,

What Difference Does It Make?

,

Romans 12:1-16

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. – Romans 12:1 NLT

Paul launches this next section of his letter with the words, "And so…." Some translations use the word, "Therefore…." Which reminds me of an old adage that says, when you see the word, therefore, in Scripture, always ask what it's there for. What is the writer trying to tell you? It is almost always used as a transition from one train of thought to another. It is used to tie when section to another, and so it is here as Paul makes his transition from the end of chapter 11 to the beginning of chapter 12. Up until this point in his letter Paul has been stressing the sin of man and the grace of God. He has stressed the universality of man's sinful state and his inability to save Himself. He has spoken of God's gracious gift of salvation made possible through His Son's death on the cross. He has contrasted faith and works. He has reminded his readers of the freedom found in Christ – freedom from having to try and keep the Law in order to have a right relationship with God. He has written of God's mercy, love and faithfulness – illustrated in His plan to fulfill every single promise He has made to the people of Israel – despite their constant unfaithfulness to Him.

And then Paul says, "And so…." With all of that in mind, here is what we are to do. This is where Paul moves from the theological to the practical. As a result of all that he has told us about God, man, sin, salvation, the Spirit, freedom, grace, mercy, eternity, and love, here is how we should respond. Paul pleads with us to give our bodies to God as living and holy sacrifices. Why? Because of all He has done for us. Paul is going to begin with what our reaction should be to God. That is the most important relationship any man can have. All of our other earthly relationships with human beings are insignificant and immaterial if we do not have a right relationship with God. So Paul begs us to respond to God's mercy, grace, goodness, sovereignty and love with an attitude of willing submission. We are to offer ourselves to Him for His use. In doing so we are acknowledging that we belong to Him and Him alone. Elsewhere Paul wrote, "You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT). But it is interesting to notice that Paul's emphasis is on the group, not the individual in his letter to the Romans. He pleads with them to give "your bodies" as a living sacrifice. It is to be a group effort, not an individual one. Paul is going to stress what it looks like to live as a holy sacrifice to God and it is going to involve our interactions with one another as believers and our relationships with non-believing world in which we live.

Paul exhorts them to NOT copy the behaviors and customs of this world. As a group, they are to live lives that are set apart and distinct from the world around them. Part of living as a sacrifice to God is allowing Him to do with us as He wishes. And part of God's desire for us is to transform the way we think. He wants to renew our minds and transform us into the likeness of His Son. And there's no better way to see that transformation take place than in our relationships with one another. Paul makes it painfully practical. "Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us" (Romans 12:3b NLT). When God starts changing the way we think, we will see ourselves and others differently. Rather than living lives marked by pride and self-centeredness, we will begin to display humility toward others and develop a healthy assessment of who we are in Christ. We will understand that God has placed us in the body of Christ, given us gifts for the good of the body, and challenged us to live with and love one another. And we are not to live hypocritically or insincerely. Our love must be real, involving self-sacrifice and eager enthusiasm. As God transforms our way of thinking, we will begin to even bless those who persecute us. In other words, we'll develop the capacity to love the unloving and unlovely. We'll learn to love in ALL of our relationships and in all circumstances, developing a harmony and unity that is not of this world.

That kind of living is holy, sacrificial living. It is pleasing and honoring to God, because it reveals the very power of God in our lives. No one can live and love that way unless God makes it possible. It takes the saving work of Jesus Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to bring about that kind of radical transformation. But we must choose to offer ourselves as sacrifices to God, for Him to do with as He wishes. It all begins there – with a willing submission to the will of God. We must constantly give in to Him so that He can impart into us. In the end, this kind of life is the greatest form of worship to God.

Father, continue to show me how to live out this passage. It is so easy to talk about being living sacrifices, but it is another thing to live it out in real life. I keep wanting to crawl down off the altar. But I really do want to see You continue to change the way I think and transform my behavior. And I realize that the greatest illustration of those things taking place will be in how I react to and relate with others. That includes not only my fellow believers, but the lost world around me. Amen.

,

Our Unfathomable, Yet Reliable God.

,

Romans 11:25-36

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! – Romans 11:33 NLT

Who are we to question the ways of God? I find it fascinating how often we, as mere men, want to take on God, putting Him on trial – trying to determine whether we agree with or approve of His ways. We debate whether God could or would do something. We argue over whether God has the right to act in a certain way, because it offends our sensibilities or our understanding of right and wrong. But when we doubt God or try to judge Him based on our limited human understanding, we reveal just how little we really know Him. It shows how we have tried to put God in a box in an effort to make Him more comprehensible and believable. But Paul would argue that His God is greater than our capacity to understand. "How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" (Romans 11:33b NLT). Paul knew enough about God to know better than to try and explain away His actions or question His logic. God does not have to answer to us or even explain Himself to us.

As Paul wraps up his discussion regarding God's plans for the people of Israel, he wants his readers to understand that God is not obligated to do things in a way that we can understand. He does not have to appeal to our sense of fairness. God is holy, righteous, and completely sovereign. He can and will do what He wants to do, and whatever He does is always right. His treatment of the people of Israel, while it may appear harsh in our eyes, is completely just and wholly necessary. God had a plan in place that included their rejection of His own Son as their Messiah. He was not caught off guard or surprised by their actions. He knew they would refuse to accept Him as the Anointed One. God was prepared for their actions and had planned for them in advance. It was all part of His divine will. Their rejection opened up the door for the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles. But God is not done with the people of Israel. There is a day coming when "the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ" (Romans 11:25b NLT). In other words, there is an apparent limit on the number of people who will accept Christ as their personal Savior. Not ALL will be saved. And only God knows that number. That may sound unfair and capricious to us, but again, who are we to question the justice of God? When that full number is reached, then God will turn His attention back to the people of Israel. He will once again show His favor on them, sending His Son a second time, to restore a large number of the nation of Israel back to a right relationship with Him. "The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins" (Romans 11:26-27 NLT). At the second coming of Jesus, God will do what the Israelites could have never have done for themselves – He will change their hardened hearts and give them the capacity to believe in His Son as their Messiah and Savior. Why? Because God is a covenant keeping God. "Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn" (Romans 11:28-29 NLT).

We may not understand it or even agree with it, but God's plan is just, righteous, and completely perfect. God does not need or want our advice. He does not require our approval. He does not owe us an explanation. We can't even fully understand why He chose to save us. But we are grateful that He did. Paul would encourage us to rest in the knowledge of God's unchanging, holy and righteous character. He can be trusted. He always does what is right. "For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever!" (Romans 11:36 NLT).

Father, I don't understand Your ways, but I am learning to trust them more and more with each passing day. I can't fully explain how and why You do things the way You do, but I am trying to rest more and more in Your faithfulness. There are things that happen in my life every day that cause me to doubt and question Your ways, but I am learning to rest in Your sovereign, loving, all-knowing plan for me. You know what is best, whether it looks like it or feels like it at the time. I can trust You. Amen.

,

The Faithful God of Israel.

,

Romans 11:1-24

You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong. – Romans 11:24 NLT

When reading the book of Romans, especially chapters nine through 11, it is easy to make it all about Jew and Gentile. God, it appears, has rejected one and received the other. But while Paul talks a great deal about these two specific people groups, the real hero of the story is God Himself. Paul has emphasized over and over again the sovereignty and grace of God. He has highlighted God's undeserved grace and mercy, and made clear the fact that no one, either Jew or Gentile, can earn a right relationship with God. Whether speaking of the nation of Israel or the Gentile nations, it is God who calls, chooses, redeems, restores, and even rejects. But Paul makes it clear that God has NOT rejected the people of Israel. "I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin" (Romans 11:1 NLT). Paul himself was a Jew and he most certainly had not been rejected by God. He had been chosen by God and had had a life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. He was a living example of the fact that God had not completely rejected the people of Israel. Paul reminds his readers that God has been carefully and faithfully sparing a remnant of His chosen people for generations. "…a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace — his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is — free and undeserved" (Romans 11:5-6 NLT). As it was with the Gentiles, so it would be with the Jews. A right relationship with God was to be solely based on grace, not works or effort. No one was going to earn their way into good favor with God, not even the people of God, the Jews.

As a result, a majority of the Jews had failed to be restored to God. Unwilling to believe that salvation was available through the death of a single man, they continued to pursue a right relationship with God through attempting to keep the law – a pursuit that Paul considered foolish and impossible. But Paul explains that the rebellion of the people of Israel and their rejection of God had a divine purpose. "Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have — the ones God has chosen — but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say, 'God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear'" (Romans 11:7-8 NLT). According to Paul, this was all God's doing. But why? What was His purpose in hardening their hearts, shutting their eyes, and closing their ears? "God made salvation available to the Gentiles" (Romans 11:11 NLT). That was the purpose. Their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah and Savior opened the doors to the Gentiles. This had always been part of God's plan. Even long before the moment God made His promise to Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth through him, He had planned make His grace and the gift of His Son available to all nations. And He would use the rejection of Jesus by the Jews as a springboard to for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the nations. Jesus, a Jew, would be the Savior of all the nations, not just His own people. And yet, God did not completely abandon the people of Israel. As Paul writes, they had not fallen beyond recovery. Their disobedience made salvation available to the Gentiles. But the day is coming when many of Paul's Jewish brothers and sisters will turn to Christ. "For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead!" (Romans 11:15 NLT). Why? Because of the faithfulness and mercy of God. He is not done with the people of Israel. He will spare and restore a remnant of the Jewish people, using the Gentiles as a means to create jealousy among them. In all of this, Paul can see the divine hand of God, working behind the scenes in ways we can't understand. God chose to make the Israelites a special people in His eyes. He raised up the Savior from among them, but they ended up rejecting Him. But their rejection of the Messiah made possible the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles. And the blessings of God upon the Gentiles who received Christ as their Savior would be the impetus behind the future salvation of many Jews. And the day is coming when the salvation of the Jews will lead to even more Gentiles coming to faith in Christ. This whole section is really about the faithfulness and sovereignty of God. It is about His divine plan for mankind and how He intends to fulfill that plan and keep His promises to both the Jews and the Gentiles.

We cannot fully understand the ways of God. But it is dangerous for us to question His methods or means. We may not understand what God is doing, but we have no right to doubt His plan or purposes. He knows what He is doing. We can trust that He will do what He has promised and complete what He has begun. We have a limited, short-term perspective. He is eternal and has a long-term view that knows how all this works out in the end. There is a method to God's seeming madness. He is purposeful and faithful. He is righteous and just. His ways are not our ways. His wisdom is beyond our understanding. But we can rest in the fact that God has everything under control and nothing can prevent His sovereign plan from one day coming to complete and perfect fruition.

Father, You are in control. You are sovereign and have all things held firmly in Your hands. That includes my future and the future of the people of Israel. You are faithful and always keep Your promises. You never go back on Your word or fail to do what You have said You will do. Thank You for allowing me to be a part of Your plan. Not because I deserved it, but because of Your grace and mercy. Thank You that You are going to one day restore the people of Israel. You are not done yet. Your work is not complete. But one day it will be. And I rest in the assurance that You are in complete control, whether I can see it or sense it. Amen.

,

Hearing, Yet Not Believing.

,

Romans 10:16-21

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. – Romans 10:17 NLT

As a Jew, Paul had a special love for the people of Israel. He knew that God held a special place in His heart for them and desired greatly that they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that's why Paul was so insistent that they hear the Good News. He knew that the only way the people of Israel could be made right with God was through placing their faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. They had to believe the testimony regarding Jesus Christ and His claim to be the Son of God, their long-awaited Messiah, and the Savior of the world. In other words, they had to express faith in Jesus Christ, just as the Gentiles did. But many of the Jews in Paul's day had failed to accept the Good News about Jesus Christ. They had refused to believe. So was it a matter of them not having heard the message? Had they not been given ample opportunity to hear the Good News? Paul answers his own question and exclaims, "Yes, they have!" He then quotes Psalm 19:4. "The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world" (Psalm 19:4 NLT). By the time Paul was writing his letter to the Romans, he and others had spread the message regarding Jesus Christ throughout the known world. The Gospel had spread rapidly ever since the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Converted Jews and Gentiles had returned to their own towns and cities, ready to share the testimony regarding Christ to their own communities. Christianity had spread rapidly, which is one of the reasons that Paul, in his pre-conversion life, had been hired full-time by the Jewish religious leaders to track down and persecute Christians every where he could find them.

Paul is not saying that the message of salvation had been spread to every area of the globe, and that every individual had been given the opportunity to hear about Jesus and accept God's offer of salvation. But he is saying that the Jews were without excuse. They had heard. They had been given the promises regarding the coming Messiah in their own Scriptures. They had read the writings of the prophets regarding the Anointed One. And they were familiar with the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah and the teachings of the early Christians regarding the new requirement of faith as the means to be made right with God. They could not plead ignorance. Paul even claims that the very fact that Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ was an attempt by God to make the people of Israel jealous and open their eyes. Again, he turns to the Hebrew Scriptures and quotes Deuteronomy 32:21. "I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation.I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles." As in the day of Moses, God was going to bless non-Jews in an attempt to awaken the people of Israel to their own rebellion and God's hand of cursing upon them. Ever since Jesus' resurrection from the dead and the launch of the Church at Pentecost, the hand of God's blessing could be seen upon the Gentiles as more and more of them accepted Christ as their Savior. And yet, the majority of the Jews continued to refuse Him as their Savior. They were not acting out of ignorance, but outright rebellion. Again, Paul turns to the Hebrew Scriptures in the writing of the prophet Isaiah. "All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious" (Isaiah 65:2 NLT). God had been faithfully calling the people of Israel to Himself. Paul had been aggressively preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Jewish community everywhere he went. But they remained disobedient and rebellious. As a result, God had temporarily rejected His people. He had taken His blessings to the Gentiles. But that rejection was not to be permanent. Chapter 11 will unpack God's gracious, merciful plan for the people of Israel. He is not done with them. In spite of their rejection and rebellion of Him, He will extend mercy and grace. He will keep every promise He has made to them. In fact, there were some Jews coming to faith in Christ, even in Paul's day. There was a remnant who were accepting Christ as their Messiah and Savior. But the day is coming when God will turn His favor back on the people of Israel and He will restore their hearts to Himself. The requirement will still be the same. They will still have to accept Jesus as their Savior. They will still have to give up any and all attempts at self-righteousness and rely on the righteousness that Jesus provides on their behalf. But they will return and God will restore them. Because He is a faithful God.

Father, it always encourages me to be reminded of just how faithful You are. In spite of all that the people of Israel have done to You and how often they have rejected Your love and mercy, You continue to hold to Your promises regarding them. You fully intend to keep the covenant You made with them. Because You are faithful. You are the promise-keeping God. You do what You say. You fulfill what You promise. Never let me forget that. Amen.

,

News Worth Appreciating and Sharing.

,

Romans 10:1-15

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? – Romans 10:14 NLT

For nine chapters, Paul has made a big deal out of the Good News. He has been the undeserving recipient of it. He lives day by day in the power made available through it. He has spent his life telling others about it. He even longs for his own nation, the people of Israel, to discover the joy and freedom of salvation through Christ, rather than through their continued efforts at trying to keep the law of Moses. But in spite of his efforts to share the Good News with the Jewish people, they didn't respond favorably. He wrote, "they don't understand God's way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law" (Romans 10:3 NLT). But their refusal to accept the Good News never stopped Paul from sharing it. Why? Because he knew from first-hand experience the freedom, joy, peace, contentment, and hope it could bring. So he preached the message of faith relentlessly, tirelessly, and obsessively. He wanted anyone and everyone to know that "it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved" (Romans 10:10 NLT). He told anyone who would listen, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13 NLT). He didn't worry about whether they were going to respond positively or negatively. He saw his job as that of sharing and proclaiming. It was God's job to save.

Paul saw his role as a messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as vital and non-negotiable. He had been shown grace and mercy from God. He had been given a second chance. And he wanted to extend that same offer of redemption and reconciliation with God to every person with whom he came into contact – whether that person was a Jew or a Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free, influential or inconsequential. Paul believed what Isaiah 52:7 said: "How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who bring good news!" He realized that he had a responsibility to tell others what had happened to him and for him. The Good News has to be proclaimed. The message of salvation needs to be shared. Paul's logic is impeccable and impenetrable. "But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent" (Romans 10:14-15 NLT). Paul knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had been sent. Not long after his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus, he had received a God-appointed visit from Ananias, who told him, "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard" (Acts 22:14-15 NLT). Not long after that, Jesus Himself told Paul, "Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles" (Acts 22:21 NLT). And Paul took his commission seriously. He went to the Gentiles. He told everyone what he had seen and heard. He gave his testimony of life change. He shared how men could be made right with God. He witnessed to the life-transformative power of God made available through the death of Jesus Christ. And many believed. Many called on the name of the Lord and were saved. Many confessed with their mouths that Jesus is Lord and believed in their hearts that God had raised him from the dead, and they were saved.

But Paul wasn't the first and last messenger. He wasn't the only one to receive a commission. Jesus had told the disciples, just prior to His ascension, "And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8 NLT). Matthew records these well-known words from Jesus that have stood as the commission and calling for every Christ-follower since the earliest days of the church until now. "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20. We have news to share. We have a commission to accomplish. We have Good News to announce to the nations. But could the reason many of us fail to share be because we fail to truly appreciate what we have received? Does the Good News mean as much to us as it did to Paul? Are we blown away by the grace and mercy of God and can't help but tell others what He has done for us – in spite of us? Paul was a transformed man. He was truly free. He had lived much of his life trying to make himself right with God, but had been released from the dead-end pursuit by the unmerited, unearned favor of God. He couldn't help but tell others what God had done for him. "I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn't preach the Good News!" (1Corinthians 9:16b NLT). What about you? Are you compelled by God to share the Good News? Would you ever consider it "terrible" should you NOT be able to share? Paul was driven by a passion to see people escape condemnation and death, not just go to heaven. He was motivated by a strong desire to see people released from captivity to sin and self-righteousness. His own salvation became the his greatest motivation for telling others about Jesus. His gratitude to God flowed out in his attitude of compassion for others.

Father, may my awareness of the magnitude of Your gracious gift motivate me to share what I have received with others. Give me a growing passion for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to anyone and everyone I meet. My job is not to save anyone, but to share with everyone. Thank You that someone told me. Now may I be a willing witness to others. Amen.

The Mysterious, Yet Merciful Ways of God.

Romans 9:16-33

Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, "Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before." – Romans 9:25 NLT

Paul has been emphasizing the point that God shows mercy on whomever He so chooses. And he knows that this difficult-to-understand reality about God is going to cause some of his readers to cry, "Foul!" They're going to wrestle with the apparent fairness of a God who chooses some and not others. And in doing so, they will really be questioning the justice of God. But if God ever failed to be just, He would cease to be God. Yes, from our limited perspective, it would appear at times that God is acting in ways that are inconsistent with His character. But we can't always see the bigger picture. We don't have the ability to see what God is doing behind the scenes, orchestrating events and even sovereignly ordaining the affairs of men to accomplish His divine will. Paul uses the example of Pharaoh. Over and over again, God had spared Pharaoh, in spite of his open rebellion against God and his ongoing resistance to release the people of Israel from captivity. God would have been just in punishing Pharaoh for his stubborn opposition and open insolence, but God spared his life so that He might accomplish His will for the people of Israel. God always has a purpose behind His actions. What may appear to us as unfair and unjust can always be written up to the problem of our own limited perspective.

It is so easy for us to question God's motives and doubt His goodness based on what we see. As human beings, we over-value our own importance, and under-appreciate God's sovereign will. We look up from our restricted vantage point here on earth and shake our fist at God, demanding that He explain Himself. Which is why Paul uses the analogy of a potter working with clay. "When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory" (Romans 9:21-23 NLT). The potter has the right to do as he wishes with the clay. He need not ask for permission or take a vote. He fashions the clay, forming it into vessels of various kinds, to be used according to his own purposes and plans. The same is true when it comes to God's interactions with mankind. God has created us and He is fully just and right to do with us as He sees fit. Paul has clearly indicated that all men stand as guilty and condemned before God and worthy of death. All men and women have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard. And yet, God has chosen to redeem some. He has chosen to show mercy on some and not on others. The very fact that God shows mercy on any should blow us all away. That God would extend His grace and mercy to Gentiles, when it appeared all along that His chosen people had been the Israelites, should show us that God is anything but unfair. Remember that God's mercy and grace are always undeserved and unmerited. No one has the right to demand God's goodness or should expect to receive God's grace. Jew and Gentile alike, stand as guilty before God. "No one is righteous—not even one" (Romans 9:10 NLT). "No one does good, not a single one" (Romans 9:12 NLT). Even the nation of Israel, the chosen people of God, were undeserving of God's love and mercy. In spite of all that God had done for them, they continually and openly rebelled against Him. Yet, while He would have been justified in destroying them for their rebellion, God regularly preserved a remnant of them, so that His divine will could be fulfilled. God would have been fully just had He decided to destroy the entire nation, but He had made a promise to Abraham, and His divine character required that He keep that promise.

As Gentile believers, we stand before God as fully righteous and restored to a right relationship with Him, not because we deserved it or somehow earned it. We weren't trying to keep God's righteous standards, and yet we were shown mercy and received His grace. The Jews spent generations attempting to keep God's righteous law in order to make themselves right before, but failed time and time again. But God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem both Jews and Gentiles. Neither group deserved to be shown mercy. Neither group was worthy of God's grace. "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)" (Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT). The very fact that God saves any of us should amaze and astound us. Somehow we have mistakenly assumed that God can be good only if He saves ALL. But we fail to remember that God would be fully just and right if He destroyed ALL. All men are deserving of death. All have sinned and fallen short of His glory. All are under a sentence of death. But God, in His mercy, has chosen to redeem some. He has graciously provided a way of escape for a remnant. And rather than rejoice in that amazing display of grace, we mistakenly and ungratefully question His goodness and fairness. And yet, the very fact that the Jews of Jesus' day rejected Him as their Messiah and refused to accept Him as their Savior and as the Son of God, opened up the door so that we as Gentiles might be recipients of the Good News and the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Unfair? Hardly. Difficult to understand? Most certainly. But amazing grace nonetheless. God's ways are not our ways. He is God and He does not need to report to us or explain Himself to us. Like a lump of clay, we are in no position to question the motives or mind of God. "Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?" (Romans 11:33-35 NLT).

Father, while I may not always understand Your ways, I am growing ever more comfortable with them. I still question how and why You do things at times, but I am learning to trust You because You know what You are doing. You are God and I am not. You have a perspective that I do not. What appears as unfair to me, is right, just and holy from Your vantage point. The day will come when I am finally able to see things the way You do. "Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity" (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT). In the meantime, give me a growing trust in Your sovereign, divine and holy will. You know what is best and You can be trusted at all times. Amen.

,

God's Mercy and Israel.

,

Romans 9:1-15

Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose." – Romans 9:14-15 NLT

In spite of being the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was an Israelite and proud of it. He referred to himself as "a Hebrew of Hebrews." Prior to his conversion, he had been a Pharisee and an expert in the law of Moses. He knew his Old Testament Scriptures well and loved the people of Israel greatly. In fact, his "heart was filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief" (Romans 9:2 NLT) for his people, his Jewish brothers and sisters. He even expressed a willingness to be cut off from Christ – if it meant that some of them would be saved. Virtually every time Paul went into a Gentile city to share the Gospel, he made it a point to go to the local synagogue first, in order to share the Good News regarding Jesus Christ with his own people. He knew that God was not done with them yet. He knew that they were still the chosen people of God, to whom God had revealed His glory, entered into covenants, and received His promises. Even Jesus Christ had been born an Israelite. So what was God's intentions for the people of Israel? And speaking of His promises to them, had God failed to keep them? Paul answers with a resounding, "No!"

God had chosen the people of Israel for a reason, and we find that reason recorded in Exodus 19:5-6: "'Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel." But they had failed. Their history is a record of disobedience and rebellion against God. They had not kept their end of the Mosaic covenant. Even when they got into the Promised Land, they had failed to obey God and remove the occupants of the land. As a result, they intermarried with them, and worshiped their gods. Paul's whole point in all of this is to remind his readers that even among God's chosen people, the Israelites, not all would be saved. Just as God had chosen the Israelites as His own, from among all the peoples of the earth, He would choose some from among the Israelites to be saved. In order to be made right with God, the people of Israel were going to have to accept the same free gift that had been offered to the Gentiles – the gift of Jesus Christ. "Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God's people!" (Romans 9:6 NLT). That's a bold statement, and a controversial one, as much today as it was in Paul's day. For generations, the people of Israel had counted on the fact that they were God's chosen people. They even allowed themselves to believe that this special distinction was like having a "get-out-of-jail-free card" that allowed them to sin with impunity. They somehow believed God was obligated to bless them because they were descendants of Abraham. Interestingly enough, John the Baptist, when confronted by the Pharisees and religious leaders who had come to watch him baptize in the wilderness, spoke these harsh words: "Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones" (Matthew 3:8-9 NLT). And here in Romans 9, Paul says, "Being descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children" (Romans 9:7 NLT). Just being a descendant of Abraham didn't make someone an heir to the promise. It was through Isaac that the promise was to come. It would be through Jacob and not Esau that the promise would flow. Paul is trying to show that God chose to bring the fulfillment of the promise that He made to Abraham through a specific line of his descendants. God's focus was not just on a particular people, but on one who would be born through a branch of Abraham's family tree – all according to God's foreordained plan. Paul clarifies this point in his letter to the Galatians. "God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn't say 'to his children,' as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says 'to his child' – and that, of course, means Christ" (Galatians 3:16 NLT). Christ was the key. God was going to bless all the nations through Jesus Christ. And He would come through the line of Isaac. He would be a descendant of Jacob, not Esau.

Paul's point? Just being born an Israelite was not enough. Being one of Abraham's physical descendants did not necessarily make one a child of God. And Paul knows what some would conclude from this statement. "Then doesn't that make God unfair?" But he replies, "Of course not!" All the way back to the days of Moses, God had made it clear, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose" (Romans 9:14 NLT). God had chosen Abraham. God had chosen Isaac. God had chosen Jacob. God had chosen Moses. God had chosen David. All along the way, God had made clear choices when it came to whom He would reveal Himself. He even chose Mary to bear His Son. God had also chosen to have His Son be born as an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God's choice in all these things had nothing to do with merit or worth. He chose Abraham, not because he was worthy, but simply because it was His divine will. He chose Isaac and Jacob, not because they were somehow more deserving, but because that was part of His plan. God chooses whom He will. He shows mercy on whomever He wills. This whole section has to do with the divine will and sovereign control of God in the lives of men. Salvation is God's doing. He shows mercy and compassion on whomever He chooses, never as a result of their worth or merit, but simply because He chooses to do so. Paul will continue to unpack this topic in the verses to come. His goal seems to be to get us to understand that God's incredible grace and mercy is unearned and undeserved. Like salvation, it is a gift, provided by a loving, gracious and merciful God – in spite of us, not because of us.

Father, something in our wiring makes us believe that we somehow deserve to be chosen by You. We want to believe that we are somehow good enough to be considered as recipients of Your grace and love. But if we deserve it, it ceases to be grace. You have chosen to extend the gift of Your Son to us – in spite of us. You have divinely ordained that we receive Your mercy, not because we deserve it, but because You have graciously chosen to extend it to us. Never let us lose sight of that reality. Amen.

,

A Love That Cost, And Lasts.

,

Romans 8:31-39

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. – Romans 8:39 NLT

How great is God's love for you? This seems to be the gist of Paul's point in the closing section of chapter eight. He reminds us, "If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" (Romans 8:31b NLT). God is on our side. He has chosen us, sent His Son to die for us and, as a result of Christ's substitionary death of the cross, restored us to a right relationship with Himself. All as an expression of His great love for us. So if God loved us that much, what could ever stand in His way when it comes to Him finishing what He has begun in our lives? "Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?" (Romans 8:32 NLT). In other words, won't God complete His ongoing act of transformation in our lives? Peter assures us that the answer to this question is a resounding, "Yes!"

"By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires" (2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT). God loves us too much to leave us like we are. He loves us too much to allow us to try and live the Christian life in our own power and at the mercy of a host of enemies who would love nothing better than to destroy and defeat us. They can accuse and condemn us all they want, but their efforts are in vain. Because God loves us and His Son sits at His right hand interceding and pleading with God for us.

Nothing and no one can ever separate us from the love of our Father and our Savior. But the problem is that we tend to view God's love based on what is going on around us. We judge His love according to how well things are going for us. If life is going well, we assume that God must be pleased with us. But let something go wrong in our lives, and we automatically assume that God is upset with us – in other words, He has fallen out of love with us. But Paul would argue against such a conclusion. "Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?" (Romans 8:35 NLT). Paul answers his own question: "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us" (Romans 8:36 NLT). Paul was convinced that absolutely NOTHING could ever separate God's children from His love. God's love for us is unlimited. It transcends time and space. He loves us just as much in life as He will love us after death. His love for us is as great today as it will be in eternity. Our location can't diminish or influence God's love. Our circumstances can't determine God's love for us. The presence of opposition or the reality of difficulties are not determiners of God's love for us. Paul reminds us, "not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love" (Romans 8:38 NLT). And here's the really amazing thing. We can't separate ourselves from God's love either! You cannot cause God to fall out of love for you. His love is not fickle and fleeting like ours. He doesn't love you one day and not the next. His love is constant and unchanging.

As we live out our lives on this earth, we must constantly remind ourselves of God's unwavering love for us. Even as we progress toward Christ-likeness, we will fail and at times, fall away. We will continue to struggle with sin and sometimes give in to the desires of our sin nature. But at no point will God fall out of love for us. The degree of His love was reflected in the death of His Son. He loved us so much that He sent His own Son to die for us. But He raised His Son back to life as a vivid reminder of the kind of power He has at His disposal to finish His complete transformation of our lives. God's love encompasses our salvation as well as our ultimate glorification. But is also includes our current sanctification. He is loving us even as we live out our lives in this fallen world. We may not always recognize it or feel it, but His love is there nonetheless. And nothing we encounter in this life has the capacity to ever separate us from that love. God will complete what He began. He will love us all the way to the end. "Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us" (Romans 8:37 NLT).

Father, it is so hard to imagine the kind of love Paul is talking about. I tend to judge Your love based on human standards. I fall in and out of love with people all the time. My love is fickle and fleeting. But Yours is constant and unwavering. You love me in spite of me. You love me consistently and constantly. You love me all the time and my circumstances are not an indicator or barometer of that love. Give me the capacity to recognize and appreciate Your love regardless of what is going on around me. Help me to rest in Your love, even when I have done something that I believe might cause You to "un-love" me. I want to live in Your love. I want to rest in Your love. I want to rejoice in Your love – every day of my life. Amen.

,

In the Meantime.

,

Romans 8:18-30

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. – Romans 8:23 NLT

As believers, we live in what Paul Tripp refers to as "The Gospel Gap." it's his simple, yet memorable way of referring to that somewhat mysterious and sometimes confusing period of time that began at the point of our salvation and will end with our future glorification, when we die or when Jesus comes to take us home. As believers, we tend to put a great deal of weight on those two ends of the spiritual spectrum – our salvation and glorification – while minimizing what is commonly referred to as our sanctification – the ongoing transformation of our lives into the image of Jesus Christ. We had nothing to do with our salvation and we will play no part in our future glorification. And the reality is, we have nothing to do with our growth in Christ-likeness – our sanctification. It is all a work of God. What happened in the past, at our salvation, was the gracious gift of God, provided by the death of Jesus Christ, His Son. What will happen in the future will also be an incredible gift from our heavenly Father, in fulfillment of His Son's promise to go and prepare a place for us. Eternal life is the ultimate outcome of our faith in Jesus Christ, and it awaits us in the future.

So Paul reminds us that "what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later" (Romans 8:18 NLT). In that one sentence, Paul sums up the reality of life as a believer. We suffer NOW. But there is something glorious that is coming LATER. There is a future day coming when "God will reveal who his children really are (Romans 8:19 NLT). What we look like, act like, feel like and think like NOW, is nothing compared to what we will truly be in the FUTURE. Our transformation or sanctification will one day be complete and we will be glorified. As God's children, we will experience "glorious freedom from death and decay" (Romans 8:21 NLT). Our bodies will "be released from sin and suffering" (Romans 8:23 NLT). So in the meantime, we "wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us" (Romans 8:23 NLT). This is the hope that was given to us at our salvation. There is a glorious future in store for us. But again, in the meantime, we groan. We suffer. We wait patiently and confidently. Or do we? Oh, most of us groan and suffer quite well. We have that part down. But it's the waiting patiently and confidently that throws most of us for a loop. We struggle with the here and now. We wrestle with the circumstances of life and wonder how in the world our faith in Christ can make a difference in this lifetime. Our salvation becomes a distant memory and, our future glorification, a nebulous, difficult-to-comprehend hope. When we read the well-known words of Paul in verse 28, we roll our eyes and shake our heads, questioning the validity and veracity of his statement. "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them" (Romans 8:23 NLT). Really? EVERYTHING? For our good?

This verse reeks of the here-and-now. It is all about life in the Gospel Gap. It gives us a way of looking at life and interpreting the circumstances of life as we experience our ongoing conformity to the Son of God. God called us at salvation with a distinct purpose in mind. And it was NOT just to take us to heaven! If that had been His purpose, He would have done so at the point He saved us. But instead, He left us here. Why? Because His purpose was that we "become like His Son" (Romans 8:29 NLT). God had a plan for us, and that plan included our salvation, our future glorification, and our ongoing sanctification as we live out our lives on this planet in the meantime. But we need to know that God is using any and everything in our lives – the good, the bad, the ugly – to transform us into the likeness of Christ. He causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God – in other words, us. God can use our mistakes. God can use our hurts. God can use our darkest moments and brightest days to conform us into the image of His Son. He can use tragedies and victories, gains and losses, joy and sorrow, to achieve His ongoing purpose in our lives – our sanctification. He has given us His Spirit to assist us, comfort us, convict us and guide us. The Spirit intercedes for us, prays on behalf of us, and constantly seeks to motivate us toward our pursuit of God's purpose for us – our spiritual transformation into the image of His Son. If God plans on completing His work in our lives by someday glorifying us and establishing us as permanent residents in His heavenly Kingdom, then we have to trust that what He is doing here on this earth is part of His divine plan for us – regardless of how it looks or feels. Paul encouraged the believers in Philippi, "that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6 NLT). God finishes what He starts. He completes what He begins. Our time on this planet has a rhyme and reason behind it. There is method to God's seeming madness as we suffer and struggle our way through this life. He is at work in our life, just as much now as He was at our salvation. His purpose is just as clear now as it was when He saved us. He is constantly, faithfully, and lovingly making us more and more like His Son, with each passing day. And some day He will complete His work project in our lives. But in the meantime, we must learn to wait patiently and confidently.

Father, I want to learn to wait patiently and confidently. I lose hope far too often and easily. I run out of steam. I get confused by the circumstances of life and end up seeing them as setbacks, rather than as opportunities and the tools You are using to transform me into the likeness of Christ. Give me the perspective Paul had. Let Romans 8:28 become a verse that I cling to and hope in. Continue to show me the reality of the statement that You really do cause all things in my life to be instruments for good and opportunities for my ongoing transformation. Amen.

,

Life Through the Spirit.

,

Romans 8:1-17

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. – Romans 8:5 NLT

Paul had a sin nature. You have a sin nature. I have a sin nature. Every person who has ever lived or is alive now has a sin nature. Even those of who are in Christ. But Paul has made it clear that, because of Christ's death on the cross, we have been set free from having to live like a slave to sin, constantly giving in to the sinful disposition of our sin natures. While at one time we were totally enslaved and incapable of resisting our own sinful nature, we now have a choice. We have been given the Spirit of God, who resides within us, equipping and empowering us to live lives that are pleasing to Him. He can and will produce a host of good deeds through us and godly fruit within us. But we have to choose to live under his control, rather than willingly giving in to our own selfish sin nature.

Over and over again in this passage, Paul reminds us that we have the "power of the life-giving Spirit" within us. He has freed us from the power of sin that leads to death. He empowers us to no longer follow our sinful nature. But there is a choice that has to be made. We have to want to allow the Holy Spirit to control our minds and our lives. When He is in control, we will tend to think about the things that please Him. When our flesh is in control and our sinful nature raises its ugly head, we will find ourselves thinking about sinful things, inappropriate things, that don't honor God or reflect our relationship as His sons and daughters. Paul emphasizes that the Spirit that lives within us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. If that power can restore a dead man to life, it can restore us from spiritual death to new life. That incredible power can be tapped into in order to put to death the deeds of our sinful nature. It can allow us to live new lives – NOW – not just in eternity. We are God's adopted children right here and now, not just some time in the future. We are heirs to His promises now, not just when Christ returns or He calls us home to heaven. We are beneficiaries of His life-transforming power now, not just at the rapture or when we experience our future glorification.

But Paul makes it clear that, while we will some day enjoy a future glorification and ultimate transformation into Christ-likeness, we are going to go through a period of suffering here and now. We will do daily battle with our sin nature, experiencing the same conflict and struggle that Paul expressed a few verses earlier. "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't. Instead, I do what I hate" (Romans 7:15 NLT). Christ suffered in His life on this planet. He had to do battle with sin and death, and so do we. We must constantly wage war with our sin nature and the enemy who seeks to kill and destroy us. We must wrestle with our inner desire to live for Christ, and the constant call of our sin nature to live for self. We are in a spiritual war zone as long as we live on this earth. But we have a power inside us that can equip us to live differently right here, right now. It will be difficult at times. It will be painful. But it will always result in our ongoing sanctification and ultimate glorification. We must rely on the Spirit of God to provide us with the power from God so that we can live lives that bring honor to God. This life-giving Spirit has not only freed us from sin and death, but empowers us to continue to live in freedom all the days of our lives – as long as we remain under His control and committed to living according to His power and not our own.

Father, thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit and placing Him inside me. I confess that I don't always acknowledge His presence or tap into His power. I try far too often to live in my own strength and not in His. I do things my way, then wonder why things don't turn out quite like I had hoped. Continue to show me how I might have victory over sin, not because I work hard at it, but because I have learned to rest in the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

,

The Solution to Sin.

,

Romans 7:14-25

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 7:24-25 NLT

I have always taken comfort from this passage. Here is Paul, the great apostle and a veritable icon of spiritual virtue and Christian integrity, wrestling with the very same issues that plague me as a believer. Even as a great man of God and powerful spokesperson for the cause of Christ, Paul still struggled with the effects of sin in his life. Like me, Paul still had a sin nature. There was that part of him that was still susceptible to falling back into slavery to sin – even though he had been set free by Christ. Remember what he wrote in chapter six? "Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living" (Romans 6:16 NLT). It's a simple matter of choice. You can choose to obey God or you can choose to obey sin. And it results in a daily struggle for most of us. Paul said, "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate" (Romans 7:15 NLT). In other words, in his heart he desires to do the right thing, but his sin nature leads him to do just the opposite. The problem with Paul is the same one that we face. He had an active sin nature. "And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature" (Romans 7:18 NLT).

Paul describes in simple, yet stark, terms, the all-too-common theme of my life. "I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't" (Romans 7:18-19 NLT) The important thing to remember in reading these verses is that Paul is pointing out our inability to conquer the presence of indwelling sin through self effort. We may desire to do what is right with all our heart, but our flesh is inherently sinful and incapable of living up to the righteous standards of God. Which Paul describes as a principle of life that manifests in the following way in each of our lives. "…that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong" (Romans 7:21 NLT). It is as if there are two persons living in the same body. One wants to do the will of God, while the other seeks to resist that will and pursue a life of sin. It reminds me of the image of the demon and the angel, sitting on opposite shoulders of an individual – alternately whispering into the poor person's ears, providing contradictory counsel about what to do in a given situation. Paul describes it as "another power within me that is at war with my mind" (Romans 7:23 NLT). The result for Paul was misery, which caused him to call out for deliverance from this daily, ongoing battle with sin in his life.

Paul knew that he had been set free from slavery to sin by the death of Jesus on the cross. He knew he was a new creature and a new creation. But he also knew, from experience, that he still had a formidable sin nature that waged ongoing war with his new nature. As long as we live on this earth and in these bodies, we will do battle with sin. Jesus' death did not eradicate sin. He simply ended its strangle hold on our lives. We no longer have to live as unwilling slaves to its influence, obeying its every command and fulfilling its every wish. We have been set free. But sin still remains. And if we try to conquer sin on our own, we will always fail. If we attempt to rely on our own strength, we will always come up short and unsuccessful. Which is why Paul exclaims, "Thank God! The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25 NLT). Jesus is the answer for not only our salvation, but our ongoing sanctification. It is He who gave us victory over sin and death, providing us with a way to made right with God. And He continues to do it throughout our lifetimes. He gives me the strength to say no to sin. He has provided me with the Holy Spirit, as a powerful ally in my daily struggle with sin. I need to recognize that it is Jesus who saved me, but who continues to save me from the effects of sin on my life. He alone can deliver me from a life dominated by sin and death. The presence of sin in and around me, should drive me to a greater and greater dependence on Christ and His Spirit within me. I should know from experience that my flesh is weak and incapable of winning the battle alone. But I have Christ on my side and the Holy Spirit within me. I have a resource that provides me with the capacity to do what my heart desires. Paul goes on to describe this capacity as "the power of the life-giving Spirit" who has "freed you from the power of sin that leads to death" (Romans 8:2 NLT). Jesus has provided us with eternal life. The Spirit provides us with the ability to live righteously in our daily lives – here and now. Thank God!

Father, there is a daily battle going on in my life that I far too often fail, because I am attempting to do it all on my own. Continue to show me my daily need for Your Son's saving power. He didn't just save me and then leave me on my own, but He gave me His Spirit. I just need to learn to rely more and more on the Spirit's power and less and less on my own. As I grow increasingly aware of my sin nature, drive me to Your Son and Your Spirit's indwelling presence in my life. I have the power to live the life You've called me to live, and it comes from You, not me. Amen.

,

Free To Be Fruitful.

,

Romans 7:1-13

So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. – Romans 7:4 NLT

Paul continues his diatribe about the law and its role in the life of the believer. He is having to instruct the believers in Rome, just as he had to do with those in Galatia, that the law is holy and its commands are holy and right and good. But there were those who were trying to say that keeping of the law was also a necessary requirement for salvation. This was a teaching that had cropped up in the early days of the church and had been following Paul in his missionary journeys throughout the Gentile world. Some Jews who had come to faith in Christ in the days immediately following the events at Pentecost, were convinced that conversion to Judaism was a required next step in the process of becoming a follower of Christ. For them, the law of Moses was still in effect, as was the requirement of circumcision for men, and the keeping of all Jewish religious festivals and rituals. So they were attempting to convince Gentile converts that their conversions were incomplete unless they became card-carrying Jews and kept the law of Moses.

As a former Pharisee and expert in the law of Moses, Paul knew exactly what the requirements of the law were. He had lived most of his life attempting to keep the law in order to attain a right relationship with God. But since his conversion to Christ, he had grown to understand that the law was never intended to save him. It was given to reveal the righteousness of God and the sins of man. And when Christ died on the cross, He paid the penalty that God required for sin, because the wages of sin is death. His sinless life was what was required to satisfy the just demands of a holy God. He became the blameless sacrifice required to atone for the wrath of God against sinful mankind.

Paul loved the law and understood that it was given by God. But he also understood its purpose. "It was the law that showed me my sin" (Romans 7:7 NLT). The law revealed God's righteous standard and exposed man's inability to keep it because of his sin nature. But Christ's death provided a way for us to escape the condemnation of the law. The law can no longer condemn us because we died with Christ. Our old man was crucified with Christ and we have been given new lives and a new power to live holy lives. Which is why Paul says, "We can produce a harvest of good deeds for God" (Romans 7:4 NLT). Not in our own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. Paul gives us the wonderful news that "we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit" (Romans 7:6 NLT). WE CAN SERVE GOD! Not through our own feeble attempts at trying to keep some written code or standard. But through submission to and reliance upon the Holy Spirit who Jesus sent to indwell us and empower us. We have a new power and a new capacity to live lives that are pleasing to God. But it requires that we come to grips with the painful reality that our self-effort is still inadequate to satisfy a holy, righteous God. If we allow ourselves to fall back into some form of rule-keeping, we will fail. We will become defeated and demoralized. The law is a constant reminder of our own tendency toward self-righteousness. We somehow want to try to measure up. We want to perform and earn God's favor. We are prone to becoming spiritual over-achievers. But Paul wants us to know that spiritual fruitfulness is a byproduct of living in the power of the Spirit, not our own flesh. Only the Spirit of God can produce fruit that is pleasing to God. Only the Holy Spirit can produce holy people. And as soon as we realize that the life God is looking for in His people is of divine origin and not the product of human achievement, the sooner we will experience the fullness of life that Jesus came to bring.

Father, show me how to rely more on the Spirit and less on me. Open my eyes to the impossibility of trying to earn favor with You based on my own self-effort. Keep pointing me back to the futility of trying to earn my way into Your good graces or trying to live up to Your standards on my own. I needed Your Son to save me. I need Your Spirit to sanctify and transform me. Never let me forget that fact. Amen.

,

Free To Pursue Holiness.

,

Romans 6:12-23

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. – Romans 6:22 NLT

For many of us, a life of holiness seems impossible or, at best, elusive. While we may acknowledge and even agree that our "old man" died with Christ on the cross, we painfully realize that we have an active sin nature that results in us doing those things we know are opposed to a life of godliness. The fact is, we still sin – sometimes on a regular basis. But Paul gives us the good news that "when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin" (Romans 6:7 NLT). His death broke the power of sin over our lives. So Paul reminds us, even commands us, "Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires" (Romans 6:12 NLT). Sounds impossible doesn't it? Sin seems to come so naturally to us. We get angry. We grow impatient. We covet, lust, doubt, lie – even worship idols – at the drop of a hat. But the key word seems to be control. We are not to let sin control the way we live. The Greek word Paul used is basileuo and it means "to exercise the highest influence over, to control." It was usually used to refer to a king exercising his power. At one time, prior to accepting Christ as our Savior, we were under the dominion and control of Satan and sin. We were slaves to sin. We were condemned by the law of God because it exposed our inability to keep its holy requirements. But Paul makes it clear that "sin is no longer your master" (Romans 6:14 NLT). We live under the freedom of God's grace, which "has set us free from the law" (Romans 6:15 NLT). Prior to coming to Christ, we had no say in the matter. We were slaves, bound by the requirements of the law, but totally incapable of living up to its exacting standards. The law simply exposed our sinfulness and unrighteousness. It couldn't save us, but could only condemn us. But Jesus did what none of us could do. He faithfully and completely kept God's holy requirements found in the law. He lived up to God's standard and, therefore, became a fitting sacrifice or payment for the sins of mankind. His perfect life made Him the perfect, blameless sacrifice. And His death paid the penalty for our sin and satisfied the just demands of a holy, righteous God. And "when he died, he died once to break the power of sin" (Romans 6:10 NLT). As a result, we should consider ourselves dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

We don't have to sin anymore. We don't have to live as slaves to sin, captive to its control and at powerless to resist its influence over our lives. We can do what is right for the glory of God. Yet many of us live as if we are still enslaved to sin. Why? Because we willingly choose to obey our sinful desires. We give in to our sin nature and its constant call to satisfy our own selfish, sinful desires. We become the slave of whatever we choose to obey. But we have a choice to obey God or to obey our sin nature. We can become slaves to righteous living, obeying the call of God to live holy lives, through the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit. But it is a daily choice. "Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy" (Romans 6:19 NLT). We must choose to obey the will of God for our lives. We must choose to say, "Yes" to the Spirit and "No" to the desires of our sin nature. It is a constant, daily battle. But it is one we can win, because we have the power of God at our disposal. "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses" (Galatians 5:16-18 NLT). In other words, as long as you try to do what is right in your own strength, you will find yourself losing the battle with your sin nature. But if you rely on the direction and power of the Spirit of God, you will discover you have the capacity to live the life God has called you to live. You can do "those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life" (Romans 6:22 NLT). You don't have to keep on sinning. You don't have to live like a slave to sin. You will find that you have the power "to obey God, which leads to righteous living" (Romans 6:16 NLT). You can be holy. But it all begins with a willing submission to the Holy Spirit's direction in your life.

Father, the life of holiness is impossible – as long as I try to do it in my own strength. When I do that, it is just as if I am trying to keep the law of Moses. I find myself in the same spot as the Israelites, trying to live up to Your righteous standard in my own strength, and failing every time. I become a slave to the law again. But Your Son died to free from the law. I don't have to do this in the flesh. My old man died with Christ on the cross. I have been given a new life and a new capacity to live differently. Help me to live in the power You have provided through Your Holy Spirit. Show me how to experience Your life-transforming power and enjoy what it means to live righteously in Your strength, not mine. Amen.

,

New Life In Christ – NOW!

,

Romans 6:1-11

When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. – Romans 6:10-11 NLT

Jesus Christ didn't just die as our substitute, He died as our representative. He stood in our place during His trials and the scourgings that accompanied them. He took the ridicule and verbal abuse that should have been aimed at us. He suffered the pain and agony of having his hands and feet pierced with nails – meant for us. He hung on a cross as a representative of all mankind, bearing the brunt of the penalty for their sins, not His own. That day, we died along with Christ. We were joined with Him in his death. Paul reminds his readers that when they experienced New Testament water baptism, they were symbolically buried with Christ. The very act of baptism is a public testimony of the believer's belief in and dependence upon the sacrificial death of Jesus on their behalf. But Paul goes on to emphasize that as important as the death of Jesus was, it means nothing without His resurrection. "For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the power of the Father, now we also may live new lives" (Romans 6:4 NLT). Paul is stressing our progressive sanctification – our ongoing transformation into the image of Christ through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

The real point Paul seems to be trying to stress in this section is that, because of our identification with Christ in both His death and resurrection, we have the capacity to live new lives. "We know that our old sinful natures were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin" (Romans 6:6 NLT). That's the crux of Paul's argument. Because of our association with Christ in His death and resurrection, we have been set free from the power of sin in our lives. And we should KNOW that, not just intellectually, but experientially. Our experience should confirm for us that we have a new power available to us that makes a life of righteousness possible. And that power is the Holy Spirit. Paul speaks of this life-transforming power later on in this same letter. "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you" (Romans 8:11 NLT). That's why Paul can go on to say, "Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do" (Romans 8:12 NLT). Just as Christ was raised from the dead, never to die again, so too have we been raised to new life, never to have to be enslaved to sin again. Jesus, in His resurrected state, lives for the glory of God, and so should we. Our new lives should be a testimony to the power of God in our lives. Our newfound ability to live holy and righteous lives should be a regular reminder of the reality of Christ's death and the Spirit's power. Which is why Paul reminds us, "So you also should consider yourselves dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11 NLT). We have to constantly remind ourselves that Christ's death paid for our sins, but His resurrection provided the power we need to live free from sin in our daily lives. We have not only been saved, we are being saved every day of our lives as we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us and provide us with the strength we need to put our own sinful natures to death. It is a progressive, ongoing process that will never be complete until God calls us home or Christ returns for His bride, the church. Paul started this section with a simple, rhetorical question that needs no answer. "Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?" (Romans 2:2 NLT).

Father, I want to live the life You've called me to live in the power You've provided to make it possible. I have been crucified with Christ. My sins have been paid for. My debt has been paid. I have been set free from slavery to sin and its rule over my life, but the truth is that I can so easily find myself falling back into old habits and living as if I am still a slave. I don't utilize the power of the Holy Spirit in my life like I should. I try to live the Christian life in my own strength and it always produces the same ineffective results. Continue to show me how to live in Your power and not my own. The same power that raised Your Son from the dead resides within me and I want my life to reflect His presence and power in my life more and more with each passing day. Amen.

,

Law Versus Grace.

,

Romans 5:12-21

God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. – Romans 5:20 NLT

Over and over again in his letter, Paul has made it painfully clear that the Law of Moses can't save anybody. "So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law" (Romans 3:28 NLT). But that fact does not diminish the importance of the law or in any way provide us with an excuse to ignore it. "Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law" (Romans 3:31 NLT). But all of this raises the question, "What is the purpose of the law?" It makes us reconsider God's reasoning for giving the law in the first place. After all, if God knew that man could never live up to the standards of the law, why did He give it to us in the first place? Paul answers this important question in verse 20: "God's law was given to that all people could see how sinful they were."

Michael Horton, in his book, The Law & The Gospel, puts it this way: "The Law leads us to Christ in the Gospel by condemning us and causing us to despair of our own 'righteousness.'" The law can't save us, it can only convict us. The law gives us the requirements, but without any assistance to meet them. The law gives us the expectations of God, but without any ability to fulfill them. But that was never its purpose. "The law comes, not to reform the sinner nor to show him or her the "narrow way" to life, but to crush the sinner's hopes of escaping God's wrath through personal effort or even cooperation. All of our righteousness must come from someone else – someone who has fulfilled the law's demands. Only after we have been stripped of our 'filthy rags' of righteousness (Isa. 64:6) – our fig leaves through which we try in vain to hide our guilt and shame – can we be clothed with Christ's righteousness. First comes the law to proclaim judgment and death, then the gospel to proclaim justification and life. (Modern Reformation, Good News: The Gospel for Christians, May/June 2003).

When Adam (and Eve) sinned, sin entered the world. It took up residence in the lives of Adam and Eve's descendants, resulting in generations of men and women who inherited not only their propensity for sin, but the guilt and condemnation that accompanies it. The law was given to reveal just how sinful we really are. Later on in this letter, Paul gives a personal testimony regarding the law and its role in his own life: "…it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet” (Romans 7:7 NLT). Like a speed limit sign on the side of the road, the law simply revealed man's transgression of God's righteous standard. Paul goes on to say, "But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died." (Romans 7:8-10 NLT). The law simply shows us our sin. It reveals to us our unrighteousness. It is God's holy standard made clear – in black and white. No excuses allowed. I love the way Martin Luther said it. "The Law is a mirror to show a person what he is like, a sinner who is guilty of death, and worthy of everlasting punishment. What is this bruising and beating by the hand of the Law to accomplish? This, that we may find the way to grace. The Law is an usher to lead the way to grace.…The fatuous idea that a person can be holy by himself denies God the pleasure of saving sinners. God must therefore first take the sledge-hammer of the Law in His fists and smash the beast of self-righteousness and its brood of self-confidence, self-wisdom, self-righteousness, and self-help. When the conscience has been thoroughly frightened by the Law it welcomes the Gospel of grace with its message of a Savior…." (Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians).

Rather than living under the exacting standards and condemnation of the law, we live within the wonderful grace of God. We have received the righteousness of Christ and the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. That does not mean the law has become null and void though. Jesus did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. And Paul gives us ample exhortations that we are to live lives that are in keeping with God's standard of righteousness. "And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward to the hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed" (Titus 2:11-13 NLT). "For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time – to show us his grace through Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 1:9 NLT). Those who walk in the Spirit don't break the law, but fulfill it. They have a power and capacity to do what they could never have done before. We can live holy lives, not out of our own self-effort, but according to the power of the Spirit who lives within us. Paul paints the vivid difference between trying to live according to the law in the flesh, and fulfilling the law in the power of the Spirit. "But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" (Galatians 5:18-23).

Father, I am so grateful that I do not have to keep the law to maintain a right standing with You. But I am also grateful that Your law is a constant reminder of just how holy You are and just how unholy I can be without You. May Your divine, holy, righteous law constantly remind me of my need for Christ. May it make me ever more dependent upon the Holy Spirit's power and not my own. Thank You for providing me with the righteousness of Christ and the life-transforming power of the Spirit in my life. I have the capacity to live a life worthy of the Gospel and as a citizen of heaven. Amen.

,

The Ramifications of Justification.

,

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. – Romans 5:1-2 NLT

We have been justified, or made right with God. And Paul has spent the last four chapters establishing that this amazing reality was accomplished through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and accessed only through faith. We are not made right through any effort of our own. And our justification is a done deal, not something we continue to work on through our lifetime. As soon as we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are made right with God, completely and permanently. Paul describes it as a place of "undeserved privilege." Not only that, he says that our justified state should bring us confidence and joy as we look forward to our future glorification, when Christ returns for us, or God calls us home.

In the meantime, there is the reality of pain and suffering in this world. Yes, we have been made right with God. Yes, we will someday be glorified and spend eternity with Him. But in the meantime, we must go on living in this world and wrestling with our own sin nature. That is the process of sanctification that every one of us must go through. Just because we have been justified with God does not mean that there are things we must work on in our lives. We have the constant need to put to death the deeds of the flesh and to learn to live in the power of the Spirit. But Paul tells us, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance" (Romans 5:3 NLT). Our justification makes it possible for us to see our problems and trials as opportunities for growth, rather than as set backs in our relationship with God. We are already right with Him, so they are not punishments from His hand. Instead, they are divine appointments for us to allow Him to refine and perfect us. The problems and trials of life develop in us endurance. That endurance strengthens our character, and as we see our character strengthened, we grow in confidence and hope. We realize that our justification has ramifications. It produces results. God is at work in us, doing what only He can do – transforming us into the image of His Son. Paul told the Philippian believers, "Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him" (Philippians 2:12-13 NLT). Our salvation results in our justification, or right standing with God. But it doesn't stop there. God continues to work in us, giving us the power to live in obedience to Him, doing those things that please Him.

The reality is, as long as we live on this earth, we will continue to struggle with sin. We will battle with our own flesh and wage war with the enemy. But if we truly believe we have been made right with God through Christ's death on the cross, we must also believe that He has the power to transform and literally "save" us from the effects of sin in our daily lives. Paul puts it this way: "For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son" (Romans 5:10 NLT). Christ's death made us right with God. We have been justified. But we are in the process of being sanctified or set apart for God's service, by daily being cleansed and purified from our sin nature. Christ's resurrection reminds us that there is a power available to us that is greater than any power in this world. In a real sense, Jesus is still saving us today. His resurrection assures us that we have a power available to us that is constantly saving us from the assaults of the enemy and the ever-present reality of sin in our own lives. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote, "So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world" (Colossians 3:5 NLT). Later in this letter, he will write, "if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live" (Romans 8:13 NLT). Our justification has ramifications. We have the Spirit of God within us. We have the capacity to live for God in such a way that it reflects our righteous standing with Him. We can live as what we have been declared – righteous sons and daughters of God.

Father, thank You that Your work in my life is an ongoing reality. You didn't just save me, but are constantly saving me from the power of sin and the ongoing assault of the enemy. You are transforming me and have given me Your Spirit to provide the power I need to live the life You've called me to live. None of this is done in my own strength. It never ends up being about my ability to live up to Your standards. Whether we're talking about salvation, sanctification or glorification, it is all Your work. I am just the undeserving beneficiary. Amen.

Unwavering Faith.

Romans 4

Even though there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping – believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, "That's how many descendants you will have!" – Romans 4:18 NLT

Paul is still driving home his point that the key to being made right with God is based on faith, not our own efforts. He has established that both Jews and Gentiles stand before God as guilty and condemned because of their sinfulness. "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23 NLT). But he is now attempting to clear up some misunderstandings regarding Abraham, the patriarch of the people of Israel. Paul refers to him as the "founder of our Jewish nation" (Romans 4:1 NLT). In the eyes of the average Jew, Abraham held rock star status. He was worshiped and revered. They knew the stories of God's promises to Abraham and took special pride in the fact that they were the descendants of this amazing man. But Paul wants them to understand that even Abraham was made right with God based on faith in God, not his efforts on behalf of God. Paul writes, "If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way" (Romans 4:2 NLT). The Jews believed that Abraham had somehow earned his right standing with God through his own efforts. He had obeyed God. He had made sure that all of his men had been circumcised according to God's command. For the Jews, circumcision was like God's Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It was His stamp of acceptance. That's why, even in Paul's day, as Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ, Jewish converts to Christianity were demanding that they be circumcised. They were requiring circumcision and adherence to Jewish laws and customs as an additional step in the plan of salvation. And Paul resisted this heresy with every fiber in his being.

Referring to Abraham, Paul writes, "Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!" (Romans 4:10 NLT). You have to go all the way back to Genesis to read the account of God promising to provide a son to Abraham, and to produce from Abraham and his wife as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. The only problem? Abraham was an old man and his wife, Sarah, was barren. Abraham had resigned himself to the fact that he would have to make one of his servants his heir if he was ever going to have a family. But God had other plans. "Then the Lord said to him, 'No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir,' Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, 'Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!'" (Genesis 15:4-5 NLT). Then we read the words that Paul included in his letter to the Romans, "And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith" (Genesis 15:6 NLT). This event took place long before God gave Abraham the command to be circumcised. It was long before the law was given to Moses. God's acceptance of Abraham was based on his faith alone. He believed what God had promised. And even when everything looked bleak and as if the promise would never come to fruition, Abraham kept on believing. In fact, Paul makes the amazing and somewhat confusing statement, "And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead – and so was Sarah's womb" (Romans 4:19 NLT). And yet, a cursory reading of Abraham's life seems to reveal a great deal of wavering and weak faith. He tried to make his man-servant his heir. He and Sarah came up with the idea of using her maid-servant, Hagar, as a surrogate mother. There are numerous occasions when Abraham and Sarah struggled with doubt. That is normal and natural for all of us as human beings. But as time passed and Abram watched God work, his faith grew – his confidence in God increased. "In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to whatever he promises" (Romans 4:21 NLT).

Abraham's life was intended to be an example for us. Faith was the key to Abraham's relationship with God, and the same is true for us today. "God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over for because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God" (Romans 4:24-25 NLT). It is belief in the unbelievable that makes us right. It has nothing to do with our vain attempts to keep God's standards or live up to some man-made set of decrees. God has asked us to believe His promise that we can be restored to a right relationship with Him through His Son's substitionary death on the cross for us. Far-fetched? You bet. Hard to believe? No doubt about it. But it is no more impossible to believe than an old man and his barren wife producing descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky. But they believed, and God delivered. And if we believe that God can remove the penalty of our sin and replace it with the righteousness of Christ, He will deliver – and make us right with Him.

Father, what You have promised to do for us through Christ sounds incredibly far-fetched and impossible. And yet, You ask us to simply trust You. The only requirement You place on us is that of belief. And like Abraham, the longer we place our faith in You and watch You work, the stronger our faith grows. Our wavering in doubt becomes increasingly less frequent. We see You work in our lives and gain confidence in Your faithfulness to us and love for us. Never let us lose sight of the fact that it is by faith alone that we are saved, not by our own self-effort. Keep us trusting You and not ourselves. Amen.

Good News. Bad News.

Romans 3

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. – Romans 3:22 NLT

We've all heard plenty of "good news – bad news" jokes. They usually start out with the statement, "I've got good news and I've got bad news." In a way, that is exactly what Paul is saying in his letter to the Roman believers. Except that his message was anything but funny. He had good news for them, which they had already heard and believed. But he also wanted to make sure they grasped the bad news that "all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin" (Romans 3:9b NLT). Paul was addressing a common misconception that still exists today. In his day, the Jews believed that because they were the chosen people of God, they were exempt from God's wrath. They saw themselves as a privileged people and because of their position as God's chosen race, He was somehow obligated to protect and preserve them, regardless of what they did. They put so much stock on the faithfulness of God, that they twisted it into some kind of blind allegiance to them, that would overlook their failures and bless them, in spite of them. In other words, their sins would somehow be ignored by God, just because they were His chosen people.

But Paul doesn't mince words when he exposes the fallacy in their argument, and he uses the writings of King David to make his point. "No one is righteous – not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away, all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one" (Romans 3:10-12 NLT). That is the bad news. And just to make sure that there is no confusion as to just how bad the bad news is, Paul reinforces it with these familiar and powerful words: "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23 NLT). You can't make it any clearer than that. Everyone has sinned. There are not exemptions and exceptions. All men have failed to live up to God's glorious standard. The Jews, because they had been given the law by God, somehow thought that was enough. Earlier in this letter, Paul had addressed the Jews directly. "You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law" (Romans 2:17-18 NLT). But here's the problem: "You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it" (Romans 2:23 NLT). They knew the law, but didn't keep it. They knew what God expected, but failed to meet those expectations. And they stood condemned, just like the Gentiles.

But here's the Good News. In spite of all men, whether Jew or Gentile, having sinned and fallen short of God's righteous standard, "Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood" (Romans 3:24-25 NLT). All men can be made right with God, not by keeping the law, but by believing in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Their sinfulness was rebellion against a holy God, and Romans 6:23 tells us that the penalty for that rebellion was death. Yet Jesus paid our penalty in full with His own life. He took our place. He bore our burden. He died the death we deserved and then made available to us a righteousness we could never have achieved on our own. He made us right with God. "He declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus" (Romans 3:26b NLT). That is incredibly Good News. And it all that much greater when we realize just how bad the bad news really is. None of us deserve God's mercy, grace and forgiveness. None of us can boast, because we have done nothing to be accepted by God. The restoration of our right standing with God is all the result of His grace and Christ's sacrifice. "We are made right with God through faith" (Romans 3:28 NLT). Now, that truly is Good News!

Father, never let me take for granted the Good News about Jesus Christ. Don't let me ever assume that I somehow deserved Your grace and mercy. Keep my former sinful state seared into my brain. Yes, I am forgiven, redeemed and restored to a right relationship with You. But don't ever let me forget that it was my sins that sent Jesus to the cross. It was for my sins that He died. My sins required that You give up Your own Son and that He willingly sacrifice His own life. I deserved death, but He took my place. My condemnation was real. My guilt was deserved. But I am right with You, because of what Jesus did for me. Thank You. Amen.

,

A Change of Heart.

,

Romans 2:17-29

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. – Romans 2:29 NLT

Paul now takes his argument straight to the Jewish people. And he knew a thing or two about what it meant to be a Jew. Paul was born a Jew, raised in a conservative Jewish household where he was taught the Law, and, ultimately, Paul became a member of the Pharisees, a leading Jewish religious sect. He was an expert in the Law and a fervent advocate of obedience to the Law. He had been circumcised as a child and trained by Gamaliel, one of the leading rabbinical scholars of his day. So Paul was no slouch when it came to the topic of Judaism.

But his point, as it has been all along in his letter, was that the Jews were just as guilty as the Gentiles when it came to their sin and failure to meet God's righteous standards. In this section, Paul is not talking to any particular Jew, but seems to be addressing the nation of the Jews in general. "You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him" (Romans 2:17 NLT). Paul knew quite well that the Jewish people took special pride in their unique relationship with God. They understood themselves to be the apple of God's eye – His special people – the chosen race. And they were right. God had chosen them from among all the peoples of the world to be His – to bear His name and to receive His law. God had showered them with His blessings and made countless promises to them. But they had somehow misunderstood God's intent and had begun to believe that their Jewishness was what made them special. They mistakenly believed that just being a member of the Hebrew race was enough to guarantee a right standing with God. But all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy, God had made it clear why He had chosen them to begin with: "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the LORD loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 7:6-8 NLT).

In that same section of Scripture, God goes on to warn the Israelites that they must keep His commandments. He expected obedience and adherence to His laws. And over the centuries, the Jewish people had repeatedly broken God's commands, refusing to live in obedience and submission to Him. For the Jews, it had become enough that they had been given the Mosaic Law. The fact that they didn't really keep the law seemed to be a mute point to them. It was simply enough that they were Jewish and therefore, God's chosen people. The average Jew in Paul's day had become self-righteous and smug, believing that his Jewish heritage was all that he needed to escape the wrath of God. Everyone else was guilty and stood condemned because they were Gentiles, or non-Jews. But God had chosen the Jews that they might be a light to the Gentiles. He had given them His law so that they would know what He expected of mankind, and they were to live out that law in front of the Gentiles, showing them how the people of God were to live. But Paul bluntly accuses them, "You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you" (Romans 2:23-24 NLT).

For Paul, the issue was one of the heart. God is looking for Jews who are not just circumcised in their flesh, but in their heart. God is interested in Jews who are completed Jews, having placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Savior. Adherence to the Law and membership in the Jewish race was not going to be enough to save them. In fact, the Jew stood under greater condemnation because he had been given the law and knew what God's divine expectations were, but had failed to keep them. "The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile" (Romans 2:25 NLT). The Jew, like the Gentile, stood guilty before God and in need of a Savior. God had sent His Son to save all men, Jews and Gentiles alike. And all men needed to understand their guilt and embrace the grace made available by God through His Son's death on the cross. God was looking for Jews whose hearts had been made right with Him. "…a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God" (Romans 2:29 NLT). The Jewish nation, the chosen people of God, still needed the same solution to their sin problem required by every other person. They needed a Savior. They needed to be made right with God, not based on some self-made righteousness or special standing, but through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Father, how easy it is to somehow think that we deserve Your grace and mercy. The Jews had become convinced that You were somehow obligated to accept them based on their ethnic background. They mistakenly believed that their Jewishness was all the justification they needed. But their hearts were just as guilty as anyone else's and they stood condemned just like every other individual. You are no respecter of persons. You are fair and just in Your treatment of all men. And Your offer of salvation is available to anyone who willingly accepts it, regardless of their race, religion, income status or any other man-made criteria. Thank You for Your grace that is available to all. Amen.

,

Blown Away By the Kindness of God.

,

Romans 2:1-16

Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? – Romans 1:4 NLT

God is angry with the sin of mankind. Paul made that painfully clear in the opening section of this letter. God has clearly revealed His existence through the natural revelation of His creation, so mankind is without excuse. From the beginning men have been able to see the handiwork and evidence of God's existence through all that He has made. The very fact that humanity has always been predisposed to acknowledge the existence of some sort of supreme being gives credence to Paul's assertion that He is knowable and accessible. And while mankind has had ample evidence of the existence of God, they have consistently refused to worship Him as God or show Him the gratitude He deserves. Instead, they worshiped the creation rather than the Creator. They turned to man-made idols and lifeless substitutes for the living God. They traded the truth about God for a lie. And so God turned them over to pursue their own selfish, sinful desires. The result has been a litany of destructive habits and unrighteous behaviors that demand God's judgment. All men are guilty of rebelling against God. All men deserve the wrath of God.

But there are always those who arrogantly view themselves as above reproach and somehow excluded from guilt. They don't see themselves as included in the list Paul gives in verses 26-31. In fact, they are the ones who point their fingers at everyone else, condemning their behavior, while smugly justifying their own. But Paul says, "When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things" (Romans 2:1b NLT). Paul is addressing that self-righteous, self-made individual who somehow believes he is worthy of God's love, mercy and grace. This tends to be the religious person who thinks that he has a special relationship with God and views everyone else as lost and condemned because of their ignorance and unbelief. But Paul reminds them, "Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" (Romans 2:4 NLT). Rather than recognize the incredible tolerance of God, they arrogantly continue to believe that they somehow deserve God's love and mercy. Instead of acknowledging their sin and confessing it before God, they stubbornly continue to live in a fantasy world where they are somehow better than everyone else and more deserving of God's favor.

So Paul attempts to break the bad news that judgment is coming. There will be a day when God holds every man and woman accountable for the way they have lived their life. Both Jews and Gentiles will have to answer to God for the outcome of their lives. "He will judge everyone according to what they have done" (Romans 2:6 NLT). "There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil – for the Jew first and also for the Gentile" (Romans 2:9 NLT). No one will escape. Unless of course you are able to "do good," and keep God's law perfectly and completely. But no one does good, not a single one. Paul will go on to stress this important point in chapter three. "No one is righteous – not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one" (Romans 3:10-12 NLT). It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter if you think you're a sinner or view yourself as a saint. The same outcome awaits everyone who sins, and according to Scripture, "everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23 NLT). But over the centuries, God has continued to show His kindness and tolerance toward mankind. He has withheld His judgment and continued to extend His mercy, offering all men the free gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. According to Paul, it is the kindness of God that is intended to turn us from our sin. His tolerance and patience, in spite of our sin, should drive us to Him. We're all guilty and we can't save ourselves. We're all condemned and can't escape the verdict for our crimes against God. Unless we can keep His law perfectly and completely, we can't be made right with God. And we must recognize the reality that, apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ, every single human being will one day stand before God in judgment. And the sooner men come to grips with that reality, the sooner they will seek and savor the kindness of God made available through the substitionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10 NLT).

Father, Your kindness is amazing. Your patience with mankind is unbelievable. You have every right to destroy that which You made. Sin and rebellion against You leave every man and woman guilty and deserving of Your just and righteous wrath. Yet you continue to show them love, mercy, and kindness. You continue to extend the offer of Your Son. Never let me lose sight of just how kind and patient You have been to me. I am no more deserving of Your love and grace than any other person who has ever lived. So thank You! Amen.