Category Archives: Romans

The Mystery In-Between

Posted on April 30, 2023 | Leave a comment

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 

Romans 4 contains a timeless truth about righteousness.  I’ve removed Romans 4-12 from this post on purpose to stir up your interest in the mysterious truth that lies in-between those first three verses and verse 24.  I want you to read and ponder those verses for yourself because they are thought-provoking reminders of the visceral [felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body] reality of God’s intent to interact physically with His people not just instruct them.

Romans 4:4-12 is the reality of a physical interaction between God and Abraham that’s now uniquely part of our heritage as his descendants.  True to His word God has given all Abraham’s descendants a new seal  to verify what He has already done; the precise surgical procedurea  that purposely removed the barrier left in-between the heart and the righteousness He counts as His own.

Romans 4:24…It [Righteousness] will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

a Deuteronomy 30:6

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Posted in Jeremiah, Light, New Testament, Old Testament, Romans, Sunday

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You Can Do It

Posted on March 1, 2023 | Leave a comment

And Old Testament Verses
— Leviticus 18:5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
— Deuteronomy 30:12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

I think I learned a simple base-line truth about righteousness when I was highlighting the Romans verses.  Righteousness that is based on the law…does AND righteousness based on faith says…For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

In between those …’s is the mysterious truth about righteousness.  There are rules and how you keep them impacts everything about your life.  The Lord says so!  “The design of the law was to lead people to Christ. The moral law was but for the searching of the wound, the ceremonial law for the shadowing forth of the remedy; but Christ is the end of both.”[a]

— My heart heart knows when my mind choses to obey God’s statutes as if they’re a bandaid that can cover the accusation that it’s my behavior that will strengthen my heavenly image here on earth instead of Christ.
— My heart knows when my mind relies on the phony satisfaction of good intentions and moral righteousness as if they’re a good excuse for not opening my mouth to say they were the result of Christ resurrecting my life so I actually had something to rely on.

The simple base-line truth about righteousness
for my life and yours is:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…
The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, so that
YOU CAN DO IT!

[a] Matthew Henry

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Posted in Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Light, Romans, Wednesday

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Christmas Day — The Surprise of Likeness

Posted on December 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

urprise!  It’s Christmas morning and here we are in Romans 8, the most surprising of all places.  Advent has focused my thoughts on the birth of a Holy Baby, Jesus, the Son of God so it was a surprise to read these familiar words in a whole new way because of what “God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” — ?? Sinful flesh…us??  It took a beat for my heart to realize this IS just how far God went “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.”  In order to do that, God filled that Advent cradle with Himself “in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin” with the power to buy back our likeness to sin so we might “not walk according to the flesh.”  There’s an old story of a European ruler who would sneak away and walk among his people incognito.  It drove his security people nuts but his response was “I cannot rule my people unless I know how they live.” 

God chose to begin His walk among us on that first Christmas morning disguised as an ordinary baby, living and growing up in ordinary ways…walking among us incognito…until in His perfect timing He could reveal the surprise likeness of God “in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

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The Church of the Firstborn

Posted on December 14, 2022 | Leave a comment

Romans 1:3 …concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

. his Sunday I’ll be in church.  I’ve chosen my churches carefully since becoming a believer.  I know it’s just a building filled with people who are drawn there for many reasons.  It’s likely there would be a very small number of people who would declare one of those reasons to be needing “the obedience of faith.”  But up in front stands a man who has been given that particular charge “in Jesus’s name,” for His church…
— Regardless of what he knows we need, or what we think we need, he speaks the truth of our need for the Grace of God
—Regardless of our desiring to invest him with elevated status, he confesses his own need for Grace ‘
—Regardless of strife in the body, his trust is that Grace will prevail.
—Regardless of exhaustion when sacred and moral duties use up all his energy and time, Grace helps him put one foot in front of the other.
—Regardless of sometimes being wounded, he trusts Grace will heal, unite and encourage.|
—Regardless of all evidence to the contrary, it’s Grace that helps him look out at our faces and believe “you also are the called of Jesus Christ.”  That’s real-time, real-life Grace…Regardless…for the sake of the body of Christ — and the Church of the Firstborn.

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Posted in Advent, New Testament, Romans, Wednesday

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Sunday with John — After

Posted on August 28, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 13:21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
After… the example of service He’s given them, Jesus is troubled in His spirit because of what He knows; “one of you will betray me.” The disciples look at one another, “uncertain of whom he spoke.”  The whispered interchange between “one of His disciples” and Jesus must have been only one of the hushed conversations happening around that table.  Only Jesus and that one disciple know the deadly meaning of that small piece of bread Jesus gives to Judas.  But after taking what looked like a common offering  of friendship to most of his brothers, Judas knows what Jesus knows.   Satan has identified him as the betrayer but Jesus has offered him mercy, not disgrace. “So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out” into the darkness.

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus was troubled in His spirit.  Jesus chose to let Judas know Satan had identified him as the betrayer but with an act of mercy rather than disgrace.

What does it say about people?
The disciples first response was to identify the betrayer.  They clearly did not hear the exchange between the one disciple and Jesus that would connect Judas leaving to the betrayal. 

Is there truth here for me?
I saw truth about mercy in reading and pondering this whole sad story of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus.  Jesus has the power to accomplish His Father’s purposes through mercy, not the public disgrace of exposed sin.   Satan is the one who who relishes that job.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:35-36 ESV

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Wednesday with John – Your Position

Posted on June 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 10:22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
The Pharisees faithfully celebrate the history of what they already believe.  They have dedicated their lives to the structure of their past.  They have set themselves apart to determine and define every detail of what being chosen looks like in life, faith and politics. Jesus is using miracles and truth, the same evidence God used to secure their past, to confront their present and their future.  They perceive the simple truth Jesus is telling them as a rejection of what they already believe rather than a completion of what God has already shown them.  That’s what makes Jesus hard for them to accept.  “When the pharisees in front of the temple heard Jesus saying that they were not his sheep, they have probably heard it as a complete rejection of their status as elect. But the Jews have not lost their election. In regards to the gospel they are enemies, but in regards to election they are beloved.”a

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus is confronting the position of these “chosen” men with their history, not the security of their history.  He’s asking them is it their history that validates their security OR is it their security that validates their history? 

What does it say about people?
Jesus still asks that same question today in a slightly different way: Is it your life and behavior that validates your position with God OR is it your position with God that validates your life and behavior?

Is there truth here for me?
I am dedicated to defining the details of what being chosen looks like in my life, faith and politics.  Is my security my history with Jesus OR is my history with Jesus my security?  While I may struggle with the role of semantics in answering those three positioning questions because I am a Pharisee, I am also smart enough to know I am “beloved” because Jesus has completed my past and that is why I am among His sheep.   

“Now many of the Jews are enemies of the Gospel. They hate it. But this has been a benefit to you, for it has resulted in God’s giving his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still beloved of God because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises.”  Rom. 11:28-29TLB

ahttps://www.mercyuponall.org/2018/08/02/2763

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Wednesday with John + Decreed

Posted on June 15, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 9:27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.  ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
The confrontational debate continues between the ex-blind man and the Pharisees. The healed man confronts these authorities with his own questions. “Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”  We know so little about this man but he has some extraordinary knowledge about God, sinners, and worship the Pharisees find irritating.  “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him… If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  His words identify what his heart has experienced just as the words of the Pharisees identify the experience of theirs; “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out.”

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
How odd that this passage points out such a controversial truth.  God reveals Himself more in the man who responded to Jesus but has not yet “seen” Him face to face than from the response of his accusers who claim to be God’s experts.

What does it say about people?
The Pharisees have responded to this man’s restored sight with disbelief as a way to discredit Jesus…and therefore God.  Who is more in need of “sight” now: the man who was blind but now sees what he doesn’t know OR the Pharisees who think they already know what they really don’t see?

Is there truth here for me?
I understand the imagery in this passage and those Pharisees because, God forgive me, I was born to love the rules more than the people who break them.a

† Original sin has decreed we are all truly born blind.
† Life has decreed we teeter between two options; sin and salvation.
† Jesus has decreed He came so we might see.
† I have decreed “I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!
Ω The Word has decreed
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Amen!

a https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-making-of-a-modern-pharisee

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Posted in Galatians, John, Matthew, New Testament, Romans, Wednesday

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Sunday with John – Purity

Posted on May 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 7:53 – 8:1-11
7:53 [[They went each to his own house,
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5  Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
[[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]

What is the general theme of the passage?
One guilty woman, a crowd of male accusers and Jesus — all facing the reality and consequence of sin!  Jesus must distill the broad brush of the situation into something personal for both the guilty woman and her accusers.  The woman caught in the act of adultery must see that disgrace and guilt are not what Jesus has in mind for her even though she is far from innocent.  Jesus with so few words and such an underwhelming physical display of His presence has reminded the accusers they are not innocent either.  Both the guilty woman and the guilty accusers must recognize the consequence of sin is lost innocence and once lost, innocence can never be recovered.  Whatever Jesus wrote on the ground, twice, has convinced the accusers of that. They go away with only their guilty memories never acknowledging what Jesus wants them to see. While the law cannot restore their innocence, the experience of the law through His grace offers something more lasting for those accused by their own sin…a pathway to purity, “go, and from now on sin no more.”

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground… once more he bent down and wrote… Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.  

What does it say about people?
Here are a couple ideas to consider about what Jesus might have written before those men.  Maybe Jesus wrote the scripturesa that spoke about adultery and guilt. “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel” and “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” Were there guilty men there? Or maybe it was the names of the two required eyewitnesses needed to bring this charge.  The standard for bringing such a rare charge was extremely detailed; the witnesses must see the actual sexual act with their own eyes.  Were those men there? Jesus clearly identified “something” the accusers recognized with their own eyes in those words or marks He made on the ground …and “they went away one by one.”
a Deuteronomy 22:22 and Leviticus 20:10 ESV

Is there truth here for me?
Jesus was left alone with the woman, not to reveal her obvious guilt, but to offer her His guiltless righteousness to replace the condemnation of her lost innocence.  “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh…” Ro 8:1-3 NASB

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Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Romans, Sunday

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Exodus [The Road Out] – Jesus

Posted on March 13, 2022 | Leave a comment

Exodus 32:7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; RSV

It’s easy to see how obvious the idolatry of THOSE people is.  How in the world could they miss that the golden calf looked just like the idol the Egyptians worshipped? These are the same people who’d repeatedly sworn to Moses that whatever God told them to do, they would do.  These are the people who knew they were to serve God on this mountain.  These are the people who were willing to settle for making the Glory of God into their own image.

Imagine the heartbreak Moses must have felt as he began his journey down the mountain after being told by the Lord “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”    Therein lies the lesson of how waiting, suspicion and impatience can so easily become the sin that corrupts the mind first and then the heart.  This golden calf was made from the willing offering of the people’s treasure.  Their treasure was what they chose to worship as the god that brought them out of Egypt even though only one day before that idol hadn’t even existed.  

The challenge of my mind and heart as a descendant of THOSE people, who’s inherited this sad and shameful moment as part of my history, is to find the thread that connects those truths to the truth of the Sovereign and Eternal Glory of God revealed in Jesus for believers today. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[as a sin offering] he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8

“Fallen people are capable of great sacrifices,
but not out of love for God.”
 John Piper

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Posted in Exodus, Matthew, New Testament, Old Testament, Romans, Sunday

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Something More!

Posted on August 28, 2021 | Leave a comment

Romans 8:37 In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. 38 I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, 39 and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!  CEV

Have you noticed there are times in life when a phrase or a topic of faith just “pops” up from enough different sources that you know you’re being taught something new?  For some time now I’ve been pondering something I wouldn’t necessarily want more of; weakness.  But not weakness as inadequacy, mind you, but the conversion of weakness to need and dependence.  God has been introducing me to the “odd couple” I wrote about in last Sunday’s blog; weakness and prayer.  I can be satisfied with my weakness because “not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate [me] from God’s love for [me] in Christ Jesus our Lord!”  

I began this exploration of weakness some time ago by asking God to protect my mind and my heart.  Now that’s become the basis of most of my prayers for anyone else. Please remember even the “other” faithful disciples of Jesus had to experience the conversion of their own weakness into faith too.  They were so confident of their faith in the best of times but in the crisis moments their reactions were painfully different.  James, Thomas and Peter are a few of those “others” who come to mind.  God has answered my prayers by revealing His purpose for my faith is to build His strength into my weakness through His Word for me and my words to Him.

“Something more?”  There have been several of them lately.  I knew when I read this quote before I landed at this part of Romans 8, it was one of them: “When the longing of one’s heart is inked into words and offered as a prayer, that’s when it springs to life in God’s mind.a”  That seems very different from the more familiar “thy will be done.”  This IS God’s will; that our hearts are converted by our words to, and our need for, Him.  It really has felt like “something more than a victory.”  It has felt like a gift.  After all, my salvation is God’s victory, not mine.  I just cling to the hope that by recognizing the conversion of my own weakness into need and dependence on Christ, I might be able to make Him look good.

“Because of Christ who loves us” there’s a second “something “more than a victory!”  This week I read that in the final year of Henri Nouwen’s 40+ years of determined faithfulness, he was still dealing with the realities of his own flaws. It wasn’t victory he wrote about in those last months, but of “the constant need of conversion that we have in life. Conversion from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.” and “What an enormous, important spiritual journey it is when we discover that where our healing begins is where joy is rooted.“ ‘The conversion [Nouwen] maps is from self-rejection to self-acceptance, from competition to compassion, from productivity to fruitfulness. b’ “

There is yet another “something more” that came my way. This article from Desiring God by Jon Bloom about weakness and this quote. “Someday, when our Master returns, he will ask us to give an account of the talents he’s entrusted to us. Some of those talents will be our weaknesses. We don’t want to tell him we buried any of them.”

Our weakness is not converted to strength  because of our determination.  Our weakness is converted to strength knowing it is Jesus who could calm the stormy sea with a word.  Our weakness is converted to strength by Jesus who  revealed his wounds to heal us and it’s Jesus ‘s strength that converts our weaknesses into “something more!”

a From the novel, Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
b Excerpted from the book Community compiled posthumously from Henri Nouwen’s writings.

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Posted in Henri Nouwen, New Testament, Romans, Sunday

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