed?

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Romans

A living sacrifice

Romans

This is perhaps one of the more famous passages in scripture. Paul writes,

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

It’s always good to look back at what was said previously whenever you see the word “therefore.” And as we saw, Paul had just written,

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Think about that phrase “all things” for a minute.

Among those “things” are us. We were created from his mind and by his plan. We were created through his power.

We were created for him, and ultimately, we will return to him, held accountable for how we lived our lives.

So many people scream, “It’s my life. It’s my right to live however I want to.”

That’s only half true. God has indeed given us free will. So in that sense, we have the right to live as we please.

But it is not really our life. We were created by God, by his power, and for him.

And it is with that in mind, Paul says that we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to him. He calls it our spiritual service of worship to God.

The King James version puts it, “your reasonable service.”

In other words, it only makes sense that since we were created by God and for him, that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices.

What does that mean though? Does that mean we are to die for him?

While some may be called to become martyrs for Christ, Paul doesn’t mean this. He says we are to be “living” sacrifices.

I like to use the analogy of marriage when thinking of a living sacrifice.

In a marriage, the husband and wife offer themselves to each other.

And while I’m sure, for example, my wife would be happy to know that I am willing to die for her, she would much prefer that I live for her. That I would set apart myself for her, and give myself to no other woman.

More, she would like to know that I love her so much that I want to please her and find joy in pleasing her.

I, of course, desire the same thing from my wife. And when husbands and wives live as living sacrifices toward each other, marriage works well.

In the same way, while God is happy to know that we’re willing to die for him, he would much rather that we live for him. That each day, we would set apart ourselves (be holy) for him.

And he wants us to love him so much, that we delight in pleasing him.

Why would we do these things? Because of his mercies toward us.

He himself became a man and laid down his life for us as a sacrifice. While we were yet sinners, our backs set against him, and going our own way, Christ loved us enough to die for us that we might be reconciled to him.

And now that we know the love of God in our lives, it’s only natural that we respond with that same kind of love and offer ourselves to him, living lives that are pleasing to him.

That’s a living sacrifice.

How about you? Are you a living sacrifice?

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Romans

A God who is beyond us

Romans

One of the things that amazes me is the people who think that if they were to argue with God, they could win.

More than a few atheists, when posed with the question, “If God exists, what would you say when you stood before him in heaven,” respond by saying they could argue why they didn’t believe in God while they were on earth.

And they seem to think they could reasonably argue their position before God.

But in this passage, Paul shows the utter foolishness and futility of that way of thinking.

In chapters 10 and 11, he talks about how God used the disobedience of the Jews to bring the Gentiles to salvation, and how the result of the Gentiles coming to Christ will be the salvation of the Jews.

In short,

Just as you (Gentiles) who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their (the Jews’) disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. (Romans 11:30-32)

It’s here that you see a glimpse of how God’s foreknowledge works with predestination.

He knew how the Jews would react to Jesus, and he thus made plans to bring Gentiles into his kingdom.

But he also knew that if he did that, the Jews would then feel a longing for God, and thus turn to Jesus and be saved as well.

In short, God knows what his endgame is on the chessboard of the universe, and he knows how to achieve it.

God knows exactly what choices we will make, and he knows exactly how he will respond to each of our choices so that his will will ultimately be done.

People thus retain their free will and he maintains his.

As he contemplated this, Paul was simply overwhelmed, singing,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34)

In other words, no one can match the wisdom and knowledge of God.

It’s hard to match all wisdom and all knowledge, after all.

And because he knows all things and we don’t, it’s impossible for us to understand all his decisions unless he reveals it to us.

And even if he does reveal it, we’re still limited as to how much we can truly understand.

So when people argue, for example, about how a good God could allow evil in the world, they do so from ignorance.

They don’t have all the information that God has, and so all their arguments against him essentially amount to nothing.

Yet people argue as if they do know everything. As if their arguments are unanswerable. And so they boast that they could debate against God and win.

But when they stand before him, he will lay out on the table all the motivations of their heart and all that they knew or should have known had they taken the time to find out.

He will lay out all the facts as they are, not as we perceived them in our pride.

And ultimately, every mouth will be silenced and every person held accountable. (Romans 3:19).

There is nothing that we can bring to the table that will stun God and make him say, “I never knew that.”

Nor will there be anything that we can point to in our lives to say, “Look at what I did. I deserve heaven.”

For as Paul concludes,

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. (Romans 11:35-36a)

Everything we have is from him. All things came through him. And all things will return to him. That includes us.

So we have two choices. We can give glory to him, as Paul did, saying,

To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:36b)

Or we can continue to rebel against him until the day come when we are silent before him.

How about you? What will you choose?

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Romans

No room for pride

Romans

I have never understood the anti-Semitic sentiment held by some Christians, particularly in view of Romans 11.

I think at the root of the anti-Semitic sentiment is a feeling of pride, and that is something Paul completely squashes in this chapter.

It is this feeling of pride, in fact, that Elijah had when complaining to God about the rest of the Israelites. He said to God,

I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty.

The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.

I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. (1 Kings 19:10)

In other words, “Look at me God. I’m zealous for you. Look at all I’ve done. But these other Israelites: they’re hopeless.”

But God told him, “Hey, there are many others who belong to me who have never bowed knee to Baal.”

Paul then says that just as there was a remnant in Elijah’s time, there is a remnant of Jews now faithful to God, who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah. And they, like us, are chosen by God’s grace.

Paul goes on to remind us,

And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:6)

Many Christians today are like Elijah. They think they were saved because of their works. That they were somehow better than others, and so God saved them.

But Paul tells us that’s not true. Grace is a gift given to the undeserving.

Elijah was undeserving of God’s grace, and yet he received it. Elijah became bitter, angry, and depressed when his life was threatened. And yet God reached down to him and strengthened and encouraged him.

We too are undeserving; yet God reached down to save us.

How then can we look down on the Jews as if we are somehow better than they are? We are all saved by grace.

Paul then compares the Jews to olive branches that were broken off and us to wild shoots that were grafted in.

But he tells us,

Do not boast over those branches.

If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”

Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith.

Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness.

Otherwise, you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:18-22)

The point again here, is that we are saved by grace. That it is not because of what we have done that saved us, but because of what Christ did on the cross.

The only thing we did was believe. So there’s no room for arrogance on our part.

Rather, those who criticize the Jews should pay more attention to their own selves. And they need to ask themselves, “Am I standing by faith and the grace of God? Or am I standing by my works?

If I’m standing by my works, I’m headed for destruction just as those unbelieving Jews are. But if I’m standing by grace, what right do I have to be arrogant?”

Even if you don’t criticize the Jews, do you look down on others? Are you convinced that you are saved because you’re somehow better than others.

You’re not. If you were, grace wouldn’t be grace. Rather your salvation would simply be what you deserved.

So be humble. And grateful. There is no room for pride in the kingdom of God.

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Romans

Refusing to believe

Romans

A couple of days ago, I talked about the paradox of salvation. That though the path to salvation is so easy, yet it is difficult.

All we have to do is put our faith in God and Jesus’ work on the cross and we’ll be saved. And yet so many people don’t.

We see this problem with the Jews. Paul writes,

But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” (Romans 10:16)

That’s not just the problem with the Jews; it’s the problem with most people today.

To this very day, these words ring true. “Lord, who has believed our message?”

Paul then says,

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

In other words, two things are necessary to be saved. To hear the message of the gospel and to believe it.

What is the problem? Why don’t so many Jews and others believe. Is it that Christ has not spoken? Or is it that they have not heard?

Not at all. Paul writes,

Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Romans 10:18)

The quote here, from Psalm 19:4, talks about how the heavens declare the glory of God.

Paul then applies this to the gospel, that Jesus’ words had gone into all the known earth.

Paul then asks,

Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? (Romans 10:19)

Rhetorical question here, the answer being, “No, they didn’t understand.”

And Paul goes on to talk about the irony of the work of God. That those God revealed himself to first (the Jews) rejected him, but when God went on to others, those others did believe.

So Paul quotes Isaiah who said,

I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. (Romans 10:20)

God is specifically talking about the Gentiles here. That though the Gentiles were going their own way and were not even seeking God, God revealed himself to them and they accepted him.

The truth is, though, verse 20 can equally be applied to the Jews.

They weren’t really seeking God. They had started worshiping other gods in Egypt. (Joshua 24:14)

Yet God revealed himself to them. But what was their response when God revealed himself to them?

God said of them,

All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. (Romans 10:21)

Why didn’t they believe? They saw all the miracles. The ten plagues in Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea. The manna in the desert. And so much more. They had every reason to believe.

Then Jesus came. He performed miracles. He cast out demons. He preached words of wisdom such as they had never heard before. And yet they rejected him. Why?

The others (unbelieving Jews) were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.” (Romans 11:7-8)

This is a quote from Isaiah 29.

I talk more about this here, but the idea from this passage is that the Jews first blinded themselves. And so God said, “You don’t want to see? Fine. Be blind.”

That’s what happened with the Jews. For hundreds of years, despite all God did and said, they refused to believe. So God gave them over to their unbelief.

That’s the danger for all who hear the gospel. If we harden ourselves to it, sooner or later, God will say, “Fine. Dwell in your unbelief,” and he gives us over to the results of that unbelief: death.

So don’t harden your hearts to God’s message of salvation. Don’t listen to it with a heart that is skeptical and hardened from the beginning.

If you do, you will only blind yourself and you will die, separated from God for all eternity.

Instead, open your heart. For only in Christ and his message of salvation will you find life.

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Romans

The irrevocable call of God

Romans

One of the most amazing things about salvation is that it comes about through the call of God, and that call is irrevocable.

Paul clearly illustrates this through Israel. He talked about how Israel had hardened their hearts to God despite all he had said and done.

He then asks,

Did God reject his people? (Romans 11:1a)

His answer?

By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. (Romans 11:1b)

In other words, how can you say God has rejected the Jews when I myself, a Jew, have been saved?

He then says something interesting.

God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. (Romans 11:2)

Paul’s saying here, “There’s no way you can say God has rejected his people because he chose them knowing full well that many would harden their hearts against him. That many would reject him. And that many would crucify his Son.”

It’s not as if God said, “Whoa, I didn’t see that coming. I guess I have to reject them now.”

Rather, he knew beforehand that though many would reject him, nevertheless, there would always be those who were his.

How could he know this? Because he had chosen them before creation to be saved.

As God told Elijah when Elijah complained he was the only one following God,

I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal. (Romans 11:4)

And Paul says of the Jews of his day too,

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. (Romans 11:5)

Paul then reveals the plan of salvation God had made from the very beginning:

That the Jews would reject their Messiah, and so the gospel would be taken to the whole world, and many would receive it and become God’s children.

Then the Jews would see this and be filled with longing for that kind of relationship. They would remember that God had initially chosen them for that kind of relationship.

They would then become angry at themselves for throwing away what had been theirs and would turn to God, and they too would be saved.

In fact, it seems the day will come when all Jews will come to recognize Jesus as Messiah and be saved (Romans 11:26-27).

Paul then reminds us,

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. (Romans 11:28)

In other words, the Jews were persecuting the Christians for following Christ. But God still loved the Jews and was planning to save them.

Why? Because of what they had done?

No. Because he had set his love upon them for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

More, God made his promises to them, and he will never break them.

That’s why Paul could say,

For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)

The good news for us? His gifts and his call on us are irrevocable too.

He knew us before we were born. He knew what doubts we’d have. He knew what failures we’d have. And he chose us anyway.

So let us never fear that God will reject us because of our doubts and failures. As with Israel, his call on us is irrevocable.

And as Paul said in another letter, what God has started, he will complete. (Philippians 1:6)

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Romans

The need for us to go

Romans

We’ve talked about this not too long ago, so this should be short and sweet. I’ve mentioned before that we were chosen before the beginning of the world to be God’s children.

There have been, however, Christians who have taken this concept too far and said, “Well, if God has already chosen those who will be saved, there’s no need for us to go out and evangelize them.”

That kind of thinking overlooks one key thing. God commands us to go.

The reason: though he doesn’t need us to evangelize, nevertheless, he chooses to spread his gospel through us. He has given us the keys to his kingdom.

But if we don’t use them, people will not be saved.

That’s why Paul says,

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?

And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:14)

These are all rhetorical questions, and the answer is crystal clear to all of them. People can’t.

They can’t call on the one they haven’t believed in. They can’t believe in the one they have not heard. And they cannot hear without someone preaching to them.

Paul then says,

And how can they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:15)

Again, the answer is that they can’t.

But here’s the thing to note: God has called all of us who are believers to go. All of us have been commissioned by him to go and share his gospel.

Jesus told his disciples and us,

As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. (John 20:21)

And again,

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

We don’t need to wait for him to send us. He already has.

So Paul says of those who take the gospel out,

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! (Romans 10:15b)

How about you? You’ve been given the keys to the kingdom.

What are you doing with them?

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Romans

All that’s left for us to do

Romans

The way to salvation is, in a sense, contradictory. That is to say, it is so easy, and yet so hard.

Paul writes,

But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). (Romans 10:6-7)

In other words, we don’t need to drag Jesus down from heaven to effect our salvation. Nor do we have to drag his dead body from the grave in order for us to be saved.

Jesus has already come. He has already paid for our sins on the cross. And he has already been raised from the dead.

So what is there left for us to do then?

But what does it say?

“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:8-10)

In short, all we need to do is acknowledge in our hearts who Jesus is and what he has already done for us.

Who is he? He is Lord.

What does that mean exactly. Paul makes it crystal clear in the next few verses.

As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:11-13)

The last quotation he brings out is Joel 2:32, and the word translated “Lord” is not simply “Adonai” which can be used of mere men as well as of God. Joel uses the divine name, “Yahweh.”

In short, “Everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved.”

So Jesus is not merely “a lord,” but he is God himself.

Paul says as much in Philippians 2 where he quotes Isaiah 45:23 in which Yahweh says,

Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.

He then applies it to Jesus, saying,

At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

So if we are to be saved we need to confess Jesus for who he really is, Lord and God.

More we are to believe in what he has done. That he died for our sins and was raised from the dead. And then beyond that, we are to call on him.

It’s not enough just to know Jesus is Lord. It is not enough to know that he died for us and was raised again. The demons know all this.

We must call on him and ask him to save us. And if we do, he will.

It is so easy. Yet it is so difficult.

Why? Because people simply do not want to believe. Many people claim they can’t believe. But God has given enough evidence for all of us to believe.

It’s not that people can’t believe. They choose not to.

They choose not to because of pride.

“It’s too simple. I must be able to do something to save myself.”

Or, “I don’t need God in my life. I’m fine as it is. I don’t need a crutch in my life.”

Or, “I’m too intelligent to believe in God.”

Others are simply too in love with their sin. They know that if they acknowledge Jesus in their lives, they can’t keep living as they are. And they don’t want to give it up even though it is destroying them.

How about you? What will you do with Jesus in your life?

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Romans

Why can’t there be another way to God? (part 2)

Romans

I seem to be doing a lot of these multi-part posts. 🙂

Anyway, Paul gives two other reasons here why Christ is the only way to God.

Again, he’s talking about the Jews in this passage, but what he says can be applied to just about any religious person in the world.

He says,

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. (Romans 10:1-2)

Here Paul makes a very important point. Many Jews and other religious people are very zealous for God. That’s a good thing. But zeal without knowledge is not.

And again, these people are pursuing God in total ignorance of what he really wants. Faith.

More, Paul says,

Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. (Romans 10:3)

That’s the second problem with many religious people. Because they didn’t know true righteousness, they established their own.

They made their own definitions of what is right and wrong. They made their own definitions of what is acceptable to God and not.

And because they are following their own definition of righteousness, when they encounter true righteousness, the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, they fail to submit to it.

Rather they keep going along the path they themselves (or those who came before them) have established.

But you cannot expect to go your own way, establishing your own standards in direct contradiction to God’s and expect him to be pleased with you, no matter how zealous you are.

The truth of the matter is, even if God were to allow you to live by the standards you yourself have established, you would fail even by those standards. For as Paul said,

Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” (Romans 10:5)

How many people keep their own rules perfectly? None.

And yet people still try to reach God through their own rules.

So when people set up their own rules, their own religion, they fail on two counts:

One, their standards are not God’s.

Second, they can’t keep their own rules.

And yet they expect God to accept them? Particularly when the thing God asks for most is that they trust him, and they refuse to do even that?

Forget it.

So Paul says,

Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)

In short, let’s put aside our standards of righteousness and our religion. They’ll get us nowhere with God.

Instead let us turn to Christ, “our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

More on this next time.

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Romans

Why can’t there be another way to God?

Romans

One of the things that bothers people about Christianity is that Christ claims he is the only way to God. That there is no other way. And they say, “Why can’t there be another way?”

There are many ways to answer that question, but Paul gives one answer here, as he talks about the Jews.

As I look at this passage, it strikes me that everything Paul says about the Jews, he could be saying about every other religious person in the world.

He says,

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. (Romans 9:30-31)

Let’s rephrase that into the modern world.

What then shall we say? That the Christians, who did not pursue righteousness through religious rules, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the rest of the world, who pursued righteousness through the laws of their own religion, has not attained it.

How can we say that? How can we just dismiss the efforts of all the religious people of the world?

Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. (Romans 9:32)

In other words, their whole idea of how to be made righteous before God is wrong. It’s not by works. It’s by faith.

Let’s put it this way. There’s a famous book called the “Five Love Languages.” And in it, the author makes clear that people feel love in different ways.

Some people feel love by receiving gifts, others feel love by being served, others feel love by the words they hear, and so on. And there can be conflict in a marriage when a person doesn’t know their partner’s love language.

For example, a husband tries very hard to please his wife by giving her gifts.

But though he tries very hard to give her the perfect gift, though he spends tons of money on it, he gets frustrated because she’s not responding as he expects. After all, he feels most loved when he receives gifts.

What he doesn’t know is that she doesn’t want gifts; she wants his time.

And so though he tries very hard to please his wife, because he’s going about it in the wrong way, he can never achieve his aim.

In the same way, most people approach God by thinking they have to do a lot of good works to be accepted by him.

But what they don’t realize is that while the good works are nice, that’s not what he really wants. What he really wants is for people to trust him. To have faith in him.

You see that from the very beginning in the garden of Eden.

He told Adam and Eve, “Trust me. Don’t eat from that tree. It’ll lead to your destruction.”

But they didn’t trust him, and the result was a broken relationship with God.

You see this all the way through the Bible, God telling his people, “Trust me,” and them refusing to do so.

To this day, the pattern continues.

God tells people, “Trust me. Put your faith in Jesus. He did all the work necessary for you to be saved.”

But instead, they try to pursue righteousness through their own efforts.

And so, Paul says,

They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” (That is, Jesus). As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (Romans 9:32-33)

How about you? Are you trying to pursue God through your own efforts?

It won’t work. God isn’t looking at your efforts. He’s looking at one thing: Do you trust him? Are you putting your faith in Jesus?

If you don’t you will fall before him. But if you do, he will accept you and you will never be put to shame.

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Romans

The problem and wonder of election (part 5)

Romans

I’d like to address one last question concerning predestination.

Assuming that what I have said is true, that none will ever come to God apart from his choosing to intervene in their lives, why is it that he doesn’t simply intervene in everyone’s lives so that everyone will be saved?

I don’t know the answer to that. There are probably many factors to that question that are beyond what my brain can comprehend.

But here are two things to consider. One is that God prizes faith above all other things. But faith that is seen is not faith at all.

For some people though, the only thing that will convince them is a direct appearance from God. They say, “I have all these other reasons to believe God exists, but I choose not to believe unless God appears to me.”

But quite frankly, that is a statement of defiance rather than faith, and because of that, God will not honor that request.

The other thing to consider is this: Most of his intervention in people’s lives comes through Christians. God has given us Christians the responsibility to preach the gospel and to tell the whole world about him.

He has given us the keys to the kingdom and ultimately he will hold us responsible if we don’t use them (Ezekiel 33:7-9).

But he will not force us to use those keys.

So then there are two main ways God can intervene. One is directly as in a personal appearance. And one is indirectly through other people.

But God chooses most often not to do the former because he desires faith. And the latter often doesn’t happen because he will not force his people to share the gospel.

Is he right in his ways?

Considering he is God and we are not, it’s hard to say he’s wrong.

Ultimately, as we consider the problem of predestination, we have to ask ourselves the question Abraham did.

Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25)

I choose to believe he does and he will.

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Romans

The problem and wonder of election (part 4)

Romans

A question that often pops up when we talk about predestination is, “You say that God predestines who will go to heaven. So that must mean that God must predestine people to hell as well.”

I answered this to some degree on my last blog.

In a sense, I suppose you could say that he predestines people to hell.

But don’t get me wrong. God does not tell people, “I’ve decided you are going to hell! It doesn’t matter if you repent. It doesn’t matter if you choose to believe in Jesus. None of that matters, because I have already made my decision.”

Instead, he says, “My plan is to give you justice for your sins. That’s what you deserve.”

Then, as I said before, he waits to see if you will do anything to change his mind. That if on your own, without his intervention, you will start to seek him.

But the thing is, no one ever does.

So ultimately, what I believe is this: People go to hell by their own choice and to heaven by God’s.

God has given us free will. We can choose to follow him or to not follow him.

Yet left to our own devices, without any intervention on God’s part, all of us rebel against God, and all of us go our own way.

There is no exception. It is, ultimately, the story of humanity.

So God had to make a choice. He could do nothing and let all perish or do something and save some. God chose to do the latter.

That’s why Paul says,

It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” (Romans 9:29)

Sodom and Gomorrah through their own free will chose to rebel against God. And God chose not to show mercy to them, but rather to give them what they deserved: judgment leading to death.

Israel also chose through their free will to rebel against God. But God chose to show mercy to them and gave them what they didn’t deserve: grace leading to life.

What was the difference between the two (I suppose, technically three)? Nothing. Except for one thing. God’s election.

And again, that’s the wonder of it all. We were no better than anyone else. Yet God chose to save us.

So yes, we are saved because God chose to intervene in our lives.

But if we go to hell, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

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Romans

The problem and wonder of election (part 3)

Romans

In the last blog, we talked about how God basically tells people, “I have determined to judge you. Now prove me wrong. Prove that you’re not worthy of destruction.”

And he waits patiently for their response.

We see this kind of thinking in Ezekiel as well. God told Ezekiel,

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.

Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)

And again,

And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right… he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. (Ezekiel 33:14-16)

The problem again though, is that no one does turn. They just go from bad to worse.

We see this with Pharaoh. God first brought warning and then judgment to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh didn’t soften his heart. He didn’t repent. He deliberately hardened his heart.

You see this in Exodus 7:13 and 7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, and 9:7.

Then in chapter 9 verse 12, you see for the first time, the words “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.”

It was at that point, after countless hardenings by Pharaoh himself that the Lord said,

I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:17)

But after that declaration and one more brief softening in which Pharaoh said he’d let the Israelites go, we see in 9:34 that once again, Pharaoh himself hardened his own heart.

And from that time on, you see it is the Lord himself who hardens the heart of Pharaoh.

God, in effect said, “That’s what you want to do? You want to harden your heart against me? Fine, I’ll help you along with that process.”

Could God have done more to change Pharaoh’s mind? Could he have shown mercy to the point that Pharaoh changed?

Probably. But to say that God was under any obligation to do so would be completely off.

The only thing that God was obligated to do was to punish Pharaoh for his sins. And that’s what he did.

The wonder of grace is this: That we were exactly like Pharaoh.

We continually hardened our hearts toward God and yet he did not choose to leave us to our own depravity. And he most certainly did not give us what we deserved.

Rather, he kept showing us mercy and grace to the point that we “broke” and responded in faith and love towards him.

So stories like Pharaoh’s are not meant to make us look down in judgment upon the people who were judged and condemned. Rather, as Paul said,

God did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory. (Romans 9:23)

In other words, we are to look at these people and their stories and marvel that though we were just like them, yet God chose to save us.

That though we were not his people, God called us his own and made us his children. That though we were not his beloved, yet he chose to shower his love upon us. (Romans 9:24-27)

That’s the wonder of grace.

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Romans

The problem and wonder of election (part 2)

Romans

We ended the last blog with the question, “If our salvation is based on God’s election alone, isn’t he then choosing capriciously who to save and who to damn to hell?”

The short answer to this is no. It’s not capricious. God has a determined purpose and plan that stands behind every decision he makes.

The problem, of course, is that he hasn’t completely revealed the details of his plan, nor the reasons for each decision he makes, namely, why he chooses to save some and not others.

That’s why I said in the last blog, no matter how much we look at this issue, we can never fully understand it. We can never fully understand it because God has not fully revealed everything yet.

Because of this, many people cry out that this choosing is unjust.

And when God says,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)

and Paul writes,

God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. (Romans 9:18)

they say, “It’s not fair! How can God choose to have mercy on some and not on others. How can he simply send people to hell because he chose to harden them, instead of showing them mercy. You can hardly blame them.”

After all,

Who resists [God’s] will? (Romans 9:19)

Paul gives two answers. First,

Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?'”

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:20-21)

In other words, God is the creator. He has every right to do what he pleases with what he’s created. He has every right to use what he’s created for whatever purpose he chooses.

But then Paul says something interesting. He says,

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath–prepared for destruction? (Romans 9:22)

What is he saying here?

I think what he’s saying is God made his plans, and then essentially told those he prepared for destruction, “Prove me wrong. Prove to me that I made the wrong decision, and that you deserve salvation.”

And he waited. And waited. And waited. But the more he waited, the worse things got.

You see this in the land of Canaan, the land God gave to the Israelites. After Abraham initially arrived there, God told him,

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. (Genesis 15:16)

In other words, though God had determined to judge the Amorites for their sin, he was not bringing immediate judgment. He gave them every opportunity to prove they were not worthy of destruction.

But all they did was prove day by day that they deserved to be destroyed. And when God brought the Israelites back out from Egypt, he used them as the instrument of his judgment on these people.

God did the same with the world before the flood. All throughout the time that Noah was building the ark, he warned the people that destruction was determined for them.

They had all that time to prove God wrong, and that they really weren’t that bad. But all they did was prove that they deserved destruction.

In short, it’s not as though people go to hell even though they have every desire to seek God and follow him.

It’s not as though they’re saying to God, “I repent of my sin. Please forgive me,” and God says, “No. I haven’t chosen you. You’re not part of my plan so you’re going to hell.”

But people from their own volition choose to reject God, and no matter how much time God gives them, they only prove their worthiness of destruction.

That’s why Paul can say,

It (our election) does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. (Romans 9:16)

If election depended on our desire or effort, we’d all be dead because none of us would ever on our own choose to follow God. Therefore, his election is based purely on his mercy and grace.

More on this next time.

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Romans

The problem and wonder of election (part 1)

Romans

One of the toughest concepts the Bible teaches is that of God’s election of the saints.

It seemingly flies in the face of our free will. It seemingly flies in the face of God’s love for all.

The best I can say before I say anything on this topic is that we only have partial answers. No matter how much we look at it, we cannot fully comprehend everything.

Paul talks first about how he mourned for Israel because it was to them that God had originally revealed himself to.

Paul himself was a Jew. Yet his people had chosen to turn their backs on Jesus, and murder their own Messiah.

But Paul says this does not mean that God’s promises to Abraham’s descendants have failed.

He gives two reasons for this. One is found in chapter 11 which we’ll look at later, and one is found here in chapter 9.

The first answer Paul gives here is that the true Jew is not the person who is merely of Jewish lineage.

Paul then gives a slightly different slant on his illustration of Isaac and Ishmael given in Galatians 4.

There he focused on the difference of trying to be made right before God through human effort to keep the law rather than through His promise.

But in this chapter, he contrasts children born because of a promise with those born by natural means.

“Natural means” in this case meaning children born through the joining of a man and a fertile woman (Hagar).

This is in contrast to Sarah’s pregnancy which could hardly be called completely “natural” because she was well beyond her child-bearing years. She was only able to give birth because of the promise that God made.

In the same way, people do not become Abraham’s descendants simply through “natural” means, that is, through being born into Jewish lineage.

Rather we become his spiritual descendants solely because of God’s promise and his grace.

Yet he makes a key point here: the promises of God are not based upon anything we do.

Paul then illustrates this in the election of Jacob over Esau.

Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad–in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls–she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” (Romans 9:11-12)

The whole point here is that God didn’t choose Jacob over Esau because he was better than Esau. Jacob didn’t earn his election by his good works.

Rather, God in his grace chose and made promises to Jacob for his own purposes.

Some people say that God chose people to elect through his foreknowledge. That because he knew they would be good or bad, or put another way, because he knew they would choose him, he in turn chose them.

But to hold that view completely blows up Paul’s entire point in verse 11.

You would be in effect saying, “God chose them not because of what they had done, but because of what God knew they would do.”

But Paul doesn’t even come remotely close to saying this. He says, “Not by him who works (and by extension, ‘by him who God knows will work’) but by him who calls.”

That’s the whole sense of the passage.

He then quotes Malachi where God told Israel,

“Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated.” (Romans 9:13)

I’ve explained this further here, but the main point again is that God did not choose Jacob because of his works, but because of his grace and his purposes alone.

But isn’t this unfair? Isn’t then God choosing capriciously who to save and who to damn to hell?

We’ll address that question in the next blog.

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Romans

Though we suffer

Romans

I’d never thought of it this way before, but this passage is basically tying up Paul’s thoughts in verses 15-18.

In verses 15-16, Paul reminds us of the kind of relationship we have with God, not one of fear, but one in which we can call God, “Abba, Father.”

Then in verses 17-18, he talks about how sometimes we have to suffer in this world. Sometimes we suffer for Christ; other times we suffer because we live in a broken world.

But now in verse 35, he reminds of something that we would do well to remember during times of trouble. He says,

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Romans 8:35-36)

The implied answer to all these questions is of course, “Nothing.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not the troubles and hardships we face in life, not persecution, not natural disasters, nor times of poverty, and not even death.”

He goes even further in verses 38-39.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

So not even spiritual powers, the things we worry about now, the things we fret about in the future, nor any powers here on earth can separate you from his love.

It doesn’t matter where you are either, whether in the depths of the sea or in outer space itself, his love can reach you.

To sum up, nothing at all can keep God’s love from reaching and touching us.

And so Paul says,

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

In other words, ultimately, we will have victory in life because Jesus won the victory at Calvary. He defeated Satan and crushed his plans on the cross.

And so though Satan would accuse us and tempt us and try us, we have hope because God loves us. And nothing can separate us from that love.

So let us rest in that love when times are hard. Let us take comfort in it. For his is a love that will not let us go.

And no matter what we’re going through, he will bring us through.

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Romans

If God is for us

Romans

So often, even as Christians, we fight feelings of guilt and condemnation. We make a mess of things by the decisions we make, and we think, “Why do I keep messing up like this?”

Or we struggle with temptation, and we wonder, “Shouldn’t I be over this by now? Why do I still struggle with this?”

Or we look at things like the fruit of the Spirit, then look at ourselves, and say, “Love, nope. Patience. Nope. Gentleness, nope.”

And then we ask, “Why don’t I have these things in my life? What am I doing wrong?”

But as I mentioned in the last blog, it’s important to remember that before the creation of the world, God knew you.

He knew what you would be like. He knew what sins you would struggle with. He knew what fruit would take a long time to bear.

And he knew exactly how long the process would take to make you like his Son.

Knowing all of this, he chose you anyway.

Then he called you. He justified you. And the day will come when he will glorify you. We will be like Jesus for we shall see him as he is. (I John 3:2).

And Paul says,

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

God is for you. He loved you enough to choose you. Who then can be against you?

He then expands on this idea.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

In other words, if God met our greatest need, the forgiveness of our sin, will he not meet our other needs? As Jesus said,

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)

Paul then goes further, taking us into the courtroom of God, saying,

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:33)

Put another way, God is not bringing any charges against you in his court. He’s the one justifying you.

Paul then asks,

Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

So Christ is not condemning us.

For one thing, he died for us so that we wouldn’t have to be condemned. More, he is right now at the right hand of the Judge and is the one interceding for us.

Talk about a “fixed” case. The judge and the prosecutor are both on our side.

And if that’s the case, why do we beat ourselves up? They’re not. Why should we?

So whenever you’re feeling guilty and condemned, unworthy of the grace God has given you, remember these verses.

God is on your side. He was on your side before you were even born. And he will be on your side for all eternity.

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Romans

A reason for hope (part 2)

Romans

As I look at this passage, I see another reason for hope through the struggles that we go through: that from eternity past, God had a plan for us.

Paul writes,

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)

A lot of people struggle with the problem of predestination versus free will. I’ve talked about it in past blogs and will hit it again head-on in chapter 9.

But for now, I want you to consider the implications of Paul’s words as a Christian.

God knew you before you were even born.

In Ephesians 1, Paul says before the creation of the world, he knew you.

He knew all your good points; he knew all your bad points.

He knew all your strengths; he knew all your weaknesses.

He knew what good things you would do; he knew what evil you would do.

And yet, he chose you.

He specifically tailored a plan for you and your good. A plan to transform you so that one day you would be like his Son.

Though he knew you would be sinful, weak, and rebellious toward him, nevertheless, God chose to show grace to you, and made plans to transform your weak, sinful, rebellious self into something glorious.

To put that plan in effect he called you.

Though you were not even seeking him, he called out to you.

And when you turned to him, and responded to him in faith, he justified you. He declared you “not guilty” because of the price Jesus paid for you on the cross.

And the day will come when he will glorify you. He will give you a body like the one he gave his Son. Incorruptible, sinless, and imperishable. Glorious.

That’s what God has in store for you. And it is certain.

How could it not be? Can anything really change God’s plans?

With him knowing everything from the very beginning, can we really believe he looks down on us now and is saying, “Whoops. That was a mistake choosing him. He’s a total mess. He’s hopeless. He’s beyond even me to save.”

No! He knew you from the first, and despite knowing everything about you, he chose you. And as Paul would later say,

God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)

Are you looking at yourself depressed at who you are? Are you discouraged by how little progress you’ve made as a Christian?

God isn’t. He knew you from the first.

He chose you knowing exactly how much time it would take to transform your life into the likeness of his Son. So he will never, ever give up on you.

And no matter what trial you’re going through, those trials cannot derail his plans for you either. Nothing catches God by surprise. God already has in mind how he will bring you through.

So hold on to hope though you go through the fire. And remember what Paul said earlier.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

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Romans

A reason for hope

Romans

This is one of my favorite passages in scripture. Actually, from here all the way on down to the end of the chapter is one of my favorite passages in scripture.

Why? Because it’s a passage of hope.

Many people quote verse 28,

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

But many people miss just why it is that God can work for the good of those who love him. In verses 26-27, Paul writes,

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27)

So many times, when we pray, we don’t know what to pray for or even how to pray.

Sometimes as we pray, we’re at an absolute loss for words, unable to even formulate a prayer.

Other times, we pray, but we pray for the wrong things. As Jesus would put it, we think we’re praying for bread, but in reality, we’re praying for a stone.

The good news is that God is not limited by our helplessness or our faulty prayers. The main thing he’s concerned with is that we’re connecting with him.

And when we do, the Spirit intercedes for us. He takes our wordless groans and mistaken prayers and turns them into prayers that match God’s will for our lives.

It is with that in mind, that Paul then says,

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I don’t know about you, but that’s encouraging to me.

When my daughter was a baby, it could get frustrating sometimes because she would cry and we couldn’t figure out why.

Her cries and babbles couldn’t communicate to us what her true needs were and so we were left with no option but to guess what she needed.

Sometimes we were right, but other times, our attempts to help were seriously lacking.

But the Spirit does know our needs despite our babbling and incoherent cries, and because of that, he can pray for us perfectly, providing the help we need.

Are you going through struggles and trials right now? Are you frustrated in your prayers, and feeling like they’re bouncing off the walls?

Know that there is hope. Even now the Spirit is interceding for you, and he is praying for you according to God’s will.

So take heart. He will work for your good.

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Romans

Why do we have to go through suffering?

Romans

As I look at Romans 8:16-17, it starts out very encouraging.

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…

Who doesn’t like to hear that? We are God’s beloved children and we are now his heirs!

But then Paul continues,

…if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Suffering? I don’t want to suffer. What kind of suffering are we talking about?

Paul gives us some examples in verse 35: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword.

All of us go through suffering in one way or another in this life. It’s absolutely unavoidable, especially if you are a Christian, because if you follow Christ, there will always be people that hate you for it.

But why do we have to go through suffering? Can’t God just take it away? Why does God allow suffering in the first place?

It’s a difficult question. Paul gives us a partial answer in verses 20-22.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:20-22)

Why do we see earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters? Why do we see birth defects, diseases, and death? Couldn’t God just take them out of the world?

Yes, he could. But he allows his creation to be subject to these things. Why?

Imagine a life without these things, where people sin as they wish, and there is nothing to shake them out of the complacency of their sin.

They would never see just how awful that sin is. And things would be even worse than they are today.

But what these things do is make people face their own mortality. It makes them face the fact that sin is in fact a horrible thing.

And it wakes up some to the point that they actually seek God and are saved.

So God subjects creation to these things with that hope in mind. That people will turn to him once again and find the true joy that only he can bring.

And when that full number has been reached, Jesus will come back and make all things new.

But until that day, Paul says the earth will continue to suffer birth pangs. Not death pangs, mind you, but birth pangs.

And through the suffering we see in this world, we’ll see many children born into God’s kingdom as they turn to him.

Nevertheless, the birth pains are still very real.

So are the sufferings we as Christians experience. Paul says,

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23)

We groan because of the sufferings we go through in this life.

We groan because of the sin that we struggle with in our lives day to day.

And we long for the day that we can be free from all these things.

But the thing to remember through it all there is hope.

Hope that we will share in Christ’s glory someday just as we share in his sufferings now.

Hope that that future glory will far outstrip whatever pain we go through now (Romans 8:18).

Hope that all things will be made new.

It’s a hope unseen. As Paul writes, hope that is seen is no hope at all. (Romans 8:24)

But as Paul also said,

Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:5)

So what do we do in the meantime?

Wait patiently. Because we can know with certainty that our hope will be rewarded.

How about you? As you go through the different trials in your life, is that what you’re doing? Are you waiting in hope?

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Romans

Led into a whole new relationship

I think that as Paul wrote this, he probably looked back at his words on Romans 6 and felt he needed to make some clarification.

In Romans 6, he talked about how we used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God.

It seems a strange concept to be a slave to God. While on one hand, it does carry the idea that we serve God and are wholly his, which I think was Paul’s point, it nevertheless also carries the idea of no freedom and fear of punishment.

And so I think Paul seeks to clear up those possible misconceptions in these verses. He says,

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “‘Abba,’ Father.”

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:15-17)

In other words, as the Spirit leads you, he’s not a cruel taskmaster that brutalizes you for your failures and mistakes.

He’s not someone that insists that we are no good, and totally unacceptable to God.

Instead, when we are discouraged because of our failures, and feel, like the prodigal son did, that there’s no way we can still call God “Father,” the Spirit whispers to us.

“Hey! Listen to me! You are still God’s child and he still loves you. It’s okay for you to call him, ‘Father.’ It warms his heart to hear you call him that.”

And as we go through suffering, the Spirit reminds us that there is hope for the future. That we are God’s heirs, and that our suffering will not last forever.

In short, we are much more than mere slaves of God. We are his beloved children. May we never forget that.

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Romans

When we belong to Christ

Romans

Looking at this passage at first glance, I wondered if verses 5 to 8 is referring to the non-Christian or a carnal Christian.

Is it referring to the person who doesn’t know God at all and follows after his sinful nature, or is it referring to the person who is a Christian, but is still following after the patterns his sinful nature had laid down in his life before he was saved.

Looking at verse 9, though, I think it’s pretty clear that he is talking about the non-Christian. Because he tells us,

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9, ESV)

Paul tells us in verses 5-8 that a person controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God, he is in fact hostile to God, and his path leads to death.

But in verse 9, he makes a very clear distinction between us and the kind of people he was talking about.

He says, by definition, you don’t belong to Christ if the Spirit of God is not in you. In other words, you are not a Christian if the Holy Spirit isn’t living inside of you.

But if the Spirit is indeed living inside of you, that is, if you are a Christian, then you are living in the Spirit now, and he is working in your life and is transforming you day by day into the image of Christ.

You are no longer in slavery to the sinful nature like the people he talked about in verses 5-8.

He then says,

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)

Paul is saying here we’re all doomed to die physically because of our sin. But because Christ is in us, our spirit is alive because of his righteousness imparted to us.

It’s important to remember, though, that God not only proclaims us “Not Guilty,” but through the Holy Spirit, he is making us righteous in fact.

Paul goes on to say,

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11)

I think there’s two points of hope here.

First, through his Spirit, though our body dies, we will be raised again in new bodies that will never die.

But second, in our mortal bodies that we’re living in now, he gives us life.

He transforms us day by day to become more like Christ, and because of this, we find the kind of life God intended us to have when he created Adam and Eve in the Garden.

So what does this mean for us practically? Paul tells us in verses 12-14,

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation–but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:12-14)

In short, we have no obligation to something that’s dead.

We don’t need to set a shrine up to our sinful nature in our lives and work to “keep its memory alive” in us.

The destiny it had been leading us to before it died was our death. Why remember and celebrate that?

But now, if by the Spirit’s power and leading we put to death the residual effects of sin in our minds and bodies, we find life.

And according to Paul, that’s what all sons (and daughters) of God do.

How are you living?

Are you living as though you have some obligation to your old sinful nature?

Or are you living as a child of God, led by his Spirit day by day?

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Romans

Not one sentence of condemnation

God’s Judgement

One of my favorite films is A Few Good Men.

And one of the most striking scenes to me is the one where sentence is handed down to the defendants.

Just prior to this, a colonel had just incriminated himself as the one who had given an order to two marines who, because of the order, had unintentionally caused another marine’s death.

Now the two marines stood before the judge who read the jury’s verdict concerning their actions.

On the charge of murder, the members find the defendants, “Not guilty.”

On the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, the members find the defendants, “Not guilty.”

At this point everyone is expecting the defendants to be cleared of all charges.

But then the judge said,

On the charge of conduct unbecoming a United States Marine, the members find the defendants, “Guilty as charged.”

And their sentence was handed down.

But unlike these marines, Paul says of us,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

I like how John Gill translates it: “There is not one condemnation” or “There is not one sentence of condemnation” toward us.

It’s not that God looks down the list of our sins, and says, “Not guilty,” “Not guilty,” “Not guilty,”….”Guilty as charged.”

Rather he looks at us, and says “Not guilty…on all charges.”

Why?

Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

What is the law of sin and death? It’s the simple principal that if you sin, you will die. If you break the commands of God, you will be judged for it.

And because of all of us have sinned, all of us stand condemned.

But the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death.

What is the law of the Spirit? It’s that through God’s grace, we are made righteous before God. That through his Spirit living in us, we now have a new life.

Paul explains further.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.

And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)

What was the law powerless to do? It was powerless to make us righteous in God’s eyes.

Why? Because all it could do was show us what righteousness is. It did not have the power to make us righteous, because all of us had a nature that rebelled against God.

So what did God do? He sent his Son to deal with our sin.

Jesus led a perfect life, and when he went to the cross, God put all our sins upon him. And he put all of the condemnation we deserved on Jesus.

The law said sin must be punished. And all the sins we committed were punished when Jesus died on the cross. So in that sense, the righteous requirements of the law were met in us.

But it doesn’t stop there. God sent his Spirit into our hearts when we became Christians. And like I said before, through his leading, we actually start to become righteous.

Though our bodies and minds still feel the residual effects our sinful nature left on us before it died, the Holy Spirit helps us fight through them so that we can live the kind of life God originally intended us to live.

And during those times when we feel condemned, and unworthy of God’s love and grace, the Spirit whispers to our souls, “But you are God’s children. You do belong to him now. There is no condemnation.”

How about you? Do you feel like God’s just stringing you along, making you feel like you’re okay just to lay down the hammer at the last minute?

He’s not. If you belong to him, not one charge will be laid against you.

So Paul says,

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.

And by him we cry, “‘Abba,’ Father.” (Romans 8:15)

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Romans

Hope

Romans

As I mentioned before in my last blog, I do believe there is room for hope in our fight against sin.

The main problem Christians fight in their struggle against sin is despair.

And the question that most people ask is, “Am I really a Christian? How can a Christian possibly do the things that I do? I want to do what’s right, and I keep failing time and again.”

But here is something important that Paul brings up.

For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good…

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does. (Romans 7:15-16, 19-20)

What is the key thing to notice here? One word: struggle.

The non-Christian, at least one not yet touched by the grace of God, does not struggle against sin. They don’t even notice there is a problem. A Christian does.

Now if a Christian were making a practice of sin despite knowing what God has said (and this is a key point because young Christians don’t always know), and telling me, “What do you mean I’m doing something wrong? I’m not doing anything wrong,” that would be a warning sign to me that something is wrong.

Either they are not really a Christian, or they have so hardened their hearts to God that they can’t hear him anymore.

But a Christian that is struggling is a Christian that I have confidence God is working in. And if God is working in you, he will complete his work.

Paul put it this way,

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:4,6)

Rest assured, if God is bringing into your life conviction of sin, he will not leave you there in the pigsty. He will bring you victory. That’s the hope that we have.

That’s why one minute Paul could cry out,

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)

And the next minute cry out even more loudly,

Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25)

We cannot make ourselves better. We cannot change ourselves. But God can. That’s the hope that we have.

How does he do it? How do we change?

Through the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.

But that’s another blog. Stay tuned.

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Romans

Why we struggle with sin

Romans

Having given my prologue, let’s look at the text. Like I said, I can see why some people say Paul is speaking as a Christian and others say that he isn’t. Let’s start with the latter.

If you look at verse 14, it says,

I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. (Romans 7:14)

And again, in verse 25, he says,

In the sinful nature [I’m] a slave to the law of sin.

The question is very obvious. Weren’t we redeemed from sin? Weren’t we set free? How then, can Paul as a Christian say that he is sold as a slave to sin.

Again, in verse 18,

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

Yet isn’t the point of living by the Spirit that we can carry out our desire to do good?

All good points and must be answered.

However, I think other verses are even more problematic if you hold that Paul is speaking as a non-Christian.

The most problematic verse is in verse 17 where he says,

As it is, it is no longer I myself who [sins], but it is sin living in me. (Romans 7:17)

And again in verse 20 where he repeats himself saying,

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who [sin], but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:20)

How can the non-Christian possibly claim that “It is no longer I myself who is sinning?” when he is still in rebellion against God, which is the ultimate sin?

There can be no separation between yourself and your sinful nature when you’re a non-Christian. You are your sinful nature. You are so intertwined, that you can’t tell where one ends and the other starts.

Further, because you are married to your sinful nature, the only fruit you can possibly bear is sin leading to death. How then can you, as a non-Christian, say “It’s not really me?”

The Christian, on the other hand, can say all these things. And I believe it is what Paul is saying as a Christian.

To review, our sinful nature is dead in that the part of us that was rebellious to God has been crucified. Our old husband is dead. He no longer can actively influence us.

But though that part of us is dead, we are still bonded to a heart, body, and mind that has been influenced by sin from the time we were born.

The scars left by it, namely all the behavioral patterns of sin, and all the emotional ties to it, all still remain and they affect the way we live.

The old man is dead, but his influence in our hearts, bodies, and minds is still very much alive. And as long as we are tied to our physical bodies and those scars remain, we are in that sense still slaves to sin.

Now these other passages make sense. It’s not me anymore that desires sin. That part of me that was in rebellion to God died. Now I want to do what is right. I want to please God.

But there are still those residual scars of sin in me. There are still those behavioral patterns and emotional ties to sin within me. The old man is dead, but even dead, he influences me.

And right here, right now, influenced by the old man as I am, I find it impossible to carry out the good that I wish to. I want to forgive, but I can’t. I want to be patient with my kids, but I can’t.

So what am I saying? That there is no hope for the here and now? That there’s only despair for me in my fight against sin as long as I live?

Not at all, and we’ll see that in tomorrow’s blog.

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Romans

Is our sinful nature really dead?

Romans

There have been many questions I have struggled with as I’ve been going through the past several chapters. One is the question I’ve put as the title of this post. “Is our sinful nature really dead?”

However you answer that question colors your whole view of Romans 7, particularly verses 14-25.

Is Paul talking there about himself as a non-Christian, coming into contact with the law, and facing the reality that he can’t keep it?

Or is Paul talking about himself as a Christian who struggles with sin even after he is saved?

So before I actually look at the text, I’d like to address this question of the relationship between our sinful nature and ourselves.

It’s admittedly a hard question. I can see both points of view, and like I said, I’m still struggling with it. Come ten years from now, I may see things differently. But here’s my take on it for now.

As I mentioned before, the “sinful nature” is the part of us, a deeply-ingrained attitude, that was in utter rebellion against God.

From the time we were born, this attitude was there, and it started to permeate every aspect of our being. Our body, our thoughts, and our actions. And it so permeated these things, that it became “us.”

In other words, the sinful nature came to define who we were.

So to me, the “sinful nature” or the “flesh” is really two things. It is the cause, and it is the result.

To go back to our “bad infection” illustration, it’s very much like how a “zombie virus” ultimately defines the person it infects.

What happened at salvation? That part that lived in utter rebellion against God was taken away. It was crucified and it died. Now we are married and joined to Christ instead.

But the problem is, we still see the residual effects of what has already died in our lives.

Let’s put it this way. A husband abuses his wife and scars her physically and emotionally. The husband then dies. He no longer has an active effect on his wife.

But the influence he wielded on his wife while he was alive is still very much active in her. The physical scars still remain as do the emotional ones.

And in many ways, the husband has defined who the wife has become. In her future relationship with men, her former husband’s influence often leads her into behavior that is harmful to her.

She may date men that are abusive as her husband was, for example. Or even if she finds a good husband, she may find that she is unable to sexually respond to him because of the abuse she had received from her former husband.

Only through time and the touch of a Healer can she be freed from those effects that now define her.

The same is true with us and our sinful nature.

Our sinful nature was distrustful of God and lived in rebellion against him. And it trained our mind, soul, and body to live that way. It came to define who we were as people.

But when the sinful nature died, though that part of us no longer has an active effect on our lives, its residual effects remained. And as long as we live, we’ll be battling those residual effects.

So in the sense that the rebellious part of us that we were born with is dead, we can say our sinful nature is dead and crucified.

But in the sense that our mind, soul, and body is still feeling the residual effects of that which is now dead, we can say the sinful nature is still very much alive.

The good news? The sinful nature, the part that was in utter rebellion against God, is in fact dead, and can no longer actively affect us.

More importantly, the doctor is in. And that’s what we’ll see in the next few blogs.

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Romans

Just how bad is sin?

Romans

Paul says in verse 5, that while we were married to the sinful nature, the law aroused sinful passions within us.

The natural question then becomes, “Is then the law bad? Is it in fact equal to sin? After all, it’s causing me to have all these sinful desires right? It’s making me sin, right?”

But Paul answers,

Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” (Romans 7:7)

In other words, “The law is a good thing. It’s not sin. Rather it simply makes sure we understand what sin is so that we can avoid what would destroy us.”

What then is the problem?

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. (Romans 7:8)

Put another way, sin saw the law, and said, “Oh yeah? God doesn’t like this, does he?”

And it immediately extends an invitation to our sinful nature which is more than happy to oblige, because our sinful nature itself is in rebellion against God.

Paul then says,

For apart from law, sin is dead. (Romans 7:8b)

Here we see an important truth: you can’t break a law that doesn’t exist. You may be doing something God says is wrong, but because there is no law, he can’t hold us accountable for it.

The only thing God really held people accountable for before the law came was choosing to turn their backs on him and going their own way, which of course, is the true root of all sin.

But then God laid out the laws through Moses. And they were meant to show people the way to true life. To show them what God was like, and how God had designed them to be.

When God gave the law, though, what happened? Did people happily say, “Oh, this is the way to life? Great! Let’s follow it!”

No. Rather,

When the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. (Romans 7:9-10)

Why?

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. (Romans 7:11)

As we said before, when the commandment came, sin in the sense of breaking a commandment became possible.

“Sin” sprung to life and deceived me into thinking breaking the commandment was a good thing, thus bringing me under the law’s judgment.

All of this, of course, is figurative. There is no actual person named “Sin” out there. Nor do I think “Sin” is a reference to Satan, although he can tempt us to sin.

The main point is that the opportunity to break the law came when God gave it, and because our sinful nature is in rebellion to God, we did.

The result? Death.

Paul concludes,

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Romans 7:12)

In short, “The law isn’t the problem. The law is good. The problem is you. You brought death upon yourself by breaking the law.”

He then asks,

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? (Romans 7:13)

Here he pictures the person who says, “Great! The law is good. But it means my death. How is that good?”

But Paul answers,

By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:13)

What is Paul saying here?

He’s saying, “Now you’re realizing what makes sin so bad. It takes something that is good and twists it so that evil results. The law shows the way to life, but sin used it to bring death to people.”

When you look at all sin, this is true. It takes something good and twists it. Even something like sadism is twisted good.

Sadism is pleasure derived from another’s pain. But pleasure itself is a good thing. What’s bad is how you derive that pleasure.

And so one of the main purposes of the law is to help us realize just how bad sin really is.

One of the main problems with sin is people don’t realize just how bad it is. And until they do, they will never see their need for a Savior.

That’s why we need the law.

How about you? Do you truly understand just how bad sin is?

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Romans

Married to Christ

Romans

I mentioned before that there were two points that Paul was trying to make through his marriage illustration.

The first, as we’ve already seen, is that when we die with Christ, the law’s power over us is broken. He illustrates that with the point that death breaks the law’s power over people in a marriage.

And as I said in my last post, you would think that in making that point, it would only seem natural for Paul to focus on the husband and compare us directly to him. The husband died, and the law lost power over him. We died with Christ, and the law lost power over us.

But instead, Paul puts his entire focus on how the husband’s death frees his wife from the law of marriage that bound her to him.

The result is a very confusing metaphor in which we are not compared to the husband who dies but to the wife who lives.

But in comparing us to the wife, Paul can more easily make his second point. What is that point?

Before we became Christians, we belonged to another “husband.” Now we belong to Christ.

In making that point, Paul clearly refers to Christ as the new husband and us as the wife. The question then becomes, “Who did we used to be married to? Who was our husband that died?”

I mentioned earlier that it can’t be the law, because we never see any passage referring to the law dying. Even now, the law serves a very important function. It shows what is good and what is sin. (Romans 7:7)

Who then were we married to? I believe it’s our old sinful nature. What do I mean by our sinful nature?

It’s a heart that is in total rebellion against God and insistent on going its own way. And from the time we were born, we were married to it. And the fruit of this joining, the “children we bear” so to speak, is sin leading to death. (Romans 7:5)

More, as long as we were married to our sinful nature, it was impossible to be married to Christ.

But when God saves us, he crucifies our sinful nature and puts it to death.

What happens when the sinful nature we were married to dies? Two things.

First, the law no longer has authority over us, just as when a husband dies, the law of marriage no longer has authority over a woman.

She died to the law of marriage when her husband died, and we died to the law of Moses and all its requirements when our sinful nature was crucified with Christ on the cross.

Second, with our sinful nature dead, we now are free to marry Christ.

And as I said before, through this joining with Christ, we no longer give birth to sin that leads to death. Rather, we give birth to the fruit of righteousness that leads to life.

It is ultimately the reason that only through Christ we can be saved.

As long as we are married to a nature that is rebellious towards God, we can never bear fruit towards eternal life. The “seed” it plants within us causes us to give birth to sin.

But when we are joined with Christ, through his seed planted in us, we give birth to true righteousness in our lives, and the result is eternal life.

Who are you married to?

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Romans

The jurisdiction of grace

Romans

I said yesterday that Paul is not consistent in using of his metaphor of marriage in this passage.

We saw how he used the metaphor to show that death causes the law to lose its power over a person. Specifically, in his illustration, the husband’s death caused the law to lose its power over his wife.

Paul then says we died and so the law lost its power over us. But instead of tying us to the husband that died, he ties us to the wife who continued living.

Why would he do that?

Let’s put it this way. When the husband died who did the law’s loss of authority affect? The husband? No. It affected the wife who was still living.

Prior to her husband’s death, she was under the jurisdiction of the law of marriage, and she was bound by that law to her husband.

But when her husband died, she was no longer under the jurisdiction of the law of marriage. She became a non-entity to the law because it no longer applied to her.

In short, when her husband died, she died too…but in a different way. She died to the law’s power over her, and was free to marry another person.

How does this apply to us?

Before we came to Christ, we were under the jurisdiction of God’s law. What did that law say? It said, “You must do everything God has commanded or you will die.”

But there was a problem. None of us could keep the commandments perfectly, and so all of us were condemned to die.

So God sent his Son into the world, and Christ did what none of us could do. He kept the law perfectly. He did everything the law required.

Then having kept the law perfectly, he paid the price for all our violations of the law. He paid it in full by dying on the cross and taking the punishment we deserved.

Now God accepts us not because we keep the law, but because we put our faith in Christ and his work on the cross. That’s the jurisdiction of grace in which we stand.

But because we stand in the jurisdiction of grace, we no longer stand under the jurisdiction of law. We are a non-entity to the law. In effect, we died to it.

So we no longer live our lives focused on trying to keep its commandments. Rather, now we are married to Christ, led by his Spirit day by day.

The result of this joining to Christ? We give birth to the fruits of righteousness leading to eternal life, something we could not do under the law.

The question is, do we understand all this?

So many Christians, though they live under the jurisdiction of grace, live as though they live under the jurisdiction of law.

They still think they have to keep the law perfectly in order to be accepted by God. They live in fear of God, because they still feel liable to punishment if they break his laws.

But we are no longer under the law’s jurisdiction. We are now married One who loves us and accepts us right here, right now.

So let’s not live our lives in fear. Let us not worry about whether we measure up to God’s standards.

Rather, let us focus on enjoying the love that is already ours in Jesus, and let’s live our lives in response to that love.

That’s a life under grace.

How about you?

Are you living under the jurisdiction of grace?

Or are you still living as if you are under the jurisdiction of law?

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Romans

A broken power

Romans

If anyone ever read this article four years ago, it’s undergone a massive change. Since that time, my understanding of this passage has changed, and as a result, this article has also changed.

It was a passage that puzzled me at the time, and I came to some tentative conclusions, but I’ve now come to different ones.

I mentioned this in my original post, but one of the problems in this passage is Paul’s use of the same metaphor to illustrate two different points. Unfortunately, that usage is not consistent.

In this passage, Paul talks about our relationship with the law and with God.

In doing so, he uses the illustration of marriage in which a husband dies and his wife is freed from the law which didn’t allow her to marry another man while her husband was alive.

As a result, she goes ahead and gets married to another person.

Here’s what I originally wrote, describing my inner thought process as I tried to figure this passage out:

“So, we died to the law. That means we are the husband and the law is the wife, right?

No, that can’t be right. Because Paul says with the husband gone, the wife is free to marry Christ.

The Law marries Christ? No, Paul says we marry Christ.”

“So is the law the husband, and we are the wife? No, because the law doesn’t die; we die.”

Ultimately, the problem comes down to the fact that Paul doesn’t intend us to push his metaphor too far.

There are certain points he wants to make and you have to kind of go with his flow even if his use of the metaphor is a little inconsistent.

So what do I think now?

Here’s Paul’s primary point: Death breaks the power of the law over a person.

So in the case of marriage, a husband’s death breaks the power of the law of marriage over a wife.

As long as the husband was alive, she could not be joined to another. But now with her husband’s death, she is no longer bound by the law and she can marry another man.

In our case, we were under a different law: God’s law.

This law told us what was right and wrong. More, it told us that if we sinned, we would be condemned.

But because all of us have sinned, we could not be joined to God. We were separated from him by our sin.

But then, in Christ, we died.

We read this in chapter 6, that when Christ died on the cross, we died with him. Jesus then raised us as new people (Romans 6:3-7).

Baptism is a picture of this.

The water is a picture of the grave. And as we go down into the water, it shows us a spiritual reality.

Our old self, the one that was living for himself or herself, the one that was in rebellion against God is now dead.

Instead, we are raised a new person: a person who loves God, who wants to follow him, who wants to live for him.

More importantly, through the Holy Spirit, we have God himself living in us, giving us those desires and the power to live out those desires.

So now that we have died with Jesus, God’s law no longer has power over us.

Our relationship with God is no longer based on keeping that law. It’s based on the grace of God and the work of Jesus on the cross.

Now, the law can no longer condemn us for our sin, because Jesus took our punishment for us.

The law can no longer separate us from God because of our sin. Rather, in Jesus, we have been joined to him.

I don’t think the picture of Jesus and the church being a groom and bride is an accident.

As his church, we are now joined to Jesus, and we bear fruit for him. Not literal children, of course, but fruit that causes his kingdom to grow as we share his love and his gospel to those around us.

That is definitely a truth to meditate on and rejoice in.

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Romans

True freedom

Romans

Why do so many people flee from following God? I suppose it comes from a desire to be free.

What does freedom mean to most people? It means being able to live however they want to.

But if they follow God, they feel they can’t do that. Instead, they have to follow a series of dos and don’ts that will put a crimp on their happiness.

I think that a lot of what Paul faced, these questions of “Shall we sin so that grace may abound even more,” and “Shall we sin because we no longer under law but under grace” came because of this kind of thinking.

These people simply wanted to live however they wanted to.

But is true freedom simply the freedom to live however you wish? Or is there something more to it?

I think there is something more.

Let’s put it this way. One problem I face in Japan is whenever I’m dealing with Japanese electronic goods, the instructions are always in Japanese.

Now my Japanese level is okay on a speaking level, but reading and writing is another thing altogether. I can do it to an extent, but whenever I do my Japanese blogs, I make sure my wife edits it to get rid of any embarrassing mistakes.

At any rate, I bought a new Blu-Ray recorder recently and was trying to connect it with my TV and our cable box. But because the instructions were in Japanese and I couldn’t understand them.

As a result, I was left trying to figure things out on my own and was in utter frustration for hours.

At least, though, I had an excuse for not following the instructions.

So many other people who can read Japanese try installing their Blu-ray recorders, or computers, or other electronic goods, and just think, “Who needs the instructions? I’ll just do what I think looks right.”

And they end up, like me, in total frustration. Is that freedom?

In the same way, people look at their lives, and God tells them, “This is how I designed your life. This is how it works best. Just trust me, and you’ll find blessing.”

But people say, “Forget that, God. I’ll do things how I think is best. I’ll do things my way.”

In doing so, however, they destroy their relationships with their wives and children and the people around them. They make decisions that destroy their health or even their very lives. And ultimately, they end up in utter frustration.

The happiness they sought by doing things their way ends up utterly eluding them. Is that freedom?

And that’s what Paul says in verses 20-21,

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! (Romans 6:20-21)

In other words, “Yes, you were ‘free’ from God. But what did your ‘freedom’ get you? It brought you shame. It was destroying you.”

But when we put ourselves in God’s hands, and we follow his leading, what happens?

The benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

Like I said yesterday, the idea here is that we become whole.

And eternal life doesn’t start with heaven. It starts here on earth, living a life that is full and complete.

Why? Because we are living as we were designed to live.

That’s true freedom.

The key to freedom? Trusting God.

Trusting that he knows best. Trusting that he loves you and actually wants your best.

And because of that trust we have in him, offering our lives to him every day. As we do, that’s when we find true freedom.

How about you? Have you found true freedom?

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Romans

Going back to misery

Romans

I wonder when Paul wrote this if he thought back to the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.

He certainly makes the parallel in 1 Corinthians 10, when he compares the Israelites going through the Red Sea to baptism in Christ.

But in so many ways, the things that he talks about here reflects what happened to the Israelites at that time. They were dying in Egypt. They were living miserable lives as slaves, and it says in Exodus 2:23,

The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

So as we know, God delivered them.

But as they were going through the desert and went through many trials, they started complaining and saying,

If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. (Exodus 16:3)

Then later, just as they were about to enter the land God promised to give them, their faith faltered and they said, “Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Numbers 14:3-4)

Here, Paul faces a similar situation. He had just written that where sin abounded, grace abounded even more.

So he posed the question, which undoubtedly had been brought up to him before,

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (Romans 6:1)

To that he gave a resounding, “No!”

Later after talking about how we are under grace, not law, he again asks,

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? (Romans 6:15)

Again, his answer is crystal clear: No!

Why not? He tells us,

We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:2-4)

In other words, we died to that old way of life of living in sin. We died to that kind of life so that we might live a new life, a better life. A life in relationship with God. (Romans 6:10)

So how can we go back to our old way of life?

But so many Christians are like the Israelites.

The Israelites had passed through the Red Sea and “died” to their life of slavery. They came out of the Red Sea new people. Free to live a new life. Free to live a life of victory.

But instead, they started thinking about “the good old days.” They thought about the delicious food they ate there.

And they started to think, “Let’s offer ourselves back to the Egyptians to live as their slaves again,” all the while forgetting just how miserable their lives had been there.

That’s what’s so deceptive about sin. It reminds you of its pleasures while causing you to forget the misery it brings.

And so Paul says,

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! (Romans 6:20-21)

In other words, “Those of you who are saying, ‘Let’s go back to sin and give ourselves as slaves to it once again,’ don’t you remember just how miserable that life was?

Not only did it cause you shame, it was killing you? Do you really want to go back to that?”

So he says,

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:13)

Why?

The benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

When we offer ourselves to God, our lives become holy. Put another way, we become all that God meant us to be. We become whole as people. And the result is life. True life.

And the best part is that it’s all free.

If only we could see the true worth of this gift of life God has given us instead of selling ourselves back to that which leads only to death.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

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Romans

A grace that reigns

Romans

These two verses show two things: The weakness of the law, and the power of grace. It says in verse 20,

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. (Romans 5:20)

That sounds a little weird. God gave us the law so that people might sin more?

But if we look back at verse 13, we see what Paul means.

For before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

So even before the law, people were doing sinful acts. But people cannot be held accountable for what they don’t know is wrong.

What they were held responsible for was for rejecting God and for breaking their own consciences and laws whenever they matched with God’s standards. (Romans 2:14-15)

But those consciences and standards were imperfect. They were dirty mirrors so to speak.

So God gave the law so that people might see the true standard of right and wrong. And as people became aware of it, sin increased because now they were deliberately crossing the lines God had set.

That’s the weakness of the law. It can’t make us good. Rather, it simply makes us more responsible for the sin we commit.

More, our sinful nature sees those laws and because it’s in rebellion against God, it leads us to cross those lines even more.

The result? Death.

The good news?

But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20b-21)

One might think God was cruel in giving us the law. That he purposely did so in order to pour out his wrath upon us even more. But Paul shows us that this isn’t the case at all.

Because no matter how much sin might increase, grace increases all the more to those who will receive it. No one can ever sin so much that God’s grace cannot cover it.

More, no one can be so bad, that his grace cannot change them.

Paul tells us here that his grace will reign through righteousness.

This doesn’t merely mean that we are made righteous in legal terms before God, that is, we are declared “not guilty” before him.

But as we mentioned last time, through God’s grace we receive a new nature, and through that new nature, we start to do the things that are right. We actually become righteous in the things that we think, say, and do.

And the end result of the work that God does in us through his grace is eternal life.

That’s what’s so amazing about grace. No matter how bad you are or have been, his grace has the power to change you.

All you have to do is receive it.

How about you? Do you know the grace of God in your life?

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Romans

Good infection (aka, the Walking Living)

Romans

I’d love to take the credit for the phrase “good infection,” but I must give credit to C.S. Lewis.

I can’t even remember how he used it, but I did read Mere Christianity, and somehow, that term must have floated back up to my head as I was writing yesterday’s blog.

Yesterday, we talked about “bad infection.” That through Adam, we all have been infected with sin. We’re not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners.

Fortunately, there is also a “good infection” that comes through Jesus Christ. Paul writes,

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:15-19)

In other words, so many have died because of the bad infection of sin they received from Adam.

But through the good infection of grace and righteousness we have received from Jesus, we receive life.

And just as we were condemned through this bad infection we received from Adam, we have now been justified through the good infection we received from Jesus.

More, through this good infection, we become something totally different. And thankfully, we don’t become zombies.

Rather, we become someone with a totally new nature, a righteous nature. And we become righteous not because we do righteous acts. Rather we start to do righteous things because we actually are already made righteous in Christ.

We’ll see this later in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where Paul writes,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Maybe I should have named this post, “The Walking Living.” Because that’s what we become in Christ. People who are truly alive.

(In fact, I think I’ll rename this post right now. Hold on a bit…Great! Done!) 🙂

So let us pass on this “good infection” we have received in Christ, that they might become the “Walking Living” too.

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Romans

Bad infection

Romans

This is admittedly a tough passage to completely fathom, though I get the general gist.

The most difficult part, I suppose, is our relationship to sin.

The big questions we need to ask is, “Are we sinners because we sin, or do we sin because we are sinners? Are we condemned to death because we do acts of sin, or are we condemned to death because of the sin that is in us by nature?”

From what Paul says, it seems to be the latter for both questions. He says in verse 12,

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

Part of this is clear cut. According to Paul, sin entered the world through Adam when he sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).

And through his sin, death came into the world. He died. Eve died. And everyone that followed after him died. The ratio of death to humans is still one to one.

The latter part is not so clear. It says death came to all because all sinned.

On the face of it, it seems that this is saying that people die because of the sins that they have committed.

I think this is in part true, but not fully true. We who have lived for some time will be held accountable for any sin that we have committed, and by right, we should be punished for it. We should die.

But what about the child, for example, who dies in infancy, or for that matter is stillborn.

Which of God’s laws have they broken? They don’t even have consciences or any concept of good or evil. Did they die because of their sin?

Paul addresses this somewhat in verses 13-14.

For before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:13-14)

Paul’s saying here that between the time of Adam and Moses, there were no laws sent from God telling people what was good and evil. There was not even a command, as God had given to Adam.

As a result, sin, in terms of committing a sinful act, was not taken into account by God. Yet people still died during that time. Why?

Because Adam’s sin is in us all. What was Adam’s sin?

An attitude of rebellion toward God. An attitude of “my way.” And this attitude is ingrained in each person from the time that they are born. It is the inborn trait of every human.

So in verse 12, when it says “death came to all because all have sinned,” it’s referring to the fact that because Adam sinned, we all became sinners.

Not because we have committed a sinful act, but because through the nature we have received from Adam (and we are all his offspring), we have all been born sinners.

It is as if his sin has infected us all, as a virus infects a body.

How can this be? I really don’t know. Nevertheless, history tells us this is true.

There is not one person in the history of the world who you can say was utterly good except for Jesus. Everyone else has sinned.

They didn’t become sinners because they sinned. They sinned because they are sinners. That’s what sinners by nature do. And because we’re all sinners, we are condemned to death.

Well, that’s pretty depressing. I hate to stop here, but this is getting long. But needless to say, there is good news, and we’ll see it in tomorrow’s blog.

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Romans

But isn’t God punishing me?

Romans

I talked about verses 6-8 in yesterday’s blog, but I think it would be good to place them back in their context, so that we can get the full picture of all that Paul is saying.

Paul was talking about how we can rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that sufferings produce perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

But for many Christians, they don’t rejoice in their sufferings; they become bitter. They don’t persevere; they give up. They don’t find hope; they despair.

Why?

Because they start to get the feeling that the reason they’re suffering is because God is punishing them. That because they messed up, God’s really angry and so he’s taking it out on them.

What’s even worse, though, is if they feel this way and they’re not even sure what they did wrong. Or they feel like God is punishing them unjustly.

But what is Paul saying here?

He’s telling them, “Get out of your heads the idea that God is punishing you.”

“Think about it,” he says.

“Before you became a Christian, at a time when you had turned your back on God, and were utterly lost in your sin, Christ died for you.

He didn’t wait for you to turn back to him. He didn’t wait for you to clean yourself up. Before you ever reached out to him, he reached out to you.

Very rarely, will anyone die for the ‘morally correct person,’ though some may die for the ‘good guy.’

But you were neither and yet God showed his love for you. He gave up everything for you.

With that in mind, how can you possibly think that God has it out for you?

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:9-10)

In other words, he’s already justified us. How can you then think he’s now pouring his wrath on you? We’ve been saved from that.

And if God reached out to us when we were his enemies, won’t he reach out to us in our trials when we are his friends?

It is for these reasons that we can rejoice in our sufferings.

God isn’t punishing us. Nor is he turning a blind eye to our circumstances.

Rather, in the same way he saved us from our sins, he will deliver us from our trials.

And so Paul can say,

Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:11)

Are you going through hardships? Are you wondering if God is punishing you?

He’s not. If you have put your trust in him, he will bring you through the fire you’re passing through, and it will not consume you. Rather, it will purify you and make you stronger.

So hang in there. Don’t lose hope. Keep putting your trust in God, and as Paul says,

Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:5)

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Romans

What grace is all about

cross

I have memorized many Bible verses in my lifetime. But one of the first passages I memorized was this one.

And though I haven’t really tried to recite it in some time, I’m pretty sure I can still get it word for word (although maybe not the punctuation).

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

A few punctuation mistakes, and a missed capitalization, but other than that, pretty good if I do so say so myself. 🙂

So many things struck me about that passage way back when and still do now.

It wasn’t as though God did for us something that we could do ourselves.

We could not save ourselves. We were drowning in our sin, with no escape, no life preserver, no boat in sight. We were powerless.

In spite of all that, we weren’t even searching for help, no less searching for God.

Yet though our backs were set firmly against him, God sent Jesus to die for our sins that reconciliation between us might be made possible.

Very rarely will a person die for a “morally correct person,” such as a Pharisee. One who keeps the rules and looks down on anyone who doesn’t.

Some people, though, might die for a “good guy.” A person that is kind and caring.

But we were neither “morally correct” nor “good guys.”

We had rebelled against God, turning our backs on him, and living our own way. And by doing things our own way, we hurt God, we hurt others, and we even hurt ourselves.

Yet God didn’t simply turn his back on us and say (literally), “To hell with you.”

Instead, he came down as a man and died in our place.

That’s what grace is all about. That though we deserved nothing good from God, indeed, though all we deserved was punishment, nevertheless, he loved us and reached out in love to save us.

And it’s the grace that God grants to us who believe in him.

We who are guilty. We who are unworthy of his love. We who have been utterly stained by sin. We who were wretches before him.

It truly is, as the song says, amazing grace.

Amazing grace,
How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost,
But now I’m found.
Was blind but now I see.

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Romans

Coming through the fire

Romans

Every once in a while, something in the Bible will puzzle me. This passage certainly qualifies. Paul writes,

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

This is a pretty famous passage, and I’ve read it a hundred times, but I’ve never thought of this until a few days ago.

I can see how suffering would produce perseverance, and perseverance, character.

But character, hope? What’s the connection between the two?

So I looked up the Greek, and the word translated “character” has a much richer meaning than what we see in the English.

The idea is of someone who has come out of a time of testing. They have come out of the fire so to speak, and have come out tested and approved.

Their faith is no longer simply a matter of head knowledge; it has become real in their lives.

They’ve experienced the faithfulness and love of God in their lives, and it has made their faith all the stronger for it. They themselves are made stronger for it.

They now have a character that can stand through even the toughest tests and because of that, no matter what comes, there is hope.

And as Paul says, it’s a hope that never disappoints.

Why? Because our hope is not based solely on who we are and the character we have developed.

Rather, it is based on the unshakable fact that God loves us and will always be with us through his Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

I think of Job in the Old Testament.

He certainly experienced all of this. His whole life was taken from him, his family and possessions; even his own friends turned on him. Yet he persevered.

And when he came out of the fire, he had an even deeper sense of the love and faithfulness of God in his life. Because of that, he found hope.

How about you? What trials are you going through?

Don’t let them chase you away from God. Rather, let them cause you to draw even closer to him.

Because as you do, you will experience his love and faithfulness in your life, and you will find hope for your life.

And in the end, that hope will never, ever leave you disappointed.

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Romans

The grace in which we stand

Romans

It would be so easy to just zoom past these passages, having read them so often. But I can’t help but linger here and think about all Paul is saying here.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)

Peace with God.

I think of my own household. Sometimes my wife and I will have a disagreement, and the tension is utterly palpable.

But then we resolve things and there’s peace. No uncomfortable silences. No sudden need to “get some air.”

Instead, a relaxed smile. Laughter. Just enjoying each other’s company.

And because of Jesus, we can enjoy that same kind of relationship with God.

No stepping on eggshells. No wondering what God is really thinking about me. But relaxing in his presence knowing I’m accepted and loved.

Standing in grace.

I was standing in judgment. The judge, gavel in hand, was about to pass sentence.

And then Jesus came, sweeping me out the door, and now I stand somewhere else. In grace.

Grace in terms of forgiveness for every sin I’ve ever committed.

Grace in terms of being in the King’s favor. That though I deserve nothing from him, he looks upon me with a smile, and delights in showering me with good gifts.

So whenever I fail, whenever I fear, whenever I’m in need, all I need to do is look at where I am at. In grace.

Not in judgment. In grace.

And because of that, there is joy. There is hope.

All because of what Jesus did on the cross for me. He gave me access into this grace I now stand.

And not only to me, but to all who put their trust in him.

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Romans

Fully persuaded

Romans

It’s always cool to find something new in scripture, even after having read it all my life.

The verses that strikes me here are verses 16-17, and especially 17.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.

He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”

He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed–the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. (Romans 4:16-17)

The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

When you think about it, that’s what our salvation is all about.

We were walking dead men before God saved us, condemned because of our sin. But through Jesus’ death on the cross for us, we have now been given life.

It’s the second half of that that really strikes me, though. It seems to point to creation first of all. The ESV puts it this way,

[God] calls into existence the things that do not exist.

In other words, from the mind of God came all that exists today.

But we also see this concept of “calling things that are not as though they were” in the story of Abraham.

God told him that he would be the father of many nations and that the whole world would be blessed through him.

The incredible thing about all these promises is that God made them when Abraham was 75 and Sarah 65. Yet they all came to pass.

What was true in the mind of God concerning Abraham, eventually all became reality.

And Abraham never wavered in his belief that God could do what he promised.

He did have his doubts on how exactly it would happen, (thus the whole debacle with Hagar and Ishmael), but as to the actual promise of God, he never considered the possibility that God would lie.

Paul puts it this way,

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:19-22)

Paul then says,

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. (Romans 4:23-24)

As I was looking at this today, it seemed to me that all that Paul said points to the idea of justification.

It’s a tough concept to grasp.

How can God call people who are clearly not righteous, righteous in his sight? How can God call people who clearly still sin, righteous?

The answer is found back in verse 17. He “calls things that are not as though they were.”

That’s justification in a nutshell. He calls us righteous as though we already were.

Why? Because in his mind, we already are. He sees us not just for what we are now, but what we will be.

Before God created the universe, in his mind’s eye, he already saw what it would be like, and with a word, it came to be.

When God made his promise to Abraham, in his mind’s eye, he saw that all he promised would come to pass, and by his power, it did.

And when God looks at us, he sees in his mind’s eye what we will be. And by his power, we will be transformed into his likeness.

It’s a process that is happening day by day and will come to its completion when we stand before him in heaven.

Because of this, God can look at us as we are and call us righteous.

So often, though, we like Abraham look at the reality of today. That we are weak. Sinful.

But like Abraham, let us believe without wavering what God has promised. Let us be fully persuaded that he has the power to do what he has promised: to change us and make us truly righteous someday.

Not just in God’s mind. But in reality. (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2)

With that in mind, let us be strengthened in our faith, giving glory to him, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did.

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25)

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Romans

Salvation: gift or obligation? (Continued)

Romans

I wanted to touch on this a bit more because it’s a point that people often struggle with. It’s a simple point, but even from the time of Jesus, you see this kind of thinking in the minds of people.

We saw in the gospels the story of a rich young man who came to Jesus and asked,

Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? (Matthew 19:16)

Here you see implied in the man’s very question the idea that salvation is an obligation on God’s part. That if we fulfill our side of the bargain and do A, B, and C, that God has to give us eternal life.

Jesus plays along with this idea by saying, “Well, do the commandments.”

The young man says, “I’ve kept the commandments.”

Jesus says, “Really? Let’s put that to the test shall we? Give all that you have to the poor, and then come and follow me.”

Now if this man loved God with all his heart, soul, and strength, and if he loved his neighbor as himself, the two key cornerstones of the law, he would have had no problem with this.

Indeed, if he had kept the first of the ten commandments, to put nothing in front of God, he could have done this.

But he couldn’t. He loved his money too much. More than God. And more than his neighbor.

The very law that this man said justified him, instead condemned him. The only thing God was “obligated” to do was condemn him.

The sad thing is that this young man learned only half of what Jesus was trying to teach him: no man can keep his end of the bargain, so he can’t possibly earn his own salvation.

Had only this young man looked up at Jesus at this point and said, “I can’t do it. I can’t keep the commandments as I thought I could. How then can I be saved?” I believe Jesus would have smiled at this man and told him what he later told his disciples.

“With man this is impossible. With God, all things are possible.”

But instead, the young man walked sadly.

We see this again in a parable that Jesus told in Luke 18:9-14.

One man in the story, a Pharisee, boasted before God about his own righteousness. In short, he was saying, “You owe me, God. You owe me salvation because I am so good.”

The other, a tax collector (one of the most despised of people in Jesus’ day for multiple reasons), instead cried out to God, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Jesus then told them, “Do you know who went home justified before God that day? It wasn’t the Pharisee.

Despite all the Pharisee’s boasts, his ‘righteousness’ fell far short of God’s standard. He will be condemned. That’s what he earned.

But the other, the tax collector, he went home justified before God. Why? Because of something he did? No, he was forgiven purely by grace. His salvation was a gift granted to him by God merely because he asked for God’s mercy.”

Finally, we see this in the cross and Christ’s interaction with the thief.

The thief had done nothing to earn salvation. Quite the contrary, his actions “earned” him crucifixion.

But when he put his faith in Christ, Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Though he had done nothing to earn God’s salvation, he nevertheless received it as a gift.

All throughout the gospels we see this theme woven into the narrative. What do we earn for our “works?”

Condemnation.

Salvation is a gift.

It always was and always will be.

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Romans

Salvation: gift or obligation?

Romans

In this passage, Paul takes on a very important issue. Is salvation from our sins and eternal life with God a gift from Him, or an obligation on his part to give us what we deserve?

Paul is very clear here. He says,

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.

However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:4-5)

Paul couldn’t be clearer.

When a person works under contract, the boss doesn’t at the end of the month walk up to him and say, “Here’s your paycheck. Aren’t I so generous?”

And if he tried, the employee would probably be spluttering with indignation.

“What do you mean you’re generous? You’re giving me what we agreed to. I did the work you required of me. Now you have to pay me.”

But with God, that’s not the case at all. We are not forgiven of our sins and given eternal life because we keep the law. We are not made God’s children because we kept the laws God set up.

On the contrary,

Law brings wrath. (Romans 4:15)

In other words, no matter how hard we try, we fail.

We can say, “Okay, I failed this time, but from now on I’ll keep the law perfectly,” but in the end, we’ll find that we can’t keep our end of the bargain.

No matter how hard we try, we keep breaking the law and incurring its wrath.

It’s what the Israelites learned throughout the Old Testament.

And finally, God had to say (although this was his plan all along), “This Old Covenant based on law is not working because you can’t keep your end of it. So I will make up a new Covenant, not based on what you do, but on what I alone do.”

We see this in Jeremiah 31:31-34,

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

In short, “I will no longer require you to change yourselves. I myself will change you from the inside out so that you can do what is right.

You won’t need priests to mediate between you and me. You yourself will have a relationship with me for I will completely forgive your sins, and those sins will no longer be a barrier between you and me.”

On what basis would this new covenant be based? Jesus told his disciples during his last supper with them before his death.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20)

So then, salvation from our sins and a relationship with God are based not on what we do.

Based on what we do, we deserve wrath. Rather, salvation is a gift based on what Jesus did on the cross.

It was a gift that was first given to Abraham, long before the law was given. And now it is given to both Jew and Gentile who come to God on the same basis as Abraham did. By faith.

So Paul says in verse 16,

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)

More on this next time.

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Romans

Righteousness by faith: a new idea?

Romans

It would be easy to think that this idea of being made righteous by our faith is a new thing. That it was an invention of Paul and the other apostles.

It was, in fact, a contention that Paul probably dealt with back in his day.

“What is this ‘righteousness by faith’ thing? I’ve never read anything about this in scripture before!”

And so in this chapter, he shows what Jesus revealed to him and the other disciples after his resurrection. (Luke 24:27, 44-47; Galatians 1:11-12).

We already have seen him quote the prophet Habakkuk in chapter 1, where he said,

The righteous will live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)

Now he writes what Moses said about Abraham in Genesis.

This was important to the Jews because they considered Abraham the father of their nation, and their example.

So Paul writes,

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about–but not before God. What does the Scripture say?

“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3)

He then asks,

Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before?

It was not after, but before! (Romans 4:10)

Conclusion?

So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:11-12)

He also points out what David wrote in Psalm 32.

Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. (Romans 4:7-8)

Why was David forgiven? Because he did a lot of good things to make up for the bad things he had done?

No. Because he had simply thrown himself upon the mercy of God and put his trust in him. (Psalm 32:5, 10)

Paul writes much more on this in the chapter, and we’ll get to that in the following blogs. But he concludes by writing,

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. (Romans 4:23-24)

That’s the good news for all of us.

Not that we somehow make ourselves righteous before God.

Not that we somehow have to work to clean ourselves up before God and then he accepts us.

But that right here, right now, if we put our faith in him and the work that Jesus did for us on the cross, he accepts us.

It’s the truth that sets Christianity apart from all other religions. It’s the truth that sets us free to have a relationship with God without fear.

How about you? Do you have that kind of relationship with God? Or do you live with that little doubt in your heart, “Does God accept me?”

May you truly come to know the grace of God in your life today and every day.

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Romans

Completely throwing out the law?

shaving

I suppose the logical question to all that Paul is saying is, “If the law can’t make us acceptable before God, can’t we just toss it? I mean, it’s worthless if it can’t do that, right?”

But Paul answers here,

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:31)

What does he mean, “We uphold the law?”

Basically, it means that we recognize that it has its proper role in our coming to salvation. It was our “tutor” as Paul would later write in Galatians.

What did it teach us? It taught us about God’s holiness. More, it showed us our unholiness.

Paul writes in verse 20,

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:20)

By being made conscious of our sin, we recognize our need for a Savior.

If we never see our sin, if we think we’re good enough to be accepted by God, none of us will ever think we need a Savior. And we’ll never understand why Jesus had to die for us.

But while the law can show us our unrighteousness, it in itself cannot make us righteous.

Let’s put it this way: A mirror can show a man the beard on his face, but it has no power to shave it off. Only a razor can do that.

In the same way, the law is the mirror that shows us our sin, but it has no power to take it away.

God’s grace, however, is the razor by which our sins can be forgiven. We are therefore, “shaved” by grace. (Sorry, terrible joke).

But let’s take this a step further. Just because a mirror can’t shave my face, does this mean I don’t need it? Of course not. I still need the mirror to see where I need to be shaved.

In the same way, the law shows me as a Christian where I’m still imperfect and need to be made whole.

And as I look at it, God by his Spirit starts to lead me, and say, “You know where it says here to love your wife? Here’s what you can do to show love to her today.”

Or, “Do you see this area where it says to forgive? Here’s a person that you haven’t forgiven. I know it hurts when you think of this person. But let me minister to that hurt. Let me heal you so that you can forgive.”

So then, the law is no longer a matter of me trying to keep a bunch of rules by my own efforts. Rather, it’s a way of opening my eyes to what God wants to do in my life.

And as I look at the mirror, I don’t look at it alone, I see the loving face of my Father looking at it with me, with his razor of grace in hand.

It can be a scary thing to see that razor in the hands of another, but if we have the faith to say, “Yes, God,” by his grace, he will shave off those areas of our lives that are hurting us and the people around us.

How about you? When you look into the mirror, do you see only yourself and your flaws?

Or do you see the loving face of your Father, working in you to heal you and make you whole?

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Romans

No room for boasting

Romans

One of the big conclusions that Paul comes down to in this passage is found in verses 27-30.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too?

Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (Romans 3:27-30)

In short, when it comes to grace, there is no room for boasting.

God does not accept us because we keep the law perfectly. Nor does he accept us because of our racial background, as the Jews thought.

He accepts us solely because we have put our faith in Christ’s work on the cross.

I think because people don’t understand this, two problems often creep up among Christians.

One is the Christian who says, “How can God accept me when I mess up so much?”

Their problem is that deep down, they still think they have to earn God’s acceptance, and because of that, they feel inadequate. They feel undeserving of God’s love.

But that’s the whole point. Grace is all about the undeserving receiving God’s love and acceptance.

Nobody can stand before God and say, “God, you’re so lucky to have me as your child. Look at how good I am. Look at all the things I can do for your kingdom.”

Instead, all of us stand before God, spiritually poor and needy, with nothing in our hands to offer him. As the old hymn puts it,

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace.

The other problem is the Christian who, because they think they’re good, look down on others who are “not so good.”

They become like the Pharisees, judging all those around them, without seeing their own failures and need for grace.

And instead of extending grace to those who need it, they instead bash them further down.

How about you? Do you truly understand God’s grace in your life? Or are you depressed because you think God can’t accept you?

Worse, are you judging others you consider lesser than you and withholding God’s grace from them?

Here’s a good test for you. When you hear the words “amazing grace,” do they touch your soul? Or are they just words to you?

May “Amazing Grace,” not just be a song, but words that penetrate your very soul.

For when they do, you will never be the same, in how you see yourself, and how you see others.

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Romans

Forbearance and justice

Romans

Paul puts in some very interesting thoughts concerning those who lived and died before Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. He said,

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)

In this passage, Paul talks about God’s justice. And he says that God showed justice by not punishing the sins committed before the cross.

What does he mean by this? Does this mean that all that lived and died before the cross are saved?

No, it doesn’t mean this. One thing that Paul makes clear through the scriptures is that all are saved by faith.

He says in verse 28,

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Romans 3:28)

And as we will see in chapter 4, he goes all the way back to the time of Abraham to point out that even Abraham was saved by his faith.

So if a person did not have faith in God, they were not saved, but condemned.

However, Abraham, Moses, David, and all the rest of the Old Testament saints who did put their faith in God had a problem.

All the sacrifices they gave as an expression of their faith were not effective in taking away their sins. All the sacrifices they gave were mere pictures of what Jesus would do hundreds of years after they died.

(We’ll talk about this more when I eventually get around to blogging Hebrews).

But it wasn’t fair to punish them just because Jesus had not come yet to die for their sins.

So instead, because they believed in this Messiah to come, God accepted their faith as righteousness and put off the justice they deserved for their sin.

And when Jesus went to the cross, God put all of Abraham’s sins, Moses’ sin, David’s sins, and all the rest of the Old Testament saints’ sins upon Jesus.

At that point, their sins were completely wiped out by the blood of Christ, and they could enter the presence of God in heaven.

God shows that same kind of forbearance and justice with us.

Though we all deserved death for our sins, and God could have immediately put us to death, he showed forbearance.

He worked in our lives, preparing our hearts for Jesus. And then when we put our faith in him, God wiped out our sin just as he did with the Old Testament saints.

He did this, not with a forgiveness that says, “Oh, I know you did wrong, but I’m a nice God so I’ll just forgive you.”

He did it with a forgiveness that says, “What you did was horrible, and a price needed to be paid. Justice needed to be served. But Jesus paid that price, and in his death, justice was served. Now because of your faith, you are forgiven.”

But this message is important for you if you are not a Christian as well.

Remember that God is a God of forbearance. But he is also a God of justice.

He is patient. He will wait for you to respond to him. But he will not wait forever. And if you don’t accept his grace, you will receive his justice.

So don’t wait. Receive his grace while you can. As Paul wrote in another passage,

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

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Romans

To be accepted by God

Sitting at the cross

Our deepest need, whether felt or not, is to be accepted. And not just by anyone. But to be accepted by God.

When we are accepted by God, and we understand this in our souls, our life changes. We find contentment, joy, and peace. We find life.

But how can we be accepted by God? One thing Paul makes clear: it won’t come from following the law. In verse 23, he writes,

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

The word for sin in Greek is a very interesting one. It’s an archery term that means “to miss the mark.”

But it’s not just a picture of missing the bullseye. It’s a picture of completely missing the target.

In other words, we’re not even close to perfection. We fall far short of God’s holiness.

Let’s put it this way. Imagine you sin three times a day. That’s not too bad right?

But multiply that by 365 days in a year. Then multiply that by your age. Suddenly, depending on your age, you’re talking about the tens of thousands.

God can literally read off a list against you that would take hours to complete. And that’s if you’re relatively “good.”

Because of this, we all stand condemned. None of us can stand before God and say, “I’m good enough to be accepted by you. I’ve kept all your laws perfectly.”

The good news? In verse 21, Paul tells us,

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (Romans 3:21)

How do we get this righteousness? Paul tells us in verses 22-25.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. (Romans 3:22-25)

What is Paul saying? We have a lot of what I call Christianese here.

First he talks about redemption. What is redemption?

Redemption is the buying of someone’s freedom out of slavery. All of us were in slavery to sin and the kingdom of Satan. But Jesus bought us out from all that. That’s redemption.

How did he buy us? Through his blood on the cross.

Paul says that God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement.

Atonement simply means a covering. That through Christ’s death on the cross, he covers over our sin and forgives it, drawing us to himself.

Perhaps a better translation of atonement would be another 50-cent word, “propitiation.”

The idea is that God poured his wrath for our sins on Jesus, and now that wrath toward us is appeased.

However you translate it, the point is clear. It is through Christ’s work on the cross we are accepted, not by our works.

And through his death we have now been justified. That simply means that with our sins paid for, God no longer looks upon us as sinners.

You can look at it this way. “God sees me just as if I’d never sinned.”

So now, we are accepted by grace.

Grace is simply the receiving of something that we don’t deserve. We deserved wrath because we turned our backs on God. But instead, God accepts us as his sons and daughters.

All we have to do is have faith, putting our trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.

Have you done so?

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Romans

But aren’t we exaggerating a bit?

Romans

I don’t think I can go on in this passage without addressing at least one major objection, that being, “Isn’t Paul exaggerating a bit here?

I mean…no one seeks God? I know many people that are seeking God. And no one does good? I know lots of people who do good things.”

Let’s take both questions one at a time.

What does Paul mean that no one seeks God?

We find the answer back in Romans 1, where Paul tells us that people rejected the knowledge God gave them concerning himself, whether it was the witness of creation, the witness of their consciences, or the witness of God’s written Word.

Instead, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and while they said they were seeking God, they were following after things that were not gods at all (Romans 1:25).

In some cases, they followed idols. In other cases, they corrupted scripture’s teaching of God and started following a different Jesus Christ, a different gospel, and a different Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 11:4).

“But I’m a Christian. I don’t belong to a cult or another religion. I started seeking after God and he saved me.”

That may be true. But it’s only an incomplete picture of what really happened to you. You see, long before you chose Jesus, he chose you. (John 15:16)

Long before you started seeking him, he was seeking you. (Luke 19:10)

The only reason you started seeking God was because he loved you first and started seeking you. He took the blinders off so that you could see your need for him and start going after him.

But had God left you to your own devices, there is no way you would have ever started to go after him.

No one seeks God on their own. They seek God because he touches their lives first. And if you take a careful look at your life, you will come to realize just how he did that.

What then does Paul mean when he says there is no one who does good?

Let’s put it this way. Imagine you make a cake, but instead of using sugar, you intentionally put in salt. When it’s done, the cake looks good on the outside, but is it edible? No. The only thing you can do is throw it out.

That’s what our “good works” are like when we have turned our backs on God.

Doing “good works” when all the while, you’re salting them with an attitude of rebellion against God makes those deeds worthless in his eyes.

Your works may look good, but your attitude of rebellion against God makes it impossible for him to accept them.

The prophet Isaiah puts it this way,

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

In short, no one is saved because of the good things they do or because of some inner goodness within them that sets them apart from other people.

We can only be saved by God’s grace alone, and we’ll see that more as we go along.

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Romans

But I’m not that bad

Romans

One thing that many people can’t seem to understand is how God could reject a person just because they don’t believe in Christ.

“After all, there are a lot of good people in this world who don’t believe in Jesus. I can understand sending murderers and rapists to hell.

But what about people like Ghandi? He was a pretty good guy. You can’t tell me God would send him to hell just because he didn’t believe in Jesus.”

The problem with that way of thinking is that we have a warped view of what “good” is. “Good” is what God is. “Good” is not a thing we can define on our own.

“Good” is God in all his essence. So in order to see what is truly good, we need to look at God. And we need to look at how he says he created life to be lived.

That’s what the law was for. It was to show us what God is like, and how he designed us to be.

So if we are going to measure our goodness, we can’t measure ourselves on a sliding scale of how good we are compared to other people.

Nor can we measure ourselves based on a standard that we have set up or even our own cultures have set up.

We need to measure our goodness by what God says is good. And by that standard, no one measures up.

Paul puts it this way.

We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Romans 3:9-12)

What is Paul saying? He’s saying that there is no one whom God considers righteous on their own merits.

Why not? Because they don’t even understand what’s right.

And the reason they don’t understand what’s right is that they don’t seek God; rather they have turned their backs on him.

And that is the ultimate evil. Not murder, not rape, nor anything else. Rather, the ultimate evil is turning your back on God.

Why? Because as I said, God is good. And what is evil but turning your back on what’s the ultimate Good.

What happens when you turn your back on the source of all that’s good? It starts to creep out in your words, and in your actions.

How often have you lied? Or slandered someone? Or cursed someone? How often have bitter things come out of your mouth? Do those kinds of things come out of a good heart?

How often have you messed up your life by your decisions?

How often have you hurt others because of your actions?

How often have you said, “I know this is what God has said, but I’m going to do things my way anyway?”

If you’re completely honest with yourself, you have to plead guilty on all charges. And that’s what Paul tells us here.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

When Ghandi stands before God, there’s not a word he will be able to say when God judges him. God will lay out all his sins before him, things that Ghandi knows were wrong. And he will be without excuse.

Why? Because even when he didn’t know the Bible, his own conscience smote him.

And when he came to a knowledge of the Bible, he became even more responsible because it showed him his sin, just as a mirror shows us the dirt on our face.

And you’ll be in the same position if you face God, having rejected Christ.

So let’s not kid ourselves by trying to convince ourselves we’re not so bad. All of us are sinners in need of grace.

It’s better to realize and admit that now than to do so when we stand before God on judgment day.

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Romans

It’s the result that counts, right?

Romans

Yesterday, we talked about ways of thinking that God condemns, and how some of the things people say today are similar to, but different from how they thought in Paul’s time.

One thing they said was,

Let us do evil that good may result. (Romans 3:8)

In Paul’s day, this meant, “Let’s do evil, so that people will clearly see the difference between us and God, and thus glorify God.”

It was a very perverse way of thinking (not to mention strange), and Paul quickly condemned it.

But people today say the same kind of thing, though with a different meaning. Namely, “The ends justify the means.”

In other words, “I know what I’m doing is wrong, but it’s for a good purpose.”

For example, “I know I shouldn’t move in with my boyfriend, but we can save money this way for when we get married. Plus, we can find out if we’re truly compatible before we tie the knot.”

Or, “I know I shouldn’t twist the truth on my resume, but it’s the only way I can get a good job.”

Or, “I know I shouldn’t marry this guy because he doesn’t believe in Christ. But maybe if I do marry him, he’ll become a Christian someday.”

But God condemns this way of thinking. He wants us to follow his way, and that includes both the ends and the means. When we try to take shortcuts, it often leads to disaster.

If you look at the whole Arab-Israeli conflict today, it came because Abraham thought the ends justified the means.

God had promised to give him a child and that through that child, the whole world would be blessed.

But when years passed, and no child came, Abraham decided to “help” God keep his promise. He slept with his wife’s servant girl.

Now this was at his wife’s suggestion, and it was also in line with the social norms of the day for those whose wives were barren.

But it was not in line with God’s way. And now the descendants of the servant (the Arabs) are at bitter odds with the descendants that came from God’s promise (the Jews).

How much trouble and strife might have been avoided had Abraham not gone with the idea that the ends justified the means?

How about you? Are you living your life by faith, doing things God’s way and trusting that God will bless you for doing so?

Or are you instead making excuses for your behavior, saying that it’s for a good purpose?

In God’s eyes, the ends never justify the means.

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Romans

A damned way of thinking

Romans

No, I am not swearing. The things we see in this passage are literally ways of thinking that will lead to people’s damnation.

To be honest, I find it hard to believe that people in that time held these ways of thinking.

Some people were saying, “God is happy when I sin because when I do, it shows how good he is in contrast. So why does God judge me when I’m simply doing what he wants?” (Romans 3:5)

But Paul quickly debunks that idea by saying, “What are you talking about? God doesn’t take pleasure in your sin, even if it does ‘show how good he is.’ If God thought that way, there’s no way he could judge the world.” (Romans 3:6)

On a similar vein, others were saying, “Well, if I do evil, good will result. When I sin, everyone will see just how good God is in contrast to me and they’ll glorify him. So I should just sin more.”

To that, Paul simply says flat out,

Their condemnation is deserved. (Romans 3:8)

I doubt that people still hold these ways of thinking, but there are still other similar arguments people make today. Today we’ll look at one, and tomorrow we’ll look at another.

God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us. (Romans 3:5)

People nowadays use this in a different context than in Paul’s day. They say things like, “How can God punish people who have never heard?”

But as we’ve seen in previous chapters, God has given people enough evidence to believe that he exists, even in lands where the gospel has never reached.

They have the evidence of creation and their own laws and consciences. And yet they reject what they’ve been given.

These people will not be judged based on what they don’t know, but on what they do know. So the judgment they receive will be entirely just.

Other people say, “How can God send people to hell? That’s so unjust, making people suffer forever just for rejecting him.”

Let me answer by making two points.

First, God is simply giving people what they want. And what people who reject God want is to be as far away from God as possible.

They have no desire to accept God as King because they don’t trust him. They don’t truly believe he is good and loves them.

They think true happiness comes from living their own way.

But the truth is, God is the source of love, joy, life, and everything that is good. And so separation from God is separation from everything that is good.

What is that kind of existence? Hell.

Second, God sent his Son to suffer and die for our sins so that people wouldn’t have to go to hell. Jesus did all the hard work.

All we have to do is put our faith in him and his work on the cross.

To say, “Father, I know I’ve messed up my life by going my own way. Forgive me. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again. I’m putting my trust in you from now on. Be my King.

Now please work in me to change me and make me more like yourself each day.”

And when we make that choice, we find life. It’s not that hard. The only hard thing about it is not wanting to let go of our way.

I love how C.S. Lewis put it. In the end, people either turn to God and say, “Your will be done,” or they turn away from him and he tells them, “Your will be done.”

Whose will is being done in your life?

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Romans

God’s faithfulness

Romans

It would be easy for the Jew to conclude from what Paul said in chapter 2 that there was no value in being a Jew or being circumcised.

Yet Paul makes clear in verses 1 and 2 that there is indeed value in both. He said,

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?

Much in every way!

First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. (Romans 3:1-2)

In other words, one of the big advantages of being a Jew was that they got direct revelation from God as to who he is and what he’s like.

While all the other nations had to settle for the general revelation of God through creation, they had much more.

Of course, as mentioned before, this is a double-edged sword. While this can be a great blessing, it can also be a curse, because the more you know, the more you’re held accountable.

And unfortunately, throughout Israel’s history, though they knew who God was and what he was like, they nevertheless walked away from him to follow after other “gods.”

It would be easy to conclude from that that God has turned his back on Israel. Some Biblical commentators argue this and say that we who are Christians are the new Israel.

To some degree, this is true. As we’ll see later in Romans, we were grafted in with those who are called God’s people.

But to say that God has completely given up on the Jews is going too far, particularly considering what Paul says in verse 3 and 4.

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?

Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar.

As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:3-4)

In other words, though there were Jews that turned their backs on God, God has not turned his back on the Jewish nation. Their lack of faith did not nullify God’s faithfulness to his people.

God is true to his promises, though many people are not. Because of this, no one can ever accuse God of being anything but honest and fair in his judgments.

And also because of this, I do believe there will be a day when all Israel will eventually come to recognize Jesus as Messiah.

But I also believe that this passage is an encouragement for us non-Jews, because so often, we, like the Jews, are lacking in faith and in faithfulness.

We fail to trust that God desires our best and sometimes we even fail to trust that God knows what is best. And because of this, we stray from him and his Word.

Yet God never gives up on us. He keeps pursuing us and reaching out to us.

Sometimes that means discipline, but it’s a discipline in love that seeks our very best. And we never have to worry that God will simply give up on us because we’ve failed so often.

As Paul said in another place,

If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)

So when we fail and when we fall, let us never forget the faithfulness of God. And let us always remember his promise to us.

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)

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Romans

A true circumcision

Romans

One of the main problems the Jews had in Paul’s time was that they forgot that God wasn’t so interested in outward appearances as he was in their hearts.

In particular, they thought it was circumcision that made them right before God, all the while ignoring the sin that was in their hearts.

God had made that problem clear through the Old Testament prophets. In Jeremiah, he said,

The days are coming…when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh — Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places.

For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. (Jeremiah 9:25-26)

In other words, God wasn’t so interested in people cutting off parts of their body. He was interested in having their hearts. And if he didn’t have their hearts, circumcision meant nothing to him.

And so Paul said,

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.

If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God. (Romans 2:25-29)

Again, Paul is speaking mostly hypothetically.

He’s saying that if someone were able to keep the law perfectly, even though he were not circumcised, God would accept them.

On the other hand, if a circumcised person doesn’t keep the law, God will condemn them as a lawbreaker. And for that matter, the law-keeping uncircumcised person could do the same.

Of course, no one, circumcised or not, has ever been able to keep the law perfectly.

So Paul tells them, “You’re not a Jew, that is, you are not truly God’s chosen people if you are simply circumcised, because circumcision isn’t merely physical. It’s a matter of the heart.

Only if your heart is circumcised by the Spirit of God are you truly accepted by God and can be called his people.”

What does it mean to have a circumcised heart? Paul tells us in Colossians 2:11.

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ. (Colossians 2:11)

In other words, when we came to Christ, he cut off the chains that bound us to the sinful nature.

Prior to that, we were pulled around by that nature and acted in accordance with it. But now, that nature has been circumcised and we belong to God.

And having been set free from that sinful nature, we are free to follow after God and have been given the power to live a righteous life.

But again, that circumcision is not done by our own efforts, but by giving our hearts to Christ, by coming to him in faith, and saying, “Lord Jesus I need you. I can’t save myself. Please save me.

I’m putting my trust in you and your work for me in the cross. Now forgive my sins and make me yours.”

And when you do, that’s when you become God’s child.

That’s when you are truly right before God.

How about you? Have you given your heart to God? Is your heart circumcised before him?

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Romans

Looking at ourselves

Romans

Paul specifically talks to the Jews in this passage, and as he does, he’s trying to get them to understand one key thing:

If you’re going to claim you’re right before God based on his law, it’s not enough to just know it. You need to live it as well. And so he tells the Jews,

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth — you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? (Romans 2:17-23)

In other words, “You guys are so proud of yourselves because you have the law. You’re so proud of yourselves because you’re God’s ‘chosen people’ and he has given you his truth.

You think of yourselves as those who know it all. And if anyone wants to know about God and how to live, they need to come to you because, ‘You know.’

But are you practicing what you preach? Or are you saying one thing and doing another?

He then tells them,

As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24)

I have to admit, as a teacher of God’s word, this passage scares me. Because I don’t want to have God’s name blasphemed because of me. I don’t want people to blaspheme God because I’m a hypocrite.

And yet, often times, I do fail. I am a hypocrite sometimes. And sometimes I really struggle to do what is right.

Worse, I struggle to do what I preach. So often, when I preach or write these blogs, I’m talking to myself.

In the end, all I can do is fall on my face at the throne of God and ask for his mercy.

And that’s the whole point. All of us need God’s grace. Because if we are going to claim righteousness based on God’s law, we need to keep that law perfectly. And none of us can.

How about you? Do you realize just how much you need God’s grace in your life?

If you’re thinking, “I’m pretty good. I’m much better than a lot of people I know,” then you need to take a much closer look at your life. Because none of us are as good as we’d like to think we are.

And until we truly understand that, we will never really understand our need for God.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

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Romans

What happens to those who never hear?

Romans

One of the things that people argue when it comes to Christianity is, “How can God hold people accountable for what he has commanded if they have never even heard of the Bible?”

We find the answer here in this passage.

Paul starts by saying that judgment will be passed on all who do evil, first on the Jew and then on the Gentile.

On the other hand, those who do good will be rewarded by God, the Jews first, the Gentiles second.

Why? Because it was the Jews who received the law from God. And because they directly received it from God, they are more accountable.

Jesus puts it this way,

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48)

Paul expands on this idea, saying,

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. (Romans 2:12)

In short, people will be judged by what they do with what they know. They will not be judged by what they didn’t know.

If they know God’s law as given to the Jews, they will be judged by that. If they don’t, they will be judged by another standard. What standard?

One standard is their own laws, insofar as they coincide with God’s. Paul tells us,

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. (Romans 2:14-15)

In other words, all people, no matter where they are or what culture they are from, have laws that conform to the law of God.

They may not conform perfectly, but where they do conform, they will be held accountable for whether they keep them or not.

So, for example, different cultures may have different definitions of stealing, but when they break their own laws concerning stealing, God holds them accountable because it falls in line with his laws.

The other standard God judges these people by is their own consciences.

Sometimes, people may do things that are acceptable even to their own culture, for example, sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend.

But the next day, their conscience tells them that it doesn’t matter what their culture said, they did something wrong.

And God will hold them accountable for it because their own guilty feelings show that though they didn’t know the Bible, deep down they knew their actions were wrong.

This is not to say that our consciences are perfect reflections of God’s law. They are not, any more than people’s laws are in perfect conformity with God’s law.

But insofar as they coincide, they will be held accountable.

One other point. Paul says in verse 13,

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Romans 2:13)

When Paul says this, I believe he is being entirely theoretical. He’s saying, “It’s not enough to know the law. You need to keep it.”

And theoretically, if you can keep the law perfectly, you will be declared righteous. But as we will see later, there is no one that fits that description.

The main point, however, is this. God is fair. He will not hold you accountable for what you don’t know. He will hold you accountable for what you do know.

So the main question you need to ask yourself today is this, “What are you doing with what you know?”

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Romans

Pride and insolence

Romans

In this passage, we see two problems concerning the grace of God.

The first problem is pride. It’s an attitude of, “I don’t need God’s grace. I’m good enough. The people around me on the other hand…”

Paul addresses this attitude in verses 1-3, saying,

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? (Romans 2:1-3)

Here you see the judgmental attitude some people have. They look around at the people around them and judge them as “sinners.”

But at the same time, they are blind to their own sin. They are so proud, thinking, “Other people may be messed up, but I’m not.”

Yet Paul asks them, “What right do you have to judge others when you do the same things?”

We condemn others for being stubborn and thick-headed, for example, but we can’t see our own pride that causes us to be just as stubborn and thick-headed when relating to them.

Or we look at murderers in the news and are horrified. We demand punishment for them.

But in our hearts we cut people off for the hurts they’ve caused us. In our hearts, we murder them, and they are dead to us.

And so Paul says, “You have no room to judge others. You have no room to look down on others as ‘sinners’ when you do the same things as they do. You need God’s grace just as much as they do. And without it, you’re lost.”

Paul then addresses another problem. Those who presume upon God’s grace, and say, “Well, since God will forgive me anyway, I’ll just live as I want and ‘repent’ later.”

But Paul tells such people,

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? (Romans 2:4)

I like the wording of the ESV here.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4, ESV)

In other words, God’s grace is not given to us in order for us to indulge in sin. God’s grace is given to us in order that we might repent and turn away from our sin.

Yet so many people presume on the grace of God, living as they please, hurting both God and the people around them.

So Paul says to both types of people,

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

For God does not show favoritism. (Romans 2:5-11)

In short, no one’s going to get away with anything. If we in our pride, think we are above God’s grace because we are so much better than others, we will be judged, and shown to be just as bad as those we judge.

If in our insolence we abuse the grace of God, we also will be punished.

How about you? Do you think you’re above the grace of God? Or do you think that God’s grace is something to be despised?

Such attitudes will lead to judgment.

So let us come humbly before God, admitting our need, and marveling at the love and grace he gives us.

There is no room for pride or insolence in the kingdom of God.

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Romans

The problem of sin

Adam, Eve, and the serpent in Eden

As Christians, we often talk about salvation. But what are we being saved from? What have we done that is so bad that we require salvation?

We find the answer in this passage, one of the darkest in all of scripture, because it describes just how desperate our condition is.

Paul starts by saying,

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (Romans 1:18)

The wrath of God.

If you really think about those words, they’re pretty scary. We all love to talk about the love of God. No one ever likes to talk about his wrath. Why is his wrath being poured out?

Two reasons: godlessness and wickedness, both of which are described in much further detail as we go along.

What is godlessness? Essentially, it’s a turning of our backs on God.

Paul tells us in this passage that God has revealed himself to everyone. Not just to the Jews. Not to just a select few. But to everyone.

How? Through his creation. All of creation screams out that there is an intelligent creator.

Even those who reject that idea, in honest moments admit, “You know, just by looking at everything, you’d almost think there was an intelligent designer behind all this.”

They then of course do everything to bury that idea behind their arguments and theories.

And that’s what Paul talks about here. Through his creation, we see God’s power and his divine nature.

Just by looking at his creation, we see just how big he must be. We see his mind. We see his creativity. We see his goodness. We see his beauty. God makes all of these things plain through his creation.

But what do people do? They suppress the truth of all this by their wickedness.

If you look closely at the motives of most if not all of those who would argue against the existence of God, at its root, it comes down to the fact that they don’t want to believe that they are accountable to him.

They know that if God truly exists, they can’t just live as they desire but are responsible to him.

By turning their backs on God, though, what happens?

Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. (Romans 1:21-22)

We can see this in literal idol worshipers. They make things with their own hands. They are the “creator.” And yet they bow down and worship what they themselves created.

But people set up other idols as well. Their own intelligence. Their own wisdom. Their own money. Their own lusts.

By trusting these things, they become blind. They become blind to what’s truly good and right. And they become blind to how these things they are worshiping are destroying them.

But worse than all of this, because they turned their backs on God, he has turned his back on them.

God says, “You don’t want to follow my will? Fine. Your will be done.”

What’s the result of our will? We see the ugly results from verses 24-31. Not only our godlessness. But our wickedness. All the things that we do that hurt others and ourselves.

I don’t need to go into them all. All you have to do is look at the world around you, and you’ll see what happens when people turn their backs on God.

Verse 32 also very much describes the world today.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)

People know in their hearts they deserve to be punished for what they’re doing. But not only do they continue doing them, they cheer on those who practice them.

I don’t think I even have to comment on what that means. In America, we see the media constantly doing this.

They celebrate when those who do what is evil in God’s sight are open about it. They celebrate when laws are passed that are contrary to the Word of God.

And because of that, we are condemned.

That is the problem of sin. And that’s why we all need salvation.

How about you? Do you recognize the world’s need for salvation? More importantly, do you recognize your need for salvation?

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Romans

The gospel

Gospel and the Bible

In this passage, Paul talks about his longing to come to Rome that he might share the gospel with them as he had in so many other places.

Not to say that they didn’t know the gospel, as they had already come to faith. But all of us need reminders of what the gospel is, and not only that, to get grounded deeper into it and all its implications.

And that’s what Romans is really all about. Getting rooted deeper into the gospel.

Verses 14-15 strike me where Paul said,

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. (Romans 1:14-15)

Obviously, Paul as an apostle called by Christ, had this obligation to share the gospel. But for him, it went beyond obligation. It wasn’t a drudgery that he had to force himself into. He was eager to do so.

The same should be said of us. We shouldn’t have to force ourselves into sharing the gospel with others. We should be eager to do so. Why so eager?

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

I wonder sometimes if we truly understand what this means.

The gospel is God’s power to change lives. Not just so that people can go to heaven.

Salvation doesn’t simply mean a one-way ticket to heaven. It also means that people’s lives can be made whole here on earth.

Salvation means that their lives which have been broken by sin, can be made whole. That their hearts that have been wounded by the hurts of this world can be made whole.

It means that their marriages and relationships with others that have been torn apart can be made whole.

And most importantly, salvation means that their relationship with God which was broken by sin can be made whole.

That’s salvation. And the gospel is God’s power to bring that salvation.

More, the good news is for everyone. It was first brought to the Jew because God had originally chosen them to be his special people.

But after Jesus died on the cross and was raised again, it became possible for all people to approach God, both Jew and non-Jew. We who believe are all now accepted as God’s children.

How is this possible?

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

“Righteousness” has several nuances in scripture, but the idea here is that the gospel shows us how to come into a right relationship with God.

Our relationship with God was broken because of sin. How then do we come into a right relationship with God? Through faith.

When you think about it, it totally makes sense, because our relationship with God was broken.

How?

By not trusting God. By not believing that he is looking out for our best. By distrusting his motives. And as a result, we turned our backs on God and started living our own way.

How then does that relationship get repaired? By turning back to God and saying, “I will trust you.”

That starts with trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross to make us accepted by God. To say, “Jesus I believe that when you died, you took the punishment for my sin.”

When we do that, God not only forgives us, but gives us a new heart that can trust him, not only for salvation, but for everything in life.

And as we learn to trust him more each day, and as God works in our lives empowering us to do the things he asks, our actions start to change and we start becoming more like Jesus in everything we do.

The result? Our lives are totally transformed, and we are made whole. That’s salvation.

Do you know that salvation in your own life? And do you understand it so deeply that you are eager to share it with those around you?

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Romans

Loved and called by God

Romans

And so we hit Romans, perhaps the most important book in the New Testament, because it so clearly sets out what the gospel is.

It was written by Paul to the church in Rome before he had had the chance to visit there.

And unlike many of his other letters, he is not addressing any church-specific problems or issues. Instead, all his focus is on the gospel God had set him apart from birth to preach.

In his greeting, Paul talks about how God had called him to be an apostle and set him apart to specifically reach out to the Gentiles.

It would be easy to take this almost as boasting. “God chose me! God loves me!”

But then Paul wrote,

And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. (Romans 1:6-7)

You also.

I love those words.

You also.

Paul told the Romans, “You also are called to belong to Jesus Christ. It’s not just us Jews. It’s not just us ‘special people.’

You too are special. You also are loved by God. You also are called to be his saints.”

Sometimes, we wonder how God could possibly love us. We’re nothing special. Why would God even bother with us?

And yet God looked down upon us, even before time began, and said, “I choose you. I love you.”

He saw all our faults, all our sins, all our weaknesses, and despite all that, said, “I set you apart for myself.”

And that’s actually what “saint” means. It means “people set apart for God.”

A lot of us look at the word, “saints,” and we think, “Me? A saint? I’m no saint?”

We think that because we picture saints as people with this halo over our heads who live perfect lives.

But you are a saint not because you are intrinsically better or purer than anyone else, but because God has loved you and chosen you.

That’s grace: the imparting of God’s love to you though you did nothing to earn it. Though you are no better than anyone else. And because God has bestowed his love upon us by grace, we have peace with God.

We don’t have to worry about whether God accepts us or not. We’d only have to worry about that if we had to earn God’s acceptance. But we don’t.

Before the creation of the world, he already chose you and accepted you. And if we could only understand that, how different would our lives be?

No longer striving, no longer fearful. But resting in the love, grace, and mercy of God.

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Acts

A story that doesn’t end

To be continued

We now come to the end of the book of Acts. I can’t believe that with this, we come to the end of Biblical history. All that remains are the letters that were written by the apostles and the Revelation given to John.

But the story ends in an unusual way. It in fact has no ending.

We see Paul arriving at Rome and sharing the gospel with the Jews who were there.

As was the case throughout his ministry, some people believed, and some didn’t. And when some utterly rejected his message, he moved on to preach to the Gentiles.

At the end of the book, Luke tells us,

For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.

Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 28:30-31)

You’d expect to read about his appearance before Nero. Or to at least hear about the end of Paul’s life. But you hear neither. Instead, you just see him preaching the gospel to all that would listen.

Why does the story end this way? I don’t know.

But perhaps it’s a way of telling us that the story of Acts goes on to this day.

To this day, the gospel continues to go out. Some people when they hear it close their eyes and ears as the Jews did and continue to do to this day.

But God has made sure throughout history that his gospel, despite persecution and all kinds of attacks on the church, both from within and without, has continued to go out.

And now we are a part of the story.

We have heard the gospel and come to believe it. Now, like Paul, we are called to go out, filled with his Spirit, and preaching the gospel to every nation.

Are you? Are you filled with his Spirit? Without him, we won’t have the power to share the gospel as God has commanded us.

A lot of people call this book the “Acts of the Apostles.”

But from the very beginning, it has truly been the acts of the Holy Spirit working through his people.

So as I finish this book, I go back to the beginning to where Jesus told his apostles,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

May we all go out, filled with the Spirit, continuing the story started 2000 years ago.

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Acts

When the Spirit is working within us

Acts

There was an old action show I remember that was based on the phrase, “One man can make a difference.”

We see that here in this passage.

But perhaps I should probably amend that earlier phrase to, “One man filled with the Spirit of God can make a difference.”

Paul and his shipmates landed on the island of Malta, and cold as they were, they built a fire.

Paul, being the kind of man he was, instantly volunteered to help build the fire. But as he put some wood on the fire, a viper came out and bit him, literally hanging on his hand until Paul shook him off.

When the islanders saw this, they said,

This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live. (Acts 28:4)

And they waited for him to die. When he didn’t, however, they changed their minds and said, “He must be a god.”

I’m sure Paul quickly disabused them of that idea as he introduced them to the one true God.

Then, Publius, the chief official of the island welcomed them onto his estate, and when Paul saw that Publius’ father was sick, he prayed for him, and immediately, he was healed.

When the people on the island heard of this, they came from all over to be healed by Paul. The result of this?

Malta eventually became a Christian nation, and remains so to this day.

The point? When the Spirit is working within us, we can make a difference.

We may not be shaking off poisonous snakes or healing people, but when the Spirit is working in us, people will notice and lives will be changed.

So as Paul once put it, let us continue being filled with God’s Spirit day by day (Ephesians 5:18) that others may see him in us and come to know him themselves.

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Acts

A beacon in the storm

Acts

Jesus once said to let our light shine before men, and you really see Paul’s light shining through in this passage.

At a time when everyone on the ship he was sailing on had lost hope because of the storm, Paul brought hope. He told them,

But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.

Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (Acts 27:22-25)

Later, with things still dark, and the men still discouraged, he told them,

For the last fourteen days…you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food–you haven’t eaten anything.

Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head. (Acts 27:33-34)

He then broke bread, gave thanks to God, and ate. By doing so, he gave the men in the boat hope, and they ate too.

That’s part of what it means to be light. To give hope to the hopeless.

So many people in this world are without hope because of their circumstances. But in Jesus, we have the source of hope, and as he shines through us, it gives hope to those around us.

But Paul was light in another way. By his words and his life, he encouraged people to do what was right.

We see this first when some of the sailors were planning to sneak off of the ship without the prisoners and leave them all to die.

But Paul warned them,

Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved. (Acts 27:31)

And so they let the lifeboat go.

Then, after the ship had run aground, the soldiers planned to kill the prisoners lest they escape.

But because of the light that Paul had been, the centurion in charge refused to give them permission to do so, and in the end, all were saved.

In the same way, being light means showing people what it means to live right, both through our words and through our lives.

And as people see our lives, it should inspire them to do what is right as well.

How about you? Are you light to those around you?

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Acts

Following the majority

Acts

Following the majority is always the easy thing to do, especially when it happens to be what you want to do. But it’s not always right.

That’s what the centurion in charge of taking Paul (and the other prisoners) to Rome learned in this chapter.

Because of weather conditions, they were making much slower headway than they had hoped, but Paul knew that the weather would only get worse. So he warned them,

Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also. (Acts 27:10)

Whether this was direct revelation or insight from God, or merely Paul’s own sailing experience is not clear.

What is clear is that the centurion didn’t want to wait. And after consulting with the pilot and the owner of the ship, the “majority” decided it would be best to sail on and winter at another harbor.

Why didn’t they listen to Paul?

For one thing, they probably figured he wasn’t a sailor, and they trusted their own judgment over his.

For another, they were impatient. They had lost time and probably wanted to make up for it.

But by following the “majority,” it nearly cost them their lives.

How about you? Do you follow what God is telling you, or do you simply follow the majority?

Sometimes, we follow the majority in terms of peer pressure. Everyone is doing something we know is wrong, and it’s hard to go against the grain.

Sometimes we follow the majority in terms of culture. I see this often times in Japan where Christians will compromise their faith at Buddhist ceremonies for the sake of “culture.”

But just because you’re following the majority does not make you right. And there are times when it puts you at odds with what God is telling you to do. Not only can that lead to disastrous consequences, those decisions also pain God.

Paul tells us,

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

When we follow the majority at the expense of turning our backs on what God has said, that’s exactly what we end up doing: grieving God.

Who are you following?

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Acts

Compelled

Acts

In this passage, we see three reactions to the gospel.

One is persecution, like the Jews persecuted Paul.

The second is people thinking we’re crazy, as Festus thought of Paul.

The third is a patronizing attitude toward us and the gospel, as Herod had. An attitude that looks upon us as naive children for believing such a thing.

And yet, Paul continued to speak.

Why? I think we see the reason in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul wrote,

If we are out of our mind (as Festus contended), it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind (as Paul asserted), it is for you.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (1 Corinthians 5:13-14)

Why did Paul speak? Because he was convinced in his heart that Christ loved us so much that he died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins.

And the love of Christ that had touched him now compelled him to share that news with others, no matter what they thought of him.

And that’s the attitude that we should have.

If we truly believe that Jesus died for us, if we have been truly touched by his love, that love should drive us to share the gospel with those around us that they too may receive the same gift of life that we have.

Some may persecute us. Some may think we’re crazy. Some may look on us patronizingly.

But does the love of Christ drive you to share the gospel with them anyway?

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Acts

Obedient to the call

Acts

As we look at this passage, we see Paul’s appearance before Festus and Herod Agrippa II.

This last of the Herods that we see in the New Testament was the son of Herod Agrippa I who had killed James and had attempted to kill Peter.

At any rate, the Jews once again tried to get Paul to be brought to Jerusalem so that they could kill him, and when Festus tried to convince Paul to appear in Jerusalem (not knowing the Jews’ plot), Paul appealed to Caesar.

That left Festus in a bit of a quandary because he wasn’t sure how to present the charges that were made against Paul, which were purely religious ones.

So when Herod came by for a visit, Festus consulted with him, and Herod agreed to hear Paul’s defense.

And so for the final time in the book of Acts, we see Paul give his testimony. Each time he spoke, we see a bit more of his story.

One of the most interesting things here was the mission Jesus gave to Paul on the road to Damascus.

I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:17-18)

The same mission that Jesus gave to Paul, he gives to us.

We are to share the gospel with those around us that they might see their own bondage to sin and the darkness that they’re in.

We do this so that they might be set free from the kingdom of Satan and brought into the kingdom of God, forgiven of their sins and adopted as his children through faith in Christ.

Concerning this mission given to him in the vision, Paul told Festus and Herod,

I was not disobedient. (Acts 26:19)

How about you? God has told us to go and spread his gospel to those around us.

Are you? Are you fulfilling the mission he has given you?

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Acts

Integrity

Acts

Although Felix had been freaked out by Paul’s discussion of God’s coming judgment, he nevertheless, continued to call Paul in to chat. Why?

He was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe. (Acts 24:26)

One wonders what kind of subtle hints he gave Paul.

“It sure must be tough being restrained as you are. You’re so gung-ho for your religion. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just get out of here so you could spread it more easily? Your God would want that, right?”

Or,

“Your church must be really worried about you huh? Say, how big is this movement? What kind of resources do they have? I’m sure they’d do anything to help you, right?”

Paul wasn’t dumb. He knew what Felix wanted. But he refused to violate his integrity.

For two years this went on until finally, Felix was replaced by another man named Festus.

It would have been so easy for Paul to take the easy way out and give Felix the bribe he wanted. And there were so many “good reasons” he could have given for doing so. But he refused. Why?

One, he loved his Lord. And he put his trust in God that in his timing and his way, God would set him free…or not.

Either way, he refused to do anything that would displease his Lord.

Second, it would have destroyed his witness before Felix.

Think about this. He had just been lecturing Felix about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment for sinners. What would have Felix thought if Paul had suddenly turned around and offered a bribe?

Felix would have thought, “There must be nothing to what Paul said. If there was, he wouldn’t have offered me this bribe. He’d be too worried about this coming ‘judgment.'”

But Paul never compromised and his testimony stood.

How about you? Do you hold on to your integrity even though it may seem more convenient not to?

Hold on to it. Keep putting your trust in God, knowing that he would never ask you to do something that he has said is wrong. Commit yourself to doing things his way.

To do otherwise would not only sadden God, but destroy your witness with those you’ve been sharing Christ with.

Are you holding on to your integrity?

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Acts

The whole counsel of God

Paul and Felix

Paul once told the Ephesians,

I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:26-27, ESV)

What did he mean by “the whole counsel of God?” I think we catch a glimpse of it here.

Paul was brought before the Roman governor Felix to face his accusers. After the initial hearing was held, Felix called in Paul more than once to chat, and Paul took the opportunity to talk about his faith in Christ.

But Paul didn’t stop at talking about God’s love, the cross, and the salvation that comes by faith. Rather,

Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come. (Acts 24:25a)

In short, Paul told Felix, “You know that your life is not right before God. You know that you have sinned, and unless you turn from your sin, you will be judged someday.”

The result?

Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” (Acts 24:25b)

The gospel is not all God’s love and good, warm, fuzzy feelings.

The gospel also is, “There is a serious problem. The true King is coming, and he is going to judge this world and make all things right. But you’re not ready to meet him. You have sinned against your rightful king and are facing his righteous judgment.”

If we fail to tell people this, we are not giving people the whole counsel of God, and we will be responsible for their blood if they go to hell.

I’m not saying we should literally “scare the hell out of them.”

The Gospel is “good news.”

Our King is good and he loves us despite all we’ve done.

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God made a way, not only for us to escape hell, but to live a life that’s full and complete. To have a life filled with his joy and peace.

That’s where our main focus should be when preaching the gospel.

But we do need to warn people, “If you refuse your King, you will face his judgment.”

Some people, like Felix, may become fearful as a result.

They may chase us away until a more “convenient time.”

But how they respond is not our responsibility. All we can do is share the message God has given us.

How about you? Are you giving the people the full counsel of God?

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Acts

A God whose purposes cannot be thwarted

Acts

I mentioned yesterday that God will accomplish his will in our lives and no power on this earth can stop him. We see an example of this in this passage.

Some men had taken an oath to kill Paul, and had asked the chief priests to assist them in this.

I wonder what kind of an oath they took? That is, did they swear before God that they would do this? That would be the ultimate irony. “I swear before you, O God, that I will break the sixth commandment and murder a man.”

Now I’m sure they didn’t word it that way, but that’s essentially what they said. Even worse, the priests not only condoned it, but agreed to help them keep their oath.

But God is not one whose purposes can be thwarted. And so he placed Paul’s nephew in such a position that he somehow heard about the plot.

God then put favor in the heart of the Roman commander to not only listen to the warning, but to do everything possible to keep Paul safe until he could have his trial. As a result, the murder plot went for naught.

That should encourage us in our lives. Sometimes the world can seem against us as we do God’s will. Sometimes they actually are plotting against us.

But ultimately, nothing can thwart God and his purposes. So as Moses once told the people at the Red Sea,

Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you… (Exodus 14:13)

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Acts

The God who stands near us

Acts

Sometimes, we tend to think of the apostles and other people in the Bible as superheroes. That they always faced death courageously and without fear.

Certainly there were times they were like that. (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego certainly seemed that way, among others).

But I don’t know if that was always the case. They were human just like us, after all.

And as I read this passage in Acts 23, I wonder what was going on in Paul’s heart.

He had just been involved in a situation that had become so violent that the Roman commander got him out of there thinking Paul was going to get torn to pieces by his accusers.

As Paul lay in bed that night, what was he thinking? Was he experiencing doubt? Fear? Was he worrying about if he could accomplish the things he had thought God desired him to do.

Whatever he was thinking, it says in verse 11,

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11)

A few things strike me here.

First, the Lord stood near Paul. And it’s a reminder to me that even through our darkest times, through our trials, and through our doubts and fears, the Lord is always standing by us.

Second, the Lord told Paul, “Take courage.”

Why would you tell someone to take courage if they already had it?

Perhaps because of all his circumstances, Paul was wavering a bit. But the Lord steadied him and said, “Take courage.”

Sometimes we too waver a bit in our faith. We waver concerning the path God has put us on. But God gives us the same message he gave Paul. “Take courage.”

Why should we take courage?

Because God will accomplish his will in our lives and no power on this earth can stop him. He told Paul,

As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.

In other words, “Don’t worry about all those opposing you. You will fulfill the purposes I have called you to. Just stand strong and keep trusting in me.”

How about you? Are you starting to lose faith because of your circumstances? Are you starting to give in to fear because of the opposition you’re facing?

Take courage. Know that the Lord is near. And keep trusting and following him, knowing that he will accomplish his will in your life.

Let us remember the words of Paul himself, who said,

The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5-7)

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Acts

Shrewd as a serpent

Acts

I think in this passage, we see a perfect example of someone being as shrewd as serpents as Jesus told his disciples to be in Matthew 10:16.

Surrounded by a pack of wolves, Paul shrewdly divided those who would attack them. How? By claiming his heritage as a Pharisee.

He told them,

My brothers, I am a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead. (Acts 23:6)

This was completely true. He was on trial because he believed in the resurrection of the dead, namely Jesus.

Of course he didn’t mention the latter part, but by saying what he did, his accusers became divided between those who believed in the resurrection of the dead (the Pharisees) and those who didn’t (the Sadducees).

Not only that, one wonders what later impact he might have had on some of the Pharisees who had initially opposed him. For some were saying,

We find nothing wrong with this man…What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him? (Acts 23:9)

The point is, know the people you are talking to.

There are people that may oppose you and be utterly hardened toward the gospel. But by knowing who they are, and how they think, God can give you insight in how to turn the tide in their hearts.

And with some shrewd words, the seed of the gospel may be planted in their hearts.

So remember the words of Jesus.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16)

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Acts

Blinded by our prejudices

Acts

It’s very interesting here to see Paul confronted by two groups that were blinded by their prejudices.

The Jews, were so blinded by their prejudices as God’s people that they couldn’t see that God wanted to reach “Gentile sinners” too.

To them, for any Gentiles to be saved, they had to become just like them, and even then, there were limitations in how much they felt these converts were truly accepted by God.

So when Paul even mentioned the fact that God had sent him to reach the Gentiles, they immediately rejected the idea.

The Romans on the other hand had a very low view of the Jews. And they automatically assumed that no Jew could possibly be a Roman citizen.

As a result, they were ready to flog Paul, even though it was illegal to do so to a Roman citizen without a trial. Even when Paul told the Roman commander he was a citizen, the commander found it hard to believe.

But when the commander finally realized the truth, he was alarmed at what he had done (put Paul in chains) and what he had been about to do (flog Paul).

The point is that we can all get in trouble when we get blinded by our prejudices. We can get in trouble with other people, but more importantly, we can get in trouble with God.

God loves all of us, and he sent Jesus not just for the sins of a certain race, but for the sins of all peoples. He came not just for a certain select among the people of the world, but for all.

And when we become Christians, God makes no distinction at all among his children.

As Paul himself would later say,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

So let us toss aside our prejudices and see people for who they really are. People created in the image of God, all of whom are loved by him and in need of Christ.

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Acts

Misunderstood

Acts

It’s interesting to me that while Paul was trying to clear up a misunderstanding between the Jewish Christians and himself, he caused another misunderstanding in the process.

Apparently, the Jews, both Christian and non-Christian, were under the impression that Paul taught that if you were a Jew, you should just abandon the law of Moses completely.

Because of this, James and the other church elders suggested he join in on a purification rite along with four other Jewish Christians.

More, they suggested to Paul that he should pay their expenses so that their heads could be shaved as part of a vow they had taken. (They had perhaps taken a Nazirite vow as described in Numbers 6).

Paul assented. Some commentators claim this was a mistake, that Paul should not have compromised in this way.

It’s hard to make a definitive statement on this, but my guess is that he didn’t. That rather, he was becoming as a Jew to save the Jews. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Mistake or not, while it may have helped his standing among the Jewish Christians, he was still accused by the other Jews of not only teaching against the law of Moses, but of defiling the temple by bringing a Gentile into it.

(Paul never did, but they made that assumption based on seeing him hang around with an Ephesian in Jerusalem).

The point is that when you follow Christ and do the things he’s called you to, you are always in a position where you could be misunderstood.

You can be misunderstood by people inside the church, or even outside the church. And regardless of what you say or do to clear up the misunderstandings, some people simply will not understand you.

So what can you do?

Keep following Christ. Keep doing the things you feel he’s asked you to do. That’s really all any of us can do. And leave the judgments up to him.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t take a close look at our own actions. Maybe the criticisms made of us are completely without basis.

But maybe, just maybe, there’s something in those criticisms that we need to take a closer look at.

So take a look at your actions and motives. Then act according to what you feel God is telling you.

But in the end, take the attitude of Paul himself who said,

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.

At that time each will receive their praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:3-5)

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Acts

No matter the cost

Acts

It’s a little tricky trying to interpret this passage. Were the prophesies concerning Paul going to Jerusalem meant merely to warn him of what was ahead of him? Or were they meant to turn him from the course he was headed?

My guess is the former. From the very day he was converted, he was told that he would have to suffer for the name of Jesus in taking the gospel to both Jew and Gentile. (Acts 9:15-16)

It was perhaps because of this, that when the people pleaded that he not go back to Jerusalem, Paul said,

Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 21:13)

In other words, he was determined to follow Christ no matter the cost, and nothing and no one would ever dissuade him from doing so.

How about you? God never promised that life would be smooth if we followed him. He never promised that everyone would love us for doing so. In fact, he promised the exact opposite. (John 16:33 and 2 Timothy 3:12 among others).

It’s one thing to know God has said this, however. It’s another to face it head on. Will you?

May God give us the grace and courage to face such situations when they do come.

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Acts

Finishing the race

Acts

There are several things that strike me about Paul’s final address to the Ephesians.

First his words in verse 24. After talking about all the trials he had been warned by the Holy Spirit were coming, he said,

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.

For Paul, that meant the proclamation of the gospel. And that he did to the point where he could say,

Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (Acts 20:26-27)

But then he encouraged the elders of the Ephesian church to finish their race, to take care of the church God had placed in their care. And so he told them,

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:28-31)

If there is one thing that Paul makes clear here, it’s that Satan will try to keep us from finishing the race God has given us.

One way he does this is through attacks from outside the church through persecution. But another way he attacks is from inside the church by bringing in false teaching to lead us astray.

And so Paul warned them to watch out for it. Yet we would do well to be prepared as well.

We need to know that some will hate us because of our faith. And we shouldn’t be surprised if persecution comes, even from those closest to us.

But we also need to know God’s Word so well that we are not deceived when we come across false teaching, whether on TV, in books, or even in our own churches.

It might seem a bit intimidating to know that we have an enemy that wants to take us down. And we might wonder how we can possibly handle it.

But Paul said,

Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

In other words, ultimately it is God and his grace that will keep us in the end. It is his grace that saves us, and his grace that keeps us.

As John wrote,

The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

So let us run the race God has given us knowing that we don’t run it alone or in our own strength. And by God’s grace, we will finish it.

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Acts

Serving man-made gods

Acts

Here in this passage, we see a riot that started because of the worship of man-made gods.

It’s interesting to me, though, that it was the god of money that seemed to be the most important to Demetrius, the silversmith who started the whole uproar.

When speaking out against Paul, he mentioned first the loss of income that he and the other tradepeople would incur if the people started to believe in the one true God.

The loss in “dignity” their goddess Artemis would suffer was almost an afterthought to him.

But because of his worship of these two “gods,” it nearly led to violence and could have caused utter disaster for the city had not the city clerk stepped in to quell the uprising.

Even today, however, the worship of man-made gods continues to cause havoc in the lives of people everywhere.

The love of money has destroyed marriages and relationships, caused scandals in churches and governments, destroyed the lives of many through the sale of drugs and other harmful substances, and caused countless other problems in the world around us.

Worse, the love of money, false idols, and other “gods” turn people from the one true God. And unless the people who serve these gods repent, their souls will be lost for all eternity, separated from Him who is the source of life.

How about you? Are you serving man-made gods or the one true God?

The worship of man-made gods ultimately leads to destruction. Only He who alone is God can give you true life.

Who are you serving?

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Acts

Putting away the past

Acts

Happy New Year!

I suppose as we head into a new year, it’s only natural to think of it as a time to start anew. And the good news of Christianity is that God does give us a new start when we come to him.

That’s what he did for the people in Ephesus. As people came to believe in Christ, they turned away from their sins.

Many who had been involved in sorcery went so far as to burn the scrolls they had used when practicing sorcery, which was worth no small amount of money.

Just as importantly, they did all this publicly so that all would know about their decision.

What can we get from all this? A change in heart should lead to a change in our actions.

If we have truly come to believe in Christ, it should cause us to put aside the things in our lives we know are wrong, even though it may be costly to do so.

Maybe up until now, our business practices have been profitable, but shady. God calls us to put those practices aside.

Or perhaps we’ve been sleeping with our boyfriend or girlfriend. God calls us to start living in sexual purity, even though it may cost us that relationship.

And as we do, we need to be clear to those around us just why we are making these changes.

We do them, not simply because we want to turn over a new leaf, but because of the gratitude in our hearts toward God for all he’s done for us. That through the cross of Christ, he has granted us forgiveness for our sins and a new start in life. A life filled with his love, joy, and peace.

Some may become angry with us for it. Some may mock us and reject us. But some may be touched by the love of Christ through us and find him, as happened in Ephesus.

For because of those believers and the change God worked in their lives,

The word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. (Acts 19:20)

How about you? What is God asking you to put aside in your life this new year?

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Acts

Second-hand relationship?

Acts

Jesus told his disciples before he went to the cross that they would do greater things than he did.

You see some of that in this passage where handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul had touched were taken to the sick and they were healed, while those who were demon-possessed were set free.

Apparently, however, there were some men (who were sons of a priest) who fancied themselves as exorcists and attempted to use the name of Jesus “whom Paul preaches,” to cast out demons.

But the demon replied, “Jesus, I know and Paul too. But who are you?” The demon-possessed man then beat and utterly humiliated them.

What can we get from this? When it comes to God, a second-hand relationship means nothing.

It doesn’t matter if everyone in your family is a Christian. It doesn’t matter if you go to church and hang around Christians. If you don’t have a first-hand relationship with God, you have nothing.

Satan and his demons certainly won’t recognize you as God’s child, but even more importantly, neither will God.

When you appear before him on judgment day, you can say, “Don’t you know me? I went to church every Sunday. My dad and mom knew you. So did all my friends.”

But God will say, “I know your parents, and I know your friends, but who are you?” And you will be separated from him for all eternity.

How about you? Do you have a true relationship with God? Do you truly know him?

Or do you only have a second-hand relationship with him?

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Acts

When to move on

Acts

It’s hard to see people we love and care about reject the gospel message. But eventually there comes a time when we simply have to move on and leave them to God.

When does that point come? I think we find the answer in this passage.

As usual, Paul was preaching about Jesus in the synagogue while in Ephesus.

He did this for about three months, but at the end of that time, the people there were “obstinate,” “refused to believe,” and worse, went out of their way to “publicly malign the Way.” (Acts 19:9)

Paul’s response? He moved on to preach to others who would listen.

Sometimes, when we preach the gospel, we get the sense they are open to hearing more. And as long as they are, we should keep sharing with them.

But if we sense they are instead hardening their hearts, or worse, becoming hostile to the gospel, then it’s time to leave them in the hands of God, and move on.

To keep pushing the gospel on them not only does no good, it can become counterproductive. We cannot make people believe. Only the Holy Spirit can.

As Paul wrote, we can plant the seed of the gospel, we can water it, but only God can make it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)

So when people are rejecting what we have to say, let us step aside so that He, who alone can change the human heart, can do his work.

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Acts

Going beyond repentance

Acts

In this passage, we see some people that were similar to Apollos, but different.

Like Apollos, they had been disciples of John, but unlike Apollos, they were unaware of the one John had been pointing to.

So while they had been baptized by John, they had probably left him before Jesus’ baptism and John’s declaration of him as Messiah.

In other words, they had repented of their sins, but were not yet following Jesus.

And so Paul taught them about Jesus, after which they believed and were baptized both in water and in the Holy Spirit.

I suppose that if there’s one thing to get from this passage, it’s that it’s not enough to be sorry for your sins and repent. It’s not enough to say that you want to follow God. You also must put your faith in Jesus.

Jesus isn’t one of many ways to God. He is the only way. And if you don’t have him, you have nothing.

How about you? Have you put your faith in Jesus?

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Acts

A teachable heart

It is so easy sometimes to think we know it all. We come to church on Sunday, and hear the message, and as we do, we say, “I knew that.”

This is especially a problem for those who have been in church for a long time. I admit, I have been guilty of that kind of attitude more than once, and I still struggle with it sometimes.

Maybe the things we know are accurate. But that doesn’t mean that we no longer have things to learn.

Apollos was that way. Apparently, he knew about Jesus, and his knowledge was accurate to a point, but it was incomplete. And so Aquilla and Priscilla “explained to him the way of God more adequately.” (Acts 18:26)

I think the important thing was that Apollos was teachable. He didn’t shrug off their teaching, saying, “I already know it all.”

Rather, he drank it all in, and as a result, his ministry became more powerful. I’m also sure that his life became more fruitful as well.

How about you? You may be a mature Christian that knows much about scripture. But do you still have a teachable heart? Are you humble enough to admit you don’t know it all yet?

Only with that kind of heart, will we continue to grow as Christians and bear the fruit that God desires from us.

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Acts

Fulfilling our responsibilities

Acts

One thing that Paul did was he preached the gospel. Wherever he went, he preached to the people that Jesus is the Christ.

Why did he do so? One reason, of course, was that Jesus commanded him to. And it was not a one-time command either. Jesus first gave him that charge when Paul was saved (Acts 9:15), and we see it again here where Jesus told him,

Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. (Acts 18:9)

But there was another reason. Paul remembered the words of God to Ezekiel. Namely,

When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.

But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself. (Ezekiel 3:18-19)

That’s why after the Jews rejected his message in Corinth, he told them,

Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. (Acts 18:6)

He would later tell the elders in Ephesus something similar (Acts 20:26-27).

The point is, we have a responsibility to share the gospel to those we know.

We are not responsible for how they react, but we are responsible to tell people the truth. And if we don’t, God will hold us responsible for their blood.

Paul understood this. Do you? Are you taking the gospel to the people God has put in your lives.

As Jesus told Paul, he now tells us:

Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. (Acts 18:9)

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Acts

A second Christmas

Acts

Well, Christmas has come and gone here in Japan. I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I did mine.

As I read this passage though, it strikes me that there is still a Christmas we are yet waiting for.

The first Christmas marked Jesus’ first coming. His purpose? To bear our sins on the cross. To take the punishment that we deserved that our sins might be forgiven.

But Paul tells us here that Jesus is coming again. And this time, he will be coming for judgment. Paul said,

For he has set a day when [God] will judge the world with justice by [Jesus whom] he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)

To those who reject him will come condemnation for all eternity. But to those who receive him as Lord, their ultimate salvation from this fallen, broken world will come, and all things will be made new.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way:

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27-28)

The question is, are you ready? There is only one way to be ready. Paul told the Athenians and us,

Now [God] commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)

To repent means to turn around. To stop going your own way and to start going God’s way. To stop putting your trust in yourself, and start putting it in Jesus Christ.

And if you do, you will be ready when “Christmas” truly rolls around again.

Are you ready?

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Acts

Made known, not far

Acts

Merry Christmas from Japan!

This morning I watched my five year old daughter open her presents, and as I think about the expression on her face as she did, I think about the opening words of an old song.

As little children, we would dream of Christmas morn,
And all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find.

But we never realized a baby born one blessed night gave us the greatest gift of our lives. — David Meece

It was the night when the invisible God became visible, the night the unknown God became known and drew near to us.

And that’s one of the things that Paul wanted to let the Athenians know. They had made an altar for “The unknown God.”

And Paul told them, “He is no longer unknown. He has revealed himself to us. He is not one of many gods. He is the one who created this world and everything in it. He is the Lord of all and the giver of life. And he has done everything just as he has planned it.”

Why did God do all this?

God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. (Acts 17:27a)

The good news as we seek him?

He is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:27b)

One of Jesus’ titles is “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”

The good news of Christmas is that God drew near to us, and we can now know him, truly know him, and come into a close relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

As John put it,

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (that is, Jesus), who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. (John 1:18)

On that first Christmas day, God drew near to us.

This Christmas, let us draw near to him.

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Acts

Provoked

Acts

It can be easy, sometimes, to get numb to the evil that we see in the world.

Perhaps at first, the things we saw bothered us, but as time passed, we started getting “used to it all.” Now we barely notice it at all.

Paul certainly didn’t have that problem. He walked into Athens and saw a number of idols all over the place. And Luke tells us,

He was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. (Acts 17:16)

The NASB puts it this way,

His spirit was being provoked within him.

The word provoked is used only twice in the New Testament, once here, and second, in of all places, 1 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul writes that love is not easily provoked or angered.

Yet Paul was provoked here. Why? Because people were going to hell because of these idols. Satan had deceived them and was making a mess of their lives.

And so he did something about it. He boldly took the gospel to these people that they might be saved.

How about you? Are you provoked by the evil around you? By the injustice? By people calling what’s evil good? By Satan’s work that causes people to be destroyed every day?

If not, there is something wrong. People inhabited by God’s Spirit cannot just look at evil and yawn. We cannot be indifferent. We need to go out led by God’s Spirit and be light and salt to the world around us.

Jesus said,

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. (Matthew 5:13-15)

Are you tasteless salt because you’ve become numb to the evil that’s in the world? Are you a hidden light because of your indifference?

Let us be neither. Rather let us be provoked in our spirit to the point that we do something about it.

Let us no longer sit in silence, but go as God’s light in a darkened world.

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Acts

Testing what we hear

Acts

In this day and age, we can get information from just about anywhere. Radio, TV, and especially the internet has made it easy to get news and hear opinions coming from every possible angle.

This is also true concerning our faith. People from pastors to laymen write and speak out their views of God and the Bible, and can attract great followings. But how often do we test what we hear?

Unless we test what we hear, we can easily be swayed by those who really don’t deserve our trust.

We see this with many of the people who lived in Thessalonica and Berea. Many of the enemies of the gospel found it quite easy to stir up the crowds against Paul and his companions.

Why? Because the crowds didn’t test what was said. Instead, they simply believed the lies that were told to them.

But even the people who believed Paul’s message didn’t always test what they heard. Luke compared the believers in Thessalonica and Berea by saying,

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11)

Think about this a moment. Paul was one of the greatest of the apostles. And yet Luke, through the Holy Spirit, praised the Bereans for not simply believing what Paul had said, but for checking that what he said matched scripture.

If the Bereans checked out what Paul said, shouldn’t we be doing the same with our pastors? Shouldn’t we be doing the same with the Rick Warrens, Joel Osteens, John Pipers, Joyce Meyers, and Billy and Franklin Grahams of the world?

(I personally have my reservations on two of these names. I’ll leave you to test their teachings with scripture to figure out who. :))

The problem with too many people is that they don’t check out what they hear. They simply believe because someone sounds good or makes them feel good.

The result? They end up by being blown around by every wind of teaching and away from the path God has for us. (Ephesians 4:14)

Let us not be that way. Let us not miss the path God has for us because we fail to test what we hear. Instead, as the apostle Paul says, let us,

Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

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Acts

Set free

Acts

If there is one theme in this chapter, it’s being set free.

Lydia and her household were set free from their sin, and perhaps the Jewish requirements of the law as well.

The girl was set free from the demon possessing her.

The jailor was set free from his sins, and perhaps so were many of the other prisoners.

And of course, Paul and Silas were set free from their chains.

All of this, in fact, is summed up in their prison experience. As they were sitting there, probably in great pain because of the beating they had taken, they nevertheless started singing and praising God.

At first, all the other prisoners must have thought they were nuts. But somehow they sensed a reality to what they were hearing. Perhaps they even sensed God’s presence in the prison and started asking Paul and Silas questions.

The jailer, meanwhile, probably just went to bed thinking they were all crazy. But then, an earthquake hit, and when it did,

All the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:26)

Those words strike me. Because when we let God work in our lives, that’s exactly what happens. Prison doors fly open, and everyone’s chains come loose. Not only in our own lives, but in the lives of those we touch.

God’s love touched the prisoners in the jail cells to the point that none of them tried to escape when Paul asked them to stay. And it touched the jailer to the point that he cried out,

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30)

And because of that love and compassion that flowed out of Paul, the jailer and his family were set free from the chains of Satan that had bound them all their lives, and they were all filled with great joy.

God wants to set those around you free. That’s why Jesus came 2000 years ago. So let us spread the love of God to those around us, especially this Christmas. And let us share the message of the gospel that Paul did.

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household. (Acts 16:31)

And people will be set free.

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Acts

When our plans are not God’s plans

Acts

We see a very interesting passage here in which time and again, Paul and his companions try to go to different places, and each time are told no by the Holy Spirit.

Finally, after probably more than a few days and perhaps weeks of frustration, Paul received a vision of a man from Macedonia saying,

Come over to Macedonia and help us. (Acts 16:9)

At this, they immediately made plans to leave for Macedonia.

What can we learn from this? It’s so easy for us to go about here and there doing what we think is God’s will, but instead we find obstacle after obstacle and end up in utter frustration.

What’s the problem? Many times we’re not doing God’s will. We’re doing our own will in God’s name.

So what should you do if you’re finding yourself frustrated in ministry? Take a step back. Seek God. Stop saying, “God, please bless what I’m doing.”

Instead, pray, “God show me what you’re doing and how I can join you in your work.”

And as you seek his will, he will make it known to you.

How about you? Are you truly doing God’s will? Or are you simply doing your own will in his name?

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Acts

Becoming all things to all people

Acts

In this passage, we find a very curious thing.

On one hand, Paul was going from city to city to tell the Christians about the council’s decision that the Gentile believers didn’t have to be circumcised.

But then he circumcised one of his traveling companions, a man named Timothy. Why?

I believe that if Timothy had been 100% Greek, that is, a full Gentile, Paul would not have let him be circumcised any more than he allowed another man named Titus to be circumcised. (Galatians 2:3)

As a full Gentile, it’s likely Titus’ main ministry would have been to fellow Gentiles, not Jews.

But Timothy was already a half-Jew who was also trying to reach out to the Jewish community. And unfortunately, there was no way the Jewish community would have accepted him if, being a Jew, he was not circumcised.

And so in order to be an effective witness to them, he allowed himself to be circumcised.

Paul put it this way,

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law…

I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:20, 22)

What does this mean for us? Do what you can to identify with the people you’re reaching out to. If people can’t identify with you, they will not listen to anything you have to say.

Here in Japan as a missionary, that means learning the language, the culture, and how people think.

But even if you’re reaching out to people in your own country, you need to learn how they think, what they enjoy, and how they live. And do what you can to meet them where they are.

Maybe you’re a really outgoing person that loves huge crowds.

But if the person you’re reaching out to is the type that’s really uncomfortable with a lot of people, it’s not wise to throw them into a huge church event where they have to interact with a lot of people.

Rather, it’s better to spend one on one time with them.

Maybe you’re not so into sports. But if they invite you to watch or play a game with them, join them in their world for a few hours.

In short, for the sake of the gospel, learn to identify with those around you. That’s what Timothy did, and that’s what Paul did.

How about you? Who has God put in your life? And what can you do to identify with them so that some might be saved?

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Acts

Giving people a second chance

Acts

We see in this passage a break in the partnership between Paul and Barnabas. And it came because of a young man named Mark.

Mark had initially joined them on their first missionary journey, but for some reason had decided to go home early.

Why, we don’t know. Perhaps he had been homesick. Maybe he hadn’t been ready to handle the opposition they faced.

Whatever his reasons, Paul apparently felt they weren’t good ones, and he had felt abandoned by Mark.

So when Barnabas suggested taking Mark again on a second missions trip, Paul vehemently nixed the idea. Barnabas got so upset about this, that he parted company from Paul.

Barnabas then went with Mark to do missions work in Cyprus, while Paul went his own way with Silas.

I can totally understand Paul’s feelings. It’s hard to work with someone you can’t trust. But in this case, he forgot the very thing he preached: grace.

Later, he would come to recognize this. Given a second chance, Mark proved himself faithful, to Barnabas, then to Peter, and ultimately to Paul. Some time later, Paul wrote to Timothy, saying,

Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11)

Ultimately, when you think about it, there had to be grace on both sides. Paul in forgiving Mark’s past failings, and Mark in forgiving any hard feelings he had had on Paul’s rejection of him.

But they both gave each other second chances and were blessed because of it.

How about you? Has someone let you down? Has someone hurt you?

Just as God has given us second chance after second chance, we need to give others second chances too.

Am I saying that we must put our full faith in them right away after they have failed us? No. But we should give them a chance to earn that trust.

And as they prove themselves worthy of that trust, gradually let go of your reservations, and start believing in them again.

Our Father is the God of second chances. As his children, shouldn’t we be the same?

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Acts

Grace alone

Paul and Barnabas

This was probably the biggest theological debate the early church faced, and it was a critical one.

Paul and Barnabas had been taking the gospel to the Gentiles, but not everyone was happy about the gospel they were preaching. Paul and Barnabas were telling the Gentiles (and Jews),

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39)

But not all the Jewish believers, particularly those who belonged to the party of the Pharisees, could fully accept this.

Yes, they believed in the forgiveness of sins through Christ, but they added an additional requirement, that Gentiles be circumcised as Jews and follow all the requirements of the law.

I like how the ESV puts the situation.

Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them. (Acts 15:2)

I can bet there was no small dissension between these men.

And so a great council was held in Jerusalem to discuss the question.

First, Paul and Barnabas talked about all that God had done among the Gentiles. Then the Pharisees stood up and basically said, “That’s all well and good, but they still have to be circumcised and follow all the Jewish laws.”

That set off a round of heated discussion.

I can only imagine the conflict going on in Peter’s heart.

On one hand, he had been born and raised a Jew, following as best as he could the law of Moses. It was still probably hard for him to accept completely God’s message of grace to the Gentiles, and he probably sympathized with these Pharisees.

But it was he who had opened this can of worms in the first place by taking the gospel to Cornelius.

And through these discussions, he probably went through the same war in his mind that he had when God first told him in a vision to kill and eat from the unclean animals and to not call, “unclean” what God had made clean.

But ultimately, it was those words, and the lesson that God shows no distinction between Jew and Gentile (Acts 10:34-35) that swayed Peter.

Finally, he spoke out.

God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. (Acts 15:8-11)

That quieted everyone, and lent more impact to Paul and Barnabas’ words when they reiterated their experiences with Gentiles.

Finally, James confirmed everything they had been talking about by quoting from scripture. With that, all objections died.

What can we get from this? Simply this: it is by the grace of God alone that we are saved.

We’re not saved by Christ’s work and our work. We are not saved, as the Mormons would put it, “by grace after we’ve done all we can do.”

Nor are we saved by grace plus all we can do.

We are accepted by God because of Christ’s work alone.

Like Peter, though, we often struggle with this idea. And because of it, we find ourselves struggling with God’s acceptance of us because we’re not “good enough.”

Or worse, we start looking down on others because they’re not “good enough.”

The truth is that none of us are worthy of salvation.

That is in fact the whole point of grace. That though none of us are worthy, through the blood Christ shed on the cross, we are made right with God.

We don’t have to worry about making ourselves worthy before God. We are already acceptable in his eyes.

Do you believe that? Do you really believe God accepts you?

Never forget the words of Paul who said,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

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Acts

Through many hardships

Acts

One thing you could say about Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journey: it certainly wasn’t boring.

As well as having much success, they also went through many trials, even to the point of Paul getting stoned and left for dead. It would have been easy to get discouraged and give up.

But not only did they not get discouraged, they returned to the places where they had been persecuted.

Why return? To strengthen the believers there and to encourage them to remain true to the faith. What did they say to encourage them?

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather hear about the blessings of God.

But Paul knew that these new converts would go through some tough times. If the people in those cities persecuted Paul, they were sure to do so to these new converts. And so Paul didn’t sugarcoat his words. They would go through hardship.

What was the good news then? They wouldn’t have to go through the hardships alone. God himself would be with them, just as he had been with Paul and Barnabas through their hardships.

And so just as Paul and Barnabas had been committed to the grace of God when they had been sent out from Antioch for this journey, they now committed these new converts to the Lord.

They knew that God’s grace would carry these believers through whatever hardships they might go through. (Acts 14:23)

In the same way, no matter what trials or hardships you may go through, God will always be with you, and his grace will ultimately bring you through to the other side.

The same God that was with Paul and Barnabas is with you now. So whatever you’re going through, don’t give up. And don’t get discouraged.

As the old hymn goes,

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

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Acts

Only men

Pedestal

As I read this passage, I think of the number of high profile pastors that have fallen over the years. People that were put on a pedestal only to be knocked down. And with their fall, everyone was reminded that they were only men.

Yet it is so easy to put people on that pedestal. Perhaps because God is intangible, we like to put people up that we can see as our examples, as the ones we admire and follow. But they are only men (or women).

That’s something we all need to remember, both leaders and those who follow.

It was something that Paul certainly kept in mind.

When he and Barnabas went to Lystra, they healed a man in Jesus’ name. And when the crowd saw this, they immediately wanted to worship them as gods.

The reason was that in their mythology, Zeus and Hermes had come to earth posing as humans once before. Most of the people had ill-treated them and were punished, while the one couple that had welcomed them was rewarded.

Determined not to repeat that mistake, the people tried to offer sacrifices to them. But Paul and Barnabas cried out,

Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you.

We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God… (Acts 14:15)

Yet despite their words of protestation, they still had trouble stopping the people from sacrificing to them.

Paul faced a similar problem in Corinth, where people in the church this time were arguing about which leader was the greatest. But Paul asked them,

Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:13)

And again,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

It is always dangerous to put even the godliest of men or women on a pedestal.

They are only human.

And humans fail.

Humans let us down.

And if our faith is in them, rather than God, they will ultimately let us down. And then where will we be?

Paul warns us,

Each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:10-11)

What foundation are you laying your faith on? On your pastor? On your favorite author or speaker? Or on Jesus Christ?

Always remember that it is only Jesus who is a sure foundation. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame or be dismayed. (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6)

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Acts

Opposition

Acts

If there is one word that comes to mind as I read this passage, it’s “opposition.”

As Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel, they faced opposition from Elymas and the Jews.

One was spiritual opposition. The other was opposition that sprang up from human jealousy and sin. (Although you could argue that all opposition to the gospel is ultimately spiritual.)

How did Paul and Barnabas respond? When the direct hand of Satan was involved, they confronted it by the power of the Holy Spirit, as they did when dealing with Elymas.

One thing we cannot do is face spiritual powers on our own. They are more powerful than us. But as John wrote,

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

And by the power of the Spirit, Paul and Barnabas vanquished Elymas, and Sergius Paulus and his family were saved.

When confronted by humans in their jealousy and pride, Paul and Barnabas continued to stand boldly and preach the gospel.

And when the people hardened their hearts, Paul and Barnabas moved on. First to the Gentiles in the city, and then, ultimately leaving the city to minister to others.

In the same way, we will face people who will oppose us for their own selfish reasons. And we will face others that simply will not believe no matter what we say.

Eventually, the time will come when all we can do is to leave them over to God and his judgment. We cannot make them believe. All we can do is to preach the gospel. The rest is up to them and God.

So when people reject the message, don’t get discouraged. Simply move on, and continue speaking boldly.

All of us will eventually face opposition. But when you do, remember the words of Paul himself, who said,

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

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Acts

Set apart for God’s work

Acts

I remember the first time I ever considered being a missionary. I was talking with a friend, and somehow we got on the topic of missions. And I remember telling him, “I don’t think I’m called to be a missionary.”

My friend, responded, “How do you know? Did you ask him?”

“Well….no.”

That night (or the next, I can’t remember), I was talking with God and recalled my conversation with my friend.

“Tony was saying I should ask you about being a missionary.”

At that point, a thought popped into my mind. I know it wasn’t from me because there is no way I would have ever thought it.

God told me, “Yeah, ask me.”

I immediately replied, “I don’t want to ask you. What if you say yes?”

I then got into this long argument with God, the kind where he lets you talk and just kind of sits there in silence until you talk yourself out.

When I finally saw how fruitless it was to argue, I said, “Okay, Lord. Do you want me to go?”

I didn’t get an answer that night, but it was the starting point of my journey to Japan.

Two or three years later, I was seeking God’s direction for my life, and another friend encouraged me to make sure I had given everything up to God. That I had not taken anything back from him.

As I was driving home that night, God spoke again. “Bruce, you’ve taken Japan back from me.”

It was something I had not realized. I had gone to Japan on a short term mission, but when it was over, I didn’t think it was for me. And though it was not a conscious choice, I had taken it back from God.

So once again, I surrendered my will to his. I have now been in Japan for about 20 years.

Why do I mention all this?

It seems all so similar to what happened in this passage. Christians seeking God, and God saying, “Go. I’m setting you apart for my purposes. Go.”

It’s in this passage, by the way, that you see the clear personality of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit himself who tells them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2)

And after more prayer and fasting, they went.

I’m still wondering about all the reasons God sent me here. I don’t think I’ve nearly accomplished all that God brought me here for. And so as I write this, I’m thinking I need to be seeking God on this once again. Why am I here?

But God has not just called me, or pastors, or missionaries. He has called you as well. He has set you apart for his purposes.

Do you know what those purposes are? And are you doing the things he is asking you to do?

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Acts

A pride that leads to destruction

Acts

Solomon wrote,

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

We see this in the life of Herod Agrippa I.

To be clear, this is a different person from Herod Antipas who had been involved with John the Baptist and Jesus in the gospels.

Herod Agrippa was the grandson of King Herod, who had attempted to kill Jesus as a baby. And he was just as bloodthirsty as his grandfather was.

He was responsible for the death of James, and would have killed Peter had God not delivered him. And for Peter’s escape, Herod killed the men who had been guarding him.

Herod was a powerful man…and very proud. He had exerted his power to the point that the cities of Tyre and Sidon, two cities that had been in dispute with him, had humbled themselves and sought to make peace with him.

And as he sat before them, they shouted out,

This is the voice of a god, not of a man. (Acts 12:22)

Herod accepted this praise, and because of it, an angel struck him, and shortly thereafter, he died.

If there is one thing that God hates, it’s pride, because pride places a wall between us and him. We start to think we can live without God and that we don’t need him.

Our pride also puts a barrier between us and others. How often, because of our pride, do we destroy our relationships, our friendships, our marriages, and our families?

And as with Herod, pride will ultimately lead to our destruction if we refuse to repent.

If we in our pride say, “I don’t need you God,” God will eventually give us what we want: life for all eternity without him.

But when we get it, we’ll find out that we’re cut off from life, love, joy, and peace. Because all of these things find their source in God. That’s what Herod found out.

How about you? Is your pride standing between you and your friends, your spouse, the people at work, or the people at church? Even worse, is it standing between you and God?

As Peter wrote,

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:5-6)

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Acts

God’s response to prayer, our response to him

Acts

This is a very interesting story on many levels. The most amusing part of it is Peter showing up at the door after being released from prison, and Rhoda the servant girl being so excited that she left him at the door to tell the others.

But as I look at this story, I can’t help but ask one question.

Why did God save Peter, but not James?

Answer: we don’t know.

You have to believe that the believers prayed for James at least as much as they did for Peter.

And you can’t say that it was a matter of having enough or not having enough faith when they prayed, because they clearly didn’t believe Peter would be set free despite their prayers.

Had they really believed Peter would have been set free, they would have immediately run to the door to let Peter in. Instead, they wasted time debating Rhoda’s sanity.

You can’t really blame them for their lack of faith. After all, their prayers for James seemed to have been in vain. And they had probably had more faith praying for James than they had praying for Peter because of God’s deliverance of the apostles in Acts 5.

Yet God delivered Peter and not James.

What can we get from this?

First, God will not always grant us our prayers no matter how much faith we have. Sometimes, what we desire is simply not his will. For his own purposes, he tells us no.

The question then becomes, “How do we respond to his nos?”

Will we keep trusting him though we are disappointed? Will we keep believing that his way is best? And will we keep praying despite our disappointment?

That’s what the believers did in this passage. Despite their disappointment, they didn’t give up on God. They didn’t get bitter.

Instead, when another problem came, they immediately went to God again. And despite their lack of faith, God in his grace answered and delivered Peter.

That brings up the second point. God is not limited by our faith or lack of faith for a certain request.

Certainly, he prefers the former to the latter. But he is not limited by it. Because he is a God of grace, giving to us what we don’t deserve.

The key though, is that we continue coming to him, believing that he is good, and that he will do what is best.

And though God will not always give us what we want, he will always bless that kind of faith. Because it is that kind of faith that pleases him.

As the writer of Hebrews said,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

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Acts

Filled with the Spirit and full of faith

Acts

Barnabas was a remarkable man. We saw him first in Acts 4 where he sold his land and gave the proceeds to the church so that they could help the needy.

We saw him again in Acts 9, when he brought Saul before the skeptical and fearful apostles, and vouched for Saul before them.

Now we see him again, reaching out to the Gentiles. When the Christians finally started reaching out to the Gentiles and saw fruit, the apostles sent Barnabas to them, and it says,

When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. (Acts 11:23)

He then reached out to Saul, and asked him to join him in ministering to the believers in Antioch (where we first hear the name “Christian” being used).

And when a prophesy was made that a famine would hit Jerusalem, Barnabas and Saul took the gifts that were collected in Antioch and brought them back to Jerusalem.

The verse that strikes me, however, is verse 24.

[Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. (Acts 11:24a)

That’s the kind of man I want to be. A good man.

Barnabas was actually this man’s nickname. His real name was Joseph, but he was so beloved, he was called, “The Son of Encouragement,” by those who knew him.

Why was he this way? He was full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

He was a man so filled with the Spirit, that fruit burst out from his life.

Love poured out from him, causing him to see the best in people, to believe in people that others wouldn’t, to give generously of his time and money, and to speak words that encouraged all who heard.

His faith went far beyond just simple belief. It permeated every aspect of his life. And people noticed. Because of this,

A great number of people were brought to the Lord. (Acts 11:24b)

That’s what I want. To be so filled with the Spirit and faith, that people can’t help but notice and be attracted to our Lord.

For some people, faith is simply a personal thing, something to be kept private. And for others, the filling of the Spirit is again, mostly for their own personal benefit. A way to feel blessed.

But when we are filled with the Spirit and with faith, it changes us. It changes the way we think. It changes the way we live. It flows out of our lives and it touches other people, causing them to become interested in God.

How about you? Are you filled with the Spirit and with faith?

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Acts

Opposing God

Acts

When Peter came back from Cornelius’ house, he returned to an uproar in Jerusalem.

Rumors had spread about how Peter, a leader of the church, had actually welcomed Gentiles into his house and then went to visit one of them. Not only a Gentile, but a Roman centurion.

And so as soon as Peter entered, they converged on him and accused him, saying,

You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them. (Acts 11:3)

To these men, what Peter had done was utterly scandalous. He had, with full knowledge, made himself “unclean” by associating with these men.

And so Peter related to them all that had happened: his vision, Cornelius’ encounter with the angel, and finally the Spirit falling on Cornelius and all who had been with him.

Peter concluded,

So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God? (Acts 11:17)

Who was I to think that I could oppose God?

I like the ESV translation here.

Who was I that I could stand in God’s way?

How often do we stand in the way of what God is doing?

Because of our prejudices?

Because it’s something new that we’ve never seen before?

Because it goes against everything we were taught to believe?

Because of our own hardness of heart?

Because of our pride?

One of the hardest things for people to admit is, “I could be wrong.”

Another hard thing for people to admit is, “God could be using them too.”

And if we refuse to humble ourselves, we could find ourselves fighting against God.

Ultimately, we need to do what the apostle Paul commanded us to do.

Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

Of course we should test new things to see if they are from God. But we should also test our hearts. Test our beliefs. Test our pride.

That’s what the Jews in Jerusalem had to do. Their conclusion?

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:18)

And they no longer stood in God’s way, but joined in with his work. (Acts 11:19-26)

How about you? Are you standing in his way? Or are you rejoicing in what he’s doing and joining in with his work?

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Acts

Breaking through the barriers

Acts

God had to break through some pretty great barriers to get the gospel to the Gentiles. Ironically, one primary barrier that he had to break through was one he had pounded into the Jews’ minds, the idea of clean and unclean.

If you look at the book of Leviticus, this is an idea that is repeated time and again. “Don’t do this. It’ll make you unclean. But if you do this, you’ll become clean again.”

Or, “Don’t eat this. It’s unclean. But this other food is okay. It is clean to you.”

What was the whole purpose of these laws? It was to imprint in the minds of the Jews the need to be holy as God is holy.

The problem was, the Christians failed to recognize that these (and other such Mosaic laws) were mere pictures of their relationship with God, and that with the coming of Jesus, these pictures were fulfilled.

And so throughout the early church, you see this battle between those who contended that these ritualistic laws (as opposed to moral laws) were no longer relevant, and those who contended that they were.

At this point, Peter and the rest of the Jews were squarely in the realm of the latter.

But with one fell swoop, God knocked it all down. He gave Peter a vision in which he presented a number of “unclean” animals, and told Peter to kill and eat them.

Peter was appalled. Perhaps he thought God was simply testing his faithfulness. So he said,

Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. (Acts 10:14)

But God’s rebuke was sharp.

Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. (Acts 10:15)

And to make the point crystal clear, he repeated the vision two more times.

At that point, Cornelius’ men came, and God told him,

Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. (Acts 10:19-20)

Prior to the vision, there is no way Peter would have gone to them. To enter the house of a Gentile and fellowship with him would have made Peter, “unclean.” But with the vision still fresh in his mind, he went.

And when Peter heard the story of Cornelius, and saw the Spirit fall upon Cornelius, his family, and his friends, the church was changed forever.

So what do we get from this? I think the main thing is what Peter told Cornelius.

God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. (Acts 10:28)

Nowadays, we don’t have the problem of whether to follow Jewish laws and rituals or not. But how do we look upon the people around us?

Do we see certain people as beneath us? As unworthy of salvation? Do we loathe to even hang around them because of their race or social status?

Or perhaps we think they’re beyond salvation because of how badly they’ve treated us or how badly they’ve hurt us.

Jesus died for us all, including them. And we have no right to call them “impure” or “unclean.”

Yes, like Cornelius, they are stained with sin. But Jesus can take anyone and make them clean. And like Peter, we may just be surprised that the same Spirit that fills us can fill them if we will only take the gospel to them.

What barriers of prejudice or bitterness have you set in your minds against the people around you?

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Acts

Those who have not heard

Acts

One of the big conundrums Christians come up against when saying Jesus is the only way to heaven is the question, “What about those who have never even heard about Jesus? Will they go to hell too?”

And because of this question, many people start to wonder if perhaps there is another way. Everything we read in scripture, however, clearly states there is no other way. And we see it in this story as well.

Here was another man who, like the Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8, was a God-fearer. He gave alms to the poor, and prayed continually to the one true God.

The problem was that while he had no doubt heard about Jesus, he nevertheless didn’t know the way of salvation that comes through Jesus.

So God sent an angel to him. Cornelius, understandably, was terrified. “Why has this being come to me? Has he come to kill me for my sins?”

But the angel said,

Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Therefore, I have come to tell you that salvation is yours. Peace to you. Rest in your salvation.

Is that what he said? If you believe the people who say that there is another way to salvation for those who have never heard the gospel, it sounds right.

But that’s not what the angel said. Instead, after talking about how God accepted Cornelius’ prayers and gifts, he said,

Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea. (Acts 10:5-6)

Why did the angel tell Cornelius to do this? So that he could hear the gospel and be saved. Hearing the angel’s command, Cornelius obeyed, and sent men to bring Peter to his house.

Peter, when he came and heard Cornelius’ story, exclaimed,

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. (Acts 10:34-35)

In other words, “God is fair. God accepts anyone who fears him, no matter what nation he is from.”

Peter then said, “God bless you,” and went on his way.

No?

No!

He preached the gospel to them. They believed and were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

What can we get from this?

First, there is only one way to heaven. By hearing the gospel and believing it. Everything in this story makes that crystal clear.

What about those who have never heard? I believe that if they respond to what God has given them, God will respond to them.

Cornelius responded to what he had heard from the Jews about God. So did the Ethiopian.

And I believe if there is someone out there in an unreached country, that sees creation, realizes that there’s a creator, and cries out, “God reveal yourself to me,” he will. Because God is fair. And he is faithful.

How will he reveal himself? Either by direct revelation, by sending someone, or both. In this chapter, we see both.

I was reading in a missions newsletter of just such a man. He had known there was a “Most High God,” but didn’t know who he was. Every day for 20 years, he prayed, “God, send somebody to me to explain who You are.”

And when the missionary came, the man immediately believed.

God is just. No one who truly seeks him will die without hearing the gospel. But let us not fool ourselves into thinking there is another way. There isn’t.

So let us obey our Lord’s command, taking his gospel to the utter ends of the earth that all may hear and believe.

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Acts

The God who heals and raises the dead

Acts

In Acts 9:32-43, we see two powerful stories. The thing that struck me the most were Peter’s words to Aeneas and Dorcas (Tabitha).

To Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, and who had probably lost all hope of ever getting up again, Peter said,

Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat. (Acts 9:34)

Instantly, the man was healed, and got up.

To Dorcas, who had died, he said,

Tabitha, get up. (Acts 9:40)

Her eyes opened, her life fully restored.

Simple words. But they are words people need to hear even today.

Jesus Christ heals you.

Certainly there is physical healing that can happen even today. But so many people are in need of healing in so many other ways as well. Hurts from their past. Hurts from their present. Emotional hurts. Spiritual hurts.

And people around us need to hear us say, “Jesus Christ heals you.”

Because the same Jesus that healed Aeneas on that day, can heal people now.

Get up. Rise from the dead.

People today look at their lives and they see dead hopes. Dead marriages. A dead future.

And they need to hear from us that Jesus can restore what is dead. That there is hope for their marriages, hope for their futures, hope for their lives.

We need to tell them, “Get up. God can give you life again if you’ll just turn to him.”

These are the messages people need to hear. Let’s take them out to a world in desperate need of Him.

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Acts

Believing in people

Acts

Again, as I look at this passage, I try to imagine the reaction the believers had toward Saul when he first came to Jerusalem.

What was their first interaction with him? The last time they had seen him publicly, he had been giving his approval to the death of Stephen.

Did he try to see them privately first? Or did he see the apostles worshiping at the temple one day and say “Shalom. Hey, I’m one of you now.”

I think of Raul Ries who’s the pastor of a large church in California. He had been a very violent man before he found Christ, and had abused his wife to the point where she was about to leave him.

When he came home one day and found his wife’s bags packed (she had gone to church), he was ready to kill her and his kids.

But God intervened through, of all things, a TV program in which he saw Pastor Chuck Smith talking about the love of Christ. And upon hearing it, he fell to his knees and received Christ. He then went looking for his wife to tell her the news.

He couldn’t find her, but when he returned home, he found the door locked and heard his wife weeping. (He had trashed the house while he had been waiting for her).

He knocked on the door, and after latching it, she opened it and asked, “What do you want?”

He told her, “I’m born again.”

Her response?

She slammed the door on him.

Eventually she let him in, and after a year or two of watching him, and the change she saw God doing in his life, she came to fully believe in him.

That was the response of the apostles to Saul. When Saul told them, “I’m born again,” they slammed the door on him.

I can totally understand their reaction.

But just as Ries’ wife chose to open the door to him, so Barnabas did to Saul.

He had probably had the benefit of either actually seeing Saul in Damascus or talking to the brothers who had been there. And because of that, he stood with Saul, and told the apostles, “I believe in him. He really has changed.”

It probably took time for the apostles to fully accept him. But as they watched him, and saw the work God was doing in his life, they came to totally believe in him too.

What’s my point? Even the worst people can change when they come to Christ. And we need to give them that chance.

There may be people who have hurt you. But then they come to Christ, and say they have changed. Yet despite this, we keep them at a distance, refusing to believe that they have really changed. I can understand that reaction.

But like Barnabas, we need to give people a chance. I’m not saying that we need to fully open the door of our hearts to them right away.

If they have a track record of hurting us in the past, then I think it’s only prudent to keep your guard up, at least to an extent. But give them a chance. And watch them.

If you see God working in their lives, then gradually start opening the door of your heart to them.

After all, God has given you grace and many second chances. As his children, it’s only right that we extend that to others as well.

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Acts

When Christ changes your life

Acts

As I read this passage, I tried to imagine what was going on in the minds of those in Damascus.

After Saul’s conversion, he marched into the synagogue, and was probably asked to speak by those in charge. They probably expected that he would say something to denounce the Christians. After all, the whole reason he had come to Damascus was to arrest them.

Imagine the shock the synagogue leaders received when Saul started preaching that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.

What things rolled through their minds?

At first, they probably were just stunned, unable to take in what Saul was saying.

Then maybe they thought to themselves, “Could it be that Saul is just trying to set a trap for the Christians here by pretending to be one? He surely can’t believe all that he is saying?”

Maybe with that in mind, they debated with him and questioned him, expecting him to give a weak defense for Christianity. But instead, they found themselves being utterly defeated in their arguments.

And as day after day passed, they realized, “Saul really believes what he is saying!”

The result? They tried to kill him.

What can we learn from this? Not everyone we know and love will be pleased when we start to follow Christ.

Maybe at first, they’ll be too shocked at the transformation to say anything. Then maybe they’ll think it’s just a phase that will pass. But as they realize we are serious about our relationship with Christ, some may become hostile.

I’m not saying all will become this way. Hopefully, none will. But some may, including those among your family and friends. And it can be painful.

But Jesus did warn us,

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. (John 15:18-21)

Jesus never promised that all would love us for following him. What he did promise was that he would love us and would always be with us. (John 14:21, 23)

Not only that, through Christ, we receive new brothers and sisters that will love us and support us when others turn away from us.

So don’t get discouraged. Rather,

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)

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Acts

Chosen…to go

Acts

I said yesterday there were two stories in Acts that shows both the election of God, man’s choice, and our need to go and spread the gospel.

Looking at today’s story, I think I should make that three stories. (The third is that of Cornelius in chapter 10).

Here is Saul, a Pharisee, totally hardened to Christ, and determined to wipe all Christians off the face of the earth. And had God simply let him be, he would have gone straight to hell.

But then God intervened. Why? Because he chose to save him. We see this in God’s conversation with Ananias.

When God told Ananias to go and help Saul, Ananias basically said, “God, are you serious? Don’t you know this guy is trying to kill us?”

God’s answer?

Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. (Acts 9:15)

I alluded to this yesterday, but God’s answer here again blows up the argument of, “If God has determined that certain people be saved, then we don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to go and evangelize others. God’s already chosen those who will be saved.”

Can you imagine Ananias using that type of reasoning with God?

“Well God, if you’ve already chosen him, there’s no reason for me to go.”

How would that line of reasoning flown with God? Not very well I suspect.

Why? Because God commanded Ananias to go. And he has commanded us to go as well.

Certainly, God could save people without our help. But for the most part, he has chosen to effect his salvation through us. He has put the keys of the kingdom in our hands. And if we don’t go, those gates will remain locked to those who don’t know him.

Note that particularly in this story and in the story of Cornelius, while Jesus appeared directly to Saul, and an angel appeared directly to Cornelius, still God required that his people go and talk to them.

He requires the same of us.

Ananias was chosen by God and told to go.

Phillip in chapter 8 was also chosen and told to go.

And we see here in this chapter that God called Saul also that he might go and preach the gospel to both Jew and Gentile.

You were chosen to go as well.

I heard someone say something once that I’ve already remembered. He asked, “What are the first two letters of the word ‘God?'”

Then he asked, “What are the first three letters of the word ‘Satan?'”

What will you do?

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Acts

Unless we go

Acts

This is one of two stories in the book of Acts where we see the election of God, the choice of man, and our need to go as God’s witnesses all interacting with each other.

Many people wonder about the first two in particular. How can God choose people to be his own, and yet be held accountable for accepting or rejecting him?

And for some, they wonder why we even need to go to the lost and share the gospel if God has already elected them?

I don’t have all the answers, but that all are true is made clear in this passage.

Here we see an Ethiopian eunuch who had a high position in his queen’s court. Yet, somehow, he had heard about the God of Israel, and had gone to Jerusalem to worship.

Note here that though he was a God-fearer, God did not simply say, “Well, he doesn’t know about Jesus, but that’s okay. That he fears me and is trying to serve me is enough.”

Instead, he sent an angel to Phillip and told him to go out to where this man would be. And when Phillip saw him, the Spirit whispered to him, “Go up to him.”

Phillip did and heard this man reading from Isaiah 53, a chapter that specifically prophesies about Jesus. And Phillip asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” The man’s answer is very striking.

How can I…unless someone explains it to me? (Acts 8:31)

Reading that brings to mind Paul’s question to the Romans.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:14)

The answer: They can’t. The eunuch certainly couldn’t. And so he invited Phillip to join him on his chariot.

Phillip explained the gospel, and upon hearing it, the eunuch believed and was baptized. He then took the gospel back to his own country, and Christians in Ethiopia today trace their roots back to this man.

Several points to be made.

First, before a person can be saved, they must hear the gospel and believe. If it was possible for a person to simply be a God-fearer and go to heaven without the gospel, God would not have gone out of his way to send Phillip to this Ethiopian.

Paul, in the same passage in Romans I mentioned above, asks,

And how can they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:15)

The answer again is that they can’t. But God does send us out to go and preach the gospel that people might believe, just as he sent Phillip to go to the eunuch.

Second, God clearly chose this man to be saved. This man was on the way to hell with no way of hearing the gospel. God intervened so that he could hear the gospel. Without that intervention, this eunuch would never have been saved.

Third, this man still had to make the choice to believe in order to be saved. He did, and was saved.

How do these all intertwine philosophically? I don’t know. But somehow in the mind of God it all makes sense. And that’s good enough for me.

The main point: Go.

There are so many people like this Ethiopian who are headed for hell. There are so many people like this Ethiopian who need to hear about Christ. And just like God called Phillip to go, he calls you to go as well.

Let us remember the words of our Lord, who commanded us,

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20)

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Acts

A gift

Acts

One of the things that people have a hard time understanding about Christianity is that all that we have is a gift from God. All that we have, and our very lives are gifts from God.

And of course, salvation is the greatest gift of all, as God saves us from our sin and comes to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit.

When we truly understand the grace that we have received from God, it changes our whole view of life as we start to understand his love for us and how much we truly are blessed no matter our circumstances.

In this story, Simon the Sorcerer never grasped this. Before Phillip came, he had everything he could have wanted, power and fame.

His powers, if real, were most certainly not from God, but because of them, he boasted that he was someone great and people believed him.

Then came Phillip, an ordinary man except for one thing. He was filled with the Spirit of God.

And apparently the signs and wonders he performed far outstripped anything that Simon could do. As a result, the people turned from Simon, listened to Phillip, and eventually turned to the Lord.

It’s hard to say whether Simon’s conversion was genuine or not. It’s possible that it was, but his later actions seem to indicate otherwise.

Whether it was genuine or not, it’s clear that he did not truly understand the concept of grace. That it is a gift received and cannot be paid for or earned.

And so when Simon saw the people receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit when Peter and John laid hands on them, he wanted the ability to bestow the Spirit on others and offered to pay Peter and John for it.

But Peter said,

May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.

Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin. (Acts 8:20-23)

What happens when we fail to understand the grace of God?

We think of ourselves too highly.

We think that somehow we deserve the things that God has given us. And when we don’t have the same things that others have, we become jealous and bitter.

Simon was certainly that way. Before Phillip came, he was a somebody. But now with Phillip, Peter, and John there, he was a nobody. And he wanted to be a somebody again.

He was bitter at his loss of stature and jealous of what Phillip, Peter, and John had. And that’s why he tried to buy the gift of God. Not for God’s glory, but for his own.

But while some of us may think of ourselves too highly, others of us have the reverse problem.

We think of ourselves too lowly.

We think that we are so bad, even God cannot save us. Or we think we are so unworthy, that God would never think to give us any good gifts.

If Simon was an actual believer, it’s possible that he swung from one end of the pendulum to the other. That after Peter’s harsh rebuke, he felt his unworthiness to the point where he felt he couldn’t even approach God to ask for forgiveness. Instead, he asked Peter to pray for him.

But the writer of Hebrews tells us,

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

None of us deserves God’s grace. So let us not take pride in what we have received nor be jealous of what God has graciously given others.

On the other hand, let us also remember that God delights in giving good gifts to those who are his children, though none of us are worthy to receive anything from him.

That’s what grace is all about.

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Acts

Spreading the joy

Acts

Well, Christmas season is upon us. It is officially December 1st here in Japan, and my 5 year old daughter and I put up our Christmas tree and all the Christmas decorations yesterday.

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but this is truly my favorite time of the year.

In this passage, we see the church going out and spreading the joy of Christ to the areas beyond Jerusalem. But it wasn’t without a push.

With the death of Stephen, persecution swept the Christian community in Jerusalem under a Pharisee named Saul.

The ironic thing is that he hoped to squash Christianity, but not only did he unintentionally cause its initial spread by persecuting the church, he would eventually be responsible for its spread throughout the known world as a minister of the gospel.

I wonder, though, if such persecution would have come to such an extent if the apostles had done what they were supposed to do.

Jesus told them,

Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

Then just before his ascension, he told them,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

And yet though the Spirit had come upon them, they all stayed in Jerusalem.

Had they all left Jerusalem to do what Jesus had commanded, would the church still have been persecuted with all the main leaders out of sight of Jerusalem?

Perhaps, but it’s possible that a lot of the trouble they suffered would have been avoided.

Even after persecution struck the church, the apostles still refused to leave. Why? I don’t know.

Maybe they felt they needed to show their courage to the rest of the church. But in doing so, they continued in disobedience to the Lord’s command.

But others did go out.

One of the deacons, Phillip, went to Samaria, a place where Jesus had visited before, but which was despised by the Jews. But Phillip followed in the footsteps of his Lord, not only by preaching the gospel there, but by performing miracles as well.

The result?

There was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:8)

It can be so easy to become self-centered at Christmas. To focus on ourselves and the things we want.

But let us remember that Jesus doesn’t want us to focus simply on our own joy. He wants us to take the joy we have received and to spread it to the people around us.

So many people are hurting and are in need of Christ.

So let us seek to be filled with his Spirit. And then let us go out, praying that he will use us to touch and change every person we meet.

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Acts

A pattern of rejection

Acts

In this passage, we see the church’s first martyr, Stephen. Stephen was one of the seven deacons that had been chosen by the apostles in the first part of chapter 6.

But in preaching the Word of Christ, he came into conflict with the Jewish leaders, and he was hauled before the Sanhedrin, with false witnesses testifying against him.

When asked to give his defense, Stephen went into a detailed account of Israel’s history. His main point? That the Jews, time and again, rejected those God had sent to save them.

They did it with Joseph, sending him to Egypt as a slave, only to have Joseph save their lives later from the famine that had struck their land.

They did it with Moses, not only rejecting him before his encounter with God at the bush, but after he had led them out of Egypt.

This pattern continued even after they entered the land God had promised them as they rejected the words of the prophets and worshiped false idols.

And now, they had rejected the Christ himself. And still they claimed they were God’s people because they worshiped in his temple. But as Stephen said,

The Most High does not live in houses made by men.

As the prophet says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.’

What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? (Acts 7:48-50)

In other words, “The temple means nothing if you have rejected and murdered the one God sent to save you!”

The Sanhedrin’s response? They continued in the pattern of their fathers. They murdered a man sent to warn them to repent.

How about you? What kind of pattern do you have in your life?

You may be religious. You may go to church every week and do a lot of good things. But if you reject Jesus as Lord and Savior and reject those who share the gospel with you, all your religious acts mean nothing to God.

Instead, you will find yourself condemned along with all the others throughout history who have rejected Jesus and those whom Jesus has sent to warn them.

There is only one way of salvation, and that’s through Christ. Won’t you receive him today?

Father, I have sinned. All my life, I have lived my own way and rejected the One you sent to save me. Jesus thank you for dying on the cross to take the punishment for all the wrong things I have done.

Now I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Fill me with your Spirit, and teach me how to follow you each day. In your name I pray. Amen.

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Acts

What pastors and leaders cannot do

Acts

The early church was not without its growing pains. And we see an example of it here.

Among the things the church did was provide for the needs of the poor among them. But as the church grew, the responsibilities for this ministry grew exponentially.

At first, the apostles took care of the collecting and dispersing of the money. We see this when Barnabas and Ananias came before Peter and the apostles to present the money they had received from selling their land.

But now, with the great number of believers within the church, balls were starting to get dropped.

Not only that, a racial divide started to develop between the Hebraic Jews and Grecian Jews, with the needs of the Grecian widows being neglected in favor of the Hebraic widows.

How could this happen? I don’t know. I don’t believe the apostles were purposefully racist. But with too many other things to attend to, they definitely dropped the ball on this.

Their solution? They said,

It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.

We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:2-4)

Upon doing so, the Word of God spread, and the church continued its rapid growth.

What can we get from this? One major thing.

There is one thing that our pastors and leaders cannot do: everything.

Yet so often, we leave ministry to the “professionals.”

The truth is, all of us are part of the body of Christ. We all need to do our part. But to do our part, we all need to be filled with God’s Spirit.

Too many people in the church complain when balls get dropped in the church and they criticize the leaders for it.

But are we daily being filled with God’s Spirit, and doing our part to take the burden off of them so that they can do the things that God has specifically called them to do?

Are we helping them to avoid getting distracted by the things that would detract from their calling?

I suppose the question from the pastors’ side is what do they feel their main calling is as a pastor? What is God calling them to do within the church? And what things do they need to let go of so that they can focus on that calling?

Just as importantly, are they raising up Spirit-filled people who can take on the other responsibilities of the church?

Pastors and leaders can’t do everything. And if we can learn that, from the pastor down to the newest member in the church, God’s church can grow.

But if we don’t, we will face definite limits going forward in trying to extend God’s kingdom.

How about you? Are you doing your part?

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Acts

Unstoppable

Acts

If there is one word that comes to my mind when I read this passage, it’s “unstoppable.”

But I’m not talking about the apostles. I’m talking about the work of the Spirit.

First, we see the apostles going out and performing miracles, and preaching the gospel, and because of this, more and more people were entering the Kingdom.

When the priests saw this, as was the case when Jesus was around, jealousy arose in their hearts.

I wonder if in their hearts, they wondered, “We’re the priests. We’re the representatives of God. Why is God doing these things through them, and not us?”

Yet deep in their hearts, I think they knew the answer. Because in their rebuke of the apostles, they said,

Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood. (Acts 5:28)

Already, you can see a desire on their part to disassociate themselves from the death of Jesus. Why? Probably because after the resurrection, they had to be thinking, “What if we’re wrong? What if Jesus really was the Messiah?”

Not that this caused the chief priests and the members of the Pharisees to change their minds. But we do find in Acts 6:7 that others among the priests actually started to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and put their faith in him.

At any rate, the Sanhedrin had the apostles arrested again, and then berated them for continuing to preach despite the warnings the Sanhedrin had given them earlier.

Peter’s response was incredible.

We must obey God rather than men!

The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead–whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:29-32)

Looking at these words from a 21st century Christian’s perspective, Peter’s words were not something particularly startling.

But from their perspective, it must have blown the priests and Sanhedrin’s minds.

For one thing, they didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. But not only did Peter preach this, he said that Jesus was resurrected and that it is through him that God gives repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

More, they pointed to the work of the Spirit as proof to the truth of all they said. This in a day and age when the work of the Spirit had not really been seen in hundreds of years until John the Baptist showed up.

And now the apostles were proclaiming that the Spirit was being poured out not just on a select few, but on all followers of Jesus.

Think for a moment about to whom the apostles were saying all this to.

They were telling this to the priests, who should have had God’s Spirit in them!

Well, the priests and the members of the Sanhedrin couldn’t accept this, and they were ready to murder the apostles right then and there.

But Gamaliel stepped in, and said,

Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.

But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God. (Acts 5:38-39)

I said earlier that the chief priests themselves must have started having doubts about if they had been wrong about Jesus, and their reaction to Gamaliel’s words are why I think so.

If they had had no doubts at all concerning Jesus, if they had had no doubts that Jesus was an impostor, there is no way they could have seriously considered the possibility that the apostles’ work was from God.

But because of their nagging doubts, they let the apostles go. And the apostles went out and continued preaching that Jesus was the Messiah.

What can we get from all this? When God’s people are filled with his Spirit, his work cannot be stopped.

We can get discouraged by looking at the direction society is going. We can get discouraged by the persecution we’re starting to see.

But if we are filled with God’s Spirit, no matter what people may do to us, God will use us and his kingdom will increase.

So let us not get discouraged. Instead, let us be bold, going in the power of the Spirit, and do the things he’s called us to do.

Categories
Acts

The seriousness of sin

Acts

This is perhaps the most shocking story in the book of Acts. It also shows us the seriousness of sin.

Two people in the church, Ananias and Sapphira, had seen Barnabas generously sell some of his land to help the poor.

Perhaps after seeing the praise Barnabas had received from the others, they too wanted to show off their generosity. The problem? Their generosity was purely superficial.

Oh, they sold their land. But instead of giving all of the proceeds from the sale, they kept some of it for themselves.

That in itself wasn’t so bad. As Peter later told them, it was up to them how much they wanted to give. If they had only wanted to give 50%, that would have been fine. If they had only wanted to give 10%, that too would have been fine.

The apostle Paul would later write,

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

In short, God is not so interested in how much of our money he has. (Actually, as I pointed out yesterday, all of it really belongs to him).

God is much more interested in how much of our heart he has.

I don’t know how much of Ananias’ and Sapphira’s heart he had, but it obviously wasn’t 100%. They were more interested in money, and the pride of life. Of being admired by others.

And because of this, they lied. Not just to Peter. Not just to the church. But to God himself.

It’s also possible that it wasn’t any mere lie. It’s possible that they had even sworn to dedicate the proceeds of the land to the Lord, according to the law of Moses. (Leviticus 27:28).

And by keeping back some of the money they had promised to the Lord, they broke their oath.

This was so serious in the eyes of God, that Ananias and Sapphira paid for it with their lives.

That may seem harsh. And it was. But I think we learn one very important thing from this: Sin is a serious thing to God, no matter how little it may seem to us.

Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira thought, “It’s only a little lie. Who could it hurt?”

But though the actual sins we commit may seem small, they show the state of our hearts. Ananias’ and Sapphira’s sin showed the jealousy, greed, pride, and hypocrisy that was in theirs.

And while telling a little lie may seem trivial to us, the issues that lie behind them are very serious. So serious, that Jesus had to die on a cross to pay the price for it.

Are there sins in your life that you brush off as trivial? They are not trivial in the eyes of God. So search your heart.

What do the sins you commit show about the state of your heart?